I got a Sega Saturn off Ebay several years ago and turned it on and it booted retail games just fine. I tried to install a modchip and then it would not boot anything. So I removed modchip and got a different Saturn, installed modchip and it worked. I just pulled the older Saturn out of storage to see if I can fix it. It wont boot any games. I taped the lid switch to make it think that its always closed and turned it on and I can see the laser assembly move and I can see a red laser. It says drive empty, no matter what I put in the CD tray. Do I need to adjust the laser pot? I heard something of adjusting the tray? How do you do that?
Check the drive ribbon cable; look at the pins, make sure none are bent. I've seen this before - bent pin on the ribbon cable and the Saturn would not read any discs. If the ribbon cable is fine - make sure it inserted all the way in.
I replaced the laser with a new one and now it plays a retail game like it's a CD. It just goes to the CD player screen and says checking format then it plays the in game music. ??
Did you remove the antistatic solder bridge? Most new lasers have these and need to be removed before installing.
Yes, I removed the antistatic solder bridge. I adjusted the pot too. I incrementally bumped it all the way up and all the way down(will that mess up the laser?)....I put a retail disc in, turn it on, it goes to the CD player menu and says checking disc format and then just lets me play sound tracks from the game.
i pretty sure it has been said in other threads that ajusting the pot of a Saturn should NOT be done.
I removed the duplicate post where you asked exactly the same question again - please don't repeat yourself in duplicate threads. I've also moved this to the repairs forum - the Sega forum is more for development discussion. (Note there's also a Saturn development discussion forum - in fact, take a few minutes to acquaint yourself with all the forums so you know where best to post in future.) As said above, I have mentioned that you shouldn't blindly tweak pots on lasers. Search the forum for Saturn laser - I'm sure you'd find lots of threads that answer your question. You need an oscilloscope, the service manual and the correct test CD to adjust a laser diode correctly. Blindly tweaking, whilst it may sometimes give the desired result, is the easy way to burn out your laser faster.
