EBAY Buy - SEGA SATURN MK1 with NO POWER! - Repair Video 

If you position the power switch into its fully up (off) position, before pulling the cosmetic button up from the switch shaft, you would not break the latching post inside of the power switch. Just a tip for the future!

Bit of advice when working live, try to use something like a tupperware box to put over the various components to limit your chances of touching anything you don't want to probe. It's not perfect or fool proof, but it does help keep your hand raised when you're focusing on something else. Many small changes help reduce the risk that can never be fully eliminated.... It also means if something goes pop, it limits what may hit you. I always advise beginners to not touch mains voltage; and if they feel like they have to, to ensure they have either RCBO or RCD protection on the household electrical circuit, or use a plug-in RCD protector.

I am happy that my advices helping you 😉It was an interesting problem, tipically on SMPS the ESR of electrolytic caps always go high (bad), in particulary in the small ones that prevent the oscillation of the swiching circuit (therefore that silence the whole PSU), you make sure you've always check them. The part you took off first, was the Switching controller + PWM + switching transistor in one case, those TOPxxx and TNYxxxx chips are poor made and many devices use them - TVs, Monitors, Video playing devices, washing machines etc. - they die very often and even explode to pieces once overheated.

Fixing Sega Saturns is the lord's work. Great video.

> breaks device during repair One of us! One of us!!!!

Ahhh man... I love the SEGA Saturn - my friend got a Mk 1 when they came out.. we played SEGA Rally and Virtua Fighter to DEATH.. I saved up and ended up getting a Mk 2. They were such incredible machines for the time - great home conversions of the SEGA Arcade Machines of the era!

Great video and fix as always Vince! Have you ever considered doing a video on trying to fix something with a broken/severely corroded board by getting a new one made through PCB Way? I know it would just be a lot of transferring components from one board to another, but maybe a good tea break fix to just show a sped up/condensed video. Just a thought. Keep up the great work and love the channel!

Great job Vince. Nice showing the opto coupler working. The double diode packages are common on switch mode power supplies. They are used to rectify the output voltage back to DC. Agree those switch mode IC's seem to be a common point of failure. Keep up the great work 👍

Glad to see a result in the end, this is another Saturn PSU saved :) If you ever need bits like a power button, do drop me a message, I very likely have a spare or two laying around :p

It's nice to find a reoccurring fault with a specific device. If I ever find a faulty Sega Saturn in the wild, I may pick it up and see if I can fix it!

Brilliant fix Vince I always test them dual diode packages and mosfets with my fluke in diode mode, seems to be consistent for me, maybe those testers aren’t quite pushing the testing hard enough, I would say yours was breaking down under load? Keep up the excellent work, glad your finger is getting better 😊

After the Genesis/Megadrive, there was the 32x and Sega/Mega CD add-on things before the Saturn. Never had them, as I jumped straight to the PlayStation. I've got a few things to send over to your PO Box soon! 🙂

had this so much with saturns as i buy them a lot when they are cheap non working i have built a nice setup of old school consoles doing it as so far got 2 n 64's 2 mk1 saturns a mk2 , mega drive 1 and mega drive 2 , a boxed nes and got a master system 1 i need to sort out that has no power great video and keep them coming

I really enjoy the console repair content. Excellent work Vince.

Great job as always Vince, I'm guessing the IC fault must be before the diodes on the output. That's why it didn't test as faulty. Cool little IC, never seen them before.

Nice fix Vince! Thanks for the video!

The joys of the sega saturn my dad got one in the box second hand not long after the console was released from a thrift shop came with three games sonic 3d a golf game and torico the memory of that game got to the end level the city of moons never figured out how to finish the game all in all the game is cryptic and unusual such an underrated console many years later got a saturn for myself and the torico game one day I’ll finally get around to finishing the game I’m just happy i have them in my collection

my mk1 saturn is still going strong never been fixed or repaired its an original 1995 model and its never missed a beat and ii spent so long playing sega rally time trials and variou other classics one thing about sega consoles is they are durable for the most part and are far more repairable than most others from the time.

I think mine works. There are no screws and I have some test games. I bought it 14 years ago off of someone that modded it and kept the chip. He dropped it off at my house so I trust him. lol It's been in a box with other old consoles for years. Thanks for providing a bit of fun to my week! I am gonna check mine out!

Just had a look at the Datasheet for the TOP202 and its quite a clever device but relatively easy to understand for anyone who would like to move forward and learn to use an Oscilloscope this would be a good place to start, having only three pins the correct waveforms will be clear and very easy to see if its running or not without the need for a tester ( a scope is a high level tester I guess !) It uses PWM to set and maintain an output so the pulses will be easy to spot and as you have a battery powered scope relatively safe. However I bear no responsibility if you blow your house up ! and of course you should proceed at your own pace and what your comfortable with but its a logical step or maybe stick to battery operated stuff for your first 'scopeing'...anyhow just sayin and Great Video !....cheers.

That poor finger Vince lol... Ever since I've known you, you've always been hurting those digits lol. Be careful bud ahahah

Hi Vince! Love the videos! I think the tester you're using is ill-equipped to test transistors like these voltage regulators, as it's not really useful to know that they're comprised of 2 diodes unless you need to pass an entry level EE course. Testing the voltage input and output while in circuit with power applied will give you more actionable information.

The plastics on that power switch were brittle and yellowed with age. Not your fault, Vince.

Another great video. Maybe, since now you got 2 of them, you could try to mod one to not use the original power supply but rather be powered of of usb-c directly?

loved the Saturn console, didn't do well in comparison but still great for its time.

Love these Retro vids :D Just the best :)

I always enjoy a MMV console fix!

that was a good little fix vince arcade game looks brilliant

Nice video, Vince :) That "double diode" stuff from the primary side should be a mosfet, not a diode pack.

Those little switching chips fail often! had a lot of monitors where the switched failed (am 15 and do street repairs for people in my street and village) and it had no output just like the PSU of the Sega. No idea why they fail maybe because they get too hot?! Idk

Hi love your video's, I have a fault on model 2 when I plug the S video I only get black and white image and the cable was tested so it works. I also tested with a RF cable but the problem is still there.

nice video again Vince your content is not only useful but I always find them comforting and enjoyable to watch

I noticed something possibly missing on the nonworking power board before the octocoupler was removed. There is two holes, writing R-301 and the electrical wiring diagram 'resistor' symbol on the board. Based on that view, before going further in video, I think that resistor missing might be the problem. After seeing the MK 2 working board, that good has the same empty spot with same writing and diagram symbol, so my first thought was wrong.

Nice one Vince, finger looks good now. 😊

Perfect time for a repair video

You've gone from being the Nintendo Switch killer to the Sega Switch killer. Saying that, I can't gloat because I managed to break a switch on a Pure pocket DAB radio after fixing it.

Not sure if you have one already, maybe you do but would love a breakdown of the equipment you most commonly use to fault find. Might make an interesting video.

May be worth investing in a cheap 3d printer if you ever want to quickly make new switches/gears which can be expensive or hard to find online! Great fix Vince!

Nice job! And I learned more about how optocouplers work 👍

Hi Vince don’t know if you know the Tv series called wheeler dealers which is on discovery but they buy cheap cars and repair/renovate them and sell them on for a small profit, this weeks episode they buy a 1980 Rolls Royce Silver Spirit and fix it up it might be worth a watch !

With a Fault like this and the age of the device, the small Bootstrap Capacitor right next to the primary Switcher is a good candidate of being faulty.

It seems a big failure spot but you have spend it some more life. Very nice.

Nice job brother ❤

Don't feel bad! I literally did the same fuckin thing trying to remove that button on my v1 a few months ago. You can get replacements from China that are the same just missing the screw hole mounts. I had to make a make- shift mount but I got my button working again. You just need a 5 amp 240vac switch. I bought one of the Alps ones. Just lmk if you need a link Edit: I wrote this at the beginning of the video. Glad to see the v2 switch worked just fine on the v1!

Nice fix, another Sega saved from ending up in the landfill :)

I'm doing a DC PSU to Naomi right now ... and had the same issue with the PSU not sending voltage through ... but only on the 3.3 and 5v outputs ... the 12v read fine. I wondered there if it wasn't pushing it through because the switch wasn't pressed. I've not got far enough through yet to hooking up a switch to it, yet ... but I'm hoping that's the issue. Looking forward to getting stuck in, though.

Very awesome! Another console saved.

The slide metal part of the power switch looks ad if it goes over to top out side part of the switch

WooHoo a new MMV video!

23:54 did you bridge the power switch header on the known working one? :)

fab video vince you should try get a commodore 64 or amiga :D

Great job Vince =D Unlucky with the power switch =/

In all my time dealing with power supplies of all types I've never known them to get damaged due to having no load. Some won't output the full voltage, computer psu were good for that.

Yes another trying to fix video

Ooh trying to fix time ❤

The Sega Saturn was the best quality made system by Sega besides the Master System

man i feel old now i owned one of them. keep an eye on the game "panzer dragoon saga" if you find a good condition copy its worth a fortune.

Ah classic Vince breaking something on a console 🎉

I had the Saturn. Liked playing Virtua Fighter 2 and Panzer Dragoon 2 Zwie

Amazing video.

Vince, mate, what are you doing with all this stuff after fixing? I reckon you are keeping some of the things you repair, but what about the rest? Keep going with the videos and give us more Rolls footage :D

Please please Vince get an isolation transformer! One day despite your care you could accidentally touch the mains….a disaster!

I'm not sure if my original comment posted, Vince. Get hold of a Peak DCA55, it would've more than likely picked up the fault.

Nice find ..especially getting false readings The bad one was reading a little higher .. For test meter Peak atlas DCA55 Component analyzer ... They build good Test meters Little pricey I bought years ago they have a new version out Check them out vince.... Money well spent Their capacitor tester is nice too

I upgraded to a ReSaturn due to the power board being cracked in delivery. Worth it though

I think that switch was broken already, there seems to be some leftover glue residue there from a previous fix.

Vince where did you get your blue jumper from, I’ve gotta get one.

you can use a Dreamcast power switch to replace it, just desolder the whole switch from a Dreamcast switch and solder it back onto the Saturn switch cable as the Dreamcast power switch cable is too short

i bought a saturn last week, plugged it in went bang. same component that you changed so ordered a new one. soldered it in but still not working. do you think its worth getting another, maybe faulty???

I ended up getting ReSaturn or modern power board because it wasn't something I felt comfortable with.

I have a Green dim flashing light with no start up, what could this mean?

There's no power supply that can resist you :)

This maybe a stupid question but why do you test in DC setting from an AC power supply

Not a simple double diode indeed. The TOP202YAI is a PWM Controller and 700 V MOSFET in a 3pin package.

I've a Sega Saturn with an interesting fault, it stopped displaying any sprites. The game loads and can play. You see game background, but no sprites showing.

another tip is to take all metal rings off when working with 240 volts

Would you be interest in a imac that's not working correctly?

Is anyone NOT sponsored by PCBway? Anyone? Beuller?

27:13 Game Over Yeahhh!!!

Look Ma I'm dancing

I have always wanted a sega saturn but never been able to afford one and probably wont be able to now that I am unable to work and going through cancer treatment.

...and now order a FENRIR for the Saturn and show how to put that in and have fun with an ODE :)

Why didn't you check you had mains going in, instead of checking supply out

Weren't you supposed to connect the power button when you tested your known good one with the bad mosfet? 😅

Good gob

It looks like both models got the same motherboard revision as well😅

👍

What type of desolder gun do u use? From aliexpress or :)

keeps it from the landfill

You didn't break the switch, you just happened to find a way not to remove the switch cover lol.

❤

Saturn... thumbs up

Couldn’t work out why you needed to remove the power switch 🤷‍♂️

To be this good takes ECNIV.

The boards in old stuff almost never break down couse they are built to last

Very Long Easy Right... Maybe. GAME OVER Yeahhhhhh.

You forgot to connect the switch to the working board???????????

If only someone could invent some sort of resin that hardens as plastic once cured...🙄

i bet the loose main wire caused the fault

Not sure if you did it off camera but you didn't actually prove the fault 100%, you never put a power switch on the second PSU, you had the first one bridged 🤣 Also RE loads, switching mode PSUs (if they have a bridge rectifier) are fine without any load, its only really an issue on linear PSUs (with a transformer).