SEGA Saturn Model 1 restore

[goredaimon]

Hello, how are you? This is my first post.

I'm trying to restore a SEGA Saturn Model 1. The first thing I noticed was the old battery (I replaced by a new one), and the system show the NTSC-C-1.00A version. Is this American or Japanese BIOS?

Well, the cartridge is not working too. I tested this four cards and with two of them I got the message "This cartridge is not suitable for this system". Maybe I need a region rack to use it? The backup cartridge shows nothing in the memory tool...

Also, I started to clean inside and I saw some old work. Look like somebody tried to do a region mod in the mainboard. Take a look onto the pics.

I need some help with information about this region mod. Also, about the bios information too.

Att.

[goredaimon]

More pics:

[Niode]

Wow, that is one battered Saturn. I'm surprised it works at all judging by the terrible soldering job on that IC.

I'd start by redoing all the soldering properly. Watch this

Saturns are notorious for having poorly constructed cartridge slots. I'd take the slot apart, clean the pins and bend them slightly inwards as to make a better connection.

[darthbluntedone]

wow now i know why they are called "hackers"
man that saturn looks bad.

but i do have a question i have a modded model 2 saturn and every now and then i have to move the laser eye so i can play a game if i dont i get the screen with the 2 green boxes. any suggestions?

[Niode]

What do you mean, 'move the laser eye'? Do you physically move it along it's track? If it's not moving properly then check the cogs that move it, they may have been worn down. It's common problem. I think there was a thread on here regarding some sort of group buy to get some made or something. Try searching the forum. I think it was Mod_Man_Extreme that was organising it. I don't know much about it though.

[darthbluntedone]

What do you mean, 'move the laser eye'? Do you physically move it along it's track? If it's not moving properly then check the cogs that move it, they may have been worn down. It's common problem. I think there was a thread on here regarding some sort of group buy to get some made or something. Try searching the forum. I think it was Mod_Man_Extreme that was organising it. I don't know much about it though.

yes i have to move it along the track. but not always if it sits for a long time i have to do that.

[Mod_Man_Extreme]

What do you mean, 'move the laser eye'? Do you physically move it along it's track? If it's not moving properly then check the cogs that move it, they may have been worn down. It's common problem. I think there was a thread on here regarding some sort of group buy to get some made or something. Try searching the forum. I think it was Mod_Man_Extreme that was organising it. I don't know much about it though.

Yeah, I was trying to see how much iot would cost to manufacture replacement gears to restore Model 1 Sega CD's to their original full working order.

The only problem was that the master molds were going to cost a few thousand to have constructed, although after that each batch of like a thousand would have only cost around $40.

[Niode]

Can you not simply get those gears from somewhere else? It seems a big hassle to go and try and get them made from scratch. I don't know what they look like, it's been years since I opened my Saturn and I didn't really pay much attention to the drive assembly.

[Mod_Man_Extreme]

Can you not simply get those gears from somewhere else? It seems a big hassle to go and try and get them made from scratch. I don't know what they look like, it's been years since I opened my Saturn and I didn't really pay much attention to the drive assembly.

Yes and no, it needs to be pretty blanced as far as dimensions, density and hardness of the plastic goes.

If it's too big it won't fit, but if it's too dense it'll snap all the teeth off of the other gears.