8 replies to this topic

[Seob]

Just a quick question. I've got a Sega Saturn that displays all kind off garbage on screen when powered on for about 5 minutes. I have take it apart and run a game with the top cover off, and it runs flawless. So it has to be a kind of overheating problem. Does somebody know at what spots i should check the system? Could it be capacitor related, or do i need to look in the power supply?
Thanks.

[save2600]

I've never worked on a Saturn before but two things spring to mind:

Power supply is getting hot, so causes failure. I bet there's at least one large transistor screwed to a heat sink that might needs some fresh heat sink compound applied.

CPU chips get too warm for their own good. Open up the unit and while it has been running for a while, touch which chips get real hot. Those are the ones that could stand to use a small heatsink of their own - if they'll fit. Not sure how much room is left inside one of those consoles, but you may have good luck with a small-ish heatsink off an old video card for instance. I've had great luck simply Crazy Gluing heatsinks to chips for years now. Optimally, you'd want to use heatsink compound and a clip, but that's not a likely scenario for most of this stuff. Crazy Glue to the rescue!

[Rex Dart]

save2600, on Mon Aug 1, 2011 12:46 PM, said:

I've had great luck simply Crazy Gluing heatsinks to chips for years now. Optimally, you'd want to use heatsink compound and a clip, but that's not a likely scenario for most of this stuff. Crazy Glue to the rescue!

You can get a thermal-transferrin' adhesive to glue heatsinks in place; I got some off Newegg ages ago but Fry's should sell it too. Fairly cheap, comes in two tubes that you'll mix so neither should dry up too fast (which is nice).

And yeah, same tips as he recommended above... see if there's a voltage regulator that might need replacing, inspect the capacitors (just good practice), and try to isolate the source of the heat that might be shutting the thing down. I've never heard of an overheating saturn before, but that doesn't mean it can't happen.

[zylon]

Use dry compressed air and blow all the crap out of the system. If you kill a chip, system is toast.

[tz101]

I would take the console case apart and use a vacuum cleaner hose (only plastic, not metal because of static) to suck out all the dust bunnies. Then, check for any non-functioning case cooling fans. That could be the culprit.

[nathanallan]

After you clean it up and maybe put a heatsink on it, might want to think about using a very small 5V fan mounted to the inside of the case near a vent. A DC fan is very small and is really overkill for the system, so it's a great choice. The amperage draw from a Dreamcast cooling fan is very low, so you wouldn't be taxing the power supply any.

But check those regulators and dust. Very good advise above.

[Seob]

Dust is already gone. I also was thinking about adding a small fan near the power supply. Will try to do a test run this week.
.

[Jimmy Yakapucci]

Before adding a fan I would make sure that there are no failing components. Otherwise you may wind up with a much worse problem.

JY

[Majestic_Lizard]

Is this a model 1 or model 2?

My model 1 has never done anything like that.