Help! I Think My Saturn is dying!

[burningdoom]

I was playing Astal last night, and I had to restart the Saturn a few times to get it to work. It kept wanting to read it as a CD. When it finally did work as a game, it froze up a couple times.

Before any of that, when I started it up, it asked for the date, time, and language. Figured that was easy enough to fix by replacing the watch battery.

Do you think the two problems are related? Or is my Saturn going out?

I really hope not, because I really have only scratched the surface of the Saturn. And Saturn collecting is getting too dang expensive to start over again.

Any suggestions on any quick fixes I can do?

I have a U.S. model, black, with the round buttons.

[scott]

Did you try it with another game?

My copy of Panzer Dragoon Saga's 4th disc was clouded and it wanted to read like a CD, until I got it resurfaced.

[sin2beta]

Those two problems should not be related.

I think the saturn asking for the date and time is as familiar to saturn owners as the VMU beep is to dreamcast owners. Replace the batteries.

Do you have problems with any game but astal?

With the game freezing, it is possible that the spindle got pushed down and became flush with the laser. At the beginning do you hear grinding or does it seem the saturn is having problems spinning the disk?

It is also possible that the laser is dying. The potentiometer on the laser can be adjusted. Do this ever so slightly and only as a last result. It will burn your laser faster. But it will get more time on your saturn.

These are the most common things. This video shows how to do both: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgj9feqRnaU

you can also replace the laser if/when it fully goes out. Sega Style periodically stocks them.

http://www.segastyle.com/SaturnJVCLaser.html

1) The first thing though, try another game. Let us know what you get from another game

2) What sounds do you hear?

[sin2beta]

My copy of Panzer Dragoon Saga's 4th disc was clouded and it wanted to read like a CD, until I got it resurfaced.

That would scare me so much when I first put it in the system and it didn't work. 

[scott]

My copy of Panzer Dragoon Saga's 4th disc was clouded and it wanted to read like a CD, until I got it resurfaced.

That would scare me so much when I first put it in the system and it didn't work. 

Ya, I was so sad. And I didn't look at that disc until months after I bought it. Luckily the resurface worked. You should have seen the look i got from the clerk when I brought it in. It works perfectly now, but man I was on pins and needles the whole way home to test it.

[sin2beta]

I got curious if you had another Saturn game, so I looked at your collection. You mention that Virtua Cop has a "chunk" removed from the CD but still plays fine. What do you mean "chunk"?

[kingrat101]

my model 2 saturn had problems reading disks as well, all I did was take a q-tip with just a little bit of rubbing alcohol and very gently cleaned the laser, should work.

[ffxik]

sin2beta covered most of the bases on this one.  Definitely try different games before panicking,

As far as a "chunk" missing I have a feeling it's something akin to this.



I paid $70 for this to have the shipper improperly package it.  It came lose during transit and well, yeah.   

Sorry for poor quality. 

However.  This applies to anybody (not just forum users) reading this post.  If you are going to ship longbox Sega CD, Saturn, and Playstation games if you do not have the foam block that came with them please for the love of all things game related put something in that case to stabilize the disc.  Stop the senseless sacrifices.   :'(

I also realize that not all of them came with foam inserts.  Just realize that the USPS is far from gentle.  Put something in that case, unless it's still factory sealed that is.   

[darko]

However.  This applies to anybody (not just forum users) reading this post.  If you are going to ship longbox Sega CD, Saturn, and Playstation games if you do not have the foam block that came with them please for the love of all things game related put something in that case to stabilize the disc.  Stop the senseless sacrifices.   :'(

You could also put the discs in a sleeve for transport. That's the best option I've seen.

[ffxik]

However.  This applies to anybody (not just forum users) reading this post.  If you are going to ship longbox Sega CD, Saturn, and Playstation games if you do not have the foam block that came with them please for the love of all things game related put something in that case to stabilize the disc.  Stop the senseless sacrifices.   :'(

You could also put the discs in a sleeve for transport. That's the best option I've seen.

That works too.

[sin2beta]

Part of me wonders about the old rule of unbalanced CDs ruining players. The idea being that the difference in weight puts undue strain on the moving parts and makes them wear out faster. It's one of those things I've never known to be fact or myth, but it has arguments for both fact and myth.

The main thing is that it ruins tracking. This makes sense for most things since they don't spin at constant angular velocity (minus the gamecube of course) and timing might be of the essence a lot more. But I'm not a hardware guy to the extreme to know for sure. Just musings I had going through my head thinking of this topic and past topics. 

[burningdoom]

Well, I tried a few other games. And I used a cotton swab and alcohol on the lens.

Astal still froze-up, Sonic 3D Blast got stuck at the map screen, but Virtua Cop 2 and Bug seemed to play fine. Bug is in pristine condition, though.

So I don't know if I should just go get the games resurfaced, or if I'd be wasting my money because it's the beginning signs of death.

[htimreimer]

Well, I tried a few other games. And I used a cotton swab and alcohol on the lens.

Astal still froze-up, Sonic 3D Blast got stuck at the map screen, but Virtua Cop 2 and Bug seemed to play fine. Bug is in pristine condition, though.

So I don't know if I should just go get the games resurfaced, or if I'd be wasting my money because it's the beginning signs of death.

i think your saturn laser head is dying/dead , thats a problem that a lot of early cd based consoles have, there cd drives are vary unreliable, whats going on with your  saturn is happening with my ps1 as now, thankfully you can replace these parts

[pceslayer]

How scratched are those discs? no deep gouges?

[burningdoom]

Nope.