Need HELP with Pioneer Laseractive Sega Pac....

[pattison90iw]

Hey everyone, I was lucky enough to score a Laseractive w/ the Sega PAC yesterday on my Craigslist. I brought it home and everything was working great. I played some Genesis titles on it and then tested the sega cd functionality w/ my copy of Lunar. Everything, including the save feature was working great. My girlfriend came home from work and I made a quick save and powered of the unit....This morning I went to turn it on and nothing, no "Laseractive Menu" screen to launch any of the Sega playback features...I read the Sega Pac manual and it states that when ending a sega cd game you must hit reset to bring up the menu screen before powering off the unit. Now it acts like it doesn't recognize the Sega PAC, or it can't find the bios to launch the menu screen. I plugged in the Karaoke, and that works like a charm. I didn't buy this to sing into a microphone, I want to play sega software. I've tried everything that makes sense to no avail, does anyone have any experience w/ this issue? Thanks!

[Mod_Man_Extreme]

Are you unable to play even Genesis games?

If anything try resetting the unit before changing out the Karaoke PAC for the Sega PAC

[CRTGAMER]

Are the regular video laser discs still working?

Maybe try unplugging the power cord temporarily. Also if there is a memory card maybe temporarily run Sega Pac without it. Take it a step further, unplug and even trade any other extras, say extra controllers and see what happens.

[pattison90iw]

Thanks for the quick replies, The Laser Disc playback is fine and so is the Cd playback, but only when the SEGA PAC is removed (for CD's to work) Genesis carts are NOT currently loading either. I did try to reset the unit between changing out the PAC Modules...no dice. I wish there was a way to perform a "hard reset" on the Sega PAC. The only other possibility that I have not tried is to wait a month (the manual warns against not powering on the unit for a month at a time as it is "likely to cause all saved game files to be erased) for the PAC internal memory to die...prompting me to format the Save game memory, and hopefully re-launching the BIOS. I think the unit is healthy as far as bad Caps are involved, I wasn't having any of the dicey audio problems that seem to be more common with this unit than my problem. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks in advance! -Steve

[Mod_Man_Extreme]

Did you try blowing out or potentially cleaning the PAC's contacts with Rubbing Alcohol?

[CRTGAMER]

Did you try blowing out or potentially cleaning the PAC's contacts with Rubbing Alcohol?

Mod_Man has good idea. Definitely will help, cleaning all the contacts on the modules.

I wish there was a way to perform a "hard reset" on the Sega PAC. The only other possibility that I have not tried is to wait a month (the manual warns against not powering on the unit for a month at a time as it is "likely to cause all saved game files to be erased) for the PAC internal memory to die...prompting me to format the Save game memory, and hopefully re-launching the BIOS.

I was thinking about that game save maybe a corrupt save interfering with bootup. Is there any sort of memory card that you can unplug?

The month delay to lose saves that your manual states really sounds like an internal battery is used for saves. Pop that battery off for a sec, if there is one to clear the memory. There may be an internal reset as well through a jumper move-power on, but a great risk of permanent damage to this rare Laser system. You might be right going the safe way to clear that memory. Watch Laser discs and sing bad Karaoke for a month.

[Jerkface Killah]

No Steve! Now how are we going to play games this weekend?! I'll scour the interweb for you! At least we can still watch my LaserDisc copy of Jurassic Park that spans not one, not two, but THREE majestic discs! Don't forget you must flip each of these discs. Or can the LaserActive read both sides?

-JFK

P.S. I love saying the words "discs". any word that ends in "s-c-s" sounds weird and doesn't roll of the tongue.

[CRTGAMER]

No Steve! Now how are we going to play games this weekend?! I'll scour the interweb for you! At least we can still watch my LaserDisc copy of Jurassic Park that spans not one, not two, but THREE majestic discs! Don't forget you must flip each of these discs. Or can the LaserActive read both sides?

-JFK

P.S. I love saying the words "discs". any word that ends in "s-c-s" sounds weird and doesn't roll of the tongue.

Here is my huge rave about Laser Discs.

"Mod_Man_Extreme", "pattison90iw" and "Jerkface Killah" if you have not read this you might find it interesting.

http://www.racketboy.com/forum/viewtopi ... 40#p232140

[Mod_Man_Extreme]

No Steve! Now how are we going to play games this weekend?! I'll scour the interweb for you! At least we can still watch my LaserDisc copy of Jurassic Park that spans not one, not two, but THREE majestic discs! Don't forget you must flip each of these discs. Or can the LaserActive read both sides?

-JFK

P.S. I love saying the words "discs". any word that ends in "s-c-s" sounds weird and doesn't roll of the tongue.

Here is my huge rave about Laser Discs.

"Mod_Man_Extreme", "pattison90iw" and "Jerkface Killah" if you have not read this you might find it interesting.

http://www.racketboy.com/forum/viewtopi ... 40#p232140

Nice write-up, I enjoy LaserDiscs but in no way am actively seeking out the format at the moment. If I come across awesome movies that I don't own on LD I sometimes pick them up.

Funny story, I bought my first ever copy of StarWars on LaserDisc. The sad part is I literally bought it at goodwill two months ago and have yet to watch the LD out of sheer laziness and not wanting to hookup my LD player.

[CRTGAMER]

Nice write-up, I enjoy LaserDiscs but in no way am actively seeking out the format at the moment. If I come across awesome movies that I don't own on LD I sometimes pick them up.

Funny story, I bought my first ever copy of StarWars on LaserDisc. The sad part is I literally bought it at goodwill two months ago and have yet to watch the LD out of sheer laziness and not wanting to hookup my LD player.

Thanks. Laser discs are a huge undertaking space wise, but there are unique collector discs out there. I had the fortune being military, made a few visits to Japan at the right time. Picked up all kinds of Japanese Laser imports including Palcom Laser game.

That Star Wars was the sell for me to get into laser discs, first movie was Empire Strikes Back. Then I discovered that beautiful Jog-Shuttle and the individual picture frame search. Unbelievable, I could actually key in on an individual snapshot of a movie or Land SAT image. I have an older DVD player that also has that Jog-Shuttle, too jerky like a strobe light move compared to Laser Disc crystal clear forward backward search. Even a music CD when I shuttle forward or back the Laser pickup still transmit audio chipmunk style.

DVDs do have better picture quality but for the interactive remote control, Laser Disc is hard to beat.