Recently been modding a model 2 va9 board. I've done the region free bios mod successfully and next was the switchless mod for 50/60hz. I'm following the guide from here, but have a few issues with reset not working. http://www.mmmonkey.co.uk/sega-saturn-region-free-bios/ Switching between 50 and 60hz works fine, but reset will not work at all. The led I attached will also change between green, yellowish and red. I've cut the track between the reset button and c122 as instructed, my wiring is setup as per the guide, so I'm really not sure what else could be the issue. The chip for the switchless mod was ordered from Bad_Ad84, the modded switchless one for 50/60hz only. I can try and post a few pictures if needed, though sadly don't have the best camera for such detail. Any hints or suggestions to look at would be appreciated to troubleshoot this. The mod does work, but it would be nice to have reset function on a short press of the reset button. Thanks!
I've literally just installed this mod today myself, although ive not had a chance to test it as its a japanese 120v Saturn and I need a picoPSU to power it. Make sure you've connected the "reset" pin to the appropriate spot (my Saturn has the seperate controller board, so I soldered the reset pin on the chip, to the reset pin on the ribbon cable connector)
issue sounds to be pin 11 of the pic or where you have soldered the wire thats connected to this pin. Everything else must be wired correctly from your description.
Yeah thats what I was thinking, as pin 11 is what controls the actual resetting of the console right?
Pin 11 seems to be fine, so I've been focusing more on where the cut was made. Managed to get a somewhat decent picture of where I made the trace cut. Looking at it closer it appears I may have cut 2 or 3 traces by accident, just below where the trace cut is meant to be. The area is tiny, and you can't really make it out much with the naked eye alone, but it is a bit more obvious when blown up by a camera. Would these cause an issue for reset, but still allow the button to be functional for region changing? I'm not entirely sure if they are severed, but you can see a faint trace cut that way. Just wondering what's the easiest way of fixing this if this is indeed the issue. Any help or adivce is appreciated as always. Thanks.
I don't know if thats the right trace you cut, but it's very easy to repair a broken trace. Just scrape away the solder mask on the trace, and bridge it piece of wire, or even just with a blob of solder. Your soldering looks a little messy on the switch too, im not sure if you used an iron tip that was too big, looks like you melted the side of the switch. Shouldn't affect the functionality of the mod, but it might have been easier to solder the wires to the switch on the other side of the board. Also, check continuity between that capacitor and the PIC and see if there is actually a connection there.
The tip was fine at the time. Not my finest work by far at all. I put it down mostly to fatigue, and soldering, unsoldering those points quite a few times and not realisng the side of the iron was close. Ah well, slight cosmetic defect aside, will be happy to get this fixed up. Have loaned out my continuity tester, so will have to wait to get that back. In the mean time, other suggestions or input is appreciated. Cheers.
Traces weren't broken like I thought they were. Managed to get my continuity tester back to test, so not exactly sure what the issue was there. With that said, I managed to find an alternative point to solder to instead of the capacitor. All seems to be working well.
