I got a Sega Saturn Modchip in the mail today for my Model 2 32 Pin Unit and was attempting to get it to work, I am pretty new to soldering but watched many guides on soldering to help myself get used to it. I soldered wire A to lead B on the board like the guides out there said, and I connected the power wire to the 5v slot. When I start up the system the disc spins half speed and the boot animation is skipped and only shows the Sega Saturn Logo. It than goes to the Saturn Menu and shows 2 Green Cubes on the side and says "checking disc format". When the format is done being checked it doesn't give an application or play option (so it doesn't even read the disc as an audio CD). I've been trying this on official discs that I have used with the system before, no back ups yet. The laser never attempts to move so it is not reading anything. I have read countless other threads of modchip installation issues and none of the solutions have worked for me thus far, does anyone have any suggestions? I also did attempt to remove the modchip and the system does work 100% fine without it (so luckily nothing has been damaged). At the worst Im out 30 bucks but would like if someone might know what I did wrong.
If its a racketboy/sega style chip then ive had this issue before. Try reseating the ribbon cable going into the modchip, sometimes the ribbon cable wont line up properly with the pins inside the chips ribbon cable socket, usually when i reseat a couple times it starts to work.
Yes, it is a SegaStyle chip, by reseating do you mean taking out the ribbon cable and reinserting it? I will give it a try, thanks.
Well I tried putting the cable in different ways multiple times, still no luck. So I re-did the soldering on all the connections and made A to B a joint bridge instead of a wire, just to ensure all the connections were good. However, still it wouldn't work. When I put the ribbon cable in the Saturn system (no mod chip), it went to the same kind of screen too (which really worried me), however open reinserting it properly into the system it would still boot normal games. At this point I'm glad my Saturn isn't broken but just don't understand what Im doing wrong. Since the ribbon cable does actually bring up the same screen even without the chip, than I realize it must be the cable but have no clue how to insert it to get it right. Does anyone have any images?
I would say the chip maybe faulty, the fact that you got 2 green cubes on the system screen suggests that the laser is communicating with the motherboard, so the chip could be giving the wrong signal. im no expert, far from it in fact, i cant even get my own chip to work atm. mine is from consolegoods, iv tried all methods of installing it and on two different saturns. i get this screen: Iv since sent the chip back in exchange for another so lets see what happens Sorry i cant be anymore help.
What solder are you using? Are you using non-conductive solder? This also causes the issue, and this is what I was doing wrong for a long time
