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saturn screwdriver trick

jd1579 - May 30, 2003

		jd1579		May 30, 2003
			I read the faq on how to change the laser strength to read a cd-r and I tried to get it to work and it won't and I don't understand what I am doing wrong. I have a type 2 sega saturn is there any kind of special eqipment that I need to get this to work? Thanks in advance

		Taelon		May 30, 2003
			You did mean a CDRW and not a CDR, right? But do make sure your CDRW disc is properly burned/will work, and if your Saturn won't read it, just increase the laser strength a little more... until it kicks in. Best to make sure your Saturn still reads normal CDR discs as well. To make things easier, you might burn a normal audio CD to a CDRW disc and just try to make your Saturn play the audio from the BIOS menu.

		klakalou		May 30, 2003
			i personally wouldnt tamper with the laser unless neccessary.

		Yceman		May 30, 2003
			And be sure to don't set it too high or your Saturn will overheat and games will start to have problems (like freezing). I know that cause it happened with me

		Jaded God		Jun 1, 2003
			I would just stick with CD-R's but if you want to tamper with your laser it can be done Check the guides here.

		Arakon		Jun 3, 2003
			it won't overheat, but the laser unit will burn out much faster (or immediately if turned too high).

		TheXev		Jun 3, 2003
			Well, I adjusted my Saturn to use RW's, and it didn't take me long as all. I adjusted the knob one way... untill it stopped reading any CD's.... so.. I uh, turned it the other way.. untill RW's spun up, it can read RW's fine now.. only took me about 15 mins to do. Took me 3 1/2 hours to do it on my DC.. it is FARRR more picky, as there is a "sweet" spot you must find. >_<

		jd1579		Jun 5, 2003
			thanks I apperciate the help

		RazorX		Feb 12, 2024
			or you could just use a multimeter to read the value of the pot and adjust it from there, if you randomly adjust a laser without knowing the value you will never be able to correct a mistake and if the laser is set too high you could burn it out. plus you with go from something that will take like 1 min tops with a multimeter to something that could take you upto an hour of messing around to get anywhere. not only will using a multimeter show you the current value of the pot, if you're able to keep the multimeter attached while adjusting the pot you will also see whether the value is increasing or decreasing and by how much.

		Malenko		Feb 13, 2024
			if you would have waited just 4 more months you could have bumped this on the 20th anniversary of the last post.

		Danthrax		Feb 15, 2024
			Information lives forever here on SegaXtreme.

		RazorX		Feb 16, 2024
			Malenko said: Danthrax said: i realized it was an old thread after i posted the comment, the reason why i commented in the first place was because someone posted it on discord as a method for someone to follow to try to fix their laser so i felt i had to reply because just randomly turning the pot and hoping it works out is never good advice

		dibz		Feb 20, 2024
			Honestly new posts on informational threads like this are only a good thing IMHO, as long as they're relevant.

		Ace_of_DiscaL		Feb 22, 2024
			My general advice for CD-R & weak lasers would be as follows:- 1- Grease the metal rails, torque gears, & drive array tracks with clear liquid silicone (instead of cream) before tweaking any laser pots. 2- Use TDK and/or Kodak CD-Rs. 3- Burn ISOs > BINs (preferably the former) at the slowest possible speed achievable by your drive. Preferably 4x-8x-10x. 4- Update your Pseudo Saturn KAI or 2/3-In-One cartridge by flashing it with the latest firmware (Currently v6.545 @ PPCenter...) by burning the firmware according to the abovementioned steps 2 & 3. 4- ONLY if all the above fails, then give your laser pot a very miniscule tiny pinch CLOCKWISE which should provide a little more power to read again. Enjoy!

		digitallogic		Aug 6, 2025
			@Ace_of_DiscaL... I'll try greasing the laser mechanism with some silicone then. I'd never heard of doing this. May I ask why the preference for TDK and Kodak CD-Rs? Also, the slowest that my gaming computer (my main computer) can write to CDs is 16x. I have a few other computers with optical RW drives, but I have no idea how to find their supported speeds. I have GNU/Linux on all of them, so I'll try lshw and stuff like that. Last year I was able to play some burned games with the Phantom modchip, but then when I tried a month ago, it wouldn't read anything, so I adjusted the laser until it was able to play genuine Saturn games. But after reading about the dangers of tampering with the laser, I'm afraid to adjust it again. So I hope the silicone helps.