Sega Saturn Discs Won't Spin

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Original_Name
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Sega Saturn Discs Won't Spin

Post by Original_Name »

Hey there, Racketeers. After playing a handful of games on my US Model 2 Saturn today, I switched to another disc, only to find that my system has decided that it won't even try to make discs spin. I've tried cleaning the laser, taking out the Action Replay, and tying up the lock on the inside so that it always thinks the lid is shut, but to no avail. The console is modded, so I tried disconnecting and re-connecting the ribbons to the chip, but it made no difference. What's strange to me is that it was playing games just fine a moment ago, and now it's just decided otherwise. Surely it would have shown some symptoms of motor failure before just quitting on me like this?

Does anyone have any suggestions?
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BoringSupreez
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Re: Sega Saturn Discs Won't Spin

Post by BoringSupreez »

Try lubricating all the gears. It's the only thing I can think of, besides getting a new Saturn.
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Re: Sega Saturn Discs Won't Spin

Post by brunoafh »

That's very odd. You might want to check and make sure the disc drive is getting powered properly. Did you do the mod recently? If so, maybe the power wire got loosened a bit and lost it's contact. I can't remember exactly how a Model 2 is laid out inside, but you should be able to see what's what pretty clearly.

If you happen to have a spare Saturn or something and prefer to use your already modded Saturn, a disc drive swap is an option if you can't get it working.
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winds
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Re: Sega Saturn Discs Won't Spin

Post by winds »

I bought a modded saturn model 2 years ago off ebay. When it arrived I tried playing a game only to have the same problem: the disc wouldn't spin.
I opened up the system and found the power wire from the modchip had become loose from the solder and lost contact with wherever it was supposed to go (forget now). Once I re-soldered it, the games started to spin and play again :) Hopefully yours is the same problem as it's a simple solution.
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Re: Sega Saturn Discs Won't Spin

Post by Original_Name »

Thanks for the suggestions, guys! There was a problem with the power strip and although it was powering on, it wasn't feeding power to the disc drive. A friend of mine let me Frankenstein my Saturn with his old junked one, so now I have a functioning Saturn (albeit at the expense of my modchip for the time being -- I had to disconnect it to remove the faulty power strip and I don't have access to a soldering iron at the moment). We'll see if any problems arise when I re-solder the chip in -- I doubt it will, the chip had been in there for more than a year with no problems.
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I killed my Saturn

Post by Breetai »

Arg! I'm angry now...

I was trying to put a mod chip in my model 2 and it doesn't spin at all now. I give up. I'll save some money and buy a modded one when I have the extra cash.

My next two buys will be a modded Saturn (just need the console!) and a region and caps-replaced PC Engine Duo (any model) with Arcade Card. Anyone have these on the cheap?

Grrrrr... me mad!
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Re: I killed my Saturn

Post by bacardipr05 »

I just modded my Saturn over the weekend. First time i do anything of the sort. I had the same problem. First i had the wires mixed up, fixed that only to find out one of the wires popped out from the solder on the mod chip. Its been i think 4 days now and so far so good.


Breetai wrote:Arg! I'm angry now...

I was trying to put a mod chip in my model 2 and it doesn't spin at all now. I give up. I'll save some money and buy a modded one when I have the extra cash.

My next two buys will be a modded Saturn (just need the console!) and a region and caps-replaced PC Engine Duo (any model) with Arcade Card. Anyone have these on the cheap?

Grrrrr... me mad!
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Re: I killed my Saturn

Post by Breetai »

bacardipr05 wrote:I just modded my Saturn over the weekend. First time i do anything of the sort. I had the same problem. First i had the wires mixed up, fixed that only to find out one of the wires popped out from the solder on the mod chip. Its been i think 4 days now and so far so good.
I wish! I took the chip out and the disc still won't spin. I triple checked all the connections on the disc drive and it looks good. I also had a friend look at it. I guess maybe I fried it? I don't know. I don't have any way to check the current on the drive and, to be honest, it's less frustrating for me to just buy a pre-modded Saturn.
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Re: Sega Saturn Discs Won't Spin

Post by bacardipr05 »

Does it work without the modchip? I tried buying a already modded Saturn, it was a no go, couldnt find one. Of course the next week after i buy a Saturn, one pops up but that's how it is. These mod-chips dont look like high quality engineering pieces.
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Re: I killed my Saturn

Post by Hobie-wan »

Breetai wrote: I wish! I took the chip out and the disc still won't spin. I triple checked all the connections on the disc drive and it looks good. I also had a friend look at it. I guess maybe I fried it? I don't know. I don't have any way to check the current on the drive and, to be honest, it's less frustrating for me to just buy a pre-modded Saturn.
Did you maybe not get the ribbon cable all the way in, or in the right direction?
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