How Do I Know If This Mega CD Works?

[Sanada78]

I just bought a Mega CD, Mega Drive, 2 games (nothing special) and one controller for £6. Naturally, I thought the parts would be broke since they came from the tip shop, but the Mega Drive works fine and so do the games. The controller has a slight weird problem with one of the buttons sticking but nothing serious. As for the Mega CD, I have yet to get it working.

Unfortunately, I could only find the unit itself with no cables or any other parts. It?s the first version of the Mega CD, the Mega Drive goes on top of it. I?ve noticed there is, well, no on switch so I?m assuming the Mega Drive somehow turns it on. Since I only have one power pack, I can only test it on its own. I will be getting another one hopefully shortly so I can test them together. No lights or anything light up, nor does the CD tray open.

What I would like to know is what parts did the first Mega CD come with? I?ve noticed there?s a lock thing on the side but I don?t what it does. All the cables it needs seem to be standard and easily replaceable. I?ve never had one of these before, so I don?t know how it works.

Thanks.

[Raccoon Lad]

assuming it's exactly the same as a Sega CD, it should come with; a metal shielding plate, an AC adapter, and a mixing cable.

and out of those 3, you should only NEED the AC adapter.

[rbudrick]

First make sure all contacts are clean where it meets the genesis (and make sure it's in all the way.

I think there's a fuse inside of there too, but I don't remember. I've got a dead one too that I never got running....

-Rob

[Push Upstairs]

The Sega CD (Mega CD for you) required its own AC adaptor to function.

To use a Mega CD, there must not be a game cartridge in the Genesis...err Mega Drive and you simply turn on the MD and the Mega CD will power on.


As for your controller problem...take it apart and clean it (the buttons and pastic case) give them a scrub down with some hot water and a old toothbrush.

[Sanada78]

Thanks for the replies.

I?ve now opened it up to have a look inside. There?s a game still in the CD tray (Thunder Hawk) so that?s a bonus. One of you said that there maybe a fuse? Unless it looks like a plug fuse, I don?t know what I?m looking for. I?ve also noticed that there?s a 3V watch type battery. Could this have gone flat and caused it to not work? Only thing I can think of that it does is store SRAM or BIOS settings.

[Push Upstairs]

That battery is for saving games to the internal memory.

As for the fuse....well, i've never had a look at whats inside the SEga/Mega CD but i am guessing its a small, silver cylinder shaped fuse.

[Sanada78]

Yay! I managed to get it working. :D

It seems the green fuse (F1 on the PCB) had burnt out so I shorted it with a bit of wire and it worked again. I'm going to get another one and replace the broken one.

Again, thanks for the help.

[13u1313a]

Hmmm Ive got a dead one think i'll try all of these tips, hope i get it working. Got a lot of games i need to try out.

[AlanD]

That F1 fuse right near the power input is a high fail item. I have fixed 8 of 10 SegaCD units just by changing that. The other 2 had bad drive units that would not read past track 10. Usually when I get them now I test them by putting in an audio CD with 15 tracks or so and try to access each track then check it with a game. Hope that helps,
AlanD

[anagrama]

Is that fuse something I could walk into an electronics store and find a replacement for, or would it have to be ordered from somewhere?
I've got a dead MegaCD1 aswell that I'd like to get working.

[AlanD]

I would have to look at it to find the rating but it looks just like a small resistor. Usually in the testing phase I just break the resistor with needle nose and twist the wires together if it looks burnt. Usually I just drop in a glass style fuse with leads soldered to the end then slip heat shrink around it all. Of course the earlier mention of just replacing it with a wire seems a viable solution if you are brave enough to run your equipment that way. My current SegaCD model 1 I believe is still laboring under twisted wires for the past 2 tears with no trouble :)

[Sanada78]

The fuse I used wasn't the same as the one originally in there. I got my Dad to get a replacement since he's an electrician and knows more about it than I do.

I think any generic fuse will work. The one I used had a 240V rating so it was obviously made for something different.

I think you should short it with a bit of wire and see if it works first, then consider replacing it.

[anagrama]

Woo-hoo! I shorted it out as directed, and it's now working perfectly :D Another console arises from the grave!
And it's freed up a bit of room under the telly by removing my mis-matched MD1/MCD2 combo. Huzzah!

[AlanD]

Good job. Congrats on the successful repair. Always nice to see a tray unit working again. They are so cool :)

[anagrama]

Indeed! Many thanks for the advice :)
Just need to get the appropriate screwdriver bits and try a similar repair on my XBox now...

[Push Upstairs]

There is a toolkit sold on ebay that has just the right bits to open up an XBOX.

The bits are supposed to be for phones, monitors and whatnot but its usually described as being for video games and often then will have bits to open up Sega and Nintendo games included as well.