Picked up three 32X units off the internet that were sold as-is. Found that three of them all work to some degree. However, the jittering/distortion in the video above might be common to all four of the 32X units I own at the moment. I’m looking forward to testing this out more extensively when I find the time. One of the 32X units would not show any video at all. Gave it a clean out and it now works well. I have a video to upload with the details on what I did for that also – stay tuned!
In the past week, I have also received a Mega Drive 2 with Mega CD 2 unit – both were dead. The Mega CD is an easy fix. The pico fuse is broken, just like the Mega CD 1 unit I had. I am pretty sure the fuses are exactly the same too which is handy – I should have a spare somewhere. The CD deck seems to be working a charm.
The Mega Drive 2 that was coupled with it seemed to be dead at first. I noticed just today that it appeared that the unit did have some life left in it. Sure enough a dry broken joint on the DC-in power socket. Not the first time I’ve come across that! Gave it a quick resolder, looks like it might have been repaired in the past, and it roared to life with some Aleste. I managed to complete the first level before realising I had left the soldering iron on in the other room – whoops!
Stay tuned, we should have some more exciting things coming up in the next week as I try to repair the Mega Drive with video problems that I previously reported. Also, I need to upload some video of other things I was trying with those Saturns. Until next time, keep powering on everyone!
Edit 2018-02-06: There is an official tech document from Sega detailing this issue with PAL VA4 units and (at least) PAL 32X units with a repair workaround.
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