The Blog

Sega Saturn Laser Assembly Replacement

Nix McRetro // 28th August 2012 // Categories: Repairs, Sega, YouTube

Here’s another Sega Saturn giving me trouble. This particular PAL machine powers on, but the CD drive makes some horrible noises and refuses to recognise discs. I’ve already tried adjusting the little orange trimpot on the laser assembly without success, so I think it’s time to replace the optical pickup.... Continue reading

Photographing the Sega Saturn Collection

Nix McRetro // 27th August 2012 // Categories: Devkit, Sega, YouTube

Sophia is still out and about! I’ve been giving her a bit of attention today, starting with a careful dusting using a paintbrush to get rid of the top layer of smokey dust. She looks considerably cleaner now, although you won’t see that in the photographs above. I took those... Continue reading

Sega Saturn VA0 Lid Repair and Sega Rally Test

Nix McRetro // 27th August 2012 // Categories: Repairs, Sega, YouTube

Here’s one of my Sega Saturn Model 1 consoles that I’ve managed to get working again. This one is particularly important to me because it has a VA0 mainboard, from the earliest PAL Saturn revisions. The problem was the CD lid, which wasn’t pressing down properly to activate the switch... Continue reading

Sega Saturn Rolling Horizontal Lines: PSU Undervoltage Clue

Nix McRetro // 26th August 2012 // Categories: Hacks, Repairs, Sega

Sega Saturn Rolling Horizontal Lines: PSU Undervoltage Clue

Two Sega Saturns. Two copies of the same game. Two power supplies that produce rolling horizontal lines. The best clues always seem to arrive by accident. I had been testing my Japanese Saturn through a 240 V to 120 V step-down transformer. That particular project failed, more on that later,... Continue reading

Mega-CD BIOS Loading for the Amstrad Mega PC and Sega TeraDrive

Nix McRetro // 24th August 2012 // Categories: Hacks, Sega, YouTube

EverDrive, is there anything you don’t do? I’ve been thinking about getting an external Mega-CD running with either the Amstrad Mega PC or the Sega TeraDrive, and one of the first problems was how to load the Mega-CD BIOS. I originally thought I’d need an Action Replay or Datel CDX... Continue reading