Sega Saturn repair - almost there!

[seastalker]

I got hold of a Sega Saturn [revision 7] and it boots up fine. I needed to clean it and get a test game and Action Replay cart.  While waiting on the ordered parts, I took the whole thing apart, dishwashed the plastic bits, and re-lubed the rails of the cd-rom drive and lightly isoprop cleaned the laser head.

 

When I put it all back together, now, the eject button springs open instead of the slow way it is supposed to. It also now gives me of a tray open alert unless I put a book on top of it. Even when closed via the book weight, the spindle doesn't start nor does the laser move. Any fixes suggested? 

 

I am waiting on the Satiator news and will probably just use that instead of optical media, but I still like to repair what I can. Hopefully the Satiator can bypass the door open/close issue if nothing else.  Thank you!

Edited October 4, 2019 by seastalker

[str0m]

Sounds like the lid isn't on quite right? There is a vertical switch towards the left rear if looking from above, near the power supply, that is pushed in by a bit of the lid when closed and that tells it to then check for a cd. If that switch has been bent or isn't working then it won't spin up. Could also be a loose connection if you have unplugged things and put them back in.

 

See attached photo, the black bit, push and hold it towards the back of the Saturn. You can try this with the top off and it should then start up the laser/CD.

 

DO NOT TOUCH THE POWER SUPPLY!

 

 

Edited October 4, 2019 by str0m

[seastalker]

Hey thanks! I made some progress. My only problems left are getting the spindle to spin and the door open switch to catch with the plastic lid.

 

I got the tray to open slowly again. The little cog gear that aligns with the main spring side wasn't catching right. The switch in the picture - I thought mine wasn't working, but if you bend the metal part a little, the contact can be made. I am trying everything but have yet to be able to replace the lid to where it pushes it to the "door closed" position. I use a flashlight and line it up but it fails once my fingers are out of the way. Opening the plastic tray prior to closing may help. 

 

I followed a guide by Global Garage called "Sega Saturn not working. How to Replace the Laser. Disc not spinning and Drive empty issues"  I adjusted the laser's pot with a multi-meter to .723 (as close to .720 as I could get). I cleaned the laser and greased the rails and it at least seeks a disk and moves. I pulled the spindle off and realigned many times. It once spun for a few seconds. Adjusting the spin pot on the cd rom pcb so far has no effect. 

 

I'm sure now that having a working tray open/close switch will work with the Satiator (even if I use tape to keep it "closed") but it would be nice to get this Saturn fully working. Seems I'm almost there. I appreciate all the help!   

[seastalker]

I really look forward to the Satiator ODE or the other new one, Fenrir so I can finally play this thing. I put this project aside for a while since buying a replacement laser.  Still no go. The best I get is the "Checking Disc Format" when I put a clip on the drive door (see photo above) this post. Funny thing is I get that regardless of if the ribbon cable and 5 pin are connected to the cd drive daughter board. When all are plugged in normally, the new replacement laser at least seeks on the rails to center as well as moves up and down. It is the spindle of the motor that doesn't move. EDIT: I tried GadgetUK's AA battery test trick and can get the spindle to spin perfectly. [used a new battery]

 

Other than that, I can only think of bad caps, or bad controller chip on the CD daughter board (I have a chip that says "622002 M56754SP".  Any other ideas?  Maybe I will re-cap the whole saturn and if that doesn't work, replace the PSU with a pico one.

 

(EDIT: I found a video about solder blob on some lasers- mine has two separate solder dots so I am good)  I may have to recheck the new laser's pot

 

If I replace the whole drive unit, any compatibility to watch out for?

 

EDIT AGAIN: Thinking outside of the box, what if a previous owner adjusted the cd board pot for unknown reasons. Is there a way to reset this to factory default? 

Edited January 20, 2020 by seastalker
Revised post after more tests

[seastalker]

I've been into re-capping systems lately and wondered about how important it is to recap surface mount capacitors. I knew to replace Electrolytic capacitors on things you want to keep but overlooked somewhat the surface mount ones over the Donkey Kong barrels.   I also realize that 'surface mount' doesn't exclude the possibility that some/all are also Electrolytic capacitors. I first learned of needing to replace surface mount caps on a Sega Game Gear.  Now I am looking at the Sega Saturn and see that there are kits available for both hole 'DK barrels' and surface mounts.  Obviously getting both and changing all is 'best' but is the surface mount kit overkill?

[CZroe]

Was the resistance gear misaligned due to a broken hinge/peg? I've found that it gets misaligned when a peg breaks but it also makes funny grinding noises and doesn't open all the way without help.

 

That said, I recently fixed a model 1 and a model 2 that had this issue. The hinge designs were slightly different which required two different fixes.