Saturn console spins disc, doesn't read. Rapidly flashing message.

I have a Saturn console that doesn't work. When it is powering on, it takes longer go through the startup screens than usual. You can also notice this after the Reset button is pressed. Game discs spin but they are not read. The menu keeps flashing "Checking Disc". I have tested the laser and cd drive on another Saturn console and they are confirmed working, so the problem is probably with the motherboard? I took a look at it but didn't notice anything unusually damaged. I did see a glob of solder on one of the psu pins which means someone had previously installed a modchip on it. I removed most of the solder, but I don't think that has anything to do with the console not reading games. I have never seen the message rapidly flashing like that on any Saturns before. Has this happened to anyone else, or would anyone have an idea of what the problem is?

 

Sounds like a problem with the cable that connects the CD assembly to the main board. For anyone else wondering, the rapid flashing message is in fact 2 messages. First one we see says "Checking disk format". It will then very briefly say "Disk not compatible with this system". Don't know of anything else. Check to be sure the flat cable is in good condition and seated properly.

 

I did make sure all connections were secure. I also swapped in another drive cable of the same type that is known to be working, but it produced the same results. It's probably not a problem with the drive connection since the cubes on the sides show green. If there is a bad connection it would show yellow or red spheres.

 

It could be a bad power supply - I have seen a number of Saturns that did strange thing because the PSU was on the way out.

 

I swapped in a psu, cd drive and laser from another working console and it still has the issue.

 

Have you had a look at the main board for anything out of place? Its possible that something may need replacing or fixing. Just a guess, as you have done everything else like swapping psu, cd drive, ribbon cables. Never quite seen an issue like that from the video you posted.

How does it behave if you take the top case off and hold down the lid sensor with a disc in?

 

I get the same results if I just pinch the door sensor with my fingers. I looked over the main board but didn't see anything unusual, other than that glob of solder I already removed. There is a piece of yellow tape on the back side but that is probably from the factory. I also pressed the reset button near the battery holder but nothing.

 

Only other thing I can think of would be a failing PSU, bad capacitors, or corrupted BIOS. Check the voltages of the PSU. The main one should be 5 volts. If it's like mine then it will also have a 9 volt rail. Make sure both of these are with .25 volts of 5 and 9. If that checks out fine then I suggest to replace all of the capacitors next. If it STILL fails after that then it's most likely a corrupted BIOS. then you'd have a good excuse to get either get a chip with the region free BIOS or flash the original.

That's all I can think of.

 

Yeah I tested it with 2 other psu's, 1 from a US console and another from a white JP console. It still wouldn't function properly. I will probably just replace the board with a working one.

 

Looks like one of the pins on the socket for the MPEG card is bent over and shorted out - since it's connected to the SH-1 that controls the CD-ROM, that could well cause a problem...

 

I'm working on this Saturn now and I'm hoping my findings might help someone help me diagnose this thing.

Everything said about I've tried again, seems like the problem is isolated to the mobo. The region jumpers have been played with as you can see with JP6 and JP9. As it stands with the Gamesx table it came to me set to a DO NOT USE region setting. The jumper locations match the Hi Saturn Navi the best however there are no images of JP8/9. Unlike the Navi JP13 has no resistor but you can see there is a trace shorting JP13 closed. I see no evidence that JP11 has had it's resistor relocated and if this is the case then this Saturn was never factory set to Korea. I did change the region over to what should be Japan and it boots up with English as the default language.

It also doesn't wig out anywhere near as fast after warming up a bit. I'm going to let it cool down and see if it behaves that way again. Bad cap or a cold join could be an issue here.

 

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If it's of any help, here are pics of the jumpers on a working Samsung Saturn, although I think this one is a different revision. This has the Japanese language removed and has bios NTSC-2-1.02a:

 

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APE did you look at this? I noticed that in the pictures too.

 

Wasn't bent when I got it, betting SaturnHST fixed that.