My Saturn (dead again)

[NeoStuey]

After reading the Batsugun thread I decided to fire it up for a go, finished stage 2 and the machine just reset itself. Now I'm just getting tray empty messages and occasionally get to the games splash screen before getting duped back to the system menu.

It's like it on all games now and musc CD's too. I've checked for dirt on the lens as well.

I did read a thread about reseating the ribbon cables which I have done and it seemed to work for about ten minutes and since has returned back to doing the same as before.

I'm more than a bit miffed as it was working fine earlier in the week when I had sessions of Marvel Super Heroes, Donpachi and Dodonpachi. I think it must have caught me looking at pictures of a Hi-Saturn yesterday.

Can I do anything to salvage it?

It's a mark I Japanese model oval buttons if that makes any difference.

[noobish hat]

Have you tried cleaning the laser assembly?

[NeoStuey]

Yep, but nothing seems to make a difference it's like it knew that for brief moment that I contemplated having a Hi-Saturn and so it decided to end it all.

[NeoStuey]

drive empty

drive empty

drive empty

bin full.......

[noobish hat]

lol, you cleaned and re-oiled the rails and everything?

[NeoStuey]

Just removed and reseated the CD spindle and touch wood it's working alright, for now at least.

Might hold out for a week or two and then pick up a back up machine. The Saturn stll holds a special place for me and would be the last system I would ever part with.

[NeoStuey]

Spoke to soon! It's crapped out on level 4 and has gone back to drive empty mode.

I think I'll chuck it in the morning, I've spent a whole evening on it and got nowhere.

[Yakumo]

My 1st gen Saturn died 3 years back but get this, it is now the Saturn I use every week! What happened was that the CD drive had died. It just couldn't spin a disc longer than a few seconds before conking out. This came along suddenly and lasted for a few days before it died altogether. The strange thing is that after not touching it again for a week I decided to give it one last try. It worked 100% and has continued to work without a single problem and it gets used an awful lot.

Yakumo

[NeoStuey]

My 1st gen Saturn died 3 years back but get this, it is now the Saturn I use every week! What happened was that the CD drive had died. It just couldn't spin a disc longer than a few seconds before conking out. This came along suddenly and lasted for a few days before it died altogether. The strange thing is that after not touching it again for a week I decided to give it one last try. It worked 100% and has continued to work without a single problem and it gets used an awful lot.

Yakumo

These 1st gen Saturns are a resilient bunch. I said to myself last night that I wouldn't waste anymore time trying to resurrect it.

But I think I may finally have got somewhere with it today.

I reconnected the ribbon cables again and then the hardest thing was getting the height of the CD spindle. I found the resistance so great that it either sat too high to recognise a disc or too low to spin properly. I really needed a gauge or something to set the height, my hands are wrecked, but I seem to have got it about right. The console has been on since 3pm playing the Batsugun attract over and over and I've played a few single credit games through to level 5 and it has not crashed once. This a marked improvement on yesterday when it would fail within seconds of loading.

Still I'm going to hold back some credit on my PayPal account just in case.

I hope it keeps going like Yakumo's did.

To sum up then I'm not sure whether just adjusting the spindle height sorted it out or the ribbon cables or a combination of the two. The drive does seem better behaved/quieter than before it broke down yesterday.

[Yakumo]

With luck your saturn should still keep going for a good few more years. Liek I said, mine was dead but then all of a suddern it came back to life.

Yakumo

[Jaz]

With luck your saturn should still keep going for a good few more years. Liek I said, mine was dead but then all of a suddern it came back to life.

Yakumo

Hopefully Sega the company can do something similar...

[Oldgamingfart]

Could the problem also lie with the lid switch? I had a portable CD player years ago that would occasionally spin down and display 'No Disc' on the LCD. I had to blu-tack the switch down to get it to work.

[NeoStuey]

Could the problem also lie with the lid switch? I had a portable CD player years ago that would occasionally spin down and display 'No Disc' on the LCD. I had to blu-tack the switch down to get it to work.

Sadly no, tested that on Saturday the disc is spinning up and just not getting read.

Thought I got somewhere with it yesterday as after I played with the spindle height it happily ran through the attract sequence on Batsugun from 3pm until I switched it off at around 11:30pm. During which tie I had 6-8 single credit games on it.

Switched on today and back to old symptoms, expect today no change in the spindle height is making any difference.

I've now started a wanted thread for a replacement.

I got a couple of days off from today too and had earmarked today for some long overdue Saturn gaming time. Oh well.

[Soundwave]

Damn man that sucks

Hope you can score a new one soon.

I'd offer to lend you my spare modded PAL unit but the bit where you plug the kettle lead in is loose & doesnt always make a good connection I'm afraid

Neil

[Yakumo]

it's a shame it's not te newer model because I have a spare drive unit for that.

Yakumo