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salvaged modchip for saturn

orta - Mar 8, 2004

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		orta		Mar 8, 2004
			I've salvaged a modification chip from a white japanese saturn round button with 21-64 pinchip and transferred it to a black american saturn round button with 21-32 pinchip but it is not working , any ideas on how i can make it work properly?

		mal		Mar 8, 2004
			How did you install it?

		orta		Mar 11, 2004
			I opened the saturn up then the modchip has this i.d. which ribbon wire goes to the mother board and which ribbon wire goes to the laser assembly then I connected (soldered) the wire to 5v of the power supply but it didn't work. Could it be that the modchip I've salvaged is intended to use only for the saturn japanese version or is there a way to make it workfor the saturn american version? Any ideas ? and thanks in advance!

		mal		Mar 11, 2004
			Does the mod board look like this one? If so, where is the 'signal' wire attached? Is point 'A' just bridged to point 'B'? If it's a different type of mod, I'll need to see a picture before I can help you.

		orta		Mar 11, 2004
			No sir it doesn't look like that & i'm sorry i don't have a digicam to take picture of it but here's a description of it its size is 3x2 inches, it has 2pcs i.c.'s on it, 2pcs of ceramic capacitors, a pair of 21 pin ribbon connector (one for mother board & one for laser assy.)on the left side, a pair of 20 pin ribbon connector (one for mother board & one for laser assy.)on the right side. I hope this could give you a general view of the modchip I'm talking about

Tagrineth

Mar 13, 2004

	
	
		
		
			Originally posted by orta@Mar 12, 2004 @ 12:52 AM



 No sir it doesn't look like that & i'm sorry i don't have a digicam to take picture of it but here's a description of it its size is 3x2 inches, it has 2pcs i.c.'s on it, 2pcs of ceramic capacitors, a pair of 21 pin ribbon connector (one for mother board & one for laser assy.)on the left side, a pair of 20 pin ribbon connector (one for mother board & one for laser assy.)on the right side. I hope this could give you a general view of the modchip I'm talking about

That sounds more like the jump board most commonly found in Saturns with no IC's on the CD drive...

		orta		Mar 19, 2004
			I think it is not a jump board because i know a jump board one when i see one and it is a part of the saturn, and I'm sorry about the PCB size it is a 1.5x2 inches PCB with 3 i.c. chips on it, i know it is a mod chip because when the saturn where i've salvaged it was still working i took it out & tried to play back-up but it didn't work when i tried to play original jap cd's it worked. Without the modchip it can play orig jap cds but it cannot play american & back-up cds i saw a picture of the modchip i was talking about here in this forum but now i can't find it I know it could help if i can show it here by the way I've salvaged it from a white round buttoned 21-64 pinchip jap saturn that's why I can't say it is a jump board. HELLP!!

		mal		Mar 19, 2004
			I'm sorry but I really can't help you without being able to see what type it is.

		orta		Mar 21, 2004
			Okay, I'll try to post a pix of it here soon

		Butane Bob		Mar 21, 2004
			I think have that exact same chip - i salvaged mine from a white Jap saturn also and have been meaning to chuck it in my PAL saturn but am unsure if it will work. On the original console it was in there was only 1 wire soldered to the board and that was +5v for power. The rest was connected via ribbon cables. It worked fine too. If you can't get pics i will try get some of mine because i'm just as keen to get mine working aswell.

		mal		Mar 22, 2004
			If you could get some pics that would be great. It might be best to be sure that the wire is for 5v before just trying it.

		orta		Mar 31, 2004
			Hey Mal I saw the modchip here http://johnnys.nailed.org/saturnmod1.html... its kind of small but i think it will do, the mod can be used for either 20 or 21 pin cable saturn can you help me now

		mal		Mar 31, 2004
			No it shows pics of the mod that he's talking about... I was sure that I replied to this thread yesterday, but the board seems to have eaten it. I'll re-reply soon.

		orta		Mar 31, 2004
			Thanks Mal!!! I'll w8 for that!! in case you want to see the thread again here it is http://johnnys.nailed.org/saturnmod1.html... you'll see a closer view on the bottom part of the thread my modboard looks thesame with that but mine has 3 pcs. of I.C.'s

		mal		Apr 2, 2004
			OK, lets see if I can get a long post out without it disappearing. I might do it in parts. First of all, did you actually remove the mod from the 64 pin Saturn or was it just given to you? The main difference between how it was installed in the 64 pin Saturn and how you need to install it into the 32 pin Saturn is one of the ribbon cables. Oh yeah, I'm really sick of seeing this right now

		orta		Apr 3, 2004
			I took it out from the 64 pinchip saturn myself and installed it in the 32 pinchip saturn paying attention to the #1-#21 of the ribbon cable. I couldn't be wrong because there is a notch that indicates the first pin of the ribbon cable in the mother board connector & laser assembly connector. I have this theory, that the modchip is being picky, maybe it will only work on a 64 pinchip saturn, what do you think? and Mal!? you realy have to fix that ADSL thing of yours! I appreciate your help VERY MUCH!!

		mal		Apr 3, 2004
			I'm at work now, so posting should be no trouble. Anyway, back to the ribbon cable I was talking about. In a 64 pin Saturn, the ribbon cable slot on the mainboard is rotated 180 degrees when compared to a 32 pin Saturn's mainboard (or vice versa). An unmodded 64 pin Saturn will have a twist in the ribbon cable from the CD board to the mainboard. A 32 pin Saturn will not. So basically there are two possible things that you may need to do: - if it had a twist in one of the ribbon cables before, you need to remove that twist now. - if it didn't have a twist in one of the ribbon cables, you'll need to put one in. Does that make sense?

		orta		Apr 3, 2004
			I'm confused about your explanation of the ribbon cable thing , but I'm sure that I've connected the cable in the right order: OUT PIN#1-#21 of the motherboard goes to the IN#1-#21 of the modchip then, OUT PIN #1-#21 of the modchip goes to the IN#1-#21 of the laser assembly.

mal

Apr 4, 2004

	
	
		
		
			Originally posted by mal@Apr 3, 2004 @ 06:19 PM



 An unmodded 64 pin Saturn will have a twist in the ribbon cable from the CD board to the mainboard. A 32 pin Saturn will not.

I don't know how to put that any more plainly...

Can anyone help put this thread out of it's misery by finding some pics of a 64 pin Saturn?

As I said, an unmodded 32 pin Saturn as no twist in the ribbon cable:

		mal		Apr 4, 2004
			Here's another pic of an unmodded 32 pin Saturn and it's ribbon cable - no twist here.

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