Saturn won't boot

Wanted to play on my Saturn yesterday like I do everyday but surprisingly it wouldn't even boot up. There's no start animation with bootup sound, it just shows the Saturn logo (as if I had pressed Start to skip the animation) and then goes to the system menu. I can't exit the menu though, all I can do it manage my data, set the clock ect.
It's not the actual Saturn menu with the space ship in the background but the system settings.

I really have no clue what could be wrong with it. It's a white Saturn btw. The battery is still in good state, but this would not trigger such a problem anyway. Hope anyone can help me to clear this up. :crying:

 

Has it been modded?

It's possible it isn't seeing the CD drive. I'd have to look that one up, though.

 

No, it's unmodded and with everything given by mother Sega.

 

Try disconnecting the CD-ROM cable and see what it does.

 

Any luck?

By the way, if the battery is dead, it WILL come up with the system menu first. What happens when you go to Exit on the date screen and press A? Does it stay on that screen? Does it freeze?

 

It soundsd like you 've got one of the rare motherboard errors. They don't happen very often but I have read a few cases over the years of saturn that just won't get to the CD player screen. They either crash on the boot up logo, freeze at the settings or just won't show any image what so ever. It is quite rare but does happen. You maybe lucky though with just a CD Drive error. Try unplugging it like barcode said.

Yakumo

 

HEY! Don't insult me! :lol:

j/k Barc0de ;-)

I have seen a few Saturns have a spaz attack, usually due to a modchip. The splash screen loops!

 

I had one that did the same thing, after a failed attempt to switch it to 60hz

:crying:

 

I will try it right after this posting.

There's only a "reset"-option in the date screen (apart from "back") and when I hit it it's just that what happens: reset and ending up in the same menu again (the backup data management). >_<

/edit
The CD is also spinning all the time.

 

I opened it, but I seem to be somewhat unsure what the CD-ROM cable is...lol. Sorry, first time I opened a console to really do something else but cleaning :110:

Here's a picture of the problem child.

 

the broad white cable on the right.

 

Thanks for the confirmation, I wasn't sure but assumed it must be that one because the tiny cable on the left is too small. Will try my best then, can't get any worse!

 

Removed the CD cable but that didn't change anything, except for the CD which stopped spinning of course. Mainboard error?

 

The grey cable is power - you could have removed either, really ;-)

What revision is the board? It should have a VA number, I spy a round button, so it should be between VA4 and VA9.

 

It's a VA6.

 

I just noticed retro impersonated me by giving actual good advice

 

Some users at SegaGalaxy.com guessed that the error is originating in the CD-part maybe. I just checked if the lense is still doing something, but it seems to be dead. When I simulate the closing of the cd-lid (cd inserted), it moves for an instance to detect if there is a CD at all and that's it. CD starts spinning, but nothing more. But why is there no bios at least? My assumption would be that the mainboard has an error that blocks the function of the CD-part, but thats just an amateur's opinion ^^

 

During the boot up the bios check for the CD-Drive lid being open. If the drive is at a fault condition, the bios will behave as if the lid was open and you get the boot up animation skip.

I'd say you need to check the drive flat cable edges for rust and the CD-Drive board for rust and cracks.

Definitely CD-Rom drive electronics are to blame on this case h:

 

Yeah, it was definitely the CD-ROM block. I got a hint over at SegaGalaxy to change the position of the orange screw in the side of the lense-block. Moved it about 35° clockwise and turned it on again.

°_°

Problem solved, CDs are being read and I can access to the CD-menu as always.

Segata Sanshirou works in mysterious ways.

Can anybody tell me what that orange screw on the lense-block changes?

 

Possibly laser height or laser voltage??? ( just a guess)