Saturn switchless region mod- touchy!?

[omnedon]

I've done a few of the switchless Saturn region mods. The strange thing is my personal one is giving me grief.

The mod is done, using the method on this site, with the IC being a used one, stolen from a 'junk bin' genesis controller. (I can't remember why the controller was junked....hmmmm). I've wired it to the reset button, and the Saturn is a white JP 'Video CD' model.

It boots 'natively' (with the mod in) to JP mode. If I hit reset, it is fussy as hell about getting into US mode. Sometimes it takes, sometimes it doesn't. It can often take 5 tries to get it switched successfully.  :angry:

I'm going to go back into it, but I'm not sure what to suspect. I'm no soldering noob, and I really doubt I have a short in the wiring of the IC itself. (there is no heat shutdown either, I can play for hours and hours, regardless of mode) I'm leaning towards that perhaps my reset switch is touchy, and for each press may be sending multiple power interruptions instead of a single one per press. Kind of like:

Re re re re re re re re re set

with every press, if you catch my drift. If that is the case, would not the multiple impulses make the IC switch multiple times, giving me seemingly random region results?

I also suspect the used IC itself. It is from a crapped out genny controller, and I'm beginning to wonder if perhaps it's IC was one of it's problems. the other switchless mods I've done don't seem to have this problem.

Does anyone think I may be better off wiring the circuit to the disc lid instead? It seems less 'elegant' to me, but at this point I'll take consistency over reliability.

Any ideas as to what it may most likely be?

[NFG]

white JP 'Video CD' model.

I don't know what this is, as far as I know there's no such thing as a 'Video CD model'.  The only units that came with a VCD card were the HiSaturns, but remove that card and they're normal Saturns (except for the bootscreen).  Are you confusing it with the white Playstation, released in Asian countries excluding Japan, that played VCDs?

To rule out the switch, use another.  Check your wiring first, then use another switch - any switch will do, the lid switch or something lying around the house.

Chips don't usually get flaky, they either work or they don't in my experience.

[omnedon]

Obviously my description of my Saturn was lacking in proper terms. Let's try a thousand words instead    :






Well, if the IC being screwy is unusual, I'm more suspecting the reset switch then. I'll wire it to the door sensor then, and see what results.

I love this saturn so much, there is no way I'd disfigure it with a switched mod.  B)

thanks.

[NFG]

wow, where the heck did you find that?  I've never heard of it, and I thought I'd nailed them all.  O_o

[omnedon]

Flea market, with controllers and wires (and yes, the VCD card is inside it) for $30CDN (about $22US). Not boxed though. As soon as I saw the Video CD logo, I did a double take and popped the back hatch to verify the card.

As soon as I had this, I kissed my black switched mod Saturn good-bye.  B)


Hopefully re-wiring the switch contact will alleviate my frustration.

[dj898]

Way OT:

White Saturn - checked
VCD Card - checked
VideoCD logo silk screening - well....

i wonder that's official one although that logo looks professional...

[atom]

The logo looks like it was painted on well, but in the pic it almost looks a little left centered...

even if it was a fake (not saying it is), Still a cool find though!

[-Martin-]

Are you sure that Saturn hasn't been anuwhere near Hong Kong? :huh:
Because err... I can't find any info about this being officialy released with that logo on it... or maybe the previous owner added it?

[kendrick]

Not to drag out the topic unnecessarily, but I think that the white Saturn came in two varieties in Japan. One shipped with the Hitachi VCD card, the other didn't. Obvoiusly, the one with the card in the package would be the one on the logo.

It's funny that some of this import hardware is making it into the American aftermarket. I found my white Saturn at a local pawn shop, where I successfully conned the sales clerk into selling it to me as a broken item because all the Saturn games they put in wouldn't work properly. :) It'd be interesting to find a Pippin, or a PC/FX or some other odd console that didn't see the American market.

-KKC, fighting off a headache from talking to insurance agents all day...

[NFG]

I've never seen a white VCD-including Saturn in Japan, and I've been watching for these sorts of things for over four years...  But then I've been surprised before.  Perhaps it was part of a special promotion?

[benzaldehyde]

Damnit. The one Saturn that hasn't crossed your hands and it's back in Canada. :lol:

[omnedon]

In person, the VIDEOCD logo looks flawless. It is the exact same process that the rest of the logo silkscreening seems to have. It seems centered as well.

I've modded it, and it's guts are all 100% SEGA. I thought it was odd, but never really thought it was that unusual. I figured some of you Saturn experts had seen this before and it was old hat. I guess I'm getting jaded.

I'm pleased with my find, and I love this Saturn.    

[dum dum]

sorry to resurrect old threads but somebody might be intrested to know i too came across the white "video cd" branded saturn today...

220/240 volt, the dual language english/chinese manual mentions it plays NTSC-J games only so i guess this makes it an Asia (Hong Kong etc..) machine but easily mistakeable for the Japan original. i will try to aquire it to see if its pal or ntsc (asia should be pal, but it wants japan games...hmmm)

[dj898]

AFAIK most of Asian release were NTSC-J - and still the same with Xbox and others...

[dum dum]

got it; yep its ntsc-j allright.
just like a stock white j-saturn except for 220/240volt in and different lables on the back+underneath (model number MK-80230-07). oh, and "Video CD" printed on the lid just above the "///". neat, even more so because im in a 240volt area  

[dj898]

does it have VCD card inside the battery compartment at the back?