HELP: SEGA Saturn behaving strangely (PAL original model)

[ScottyKiLLaK]

Ok, i'll cut to the chase. This is my 3rd Saturn in as many weeks.

When my Saturn has been on for around 30 minutes or so, if I shut it down then power it back up, I get rolling white bars all over the screen and the disc drive refuses to read. If I let it cool for 30 mins, I can play again and the bars are gone.

The strange thing, is that I can play for hours without an issue (even play many different games)...but if I switch it off, I need to let it "cool down", so to speak.

[This issue also occured with my first saturn, 2 weeks ago, but not the second. The second saturns problem was completely corrupt visuals (SEGA logo looking like broken up japanese characters/lettering) but it loaded games on and off like a champ. Sad to see that one go.]

The second issue with this particular console, is that when i play SEGA Rally (PAL version of course), on the SEGA Rally Championship Screen, loading screens and the first second or two of a race (when it's zooming down to the car), it acts like the v-hold is screwing up (rolling picture) and it's a 46 inch HDTV so v-hold doesn't even exist to it. This game is the only one to do it, it doesn't do it in any actual racing or any other games and it never did it on the prior 2 systems.

Now i've opened it up, and the insides are more immaculate than I could've dreamed possible on a second hand unit. It looks new, it just has some quirks.

Basically, i'm just curious if the rolling image issue and disc drive not reading after being switched off/white flickering bars all over the screen, is something common. I've spent quite alot of time googling and searching through forums, but I can't seem to find anything that relates to my problems.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

EDIT: After reading through the forum some more, i've seen a few responses and suggestions that i've already tried.

It's plugged in with an A/V (RCA) cable at the moment, but switching to RF doesn't change the results.

I have removed and reseated all the cabling inside the unit, though it seems to mostly relate to the cd-rom and I personally believe the issue is video related since stripes=no read, no stripes=perfect read.

I have also cleaned the lens with a cotton bud )q-tip, and some alcohol

And the first thing that occurred when it initially started doing it (on the first one, too) was the battery dying. Could this have caused something in the machine to screw up? The battery is replaced in the first and third, but it was the exact moment of memory loss, which saw the first and third console start to show white stripes.

And no modchip or hardware alteration.

I'll make a quick youtube video if that is allowed to be posted here.

2 videos showing varying degrees of the faux v-hold issue:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FrJOndrMfE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdGL2SwLKP4

And a video showing the screen after I left Sega Rally running for 10 mins or so, while I posted here and uploaded vids to youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLWO7r8uMbU

In that state, the system just needs to cool off for about 20 mins or so, and then i can use it for the rest of the day non stop, as long as I don't switch it off.

I really hope i've provided enough information here.

Cheers.

[Hobie-wan]

Did I hear a car drive by in the 3rd video? Is it warm and you have the windows open? Perhaps it they really are just overheating?

[ScottyKiLLaK]

It was pretty warm, but this occurs in mere minutes from purely cold (first tested my theory of it failing/working/failing/working at 2am), so heat could be an issue, but I wouldn't say it's THE issue.

It's in the same place as the other two, and the first one showed similar syptoms (both are 1st gen PAL consoles) with the flashing white bars after a bit of use, and the second one (a 2nd gen PAL console) displayed none of the symptoms, but I couldn't keep it due to the visual corruption it was displaying.

I would relate the cd-rom behaviour to the white lines, but I can unplug the drive completely, and the lines don't go until it's been off for at least 20mins. I just don't understand how strange visual anomaly = console not reading discs

[Hobie-wan]

Hmm I dunno then. I was just thinking of visual corruption that can happen with a PC video card overheating.

[ScottyKiLLaK]

Well that kind of visual corruption, you would've definitely attributed to a burned out GPU on the second console. I wish I took some videos on it, but that one was cut and dry. New motherboard because the rest of it was working like a champ.

If you can think of a time when you may have inserted a master system or megadrive/genesis cartridge a little lop sided or perhaps it was really dirty, and you start to see japanese lettering replace sprites, then you'd know exactly what No. 2 was doing. Only problem, was that wasn't cartridge based and everything down to the BIOS menu was affected.

I'm just kinda hoping that the tech-sperts here may have seen my symptoms at some point or another, and can maybe offer up a suggestion on why it's doing it.

[ScottyKiLLaK]

Okay, I noticed something else last night, and you may or may not be able to see it in the SEGA Rally video/s, but it seems that sometimes when the disc is being accessed, there is a type of interference showing up as horizontal lines (very faint) briefly.

It was quite easy to notice on the sega rally load screens as they're white, but last night I noticed it happening while I was waiting for the disc to load in the CD Player menu.

Any ideas if a loose wire or faulty part could cause CD-ROM interference to be visualised?

[Hobie-wan]

Is the shielding missing that would be between the board and the drive?

[ScottyKiLLaK]

I've never seen any sort of shielding in the 3 saturns i've had here, except between the power board and the main board.

Could you show me an example, possibly, or let me know if it's something i can replace myself?

[Hobie-wan]

You don't have a metal shield that completely covers the main board with the power and drive board above it?

[ScottyKiLLaK]

sorry, i wasn't thinking about that one. I was only visualising the one below it.

But yeah, that one is definitely there.