Advice/Assistance needed: Psy-Q Saturn system won't read or sense discs properly

Hey all

I just got a Psy-Q saturn and it doesn't read the drive state correctly. It constantly acts as if the tray is closed with a disc in it, regardless of actual state. The disc spins when one is in there, but it never seems to actually be read.

I've never had one of these before, so i really don't have much of a clue for troubleshooting outside of reseating all the cables.

anyone have any issues with these? How'd you fix yours?

thanks!

 

Moved to the repairs forum.

By the way, there's technically no such thing as a Psy-Q Saturn. The Psy-Q is the cartridge that plugs into any retail saturn. Psygnosis just happened to modify some retail Saturns and sell them to developers - they didn't come in the Psy-Q kit, although they did sticker them with their own serial numbers. So - you're looking at the same issue as a retail Saturn.

 

alright, so if i remove the Psy-Q board and plug everything back in, i've got a "model 1" japanese saturn that won't see discs.  seems as if the lid sensor was triggered, as if to do the swap trick.  gonna try tearing her down again and seeing what i can.

 

Check the lid switch with a multimeter.

 

lid switch seems to be working properly. +5 when lid is up, +0 when lid is closed. Disc spins up when lid is closed also. Still unable to read the disc. Also, the message about checking the disc format doesn't come back up after the first time, and the message about the door being open never comes up.