Help diagnosing and fixing a Sega Saturn
My wife's friend just gave me an old Sega Saturn, which is great because I have another but it has a seized up disc drive. However, as expected this unit is also faulty. The disc drive, surprisingly, works fine, but it has an obvious and rather severe problem which I believe to be caused by either bad caps, a bad psu or both.
Basically, it has an inconsistent and unstable picture, which wobbles, waves and flashes, and also dims and brightens randomly. These effects are more pronounced the more action is happening on screen, and seems way worse when playing with a game in the drive, compared to the dashboard you get without a disc.
So, the point of this thread is twofold:
1. Just want a second opinion, this is caps/psu related right? I mean, I know I should replace the caps on a (sega) system this old anyway, but if I were to, say, replace the transistor in the psu, would this likely solve my problem?
2. I have never replaced the caps in any of my systems before, so I'm starting from scratch here. I've done some soldering practice recently, and I will do some again before I attempt the repair, but any specific tips for recapping a Saturn? Also, can anyone point me to a site or seller where I can get a set of the right caps all together for this job?
Any help or advice before I take this step into a new world of repair will be greatly appreciated!
Basically, it has an inconsistent and unstable picture, which wobbles, waves and flashes, and also dims and brightens randomly. These effects are more pronounced the more action is happening on screen, and seems way worse when playing with a game in the drive, compared to the dashboard you get without a disc.
So, the point of this thread is twofold:
1. Just want a second opinion, this is caps/psu related right? I mean, I know I should replace the caps on a (sega) system this old anyway, but if I were to, say, replace the transistor in the psu, would this likely solve my problem?
2. I have never replaced the caps in any of my systems before, so I'm starting from scratch here. I've done some soldering practice recently, and I will do some again before I attempt the repair, but any specific tips for recapping a Saturn? Also, can anyone point me to a site or seller where I can get a set of the right caps all together for this job?
Any help or advice before I take this step into a new world of repair will be greatly appreciated!
Comments
As for soldering just take your time and make sure you use flux.
https://console5.com/store/sega-saturn-cap-kit.html
Only thing I'm wondering, there is only one Sega Saturn cap kit available on this website, as opposed to several different kits available for other systems. Are the Sega Saturn caps the same between all models and regions? My two systems that I wanna recap are both Japanese, so is this the right kit for me?
Hey, so I'm ready to purchase my replacement caps, I'm gonna go for this option:
https://console5.com/store/sega-s...
Only thing I'm wondering, there is only one Sega Saturn cap kit available on this website, as opposed to several different kits available for other systems. Are the Sega Saturn caps the same between all models and regions? My two systems that I wanna recap are both Japanese, so is this the right kit for me?
My brother and I have Japanese and North American Saturn systems. Something like 4 or 5 systems total. Maybe I can check to see if any of the power caps have different values. I believe one region had a polarized / keyed AC input and the other was reversible (figure-eight style).
Hey, so I'm ready to purchase my replacement caps, I'm gonna go for this option:
https://console5.com/store/sega-saturn-cap-kit.html
Only thing I'm wondering, there is only one Sega Saturn cap kit available on this website, as opposed to several different kits available for other systems. Are the Sega Saturn caps the same between all models and regions? My two systems that I wanna recap are both Japanese, so is this the right kit for me?
My brother and I have Japanese and North American Saturn systems. Something like 4 or 5 systems total. Maybe I can check to see if any of the power caps have different values. I believe one region had a polarized / keyed AC input and the other was reversible (figure-eight style).
Cheers dude, always so helpful!
I will be opening up both my units later on this afternoon for a visual inspection. I will take plenty of photos and add to this thread, to double check what I've got on my hands here.
I may also need to replace some components inside the PSU, although I'm not too sure. Also, this cap kit doesnt supply those components, so I'd have to source those separately.
Finally, one of these units has a faulty disc drive anyway. Or may just need grease or a new belt, but I've got the crazy idea to put the SD card mod in there instead! That will definitely have to wait tho, caps first!
Model number: HST 3220
Serial number: B66 057733
Mainboard version: VA6 JPN SD
Power supply model: S 7218 VOLTEK
The attached pictures contain points of interest I have discovered. The first two pictures show these little silver cylinders far smaller than caps which appear to have leaked. I don't know what these are, but the first can be found towards the front of the unit near the controller ports, whilst the second is next to a chip at the back of the unit on the right hand side. I assume these will have to be replaced.
The third attached picture shows a big cap on the PSU board, which has a grey blob on it. I assume this is some sort of epoxy, rather than a leak, but I am not sure.
The final two pictures show some of the other caps, some on the mainboard and some on the PSU board. Now, to my untrained eye none are visibly bulging or leaking, but I understand it isn't always possible to tell if they are faulty just by looking.
Everything else seems fine at a glance. There was a mod chip for loading pirated games installed in the system, but this is fairly standard for Taiwan, and it doesn't seem to be intruding on anything else. I may or may not reinstall that when I put the system back together, as I have little interest in ripping CDs to pirate games.
Also of note: I removed the lid of my other Saturn to look inside, and it has a completely different PSU board and CD drive to this one. I am unsure if it has a different mainboard, as I did not have time to completely disassemble this second unit. It looks like the mainboard may be the same, but I will double check later. As is standard in Taiwan, my second unit also has a mod chip installed!
Can you post pictures of the modchips for my curiosity? Also those aren't capacitors they are crystal oscillators and that's likely just a glue.
The mod chips look like this. The red wire was attached to the psu, and the ribon cable connected to the disc drive. The ribon cable from the motherboard connected to this chip. Quite elegant, really. I assume the bios is in the chip mounted in the socket connector there.
So you don't think these oscillators are leaking then, and will not need replacing? Should I just buy the console5 cap kit I linked to in a previous post? Sorry for so many questions, but I really have zero experience in this area, and want to improve my skills and knowledge so I can fix my stuff and help others in the future!
The oscillators aren't "leaking", it's just some glue/epoxy to secure it and can probably be disregarded. I don't know too much about Saturn repair, but many people end up replacing the electrolytic capacitors on them lately. I can't say for sure as I have no experience with this type of issue on them.
Also, console5 sent me a little surprise in the package! Never had this candy before, but I really like it, super spicy!
Good luck on the console repair! I'm hoping everything turns out alright!
Three big caps, out in the open and in a really easy spot... And it was still a very traumatic experience for me, lol! At one point, I could SWEAR I had either bridged or accidentally severed a trace in there. Also, I had a lot of issues REMOVING solder. However, after all that, I managed to get the new caps in and soldered on (messily, but securely), and after putting the system back together, and YES it works!
I really am NOT ready for the Saturn cap replacement yet. I need a new, better iron, and WAY more practice. However, I am satisfied with my small success here with the Xbox today, so it bodes well. I will keep playing my Xbox for a while, just to make sure that it is totally ok.
Heck yeah, man! Congrats! Yeah, it gets easier the more you do it.
Thanks dude, I sure hope so!