This order was for the full recap, TLC, BIOS mod and FRAM mod of a Sega Saturn. The customer also requested installation of a Phantom Universal modchip, although later tests showed that the console couldn’t read burnt games so the mochip wasn’t installed.
First step was to fully disassemble the console and wash it. The console was overall not very dirty, although there had been some visitors in the past.
The next step was to replace the SRAM chip for an FRAM, and the BIOS chip for a region-free BIOS. The chip was removed with hot air, protecting the surrounding areas with aluminium foil tape. Both chips had some epoxy gluing them to the motherboard. The chips need some pins lifted and connected to either ground or 5V.
The CD drive was also disassembled, cleaned, lubricated and recapped
The PSU was also recapped
The console was then reassembled and the Phantom chip installed. For that, a wire was run for 5V between the bottom of the CD drive and the chip. This console needs a 20-pin flat cable, so a new cable was used from the modchip to the motherboard, and the old cable was used from the CD drive to the modchip.
Two games were burnt into two brands of blank CDs, one a PAL game and another one an NTSC game. However those games didn’t boot, and were just recognised as music CDs. Original CDs were then tested from both regions, and they did boot fine, which confirms the chip is working (or at least the pass-through part works). The customer also sent a burnt CD that he has been using in a different console successfully, but that didn’t work either. The modchip was then replaced by a different one, with the same results. The conclusion is that either both modchips are faulty somehow (unlikely), the installation is wrong in some other way (unlikely), or the despite the recap, this last can’t read burnt CDs well enough (possible). In any case, as the modchip is not having the effect the customer needs, it was removed. The console was then tested again with a Japanese game and a PAL game to confirm the rest of the installation works fine.
