I need some help. Something is wrong with our Sega Saturn. It seems like ever since I replaced the long-dead battery it has been constantly: - Video flickers/tints blue - Games will not boot - Games randomly crash during play I have no idea what's wrong... - ThreadSky

marcdwyz.bsky.social • 9 days ago

I need some help. Something is wrong with our Sega Saturn. It seems like ever since I replaced the long-dead battery it has been constantly:
- Video flickers/tints blue
- Games will not boot
- Games randomly crash during play

I have no idea what's wrong...

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Comments

denverlawyer.bsky.social•9 days ago

Almost guaranteed your caps are leaking

marcdwyz.bsky.social•9 days ago

Off to the repair man then 🥲

I guess I'll open it up and take a look to see if there's any obvious signs. I don't know any of this stuff so I don't know what to look for exactly. All I know is the caps are the barrel shaped things...

denverlawyer.bsky.social•8 days ago

https://www.reddit.com/r/SegaSaturn/comments/1e79c12/leaking_capacitors_is_a_real_problem_for_the_sega/

It's a known issue, it's a relatively cheap fix, and it sounds like that's what's happening here. Electrical gremlins on old consoles are 90% of the time a cap issue.

marcdwyz.bsky.social•8 days ago

If that is what the problem is, is it too late? Or does it sound like it can be saved?

denverlawyer.bsky.social•8 days ago

100% it can be saved. They will clean the board, and replace the caps. It's not expensive:
https://tkscustomsupermodz.com/products/service-capacitor-replacement-full-motherboard?srsltid=AfmBOoozsgMHHerHVsgg9w7W7R2Cn4vXqmuZomSswEC3wUkYM22bgnyD

marcdwyz.bsky.social•8 days ago

In the meantime does it accelerate the damage to have it plugged in, or to play it?

I started opening it up but a full disassembly looked kinda scary 😅 I couldn't see much. There's a retro repair guy close by locally, so I'm gonna stop in there tomorrow and have him open it.

marcdwyz.bsky.social•9 days ago

A little extra info:
- Came with the second USA controller (the good one).
- Practically mint almost never used. Was in storage until 5 years ago.
- Modded Action Replay 4MB cart to play games.
- No video card installed.
- Using HD Retravision Component cables.

marcdwyz.bsky.social•9 days ago

Tried: Removing battery (have no spares)

First boot of MM8 I pressed Start to skip the opening FMV and the system REBOOTED?? That's new behavior I think? Subsequent boots were successful. Not sure what to make of that... Issues are random so hard to say.

marcdwyz.bsky.social•9 days ago

Battery out booted every time since, so popped the battery back in and it did the system re-start when pressing start to skip the MM8 intro FMV. On first boot same as when I removed the battery.

Then next boot failed, then OK. 😵‍💫

So battery in/out may not make a difference.

marcdwyz.bsky.social•9 days ago

With battery removed there's been no issues but that one system reset. I've been trying other games MM8, MMX4, CVSotN, and there's been no boot, crash, or color issues...

Maybe it's coincidence but maybe the battery being in IS an issue?? (How do I keep saved games then?! 😭)

marcdwyz.bsky.social•9 days ago

I don't have a battery tester, but at the very least they both say 3V...

crim400.bsky.social•9 days ago

Try cleaning the battery with alcohol to remove the kid-proof bitter coating. That coating is known to interfere with the battery's function on certain devices (Airtags for example).

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