Another Saturn black screen problem :*(

[chaoticjelly]

Got another Saturn.. modded it..

Turn on.. BLACK SCREEN

No boot up at all, power light is on, no CD spin, no nothing

When you turn it off, the power supply makes a small whine noise for about a second

REALLY fed up with this.. Saturns may be "cheap" but this is two ive now FUBAR'ed



All connections seem to be fine.. tried a lot of different stuff.. anyone have any ideas?

 

[mal]

Originally posted by chaoticjelly@Mon, 2006-02-06 @ 10:51 AM

anyone have any ideas?

Buy a pre-modded one or find someone who can mod it for you.

 

[dj898]

I agree.

Unless you have some sapre Saturn you don't mind to destroy or have good skill I'd ask someone to do it for me even if it'll cost me a bit - well quite a lot with my SuperGrafx. Thing cost me way more for shipping in both ways than the mod itself but that's another story...

 

[orta]

What kind of mod are you trying to do on your saturn anyway? is it a region mod or are you trying todo a mod to play back-up?

If it is a region mod and the result is black screen or power failure you must check the junction points again, in a region mod you should take off or solder out the junction wire (little wire that looks like micro resistors/capacitors) before doing the mod, this means that before you do the mod all junction points should be open and no junction wires are attached

 

[chaoticjelly]

Originally posted by mal+Mon, 2006-02-06 @ 12:57 AM--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(mal @ Mon, 2006-02-06 @ 12:57 AM)</div><div class='quotemain'>Buy a pre-modded one or find someone who can mod it for you.

[post=144137]Quoted post[/post]​

[/b]

I've modded about 15 other systems successfully.. this, and the one I posted about the other day, are the only ones Ive had problems with..

<!--QuoteBegin-orta

What kind of mod are you trying to do on your saturn anyway? is it a region mod or are you trying todo a mod to play back-up?

If it is a region mod and the result is black screen or power failure you must check the junction points again, in a region mod you should take off or solder out the junction wire (little wire that looks like micro resistors/capacitors) before doing the mod, this means that before you do the mod all junction points should be open and no junction wires are attached[/quote]

I did the region mod (single switch), 50/60hz mod, and fitted a modchip..

The zero Ohm resistors on JP6/7, JP10/11 and JP12/13 were removed - the points were confirmed to be isolated by using a multimeter on continuity setting..

If I remove the modchip, and plug the ribbon cable straight into the motherboard, I get the same result, so nothing to do with the modchip.

In all the systems ive done, except the last one that got fouled up, none of them gave a black screen because of the region mod.. so the only conclusion I have is that its something to do with the 50/60hz mod.. well I checked the voltage and it seems to be working.. Ive also checked and double checked my veroboard with the region mod on.. looks all fine..

It cant be a short circuit? If it was I dont think anything would happen, not even the power light and it would constantly whistle.. as has happened before..

But I just get this black screen and then when you turn the Saturn off it just whistles for about a second.. very strange.. ive been looking over the mainboard in case there is a rogue bit of solder joining something up, but I cant see anything.. I am very careful when modding consoles!

:huh

 

[mal]

Originally posted by chaoticjelly@Mon, 2006-02-06 @ 03:38 PM

I've modded about 15 other systems successfully.. this, and the one I posted about the other day, are the only ones Ive had problems with..

With a zero from two strike rate you're definately doing something wrong.

No matter how many other systems you've sucessfuly modded, my advice still stands.

 

[chaoticjelly]

Thanks for your advice, really helpful and just what I needed!

 

[kahuna]

Originally posted by chaoticjelly@Mon, 2006-02-06 @ 07:44 AM

Thanks for your advice, really helpful and just what I needed!

[post=144151]Quoted post[/post]​

Well garbage in and garbage out is the word here. How can you expect good advice when all you say is that it doesn't work?

None of us can help you with the information you're supplying.

 

[ExCyber]

Originally posted by chaoticjelly

But I just get this black screen and then when you turn the Saturn off it just whistles for about a second

Check for Vcc and ground connections on all major chips and make sure they are not shorted (especially VDP2 and SCU). If you can, check the capacitors on the power supply and that there is a clock signal getting to the SH-2s.

 

[chaoticjelly]

It's working now

I had taken the CR2032 battery out as I intended to replace it with a brand new one.

Sat there looking at the board and thought hmm.. no battery, surely that cant be the problem, so I got a new battery out and popped it in..

Hey presto.. working Saturn, everything working - region, hz, modchip

Sorry for my attitude problem guys

Argh, does that mean the battery powers the BIOS or something like that? or the circuit was just not complete in the Saturn as a whole?

 

[orta]

Originally posted by chaoticjelly@Thu, 2006-02-09 @ 12:44 PM

It's working now

I had taken the CR2032 battery out as I intended to replace it with a brand new one.

Sat there looking at the board and thought hmm.. no battery, surely that cant be the problem, so I got a new battery out and popped it in..

Hey presto.. working Saturn, everything working - region, hz, modchip

Argh, does that mean the battery powers the BIOS or something like that? or the circuit was just not complete in the Saturn as a whole?

[post=144240]Quoted post[/post]​

(Mal correct me if I'm wrong) Chaoticjelly I think the battery doesn't have anything to do with your saturn problem, the main purpose of the battery is for the system memory the sega saturn can work with or without the batery the BIOS gets it's power in the PSU. Maybe you've accidentally nudge or jerked something and it returned to it's original position making your saturn work again

 

[ExCyber]

Originally posted by chaoticjelly

Argh, does that mean the battery powers the BIOS or something like that? or the circuit was just not complete in the Saturn as a whole?

The battery powers the realtime clock and save RAM, neither of which is really critical to the system (although if you have no battery or a dead battery you'll have to reset the date/time/language almost every time you turn it on and will lose your saved games when you turn the system off). A dead battery wouldn't cause those symptoms, but I think a defective battery might; for example if there was an internal short in the battery.

 

[orta]

Originally posted by ExCyber@Tue, 2006-02-14 @ 12:04 AM

A dead battery wouldn't cause those symptoms, but I think a defective battery might; for example if there was an internal short in the battery.

[post=144385]Quoted post[/post]​

You're right about that a leaky battery might have been the culprit