Sega Saturn suddenly stoped reading disks

[tuxtpenguin]

I help in a charity shop and someone recently donated a Sega Saturn (UK)

I took it home to test and it had worked perfectly, read every game-cd and audio-cd, etc.

However whilst using it 2 hours ago. I changed over a disk and suddenly it's stopped reading them/struggling to read every disk...

There's been no power surges or massive bangs.. it seems to have just suddenly given up. All the cds are clean/no scratches and I cleaned the laser. There were now and then clicking noises.. So I opened it up and the gears all seem to move freely..

do I have to admit defeat or could there be another easy solution to save it from the recycle yard/split up for spares..?

[APE992]

Does the system boot up normally with the lid closed? As in full boot up animation and the spheres at the BIOS dash appear normal?

By not normal, here are a few ideas:
http://www.segastyle.com/troubleshoot.html

I doubt you've got a modded Saturn but I'm hoping there is a problem with the ribbon connecting the optical assembly with the motherboard. In which case I have two spare ribbons for model 2 Saturns.

[tuxtpenguin]

Everything boots normally, goes into the main screen. However when any disk is inserted it seems to struggle to read it... sometimes it will read the audio data, other times it wont find the disk and sometimes it will just about manage to work.

[APE992]

Might need cleaning or adjustment (not just power like everyone and their mother writes guides for).

I doubt its bound for the garbage pile but without seeing it I couldn't say whats wrong. Hopefully it's just a misaligned laser.

[tuxtpenguin]

What kind of adjsutments?

I have already cleaned the lens with a lens cleaner.


What gets me is how almost instantly it just went.

Was working fine in my 'testing' of it for 3 days... change the disk and instantly it just seems to have given up.. :s

[tuxtpenguin]

Well I've left it for a few days. have picked it up to move the unit to clean.. put it back down. Re powered it... put a disk in.. and seemed to struggle again.. but suddenly it seemed to improved and is reading disks again.....


of course the intention is to resell the device in the charity shop.. but something isn't quite right if it suddenly stopped working problem... something is out of alignment and obviously gets nudged....

[APE992]

I don't think anyone would want to buy a Saturn at a charity shop if it doesn't work reliably. I'd buy it off of you myself seeing as I could use some parts and could probably fix it myself.

[tuxtpenguin]

oh no I wouldn't sell it in the shop in it's current state. But any simple things I could try and fix myself?

[APE992]

Other than cleaning the lens (which is probably not necessary) I can't think of anything I'd be comfortable suggesting you try. It could be that the motor or other parts of the optical assembly need a little TLC and some ceramic grease but those parts are easily broken by someone unfamiliar with them.

WD40 is also not an option. Typically fixes the problem for a while then gums up the works even worse than when you started.

[raylydiard]

i am after sanyo lasers.

[tuxtpenguin]

If only I knew someone nearer me in London who doesn't mind having a look at it for charity... :P