Saturn Modchip

[ShyRobbie]

I have a Racketboy Saturn Modchip and it isn't working for the life of me. It used to work, like 3 years ago but now that I had a kick for my Saturn it isn't working anymore. I have since looked through all the forums and seen all the tricks. I have adjusted the pots on the dvd drive, changed it to the A+B trick (previously working on the 14 pin signal link cable) and I have now re soldered all of the wires, changed the Saturn battery and even reburned games. No backups work. Unfortunately if I unhook the chip from the CD ribbon cable and put it straight to the board my originals work, however they only work 1/3 or so randomly with the chip installed. I haven't gotten a backup to work though. Any tips or tricks? I have tried the A+B installation and the 14 or 09 bridge on the board as well, none work. Any advice? Thanks!

[RGSPro]

Finally got my old account reactivated I ordered a chip from sega style, the v3 universal and it worked flawlessly so my old racketboy SSIC8B chip must have died.

[bacardipr05]

Finally got my old account reactivated I ordered a chip from sega style, the v3 universal and it worked flawlessly so my old racketboy SSIC8B chip must have died.

Thats good a while back someone posted that SegaStyle wasnt answering his emails..and was apparently out of stock..The $30( i forget how much i paid) for the mod chip was the best investment i made...

[Ziggy]

I have a Racketboy Saturn Modchip and it isn't working for the life of me. It used to work, like 3 years ago but now that I had a kick for my Saturn it isn't working anymore. I have since looked through all the forums and seen all the tricks. I have adjusted the pots on the dvd drive, changed it to the A+B trick (previously working on the 14 pin signal link cable) and I have now re soldered all of the wires, changed the Saturn battery and even reburned games. No backups work. Unfortunately if I unhook the chip from the CD ribbon cable and put it straight to the board my originals work, however they only work 1/3 or so randomly with the chip installed. I haven't gotten a backup to work though. Any tips or tricks? I have tried the A+B installation and the 14 or 09 bridge on the board as well, none work. Any advice? Thanks!

These are total stabs in the dark...

You didn't use the console for about 3 years. Where was it stored during that time? You said if you plug the ribbon cable straight into the board that it'll boot games 1/3 of the time. So maybe it's just dirty/corroded contacts on the pins of the ribbon cable and corresponding sockets. You can try cleaning them.

You could also try cleaning the drive lens. Couldn't hurt.

You said you reburned the games... Are you still sure they're good burns? Are the images you burned them from good? Did you burn them correctly? Etc.

I would try and get originals working without the mod chip installed first. With the mod chip bypassed, if originals are only booting a third of the time then you have a problem that's not the mod chip (or possibly in addition to the mod chip).

You said you adjusted the pot. Do you remember the value before you tweaked it? If so, I would reset it to the original value. If not, I would just guess and turn it down a little. Assuming that isn't the problem for the time being, no need to have a stronger laser if it isn't needed.

The first thing I would do is clean the drive lens, the ribbon cable pins, and the ribbon cable's socket pins. The small sockets for the ribbon cables might be hard to clean, but that could very well be your problem. Try to get originals working 100% of the time without the mod chip installed. If you can get that, then I would try reinstalling the mod chip.

[RGSPro]

I have a Racketboy Saturn Modchip and it isn't working for the life of me. It used to work, like 3 years ago but now that I had a kick for my Saturn it isn't working anymore. I have since looked through all the forums and seen all the tricks. I have adjusted the pots on the dvd drive, changed it to the A+B trick (previously working on the 14 pin signal link cable) and I have now re soldered all of the wires, changed the Saturn battery and even reburned games. No backups work. Unfortunately if I unhook the chip from the CD ribbon cable and put it straight to the board my originals work, however they only work 1/3 or so randomly with the chip installed. I haven't gotten a backup to work though. Any tips or tricks? I have tried the A+B installation and the 14 or 09 bridge on the board as well, none work. Any advice? Thanks!

These are total stabs in the dark...

You didn't use the console for about 3 years. Where was it stored during that time? You said if you plug the ribbon cable straight into the board that it'll boot games 1/3 of the time. So maybe it's just dirty/corroded contacts on the pins of the ribbon cable and corresponding sockets. You can try cleaning them.

You could also try cleaning the drive lens. Couldn't hurt.

You said you reburned the games... Are you still sure they're good burns? Are the images you burned them from good? Did you burn them correctly? Etc.

I would try and get originals working without the mod chip installed first. With the mod chip bypassed, if originals are only booting a third of the time then you have a problem that's not the mod chip (or possibly in addition to the mod chip).

You said you adjusted the pot. Do you remember the value before you tweaked it? If so, I would reset it to the original value. If not, I would just guess and turn it down a little. Assuming that isn't the problem for the time being, no need to have a stronger laser if it isn't needed.

I am OP. The first thing I would do is clean the drive lens, the ribbon cable pins, and the ribbon cable's socket pins. The small sockets for the ribbon cables might be hard to clean, but that could very well be your problem. Try to get originals working 100% of the time without the mod chip installed. If you can get that, then I would try reinstalling the mod chip.

It was stored in a cardboard box in a closet. Without the chip it booted 100% of the time, with the chip it booted 1/3rd of the time.

Tried cleaning the lens but that didn't help at all.

They are all good burns and work flawlessly with the new Sega Style chip that I put in it.

I did put the POT back to the original position when I got the new chip. Glad it is working perfectly again. Thanks for the suggestions. It's a shame that the chip I had before died for some reason because it was working fine the last time I used it.

[Ziggy]

Ah, OK, gotcha.

Well like I said, you could try cleaning the pins of the chip, they may have gotten a little dirty. There really isn't a whole lot on the chip to go wrong. IIRC, just one or two PICs and one or two logic ICs. Most likely either the pins are dirty or there's a busted solder joint or trace or something.

Anyways, I know you said you got the other chip now. But if it's a simple fix to get the old chip working, you could keep it as a spare or sell it or whatever.

[RGSPro]

Ah, OK, gotcha.

Well like I said, you could try cleaning the pins of the chip, they may have gotten a little dirty. There really isn't a whole lot on the chip to go wrong. IIRC, just one or two PICs and one or two logic ICs. Most likely either the pins are dirty or there's a busted solder joint or trace or something.

Anyways, I know you said you got the other chip now. But if it's a simple fix to get the old chip working, you could keep it as a spare or sell it or whatever.

Yeah I looked over the old chip pretty thoroughly, cleaned the pins, re soldered wires and couldn't figure it out for the life of me.