Modchip issues

[APE]

The eBay purchase of 2 Sega Saturns has finally been delivered after two weeks of waiting (a week of them just sitting on their hands and a week in USPS trucks). Problem is neither chip I got from Trenton_net seems to work.

Both Saturns are model 2. One is a 32 pin and the other is a 64 pin.

http://www.assemblergames.com/forums...ad.php?t=32406

I have one of the first chips shown and one of the second.

The behavior:
First tried the 64 pin Saturn with the first chip. It booted to a red sphere on the left side of the BIOS and a brown/yellowish sphere on the right. It seemed to be able to recognize all discs as being audio CDs but I didn't test if it could actually play any CDDA. I then tried the second chip in the 32 pin Saturn with the same results.

I've tried putting them in backwards from what Trenton_net says is the installation method in the above thread. I've even tried using the ribbons that came from the Saturns themselves with no positive results.

The last thing I tried was chip #2 on the 64 pin Saturn. When it booted the sound was heavily distorted and displayed a red sphere on the right and a brown/yellowish sphere on the left (opposite what it was before).

Without anything in either slot the Saturns both boot to the red on left brown/yellowish on right setup. With the ribbons in place both boot up just fine and play Audio CDs. I can only confirm that 32 pin can play games at this point as the Resident Evil disc I have is heavily scratched, honestly the fact it can recognize the disc's security ring is a miracle, let alone the fact that the worst the game shows while being playing is some slight skipping in the intro FMV.

I can confirm the chips are getting power and they didn't receive more/less than 5v. All signs seem to point to both chips being duds though this seems unlikely as Trenton_net pointed out as they're different chips from different batches. When I received them in the mail I didn't even take them out of their bags just stashed them away in a safe place until today. I even took the time to cover the area where the chips would go completely with a layer of electrical tape so there is no way I shorted something the first time the systems came on. On top of that I used 1 chip in each console for the first test to rule out the chance that 1 of the consoles would go rogue and kill both chips one after the other.

[APE]

To separate this out just a bit:

I've got the 32 pin in front of me with the board sans the crystal wired in with the ribbons oriented towards the pins in both cases (kinda hard to explain I suppose). Without power right now I get no boot-up animation and the BIOS shows two green cubes with "checking disc format" on screen which apparently is normal for a chip without power. With power it boots up without the animation right to the BIOS where there is a red sphere on the left and a green cube on the right complete with "checking disc format" at the top.

Holy crap this is frustrating.

Addendum:

Clearly the 32 pin and 64 pin connectors for the ribbon are very different between the two. The 32 pin has pins only on one side of the connectors on both the CD-ROM board and the motherboard where as the 64 pin seems to have pins on both sides of both connectors.

The ribbon for the 32 pin model has pins only on one side of each end as well. The 64 pin seems to have them on opposite sides for the ribbon (pin set A has them on side 1 where as pin set B has them on side 2 with a plastic cover over side 2 on pin set A and a cover over pin set B on side B...if that makes a damn bit of sense).

[Trenton_net]

Pretty interesting investigation! I've only installed on 32-pin Saturns before, so it's quite possible that 64-pin machines are not compatible for some reason. I'll probably update the thread to mention it, or at the very least give a warning.

I am curious about the 32-pin machine and why it doesn't work as that's a fairly standard system. I'd try both chips in the 32-pin machine and see what's up. I'm pretty sure the chips with the crystals should work with them. But I'm not sure if you tried it with that chip yet.

As always, if testing fails I can always ship out replacements and we can see if the first two are really duds or not, but we might as well exhaust all avenues first while we have the chance.

[jinn]

If the Games is being recognized as an Audio CD then it could be you are burning the image wrong or the image was not properly dumped.
Also make sure the Disc is patched with the correct region for the the System.

http://www.racketboy.com/retro/hacks...-software.html

[Bomberhead]

I just installed the racketboy 32pin chip in my model 2 about 15 mins ago. i did the A2B method and hooked the power wire up like the instructions said and it works great. I am blow away. I never thought i would have a working chipped saturn. living in heaven right now.

[pcc10]

I just installed the racketboy 32pin chip in my model 2 about 15 mins ago. i did the A2B method and hooked the power wire up like the instructions said and it works great. I am blow away. I never thought i would have a working chipped saturn. living in heaven right now.

Hey Bomberhead,

Can you post a link to the guide that you followed?

Thanks.

[APE]

Hey Bomberhead,

Can you post a link to the guide that you followed?

Thanks.

Sounds like he used the method all over the place:
http://www.segastyle.com/saturnmod.html

I used that method before with a mod board from Racketboy which are VERY different from what Trenton_net got ahold of. That method of installation is beyond easy and can be done by someone with absolutely no prior soldering skills.

[pcc10]

Sounds like he used the method all over the place:
http://www.segastyle.com/saturnmod.html

I used that method before with a mod board from Racketboy which are VERY different from what Trenton_net got ahold of. That method of installation is beyond easy and can be done by someone with absolutely no prior soldering skills.

Thanks, APE.

[APE]

The only burn I've tried so far was the Sonic Xtreme release we did a few years back. It seemed to think it was an audio CD but I haven't gotten back to that point yet. I'm beyond exhausted at this point so I really don't want to play around with anything until morning but I think I can get at least one of them to work on the 32 pin given how universally compatible they seem to be.

I have confirmed that they both read pressed media just fine. Could probably get the 64 pin to work too if I knew more about how the chip expects the ribbons to be oriented in relation to the boards. Given the ribbon does twist itself in a complete circle on the 64 pin I would somehow doubt the chip maker had anticipated this.

I also noticed that the chip build quality is a tad low. On the power wire of the barebones chip the wire connects to a via that has been drilled out of the bottom of the board. If it should be connected on both sides for power it sure as hell isn't anymore. Honestly though if they work I don't care if they're made on banana leaf or tortilla.

[APE]

Finally got the crystal bearing board to work on my 32 pin, had to arrange the ribbons in a very interesting manner that probably isn't good for them.

Sonic Xtreme apparently is set to NTSC-J, patched it to NTSC-U and it booted just fine. Now to figure out Saturn #2.

[Trenton_net]

I'm glad you got it working. Any tips on what you did with the cable? Perhaps it has a break in it? Wouldn't surprise me given the nature of all this.

I'd be interested to hear if the other chip works in the 32-pin machine as well. Perhaps a good way to eliminate the cable as a source of issues is to take known-working cables and use those with the other chip? Though, it's a stab in the dark. (^_^);

[APE]

The problem with using the two cables from both Saturns is that the 64 pin has the ribbon start with the white side down and the side with the blue writing on the top. When it gets to the motherboard side its upside down. The ribbon is also "keyed" in that only one side of each end has exposed pins.

However the connectors on both the CD-ROM board and motherboard have a full compliment of 62 pins each. I don't know if these pins mirror themselves or if they even serve a purpose. I can take a picture later of how my 32 pin is setup but it might've just taken some time due to me attempting the install based on your instructions but missing a step along the way. I'll blame user error on the 32 pin install for sure.

I couldn't get the barebones to work at all in either console and I dropped it in the mail earlier. I wouldn't mind another of any chip left but either way I'm going to put it through the paces of both consoles. 64 pin Saturns seem notoriously difficult to mod successfully with certain aspects making some mod designs better than others.

[Trenton_net]

I couldn't get the barebones to work at all in either console and I dropped it in the mail earlier. I wouldn't mind another of any chip left but either way I'm going to put it through the paces of both consoles. 64 pin Saturns seem notoriously difficult to mod successfully with certain aspects making some mod designs better than others.

Ah, that's awesome. If that's the case, I'll send you a flat ribbon chip and you can have a good romp with it. I assume the more uncommon the chip the better? (^_^);

[APE]

Ah, that's awesome. If that's the case, I'll send you a flat ribbon chip and you can have a good romp with it. I assume the more uncommon the chip the better? (^_^);

The more uncommon an item the more interesting it tends to be for me.

Saw a sweet Laserdisc/DVD/VCD player at a thrift store yesterday. If they didn't want $150 for it and I had more spare cash I'd jump on it.