Sega Saturn Repair

[Cauterize]

I got a Spare Model 2 Saturn at the weekend ive just got round to testing

It boots up like any saturn, but the cd doesnt spin or doesnt get detected when the lid is closed.

im going to open up it now, see if there are any obvious problems, apart from that does anyone know how to repair this problem? Any info would be greatly appreciated!

Adam

[Arcade Antics]

Gonna slide this one on over to the Restoration forum where it might get more fix-it-up exposure.

>>>SLIDE<<<

[davidleeroth]

The first one (and the easiest) to check is the lid switch.
Open it up and see if pushing it by hand makes it work. You can adjust it a bit by bending the top of the metal casing around it forwards/backwards.

If that's not the case, I have most spares for Saturn.

[Cauterize]

Hmm well ive opened it up, at first it seemed the disc was to tight/close to the saturn to spin, so i removed the casing surrounding the motor/laser

Still no spin in this saturn!

I then removed the whole lid so there would be no friction between the disc and the saturn and it still doesnt spin, even when i press down the switch which is meant to be hit when the lid is closed... argh!

Any further ideas?

Id love to get this working, as i bought this spare one for my mod chip which is coming in the post!

[davidleeroth]

Does the laser do anything on power-up? I still suspect the lid switch, can you measure it with a multimeter to see if it works?

You could try and lift the CD spindle carefully with the blade of a knife, if it has been really stuck to the casing I guess there's the possibility it has burned the motor. The motor is easy to check in itself.

[Cauterize]

I can hear the laser clicking and moving slightly....

I also (when turned off) twisted the cogs so the laser went to the end, then turned it on... the laser moved back, and it appears to be okay, so it has to be either something with the motor or cd holder

[Cauterize]

okay i think i found out the problem! I jsut need help on fixing it!

I can spin the cd holder with my hand when the laser is moved out of the way, but when the laser is right next to the cd holder, its giving friction, not letting it spin when turned on/or spinning for a second when spun with my hands...

How can i fix this, will i need to make the laser lower or the cd holder higher?
When compared with my other model 2, this broken one seems to have the cd holder much lower in!

[davidleeroth]

The CD holder higher. Wiggle a kitchen, or other flat-blade knife under it. Be gentle however as it's pretty easy to crack the spindle if you push the knife at an angle.

[Cauterize]

hmmm, cheers for the advice, but i managed to make it so they didnt collide...
It seems the laser is dead, it starts going up and down lookin for a cd and claims there isnt one there

Any ideas?

[spiritcloud]

I've been searching far and wide for a way to fix my Saturn. In the process, I have seen a lot of posts from people claiming their discs don't spin when the Saturn attempts to load a game.

I had the same problem. My laser was moving and trying to read the disc, but the disc wouldn't spin. The laser looked very dim to me, so I started looking for a voltage control for it. There is a little orange 'dial', for lack of a better word, just above the cable that connects the laser assembly to the circuit board. When I turned it counter-clockwise, the laser seemed even dimmer. When I turned it clockwise, however, the disc started spinning!

**REMEMBER!!! Any time you adjust something, find a way to mark its original position!**

It didn't fix my disc-read problem, but at least it is a step in that direction. I was surprised at how many posts I have read on multiple sites with the same no-spin problem, and how many were told to replace the whole assembly or even the whole system.

Maybe they are right and the disc-read problem is still unfixable in this situation, but with the disc at least spinning, I feel successin my grasp.

[spiritcloud]

My Saturn is having basically the same problem as Cauterize. It says "Checking disc format" for a few seconds, then says "Drive empty."

The laser moves, and the disc spins. But the laser still seems really dim to me. Turning the orange 'dial' seemed to brighten it slightly and fixed my no-spin problem, but it only turns about 1/4 turn before stopping.

My gut tells me if I could pump up the juice more to the laser, it might read the disc.

Is there any way to do this? I se a couple of other adjustable components on the circuit board below the laser/drive assembly. What are those for?

Any help/advice with fixing this is greatly appreciated!

Thanks.

[InsaneDavid]

You do realize you bumped a two year old thread, right?

Anyway, to answer your question, before tweaking the adjustment pot try unplugging and reseating the ribbon cable that runs to the drive assembly board. Every instance I've had of a Saturn not spinning but the lid close switch working has been caused by this.

Example...
Drive closed "checking disc format" - and then nothing or "drive empty"
Drive closed "checking disc format" - ant then "disc is unsuitable for this system" when the proper region

Unplug the ribbon cable, clean across the connecting points on each end, and reseat the cable. If anything it's a MUCH better place to start. As you said two posts ago, adjusting the pot didn't fix your problem - there by it should be considered bad advice.

[sweet101]

Hi i have also got a problem with my sega saturn, when i first started playing it, it was fine but after about 20 mins of gameplay it started to mess up, when i turn it off then back on again i get fuzzy lines on the television screen and a high pitched buzzing noise coming from the saturn, it sounds like the cd seems to want to spin but it cant, thereofore cant read any games, this problems seems to only happen when playing the saturn for a while, not sure if its the laser, the motor or what it is, if anyone knows how to fix this or had a similar problem could they please reply to this thread it would be very much appreiated, i would desparately love to find out how to fix it, im also taking it to a repair shop

[SkiDragon]

I am now having this same problem. I brought my second Saturn (a model 1) out of storage. When I first bought it, it seemed to not want to play certain games for some reason. I don't remember what happened when it didn't play a game, and instead of testing it when I got it out, I decided to open it up right away. I wanted to eventually put a mod chip in it, but since it was pretty dirty inside, I figured I should clean it up a bit first. I did this, and the only issue I had was that I lost a screw somehow. The screw attached some sort of weird grounding strap from the CD drive to the RF shield right below it. I found a replacement screw that I figured should work until I find the original.

Anyway, now when I put a game in and close the lid, or just press the lid switch, the CD spins a little bit and then it says "drive empty". I've tried different games, and I tried reseating the ribbon cable, which I already just cleaned, but I've had no luck.

I would just put the mod chip in my main Saturn, but I have been having trouble with that too, which is a separate issue.

[raylydiard]

hi i had the the same prob a while back if you look at the sega saturn cd board there a
chip ba6798s i repalced it and work fine ever since works like a new sega saturn

[SkiDragon]

hi i had the the same prob a while back if you look at the sega saturn cd board there a
chip ba6798s i repalced it and work fine ever since works like a new sega saturn

This fixed the "drive empty" problem? I wouldn't expect a chip to be the problem.

[raylydiard]

its a laser servo tells the drive to spin the disc and tells the drive to read i promsis you it true i thought it was my laser frist but i tryed it on my other saturn and it worked
but i am get 10 broken cd drives next week i can sort you out one if you want a working one