Saturn mod chip problems

[jfe2]

I know, I know... First I just want to make it clear that I have followed the Saturn mod chip installation guide precisely, and I have also read every troubleshooting post I could find on this forum. I've seen a few people with problems similar to mine, but none of the fixes provided to them worked in my case.

I bought a Saturn mod chip from the racketboy store and opened up my Saturn to install it. To my horror, I realized that I had a Model 2 64-pin Saturn, instead of the 32-pin Saturn which I thought I had. I held on to the chip to install in another Saturn down the line, and luckily I ran into a very cheap Saturn today. The guy selling it even let me open it up to confirm it was the 32-pin type!

I used the guide provided on this site to install it, first using the A B method, which unfortunately didn't work. My Saturn would boot up without the animated intro screen and go to the CD screen with the two green cubes and the "checking disc format" message. The disc also never spun, whether it was a burned copy or a normal disc.

My next step was to check and make sure that the chip was pushed down all the way, so I lightly filed the edges just to make sure, and put it back in. Same thing happened.

I then de-soldered the A B bridge that I had made and soldered the signal wire right to pin 14 on the board per the directions. Same results that time as well.

Is there anything that would cause this that I could be overlooking? Could the chip itself be bad? I've checked the chip and the ribbon cable for damage and they both look fine. According to this site (http://www.angelfire.com/pa/Raluminat/troubleshoot.html), I have a bad signal connection. I did try everything I could before deciding to post here for help. I've spent all day trying to get this to work, and its starting to drive me crazy!

Here are some pictures just to show how I have it hooked up right now. Some of them are blurry but its the best I could do up close.

[MasonB15]

I bought a modded Saturn and it did the same thing. The problem with mine was the power wire wasn't soldered very well. I'd try checking that. If that doesn't help, maybe this will
http://www.segastyle.com/troubleshoot.html

[Hobie-wan]

I have gotten in the habit of making mods easily reversible. For my power wire, I put a small Y spade on the end with one side clipped off, then I could just push it in between the pin and clip. Maybe Mason has the right idea and its not a good joint?

[MasonB15]

I have gotten in the habit of making mods easily reversible. For my power wire, I put a small Y spade on the end with one side clipped off, then I could just push it in between the pin and clip. Maybe Mason has the right idea and its not a good joint?

I actually did the same thing because I couldn't find my soldering iron . When I first got the thing it was done the same way but the wire came out. Once I got it pushed in good, it worked.

[jfe2]

I thought that could be the issue because I never did solder the power connection, I just sort of looped the end of the wire and pushed it securely between the pin and the clip with a tiny screw driver. It's definitely making contact, but I double checked anyway and pretty much reinstalled the chip entirely, but got the same results. The only difference I have now is that I see the animation before the Saturn logo screen. Still no disk spinning though.

[Hobie-wan]

Dumb question, but you are pushing the door switch if you have the cover off, right?

[jfe2]

I was actually putting the cover back on whenever I tested it, just without screwing it in.

[Hobie-wan]

Bleh, I dunno then. Mine went right in with no issues.

[jfe2]

Bleh, I dunno then. Mine went right in with no issues.

Thanks for the suggestions though! It just sucks cause I know all the connections are right and the card is pushed down far enough. Oh well, maybe I'll get another one and give it another shot somewhere down the line.

[Ziggy]

Did you test the system BEFORE installing the mod chip?