Used Sega Saturn plays in black and white *SOLVED*

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Xeoloux
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Used Sega Saturn plays in black and white *SOLVED*

Post by Xeoloux »

I bought a sega saturn today and it plays in black and white. I took some canned air to all the connections. I used all the same cords on my other sega saturn and its works fine all in color, so the cords aren't the problem.

Could someone give me an idea on how to fix this or what this could be? I really appreciate your time and help thanks.

UPDATE:
While playing some CD's for 1 milisecond all the color is there then it goes back to black and white and this happens once every 6-10 seconds.

UPDATE:
I was playing some music on and it, and I started to record what was happening to show you all and it now has color. I'm guessing it just needed to warm up.



*Solution*
I took the whole Sega Saturn Unit apart and cleaned it. The internals of the saturn are mint, all the capacitor are in perfect shape. I took 2 pictures for those who are interested in what the Sega Saturn Motherboard looks like.

http://filesmelt.com/dl/FILE0224.JPG
http://filesmelt.com/dl/FILE0225.JPG

While I was viewing the motherboard I saw a little brown bug carcass on C106. The bug was about 3x the size of a nat so it was very small. I used some canned air to remove it and now the Saturn starts with color and maintains it everytime. Tested the saturn for 3 hours just now. Thanks for all the help, the racketboy forums will see me again when I have a question.
Last edited by Xeoloux on Thu Aug 18, 2011 4:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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xan_racketBOY_fan
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Re: Used Sega Saturn plays in black and white

Post by xan_racketBOY_fan »

Wow, that's kinda gnarly actually. Someone here should definitely have an answer for you.
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Hobie-wan
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Re: Used Sega Saturn plays in black and white

Post by Hobie-wan »

There might be a broken solder joint that did indeed make contact after the system warmed up a bit. Finding it might be a pain though. It is also possible there might be a capacitor or something in the video circuit that's on its way out and took a bit to built up a charge. Hopefully someone who knows video circuits will poke in.
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Xeoloux
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Re: Used Sega Saturn plays in black and white

Post by Xeoloux »

Hobie-wan wrote:There might be a broken solder joint that did indeed make contact after the system warmed up a bit. Finding it might be a pain though. It is also possible there might be a capacitor or something in the video circuit that's on its way out and took a bit to built up a charge. Hopefully someone who knows video circuits will poke in.
Its black and white again. Hmm


Yea if anyone knows someone about fixing things like this please show them this page or have them send me a message so I can fix this. I'm sure the color will just come back after about 15 minutes of use like it did before. Its flashing the color again.
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flojocabron
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Re: Used Sega Saturn plays in black and white

Post by flojocabron »

did you try it with other A/V or RF cords? maybe those are messed up?

What about your tv? are the tv inputs on it loose or not?

some messed up av cords flicker and change color when they are cracked or worn.
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Xeoloux
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Re: Used Sega Saturn plays in black and white

Post by Xeoloux »

flojocabron wrote:did you try it with other A/V or RF cords? maybe those are messed up?

What about your tv? are the tv inputs on it loose or not?

some messed up av cords flicker and change color when they are cracked or worn.
I tried the same cables and the same tv with my other sega saturn and it works perfectly. It has to be something inside of the sega saturn.
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Re: Used Sega Saturn plays in black and white

Post by eSPy »

might be completly off on this one, but could it be a region mismatch issue? (PAL system on a NTSC TV or something)
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Re: Used Sega Saturn plays in black and white

Post by Hobie-wan »

eSPy wrote:might be completly off on this one, but could it be a region mismatch issue? (PAL system on a NTSC TV or something)
If it were a PAL Saturn and the TV didn't know how to handle it the picture would likely be rolling as well as being black and white. Plus the US games wouldn't be working in it unless the OP is launching them with a 4 in 1 or STKey.
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Xeoloux
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Re: Used Sega Saturn plays in black and white

Post by Xeoloux »

Hobie-wan wrote:
eSPy wrote:might be completly off on this one, but could it be a region mismatch issue? (PAL system on a NTSC TV or something)
If it were a PAL Saturn and the TV didn't know how to handle it the picture would likely be rolling as well as being black and white. Plus the US games wouldn't be working in it unless the OP is launching them with a 4 in 1 or STKey.
This saturn is a MK-80000A model at 60Hz and my tv is a NTSC tv so thats not it.

The Saturn starts off in black and what then has color flashes for 10-15 minutes then it becomes full color.

I hope it is a capacitor problem so I could go grab a new one and replace it. Does anyone know of a good guide on how to open the sega saturn? I could go through and check all the capacitors and see if any have large bulges on the top of them.

Also once it has color after about 15 minutes I can turn it off then turn it back on and it has color, but after another 10-15 minutes it'll loose the color.
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Re: Used Sega Saturn plays in black and white

Post by Hobie-wan »

Opening the Saturn is really easy. All of the screws are out in the open. Just lift off the top once you get them all out.
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