JP Sega Saturn: Black screen but power

Hey guys so a few months back I got a jap Saturn and I replaced the PSU on it and it worked fine for a while but I went to use it the other day and all I get is a black screen.

It powers and the tv sees it as the screen starts to flicker a little. The CD doesn't spin up either

Something odd that did happen a while back was it did boot and it had the logo screen but it then washed out and went black.

I have taken a picture of it and what assume is a mod chip. (Will attach when on PC and not phone.)

All help appreciated.

Cheers

 

when you replaced the PSU was the mod chip wired up to the old one? eg there's not a loose wire flapping around in there somewhere?

also may just be a contact issue between the power board and the motherboard pins strip it down give the pins a clean make sure nothing is shorting and put it back together. there was a thread recently regarding a component in the power supply dying and causing issues also, although i cant seem to find it now, my search-fu is weak

 

Hey mate,
The only cable on the mod chip goes to the board the CD reader is on. I will strip it down tonight, it is probably something patently obvious and I am missing it.

I did have a search on the forum and found a few threads and all I saw was replace the battery.

Cheers

 

Maybe your modchip borked?

3 years ago I bought and installed a modchip from Racketboy in my saturn. It worked for less than a week then the console crashed when I was playing it and it would not work anymore. Black screen + Cd would not spin. Just like yours.

I removed the mod chip and the console worked. I tried reinstalling it and the problem started again. Racketboy then sent me a second chip which works to this day.

 

Did the Japanese machine have a 5-pin power supply?

If so, it was presumably VA5 or below, and had 3.3V on pin 3 - if you put a PSU from a VA6+ PAL machine into it, then you will apply 5V to the 3.3V logic supply and blow the main board up...

 

Mine is a VA5 and it is 5 Pin.

To remove the mod chip do I just pull out the two ribbon cables connected to the chip and then bridge the gap with the longer length the was attached to the mod chip ? It connects to the CD motherboard area and then the area to the right of the reset button.

 

That is the mod chip. Here is my old thread in regards to a bust PSU.

 

yes, longer cable in place of the shorter ribbon.

Also, do not power it up while its like in your picture - the bottom of the chip will short on the metal casing.

 

Dude there are solder splatters all over that thing o_o
That can't be a good sign, a loose debris like this could just fall off on the board and short something out.
( edit : unless this is corrosion that looks like solder? )

As for the modchip this is not the same kind of modchip that I used so cannot tell how to properly uninstall it.

 

Didnt even look at the solder splatter, which is exactly what it looks like.

 

That was all cleaned out when I had it apart, this is how it was when I got it.

There was no loose debry and it booted fine for a few months I will check over it again.

Cheers for the help guys.

 

looks like someone was just flicking their soldering iron off onto it, not a good sign.

 

^agreed. One of those could've moved into a spot you don't want it and shorted a part to death.

 

4 bad 220uf 6.3v caps near the cd switch causes a black screen.

 

If I had to guess those would be for the RGB lines.

 

well i am sure of the fault as i replaced them part's when i had a black screen when i used to break Saturn when i was learning a good few years ago.

 

Just because it fixed your console, doesnt mean it will fix all other consoles.

Multiple different faults can cause a black screen.

 

We still haven't heard back from OP. I was curious what would happen when he uninstalled the Mod Chip.