Replaced Sega Saturn battery and still having issues

[Contagion13]

Ok this is my first post on this forum, i've searched all over the place and still can't find the answers i need. I just got a US Sega Saturn (Model 1) 3 days ago at a gaming convention and every time I power it up it makes me set the language and time. Did some searching and figured out the battery needs replaced...heres where the issue comes in...I went to walmart bought a 2 pack of rayovac 2032's and tried them and still nothing, I did a little more digging and found out that the rayovac's have a tendency to short out so I went and bought 3 energizer 2032's and tried them and still the sega saturn isnt holding any info. I tested the batteries in a VMU and all 5 batteries work just fine so im at a stand still...any advice?

[Hobie-wan]

If it's a Model 1, it shout have that little blue button in there next to the battery. I believe it is a reset or clear. Not sure if you can just press it or if you have to hold it for 5 seconds or something.

[Contagion13]

Just tried it still no luck

[Ziggy]

Just to get the stupid stuff out of the way... Are you sure you're putting the battery in facing the right way? I believe the smooth side with the letter and numbers stamped into it should be facing up.

If it's a Model 1, it shout have that little blue button in there next to the battery. I believe it is a reset or clear. Not sure if you can just press it or if you have to hold it for 5 seconds or something.

Yeah, I remember reading about that. The Saturn's internal memory can become corrupt and sorta get jammed up. If memory serves, the manual that came with the system tells you how to clear it via that button.

From reading through the manual just now, if you try and clear the memory (through the menus) and you get an error message, "NOT CLEARED!" then there's a problem with the memory. Unfortunately, the manual tells you to contact your Sega dealer or call an 800 number if this happens. Though this way a manual for a model 2, I can't seem to find one for a model 1 right now.

[Contagion13]

Yea the battery is facing the right direction, I tried clearing the memory in the system setting and no error message came up. I even took the console apart to see if the battery connector was lose or had a bad solder but everything is in tact.

[Ziggy]

That's rather strange then and I'm out of ideas. If you didn't get any error messages, I don't know if that means it's safe to assume the on board memory is intact or not. If you have a multimeter you can run some tests. Open it back up and trace where the battery + is going and see if it's getting the correct voltage. If you do have a voltage meter, you might as well test the battery as well and make sure the voltage is good (should be 3.02-3.08v).

I know you said you put the battery in something else and it worked, but it may be possible that the battery is like 2.9v and works for one thing but not another. I've had "brand new" 2032's with a voltage lower than 3v, so it is possible.

[Contagion13]

Alright I will pick up a multimeter tonight and mess with it again, I need to get it up and running asap so I can start saving some games. Thanks for the advice

[Ziggy]

You should definitely get it saving, but I highly recommend picking up an actual memory card at some point. The system memory doesn't hold a lot of games, the battery can die, and from my experience the saves can become corrupt easily.

[Contagion13]

Yea I'm definitely gonna look into getting a memory card. Im about to go pick up a multimeter and run some tests on the battery holder. If this doesn't work I'm gonna order a motherboard off of ebay and swap it out and see if it works.

[Contagion13]

Ok so I got a multimeter and tested everything, the battery connector is receiving power and the pins in the motherboard are receiving power. Now i tested a few of the batteries and they were running at like 2.9 volts. I even attempted to make a makeshift battery connector pushing about 5 volts but the system would shut itself off to prevent overloading. I removed the makeshift battery connector and but in a battery rated at 3 volts and still it will not hold a save. At this point I am completely stumped.