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[Parallax Scroll]

I just picked up a Saturn that's having some trouble. I'm wondering if anyone here can tell what its problem is or could point me to a good online technical/troubleshooting resource for Saturns.

Here are the symptoms I got with the games I tested:

Nights: Ran OK for a couple minutes, then the music cut out. Game otherwise played fine for several more minutes, then the geometry began flickering in and out until it disappeared entirely (only background was visible).

Panzer Dragoon: Several minutes into the opening movie, the game froze with about a second of audio that kept looping. I hit the reset button, the game got to the first page of intro text, then the machine reset itself. It got to the same point and reset itself again. I turned it off and back on, played through the first level with no problem. After fade to black at the end of the level, nothing ever came back on the screen.

I can run some more thorough tests tomorrow, but if these sort of symptoms look familiar to anyone, I'd appreciate any advice. =)

 

[Saturnman]

Nights has a mix of CD music and chip-generated tunes. Which part of the game did the music cut out? Boss or normal level?

 

[Parallax Scroll]

Normal Level. I hadn't gotten to a boss yet when the game stopped working.

 

[FortNinety]

Wow, I never heard of these problems before. Is it an American or import system. And what make? Has it been opened up before?

 

[Parallax Scroll]

US, model 2 (the kind with the round power and reset buttons). It was a customer return on a new product. The seller claimed he hadn't taken the time to test it and was selling it as-is, so I did get a pretty decent price on it. The system and components all looked like they had been used for only a few minutes, then put back in the box. Oddly, the video cable that came with it didn't quite fit the jack on the system, but I had a spare cable handy.

 

[Saturnman]

if the graohics and chip-generated sound are affected, chances are your Saturn is f*cked.

 

[Parallax Scroll]

Is the regular stage music in Nights chip-generated?

If I could narrow it down to a specific part that's failing, I'm wonding if I could mix and match parts from my model 1 Saturn?

 

[Saturnman]

Is the regular stage music in Nights chip-generated?

Yep, that's why it can chage different parts.

 

[Parallax Scroll]

Damn.