Sega Saturn Problems

[kentsfield]

Hey there, this is post is a copy from my other account in another forum (I'm too lazy to write it again)

This is my first post, so I hope you don't get mad when I just start with a technical question.

I bought a Sega Saturn with one game (Thunderhawk 2) in Ebay for just 9 bucks. The problem is, there is no AV cable, so I can't connect the device with my TV...

Well, I thought I just open it, and solder in a RCA connector. After I searched for the pinout, I soldered in everything correctly. The multimeter said, every connection is fine and there are no short circuits.

The problem now: When I start the Saturn, I can't hear sound and I don't see anything. My TV changes from blue (No signal) to black (signal, but no picture) and I also don't hear sound, but the power LED lights and the disc is being read.

I double checked everything, there shouldn't be any problems. It was strange after I opened the beast, because everywhere there were rust spots on the metal shielding under the mainboard... There's a small chip on the mainboard, which has two pins that don't have contact (I assume). After a short testing with the multimeter I figured out, that there definately is no contact (maybe i was just wrong, because the spear of the multimeter is way too big for the small pins of that chip).

I live in Germany and it's a PAL device. I will test out if the S-video version works, but I'm kinda confused, because Pin 1 is supposed to be "sync", but there is a note which says, that pin 1 on PAL devices is +9 Volt...


Maybe someone knows about this problem.

Greetings Kenny_ken


Uhm, my english is not the best so please don't judge me



This is my Post from another forum. By the way, I made a picture... I hope you can recoginize anything:

(Thumbnail, click on it to view the full sized picture)



The pins may look burned, but they dont have contact as far as I can see... Dont worry, no short circuits or else.

[NFG]

When I see pins like that I assume something drastic has happened to the board.  You may have more problems than just 'no video'.

[kentsfield]

Ahh this sounds pretty bad

Anyone else got an idea?

Ah btw - This is the only problem on the mainboard, everything else just looks fine.

[l_oliveira]

That look like a burned area after an massive short circuit (perhaps an screw was forgotten there and someone tried to power the console on ?

There might be a chance it works again after that SDRAM chip get replaced.

[kentsfield]

I already thought so. I already found out that it is a Flash memory. I modified the bost above yours, I soldered the dead connections.

Well, that it looks burned is my fault because I tried to solder it back together. Becore I did this, the two pins wer just... I dont know, there were covered with rust and blue stuff... I Don't know what it was, but after i touched them they just broke of.


You think it should work after I replaced the chip? I think I'm ready to do this. I have flux and other stuff like this to install the new chip.

[l_oliveira]

It's NOT an flash memory. It's an HITACHI  SDRAM chip.

Edit: If you're interested I have schematics for the Sega Saturn posted here:

http://www.assemblergames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=27654


Enjoy.


Oh and yes, there's a good chance it will work again if you replace the chip. The problem is that the only place you will find the exact same chip is on another SEGA Saturn unit or on an arcade board with Saturn based hardware (ST-V).

[kentsfield]

Hell yeah-  Thanks!

Where do I get this chip to replace it?

greetings

[kentsfield]

I have a broken Naomi, does it work?

Or is the Naomi a Dreamcast Arcade version?

[l_oliveira]

I have a broken Naomi, does it work?

Or is the Naomi a Dreamcast Arcade version?

Yup Naomi = Dreamcast

[kentsfield]

Ahh this sucks....

I dont have any Arcade game since the naomi is broken

[NFG]

Replacing that Saturn should be cheap and easy.  Replacing that RAM chip would be cheap, difficult, time consuming and probably won't fix anything. 

Buy another and make this one into an art project.  =)

[kentsfield]

If I would know where they sell Saturns for cheap... In the German Ebay marketplace saturns are expensive, in UK theyre Cheap but the shipping costs are Ultra expensive.

(Yesterday I bought a Saturn with all cables, 6 games and 2 Controller for just 14 british Pounds, with (not insured) shipping cost the price was 40 British Pounds! There is no cheaper deliverer or way of delivery and the package wasn't even insured... So I canceled the auction and didn't buy it)

[DaveJ-UK]

A UK/PAL Saturn weighs just under 1.7KG with no cables or anything. If we allow 300g for packing materials, a 2KG package via Airmail (Royal Mail) will cost £11.60 GBP (14 EUROS) to Germany. That doesn't include a signature but it's insured up to £41.

2KG is the max you can send via Royal Mail Airmail, so if your packahge weighs more than that then it will need to be sent by a courier (such as Parcel Force) which costs a lot more. A 30x30x30cm package weighing 4KG will cost £34.19.

[Padoca85]

have you tried powering on the saturn without the casing?

i already got 2 saturn with the same problem you describing, and in the end the metal shielding was shorthing something out, making it show no image or sound, but still powering on and reading disc. I bend part of the metal shield up on the section near the reset buton and they work fine now.