Saturn repair questions

[Bad_Ad84]

I've been donated a Saturn which doesn't boot up.

Now, never owning a Saturn doesnt help - I do not know if the console is supposed to boot into a memory management type screen (DC, PS1, etc) or not...

So first question, should this console boot without a disk?

Secondly,

Its had a region mod done and its not survived the test of time very well.

the switch for 50/60hz was broken (possibly why its not booting? the lifted leg would just be floating) and the bank of switches for the region also has signs of wear.

Now, I am undoing all this (intend to replace the bios with region free). Is there anyway to tell what region the motherboard/console was originally? and are the jumpers (JP6-13) documented anywhere? I basically just want to figure out the original region and return it all to stock.

Once its working as stock, I can work on modding it.


Also, are there any other common faults to look out for? I know the DC is full of them.

Thanks

[randyrandall]

A saturn with no disc inserted will either go straight into the Clock Set screen (if the battery inside has died), or if the battery is okay, it will play the intro and then go to the CD player screen. Either way it should do something and you should be getting an image.

[Bad_Ad84]

Well thats the first question answered :)

thanks

[rosewood]

Here is a list of the jumpers: http://www.gamesx.com/wiki/doku.php?...ts:sega_saturn

For debugging purposes you need the mainboard and power supply only (if the controller ports, reset button and LED are separated on a daughter board you'll need that too). In that constellation it will boot up and go to the date/time settings screen.

[Druid II]

Check the serial sticker on the back of the console, it lists what model the saturn is. HST-32xx is japanese, MK-xxxxxx is USA, MK-xxxxxx-50 is PAL. If it's MK-xxxxx-17 or -08 or some other wierd number, it's likely an asian model, I believe those are set to japanese region by default (not 100% sure).

Regardless, you should set it to either japanese, usa or europe (regioncode 1, 4, 12). Some things like action replay carts won't boot if the region is not set to any of the known regions (which are 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, 13), and I'm not sure if the region free bios knocks out cart checks as well. Do note that the BIOS will not always show you which region the machine is in. On my PAL machine, the Bios only showed the regions 1, 2, 4 and C (12), everything else defaulted to C (12), even though the code was active and games would not boot due to mismatching region.

If the 50/60hz control pin is free-floating, then the chip shoud pull the line low, which sets the machine to 50hz mode (it will not change from PAL to NTSC though, just 50/60hz). On most models I checked anyway. Some later models may act differently however - I've heard of Usa machines that could not be changed to 50hz even by pretty knowledgable people. I could successfully do 50/60 mods on VA0, 1, and SD models, so it's probably the very late models that need extra care.

[Bad_Ad84]

I did find the list of jumpers yesterday.

I soldered everything back up as Euro/PAL.

The machine still doesnt display anything.


So, we are doing to - PSU or the main board...

Is there anything on the board to look out for? fuses, etc? otherwise, I guess I need a known working PSU to test with it.

[alecjahn]

Try reseating the power supply connection? Probably not that simple, but mine stopped operating fully one day close to when I first got it and it ended up being that simple fix. Had a DC do something similar when I put it back together.

[Bad_Ad84]

its been apart and reseated several times, soon as I saw the PSU it was a "oh, just like the DC".

But it didnt work

[rosewood]

Did you check the PSU, do you get +5V and +9V from the pins? (GND|GND|+5V|+5V|+9V)
Is there any sign of life at all?

[Shinebi]

What cable are you using?
Full RGB scart doesn't always work on some NTSC-boards.
(internal circuit isn't always connected)

Try with an RF or Cinch cable first.

[Bad_Ad84]

Board is known working with the cables I have (person donated with cables, cables also tested on another working console before being given to me).

Signs of life - power light comes on, disk starts to spin and seek and tv auto switches to that scart input. Nothing on the display tho.

Not tested PSU outputs directly - intend to look at that tonight.

[Shinebi]

This sounds familiar... I had the same thing happen when I tried to fully mod a Sanyo Saturn. *tries to remember what the culprit was*

EDIT:

the bank of switches for the region also has signs of wear

Do you mean on the mobo itself? I'm guessing it's one of the connections gone faulty

Here's some more info if you DO happen to stumble on a rare board:
http://www.ntsc-uk.co.uk/showthread.php?78424

[Bad_Ad84]

No, the bank of switches (from the mod) not the bank of jumpers on the board itself.

The bank of switches for region and the switch for 50/60hz have been removed. The jumpers have also been replaced back to stock.

[Shinebi]

So it DID work before you removed the switches?
Sorry if I'm not following.
I know there's a n exeption on some boards where you also have to cut 1 connection. Might check that.

[Bad_Ad84]

No, it didn't work with the mods either.

Mod's were removed to assist in fault finding (i.e. rule them out) - but still doesn't boot. and I intend to use region free bios rather than bank of switches if/when I repair it.

There are no connections cut that I can see. The mod was switches to the jumper points and a leg lifted for 50/60hz mod (which has been replaced, as detailed above).


Just to point out, im at work at the moment - the mods were reversed last night and then I went to bed. I am mostly asking for known issues or people who have had similar problems.

There is no point reinventing the wheel and spending days fault finding when I can just ask for help from people with experience with this device :)

[Shinebi]

Is the flatcable goin from mobo to CD-drive still in one piece?
IIRC it doesn't boot properly when there's no connection...

Pretty obvious, but just trying to think along.

[Bad_Ad84]

Cable seems ok (however, its easy for breaks to occur within the cable) - I can test this later.

However, I was reading that you dont need the CD unit attached to test it? I read that if its missing it will still boot just very slowly.

[Shinebi]

http://www.mmmonkey.co.uk/console/se...urnregion3.htm

Your mobo might be different?
Does it have round or oval buttons, is the PSU attached to the top of the unit or the bottom part?

[Bad_Ad84]

Different board.

Mines a VA7, the jumpers are all together.

(from my limited saturn knowledge) its a Saturn 2 and has round grey buttons.

Power supply on the left hand side, connection makes contact near the bottom left of the mainboard.

edit:


Jumpers are like that on my board

Edit2:

Another thing that has come to mind - I dont think it has a battery fitted. Should it boot with no battery in?

[Druid II]

Without the battery, the system goes into the language/date selection by default. If the disc spins up, then there shouldn't be any problems concerning the state of your region select mod (if that mod is severly screwed up or you short out the chip that handles it, you get a black screen with 0 activity).

You said that the leg on the VDP chip was lifted for the 50/60 mod. What did you do with that, leave it hanging, or pushed it back in its place? Check if it doesn't touch the other pins, maybe you pushed the leg back badly.

You get no audio either?