Saturn repair advice needed. (Need modchip removed)

[BouncekDeLemos | 82]

Hey guys! Okay, long story short, I happened upon a modchip from a Saturn I acquired that I need removed and need some advice on doing it.

Short story long :

In one of my topics on the Sega Saturn Satiator, I mentioned that not all Saturns are the same, and the one I had in particular is conflicting and fighting against my ODE.

Had a suspicion that the problem might be something inside that's gunked-up that made it think that the door's not being shut right, something with the laser (It's long dead), or worse case a modchip conflicting with the Satiator, so I figured I opened it to peek and see if it was something wrong, and well...

Hello there! Is that a region bypass mod? (I'm seriously asking here, I'm not sure)



There's a long-ass conductor from the board to the PSU's 5v (I think it's 5v? I'm no modder or expert or anything.)


Here's a closer look at the work here. I personally don't think it's the best (actually it looks a bit awful IMO), but it's holding up in there pretty good. Dunno for how long though. I went ahead and checked the caps, none seem to be bulging or leaking or anything which is good. They oddly have this white stuff under them, which I hope is some factory glue?



This particular chip has one ribbon cable going to the drive on one side, and one to the main board. Tried looking up info, and most modchips have them all on one side, or use a connector on one end. Dunno what kind of chip this is (Possibly a cheapo brand?) 


If the PSU didn't scare me, this does. I mean, the caps are sitting right on top of the Saturn's shielding-- in fact the whole entire chip is!-- with no type of insulation to keep anything from shorting out while it's banging on the corner. There's black electrical tape, but that's just to hold it down. 


Dunno who this "APE" is, but man... I hope this was just a personal project for the previous owner, because this type of thing is scary if this was done as a service. Now, that may sound too mean, and even though I'm not a modder or repair guy, I can still tell if it's good workmanship or not.


However the main focus is that I really want this removed regardless of how well it's installed. lol Just painting a picture to where I'm at now on this.

What are my options from here? Do I remove it and plug the OG cable back into the main board? I've never removed solder from anything, especially a power supply, which is scary to me. I haven't even dug to the bottom of the main board yet to check if there is any spaghetti going on. Do chips like this require additional wiring/bridging? I can provide more pics if need-be. Any advice or info is greatly appreciated.

Hopefully restoring this will stop the conflict with the Satiator ODE.

And hey, anyone who helps me out, I'll send you the modchip over your way for free. lol

[drxandy | 3,235]

Apparently that's how that type of chip is instructed to be installed (taking power off the PSU that shoddy looking way) there shouldn't be anything else done under the Mobo.

But it looks easy to remove, just plug the stock ribbon cable back and if you don't care too much about looks you probably can just yank the cable off the PSU, or even cut it and tape the end to be safe. If you wanna heat up the solder and pull the wire but don't wanna do the cleanup you can leave the blob because that pin is insulated by the plastic housing.

As long as that wire isn't feeding any electricity to anything and the ribbon back to stock you should be good.

[BouncekDeLemos | 82]

6 hours ago, drxandy said:

Apparently that's how that type of chip is instructed to be installed (taking power off the PSU that shoddy looking way) there shouldn't be anything else done under the Mobo.

But it looks easy to remove, just plug the stock ribbon cable back and if you don't care too much about looks you probably can just yank the cable off the PSU, or even cut it and tape the end to be safe. If you wanna heat up the solder and pull the wire but don't wanna do the cleanup you can leave the blob because that pin is insulated by the plastic housing.

As long as that wire isn't feeding any electricity to anything and the ribbon back to stock you should be good.

Cool beans! Thank you! 

I've looked up the way most of these are installed, and yeah- long cable to the PSU. However, I think this particular mod could've been a little better about it. I hate to be so harsh, but to reiterate it's just so much exposed conductors are scary to me, especially ones hanging out on the power supply and the fact that the chip itself was just dangling around all willy-nilly despite the tape holding it down. 

I've mustered up the confidence and I'm gonna see if I can do the ol' heat-and-pull. Just bought a cheap soldering iron. To be safe, I'm disconnecting the modchip from the main board first, and I'm gonna make sure to not have it plugged in while attempting this surgery. lol Got some wick ordered, figured I'd soak up the rest of the solder from the power later down the line, just to make it look a bit cleaner.

I'll post results.

After this, would you like the modchip? I'll send it to ya no charge. If not, I'll throw it in a free topic somewhere (if we have one) It seems to work fine, probably a little too fine since it likes to fight with Satiators. lol

[drxandy | 3,235]

Yeah they absolutely did it quick and dirty, maybe it was even shorting out? Idk but I don't blame you for wanting to make it right and clean it up, plus good skills to have down the line for cleaning and repairing things.

Ooo sure, I'll take it! Sending ya a PM now.

Looking forward to see your progress!!

Edited May 27, 2021 by drxandy

[BouncekDeLemos | 82]

4 hours ago, drxandy said:

Yeah they absolutely did it quick and dirty, maybe it was even shorting out? Idk but I don't blame you for wanting to make it right and clean it up, plus good skills to have down the line for cleaning and repairing things.

Ooo sure, I'll take it! Sending ya a PM now.

Looking forward to see your progress!!

Okay, got the little booger out!

Speaking of boogers:


The ribbon cable(s) were too short! They weren't the stock Saturn 21 pin. However-- the Satiator bypasses all this, so there wasn't a real need for it anyway. (So, the Saturn doesn't have any checks when the cable isn't inserted, it'll just keep trying to "read" a disc) I may get a new cable later down the road.

Before and after:



Happy to note that my ODE runs games no-prob now! Thanks again! Chip's on your way, bud. Thank you so much!

Edited May 27, 2021 by BouncekDeLemos

[drxandy | 3,235]

Heck yeah! Glad to see it kickin' and that being the only issue. You should sign it as "demodded by"

[BouncekDeLemos | 82]

9 hours ago, drxandy said:

Heck yeah! Glad to see it kickin' and that being the only issue. You should sign it as "demodded by"

I was thinking about that.