The Blog

Sega Saturn BA6798S Motor Driver Replacement

Nix McRetro // 16th September 2012 // Categories: Repairs, Sega, YouTube

Remember that Japanese Sega Saturn with the completely berserk CD mechanism? Well, it’s still completely berserk. The disc motor and laser assembly are doing all sorts of strange things, although I’ve confirmed that the fault follows the CD deck when swapped into another Saturn. At least that narrows things down.... Continue reading

Sega Saturn PAL Power Supply Voltage Measurements

Nix McRetro // 15th September 2012 // Categories: Repairs, Sega, YouTube

Another Sega Saturn, another power supply mystery! This time I’m checking the DC output rails on a PAL Saturn power supply with the multimeter, and the readings look reasonably good. The 3.3 V rail is measuring 3.36 V, the 9 V rail is producing 9.25 V, and the 5 V... Continue reading

Sega Mega Drive Model 1 CXA1145P Video Repair

Nix McRetro // 13th September 2012 // Categories: Repairs, Sega

Success! Replacing the Sony CXA1145P video encoder fixed the yellow and green flickering completely. This was the Mega Drive that behaved badly from a cold start and gradually settled down after warming up. As you can see in the original footage, Knuckles was having something of a disco party before... Continue reading

Sega Mega Drive 32X Repair: No Display, No Sound

Nix McRetro // 13th September 2012 // Categories: Repairs, Sega, YouTube

I’ve been going through my collection of Sega Mega Drive 32X add-ons, and it’s not looking particularly promising. Three of them seem to develop video problems after running for a while, while the fourth one isn’t doing much of anything at all. No picture, no sound. Wonderful! After a bit... Continue reading

Sega Mega Drive 32X Jittery Video: Initial Investigation

Nix McRetro // 12th September 2012 // Categories: Repairs, Sega

I picked up three Sega Mega Drive 32X units from the internet, all sold as-is. Surprisingly, all three work to some degree, although I’ve been getting some rather unpleasant video problems. One of them originally produced no picture at all, but a good clean managed to bring it back to... Continue reading