saturn error: black screen only.

one of my 3 saturns is faulty.

it powers on but only displays a black screen, the tv recognizes that its turned on and even autoselects the scart. the cd does not spin.

its a 64 pin v2 pal saturn, if that matters.

anybody who dealt with a similar problem?

thanks in advance!

 

Try opening it and shifting pressure on the powersupply board (maybe reseat it - look for the pins that go through the board and play with them a little) careful you don't blow yourself up. This fixed a similar problem for me.

 

will try, thanks.

 

Also check any other loose connections while you're in there and try and smell for burning, although I'm guessing you have already done this.

 

Also make sure the reset button is not jammed down as if someone has opened the unit it is too easy to get the long plastic piece jammed in the casing and cause a black screen of doom.

 

ok, i completely dis- and reassembled the unit, to make sure everything is in place and the reset button is not stuck etc.

nothing.

i disconnected the cd-drive, the controllerports-board (with the reset button on it) leaving just the motherboard and the psu.

still nothing.

so i guess the motherboard is knackered?

 

You should just remove the lid and make sure the reset button rubber mat is not flat on the control board and does spring up and down. Make sure you have everything attached as the Saturn doesn't like not having the things attached.

Do the LEDs light up?

 

i had tested various scenarios.

1) system completely assembled, made sure the reset button was ok.

2) the top casing removed, nothing was blocking the reset button.

3) controllerports board removed (apparently not so good)
4) cd-rom drive removed (apparently not so good)
5) both removed (apparently not so good)

power LED is on, yep. (as its v2 there is no access LED)

 

Just make sure that the reset button (without the plastic stick) is springy as if it's flat on the board then it would be reseting all the time, and remove and reseat the PSU board just in case.

 

thanks, but still nothing. :shrug:

so, if the saturn does not like to be turned on with missing parts, it could be something other than the motherboard? maybe a defective cd-drive, or controllerports board?

 

The Saturn will boot verrrrrrrry slowwwwwwwwwly with the CD-ROM unit disconnected...

 

Try swapping the PSU from a working Saturn, as this will rule out a power related fault.

 

the PSU works fine, even tested with a multimeter.

 

i had a saturn with this condition after pluggin in a pad while the unit was turned on but never managed to fix it.

probably some hidden fuse?

 

The same thing happened with my PAL unit. I changed the PSU fuse, I did let it get hot, I got a CVBS cable just in case the RF box was broken... I ended getting a JP one.

 

i dont mean a regular psu see-thru fuse, im talking about those hard-to-spot resistor-fuse or some custom ones like the ones sony uses

 

turns out the psu was faulty, i put it in a working unit and get the same results.

 

i have fixed this prob before easy fix
on your motherbourd there 4 CAPACITORs
near where the video socket is 220uf 6.3v
replace the all near together and the picture will work
if not just email me

 

thanks,

but now im confused as to why the psu produced the error on an otherwise fine working machine

 

I pulled my saturn out of the barn the other night and i discovered there was corrosion on the board and i managed to get a nice jolt of ac pwr.