Sega Saturn AV Out Issue

[sflonghorn]

Hi everyone, I am currently experiencing an issue with a Saturn that I recently purchased. It seems as though the AV Out jack is loose and video from the console will only display if something is wedged underneath the cable to push the connection upwards. I have heard that the Saturn uses some crazy non standard AV jack, so I would like to know if anyone else has had this issue and fixed it, if it is something fixable, and whether or not just wedging something under the cable would be damaging to the system. Thank you for any advice in advance.

[Hobie-wan]

Probably a busted solder joint. If so, that's easy enough to fix.

[sflonghorn]

So likely I would be looking for one of the solder points on the bottom of the motherboard to be damaged then?

[Hobie-wan]

Yeah, check the spots for the socket on the board.

[nullxor]

Take a picture of the bottom of the board where the AV jack is and post it.

[Ziggy]

So likely I would be looking for one of the solder points on the bottom of the motherboard to be damaged then?

Yes. Locate where the AV output is soldered to the board and check the pins to see if any of the joints are damaged. You may want to plug in the AV cable and move it around slightly to see if any of the solder joints move (they should not).

Though this sort of thing is fairly common, the problem could also be the AV cable itself. This is also common. You can test a cable with the continuity settings on a multimeter.

And yes, the Saturn apparently uses a non-standard mini-DIN plug/socket for the AV. If the problem is a busted solder joint on the AV socket, that's easily fixed. Just flux and heat up the bad joints (or heat up the joint and add solder). If the problem is a damaged cable, a replacement plug can't be bought so it might be impossible to fix. If that's the case, you might consider adding standard AV jacks to the back of the console if you're handy with that short of thing.

[sflonghorn]

Ah,okay I guess I'm gonna open it up when I get off work then and then post what I see. Thanks for the responses everyone. And man, Sega couldn't just make it easy to replace things I guess lol. Hopefully it is as simple as resoldering a joint, since this was pre-chipped and came with an action replay I paid a pretty decent amount and I'd hate for it to become much more expensive to get running.

[sflonghorn]

That and using a piece of cardboard to wedge it up does kinda drain my happiness level a little bit when I'm playing haha

[theclaw]

Heh the tricky part is saving RGB if necessary. Genesis 2 video socket should be doable.

[sflonghorn]

Okay as it turns out the seller tested it on a different set of cables before he sent it out to me and not on the cables that he shipped to me, so he is sending me a new av cable to double check that it isn't just a crappy cable before I open it up. I will let you guys know how it all plays out, and thanks again for replying! Hopefully it won't come down to drilling any new holes for new av jacks but we will see haha