Ok, hereīs the deal.

I think my Sega Saturn is dieing on me, and i donīt like that, AT all.

Here is what is doing.

I turn it up, and the console goes to the Checking Disc Format screen. And stays there on eternal loop. So, i have to open the drive door, close it, to force a new disc check, then it goes into the Checking Disc Format screen, and stays there on eternal loop. Sometimes it checks the disc format, and says thereīs 1 track, with 0:00 time, but it doesnīt enable the Start Application button. Other times it checks the disc format, and says thereīs 999 tracks total time 999:59, but still doesnīt enable the Start Application button. And other times, it even works.

Now, i could obviously think its something with the laser cannon right ? (And besides, the console is 10 years old). But, after it finds the correct disc, it NEVER fails again. Iīve played through Marvel Super Heroes (example) and it didnīt fail me. I have played several matches on WC98-Road to France, and Fifa98, and never failed, same with pretty much all games.
And it does the same thing with ALL my cds. So i donīt know what to think.

After it recognizes the game, things go sweet and smooth. But before that, its a pain in the arse to make the thing work.

Also, i noticed that when the console is in the eternal Checking Disc Format screen, eventually the disc stops spinning, but the console is still making "acess sounds" and the Acess light (the red one) is still blinking.
I donīt if it matters, but the console is from the very first batch that TecToy released (its american region), black, two oval buttons, with power and acess lights, and i have it back in the day, modded to be region free. (It still doesnīt read cd-rīs), But thereīs a switch in the back to change between japanese and usa systems. (Which is reflected by the BIOS default language, btw).

Soooo, any ideas, should i take it to a repair shop ASAP, or what ?


Help me, obi-wan, youīre my only hope.

Have you tried cleaning the lens? Maybe it got dirty after all these years you know.

Oh and every single saturn can read cd-r, you just have to be quick, and er yeah have a working laser.

I think it may be dirty on the lens, or some misalignment on the cannon, that is making difficult for the system to read the security ring.

Oh yeah, i meant that my system doesnīt boot cd-rīs. But yeah, it sure reads them. (althrough i never did the swapping trick with this system).
But i think a working laser is important indeed.

I was thinking about cleaning the lenses with a dry q-tip, maybe i am wrong ?

Time to google it.

use a small amount of alcohol with a soft water painting brushand then leave it to dry for 20 minutes before using it again

Or you could do what I did when my ps2 broke, after cleaning it a couple of times and after making some adjustment.... punching the laser till it's dead. Yeah, I really did that, been working on that fucker for more than a week and I've had it.

Oh and btw, the swapping trick is easy, as long as you're FAST. Anyway, I got me a modchip online for something around 25$. The good thing is that you don't even need to solder it, you put it where a ribbon cable goes and plug that ribbon cable on the chip, no need to pay for an expensive installation.