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Saturn semi-broken help requested
resir - Jun 19, 2004
  resir Jun 19, 2004
So before attempting to put in my new modchip I thought I'd try the Saturn (which I never actually did when I got it..).

Much to my chagrin I've discovered it is broken in some manner.

I purchased a new battery for the memory since it had been a number of years since this Saturn was played or looked at. When I booted it up for the first time it asked for language, clock and date settings which I gave it. I had put Gex in the Saturn. The Saturn displayed the Saturn logo and then it brought up the CD play screen. It said "drive empty." I've tried a few other discs (Sonic 3D and Astal) and they said "checking drive format" and then it lists 1 track and 999:97 as the time. I opened the unit up again and confirmed everything is connected correctly and nothing looks broken. Is there something that I can do? I have no idea what could be wrong, though as I said, it's been a number of years since anything was done with this Saturn. It could have been jostled, dropped, or something?

Any help would be appreciated. It needs to work before I put the modchip in. ;-)

Lyman Green

 IBarracudaI Jun 19, 2004
Looks like a some prob with the cdboard, maybe the laser died.. you could try increasing its power, check Help & Faq section, and read the CDRW mod text...

 resir Jun 19, 2004

  
	
	

		
		

			Originally posted by IBarracudaI@Jun 19, 2004 @ 09:49 AM



 Looks like a some prob with the cdboard, maybe the laser died.. you could try increasing its power, check Help & Faq section, and read the CDRW mod text...


I appreciate the reply, but I've looked in the help & faq section and there's nothing on broken Saturns in there. In addition, though I read the CDRW adjustment article you mentioned, I should have pointed out - I am trying to play commercial games, not CD-R or CD-RW burnt copies.

I would hesitate to adjust the laser without some decent justification that it would help. Thanks, though.

Lyman

 IBarracudaI Jun 19, 2004
hmm, laser losing its power is a "common" problem. When you tried booting Gex, did the cd spinned at all? "drive empty" occurs when ... well drive is empty lol, and if it isn't, the problem is in the laser... somehow saturn is having difficulty reading the cds.

Try some audio cds, and see if you can play cdda tracks in the cd-player.

 resir Jun 19, 2004

  
	
	

		
		

			Originally posted by IBarracudaI@Jun 19, 2004 @ 01:46 PM



hmm, laser losing its power is a "common" problem. When you tried booting Gex, did the cd spinned at all? "drive empty" occurs when ... well drive is empty lol, and if it isn't, the problem is in the laser... somehow saturn is having difficulty reading the cds.



Try some audio cds, and see if you can play cdda tracks in the cd-player.


The drive was definitely not empty, and in fact it did try to spin up and read the drive - the red access light was blinking and I could hear it trying to access the cd. I did indeed put an audio CD in, thinking along the lines you just mentioned. Unfortunately it would not read an audio CD either. Doh!

I opened it up and looked at the mechanism, there was a lot of dust on the inside of the unit. I wiped dust off everything I could see (short of touching the CD-reading lens) but I wonder if it could be dust on the lens? I checked, and the lens mechanism does move back and forth when I spin the gears with my finger, so I don't think it's that particular piece not working.

I'm thinking since I inherited 6 games (along with the Saturn) and now that I've bought a modchip and the S-Video adapter cable, even if I can't get this Saturn working I'll buy another one - there's a few places locally I think I can look for one, including "Buy Rite" but I believe they have a really bad rep on the net.

 ExCyber Jun 20, 2004
Put some alcohol on a cotton swab (not so much that it's dripping) and gently wipe it across the lens, i.e. don't put any downward pressure on it. Wait 10 minutes or so for it to dry and then try it again.

 resir Jun 20, 2004

  
	
	

		
		

			Originally posted by ExCyber@Jun 20, 2004 @ 10:08 AM



 Put some alcohol on a cotton swab (not so much that it's dripping) and gently wipe it across the lens, i.e. don't put any downward pressure on it. Wait 10 minutes or so for it to dry and then try it again.


Hot damn! You know what? That did it! I found the isopropyl alcohol and a q-tip, and cleaned the lens off. What's even better is that when I did it, I could actually SEE a difference between the lens pre-cleaning and post-cleaning! I popped in Sonic 3D Blast, and although there's a hideous wait time (I've been playing Knights of the Old Republic all day yesterday and today and I'm very impressed with the XBox load times!!) everything seems to be working GREAT! Thanks for that tip. I might eventually have tried it without reading your reply but that was the kick I needed to do it now, and it paid off. So now.. mod chip on a 64 pin Saturn. Heh. Wish me luck, I think I'm going to need it!