Strange heat-related boot Saturn issues

[idiaz]

Hello:

I have a small nag with mi (PAL) model 1 saturn. The unit works perfectly for hours, but when it is warm, turning it on and off sometimes causes interference in the form of horizontal white lines crossing the screen. When this happens, the CD unit doesn't recognize CDs ("media check"). If I wait two minutes or turn it on and off several times the problem goes off. If I use reset or remove the cover, the problem never appears. The white lines only appear when the unit is warm and cold booted.

I think the problem may be in the psu (the biggest component which I think is an inductor seems to become hot), but it baffles me that then the problem could be so limited. I have performed several mods and reassembled the thing at least ten times, so there isn't any problem with the connections.

I searched several times in google and segaxtreme with no luck. Somebody could help me pinpoint the problem? It is a very small nuisance, but I would like to know if the psu is going to die on me.

Thanks.

[GZeus]

I've read that this problem is common.
The solution given is....let it cool.

Alternatively you could heatsink everything that can be.

An inductor won't change how it function when hot, so that's probably just something you can use as an indicator that it's hot, or it's simply causing nearby components to overheat. Start heatsinking those, ask you can't really heatsink an inductor.

The second simplest solution in concept is also the hardest in practice: add a fan.
A heatsink fan can be had pretty cheaply at any computer supply store. You could go the most efficient route in regards to cooling and cut a hole in the case for it, or you could put the Saturn on stilts and mount it to the slats in the bottom, letting it pull air in through other means.

[idiaz]

Thanks, but I don't really think it would be worth the hassle, since the Saturn doesn't fail in normal operation. The weird thing is that it should, as the problem is only explicable in terms of overheating.

I could try to heatsink the caps in the psu, but there are high voltage ones (400v) and I fear the heatsink would short something. I forgot to mention that all caps in the psu look as good as new (clean and with the top flat), as does the hardware in the cd and motherboard.

As for the fan, I would like to keep the Saturn silent, and I really don't know what to cool (though I really suspect the PSU).

[GZeus]

Can't really heatsink anything in a PSU that isn't already.

Things don't need to be painfully hot to start glitching.
However, something that IS painfully hot can be creating enough heat for other things to glitch.

by 'stilts' I mean "set it on four books or something"  

[viletim!]

The way I usualy troubleshoot this kind of fault is to heat everything up with a hair dryer  and cool down individual components with freezer spray. Putting a heatsink on a capacitor is silly because they don't generate any heat. Actually, I don't recommend modifying any part of the live side of the power supply unless you know what you're doing - it's too dangerious.

My Saturn (well...I'm not totaly sure it's the one I own now, not one I've owned in the past) has the same probem. I never bothered to fix it because by the time the fault appeared I was sick of playing anyway.