Just got a switched Saturn...

[Peekay]

...it was working okay for a bit, now all of a sudden it won't switch on when the switch is in the 60hz position, and switches off if started up in the 50hz position then switched to 60hz. I've emailed the shop, but has anyone got any suggestions? Annoying. Also can anyone explain to me how the memeroy works? And the internal clock resets itself every time I switch it off. Not a major problem but I was just wondering if that's soemthing to do with it being swtiched and/or using the Action replay 4-in-1.

[sj33]

The internal clock thing just means the internal battery has ran out. Pop open the hatch at the back, remove the battery and stick in a new one.

[Jei]

You're not switching between 50/60hz while the machine is switched on are you?
If you are then you might have ****ed up the board

[Kristofski]

In my experience, switching between 50/60 while the machine is running does no harm at all... and I've been doing that with my switched system for over two years now; it's the only way to play un-optimised PAL games in PAL-60 if your Saturn uses the simple 2-switch mod.

Sounds like another classic case of solder connections coming loose. The solder point for the 50/60 selector is especially fragile IIRC and probably came loose during transit. If you're confident, open it up and have a look to see if anything's obvious, if not it's time to get your money back.

(P.S. If it's not turning on in 60Hz mode, don't for god's sake turn it on in that position any more until you've looked at it inside. There's a small chance it could be short circuiting which will fook your machine properly)

[Jei]

In the past I used to switch between 50/60 "on the fly" too, that was until the day my mate did it to his resulting in the machine black screening everytime he selected 60hz.

Checked the solder points and there was nothing wrong, resoldered, still dead.

It's not recommended for a reason

[dj898]

switching 50/60 Hz does no harm.
it's switching region setting while Saturn is on that will do some nasty things...

[Peekay]

Cheers for that - I did switch it from 60hz to 50hz a few times while it was switched on. More worryingly I have switched it on in the 60hz position a good few times... hopefully I haven't short-circuited it.

[Ratso]

I had my PAL Saturn modded in 1998 and it's still going strong to this day and I've often switched 50/60Hz with the machine on.

As has been stated earlier, what you shouldn't do is switch regions with the machine on.

[Yod@]

Sounds like it's shorting out when in the 60Hz position.

BTW, it's important that people note the difference between a make-before-break switch, and vice versa.
A make-before-break switch will temporarily connect both poles as you throw the switch - so if used for a 50/60Hz switch on a Saturn then it'll cause a temporary short-circuit between ground and 5 Volts when you throw the switch with the machine running.

Anyone with any common sense will use a break-before-make switch to prevent this from happening, in which case it's fine to switch it with the Saturn running.

[Kristofski]

Eek! I had no idea there were make-before-break types about! That sounds really bad, but I'm assuming with 2+ years of use in mine I've got the safe version. Any idea which type is most likely being sold off the shelf in Maplins? (Where I get all my components)

[Yod@]

TBH it's been quite a while since I've come across a make-before-break switch - IIRC the last one was an old slide switch.
I always use Maplin's miniature or sub-miniature metal toggle switches for Saturns - those are all break-before-make, so no chance of a short.

Yours isn't make-before-break - if it was, then it wouldn't work on-the-fly.