US Model 2 Sega Saturn not reading discs

[quash]

I just got a US Model 2 Saturn from a friend of mine who said it had stopped reading discs before he gave it to me. He suggested I adjust the focus of the lens using this guide, though I discovered the lens focus pot was already adjusted to the maximum setting and taking it out of focus didn't do much good either.

Before I touched it today, it would read discs, but not as games. And it wouldn't play any music tracks from those games, whether they were legitimate or burned copies.

Now here's the tricky part; he gave me a racketboy modchip with the console. The soldering job was kind of iffy so I redid it, but it still didn't read discs. And actually, once I re-inserted the ribbon cable, the disc wouldn't even spin unless I held the ribbon cable in place!

It gets weirder. It somehow starts to read music from the discs, but only if the ribbon cable is held in a position to do so! I took a look at the ribbon cable and the three outermost pins to the right seemed a tad bit loose. Short on patience, I tried stripping the ribbon cable but to no avail.

So as a rundown, the Saturn didn't play games or any music tracks when I got it. Once I re-did the soldering on the modchip and re-inserted the ribbon cable, the disc wouldn't even spin, but if I held it in place it would read the audio off of games.

As far as I can tell, I need a new disc drive entirely, but at that point I may as well just get another Saturn, right?

Thanks for reading, I hope I can get the answers I need here.

[gtmtnbiker]

As far as I can tell, I need a new disc drive entirely, but at that point I may as well just get another Saturn, right?

I think you're correct in your analysis. I would suggest keeping the old one for parts though.

[ShadicChao]

I had this problem too but i had no modchip i just got a Q-tip and cleaned it and it worked.
Not sure if it would work seeing that the system has been modded but worth a try.

[executioner]

If you give up on it then take the modchip out and try to see if that is the cause, I've seen lots of threads were people installing modchips can't read games at all because they were faulty. Good rule of troubleshooting is taking out what was not included in the original setup.

If that doesn't work then trying another ribbon cable would be worth a shot also, I bet someone could send you one for free from a broken saturn.

[quash]

I guess I should have clarified that I tried it without the modchip and the same problem persisted.

So, anyone have a spare ribbon cable? I looked around the internet for AWM289680C VW-1 (the 21 pin ribbon cable the Saturn uses) but to no avail. It's either that or the lens and I'd like to take the cheaper route first before I go and hunt down a reasonably priced JP Model 2....

[Hobie-wan]

The technical name of that sort of cable is a flexible flat cable. If you search for that name you'll need to know how many wires and the pitch refers to the width of the conductors. If someone doesn't have one, searching with the correct name should turn up some for purchase.

[executioner]

Here's a store that says they have it in stock.

http://www.angelfire.com/pa/Raluminat/forsale.html

[quash]

So I bought the ribbon cable from the link above.

But, there's a problem; it has one extra pin and won't fit into the slots on the modchip or the Saturn.

I don't have a multimeter on me right now, but I take it I'm safe in assuming that one of the pins on the outermost sides of the cable is a nonessential ground? And if so, which one?

(I haven't removed any pins yet, nor will I until I know for sure)

[Hobie-wan]

If its simply one connection too wide, just trim off enough of one line from each end so it will fit in the plugs. Don't need to do the whole length, just a notch off each end so it fits. Use the original cable to make sure the contacts will line up the same and be sure to notch the same side on each end.