Help! Sega Saturn won't play discs, strange start sound

[yuenadan]

My Sega Saturn makes a really strange startup sound. I recorded it and sped it up, and found that the sound is actually the regular startup sound, but about 300% slower!

The game doesn't boot, instead it kicks me to the CD player and then the strangeness continues. Sound effects are also played 300% slower, as well as the little chirpy arpeggiated chords that play when it says "CD not inside" or "CD door open" (my console is Japanese so I'm loosely translating)

But the strangeness doesn't end there! Sometimes it says the door is open when the door is closed. Sometimes it will show the game CD is there but it's like >700 minutes. Sometimes it says there is no CD inside yet at the same time it's playing the CD!

It's acted up a couple times before, only to switch back to normal after a few minutes. But this time it's not switching back.

I've tried disconnecting and reconnecting everything, I've tried removing the game disc entirely (still gives the sad startup sound), I'm not sure what else I can try to get it working.

I bought it a couple weeks ago, so I'll take it back to the store today. But I just wanna ask, has anyone seen this before?

Here is a video outlining the problem:



Here is what's happening in the video:

1. Turn Saturn on (disc inside)
2. Turn on again (this time NO start up sound) Disc shows 728 min!
3. Hit reset button. Briefly says "door open" then "cd check" even though I never opened the door and the game was already inside
4. Turn off and back on. Finally sees the CD properly (except no "S" button to launch the game). I click play and then it says "CD not inside" but the music plays anyway.


My Saturn is a grey model with oval buttons. It's modded (just like most systems in Taiwan) but I tested with an original disc (NiGHTS)

[AznKhmerBoi]

the laser drive could be dying or its misadjusted.

1- try cleaning the laser eye with a lint-free cotton swab

2- Open the Saturn and look at the white, flat 'ribbon' cable to the right that runs from the motherboard to the laser assembly and make sure it seated properly.
Do the same for the power cable of the disc drive (both shown circled above).
Use a good quality CD lens cleaner in your Saturn & make sure your game discs are clean and in good condition.



If troubles continue the laser bias must be adjusted internally, If all this fails, the laser may be dead and require replacing.


http://www.segasaturn.co.uk/sega_saturn_faq.html

[lwcook]

Not the laser as even internal sounds suffer from the slowdown.

Main board or power supply would be my guess.

[yuenadan]

Thanks for the replies and also for the link. I've bookmarked it as I'm sure it could come in handy in the future.

In this case yeah I don't think it's the laser or the CD connection for a couple reasons:

1. Still problems even with no CD inserted.
2. When CD comes up, Saturn is able to play CD audio.

But what I really find strange is that when it did this before, it would do it for a few minutes then suddenly the problem would just solve itself. One time it even did it while the Saturn was powered on! I just left it alone for a while then suddenly I heard a normal-sounding chirp and the "S" logo button came on to launch the game.

Really, really strange.

[lwcook]

Is it a NTSC or PAL Saturn?

[yuenadan]

It's NTSC-J.

Model No. HST-3200
"Made in Japan"

[Hobie-wan]

Sounds like maybe a bad mod job or some other strangeness with stuff on the motherboard. Pretty sure there isn't going to be a quick fix unless there's an obvious bad solder from the mod or a capacitor or something visible failing. I'd just take it back for a hopeful exchange instead of just a refund.

It sounds pretty awesome and creepy though. If it were in my possession I'd make a high quality audio recording for future use.

[yuenadan]

Well I just made the 1 hour trip to the shop and of course it started working fine again. While I'm happy to see it working, I'm worried the Saturn will become 'sad' in the future. Now I'm at a coffee shop, for a cup of Joe before I head back to my apartment in the burbs. On the plus side they're having some kind of cosplay event down here so the mall is crawling with cosplayers. Some of the Taiwanese cosplay girls are pretty hot!