Saturn Disc Drive Swap (80000/80000A)

[FoxNtd]

What I have here is my friend's US Saturn with a disc drive that apparently died on me. It just will not activate. This is a model MK-80000A Saturn. I even tried to boot without the casing on to see or hear if anything goes on regarding the disc drive. (Manually held the lid switch to make the console think the lid was closed. Says "Checking disc format" but nothing happens.) The laser and disc holder both move smoothly when manually moved; all I can think of as the explanation is the motor that powers the spinner failed and because of this, the hardware doesn't bother initializing the laser.

Anyway, I can get my hands on a working MK-80000 model Saturn for $20. My question is this: is that model's disc drive compatible on the 80000A? The store's policy says they can't open consoles that are working so I would have to buy it before I can take a look inside to see if they changed anything between the two models. Could someone confirm this plan will work or is there an incompatibility?

One more concern: when I was done testing the unit, I remembered I had a spare coin battery on me, and I know the one currently in the console was dead, so I was going to change it and... it electrocuted me before I touched it. I had unplugged the A/C beforehand and I can't imagine why the coin battery in the back would ever have such an electrical build-up big enough to electrocute me. Is this a side-effect of the design of the console, or is this an indication that something, in some manner, is defective?

Thanks for the help. Hopefully it doesn't zap me again.

[izarate]

Almost every Saturn uses the same laser assemly (JVC Optima6) except the one that uses the Sanyo laser. Externally it looks like every other model 2 (oval buttons) but is louder than the Optima6 lasers. I don't know if it has an specific model number.

By the way, if the battery is dead I always had to reset my Saturn after the "Checking disc format" message for any game to load. It happened just when I got my first Saturn and it didn't have a battery in it, after I put a battery in the holder it would load the game right away. I don't know if they are that way or if I got a defective unit. Anyway, it's been working great except for that detail.

[FoxNtd]

Thanks, that was precisely what I was looking to determine. If the other model does have a Sanyo unit, will it matter though? Guess I will find out soon enough the answers I seek.

I just tried putting in a fresh new battery. Absolutely no difference in behavior after booting up. Worth a try I guess.