Sega Saturn Laser Repair Guide!

The Sega Saturn is home to some of the best games from the early 32/64 bit era. These days they are not easy to find and they can often have trouble reading discs. In this episode of Fix It Friday, we show you how to adjust the Saturn's laser so that it can read discs again.
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[@dlang6487]

Another great Fix it Friday video!

[@oscargallardo287]

Thanks for this info just ordered a Japanese Saturn and got back into retro gaming I plan on keeping my Saturn a long time and keeping it alive

[@LMOBPRODUCTION]

Great work and very informative keep it up !!

[@thatJustinUknow]

I did this exact method w/ my Dreamcast a couple years back, would not read, then after worked like a charm. Avoided replacing the reader, hope it stays that way, still going strong although I don't play it as much as I used to.

[@yebbo00]

Great video .! I’m just about to attempt my fix on the Saturn .!

[@LIRetroGaming]

Nice, I hope this helps!

[@Kakashi747]

Thanks a lot! Rescued me.

[@LIRetroGaming]

Awesome! Glad that the video helped !

[@aussiedrumnerd]

Thank heaps mate. I adjusted the laser that didn’t work so I took that plastic housing off and now it works perfectly. Should I put the laser back to its original position or will it be fine? Thanks again.

[@LIRetroGaming]

Awesome, glad you fixed it! The laser will return to its original position on its own so you can leave it where it is

[@chemergency]

Thanks dude. My Saturn laser was reading real discs just fine but really struggled with Pseudosaturn backups. A slight tweak of that potentiometer and now it's loading and playing audio from CD-R's like a champ!

[@jh5124]

I did this to mine some years ago but I didnt take it apart. This was only a temp fix. The laser eventually stopped working again. It took a little while but it is what Next I'll install a mode.

[@zacharyrendon9657]

Nice. And was your drive working at all before you made the adjustment? Mine doesn't power up at all

[@jh5124]

@@zacharyrendon9657 my system powered up. It just didnt read the CD. If its not powering up that's probably a whole different issue.

[@zacharyrendon9657]

@@jh5124 thanks! The greenlight turns on but no picture

[@zacharyrendon9657]

@@jh5124 not having any luck at all with the new laser. It just sits and does nothing? Seperate issue maybe? What's up the battery aslo? Thanks

[@captainhawdon937]

Thank you for this! It worked! I love my Saturn. If this is a temporary fix would you recommend I replace the power supply or the laser or both?

[@LIRetroGaming]

It might be good to purchase a spare laser and keep it for the future. Aside from that it might also be good preventative maintenance to replace the capacitors on the entire system. But I suspect your laser should be good for a long time

[@captainhawdon937]

@@LIRetroGaming thanks for the reply. I really appreciate it. I've been looking into the capacitors and I've got a spare laser on the way.

[@mindscan420]

I have one thats stopped reading game discs properly, and if i insert an audio CD, it starts playing it, but it plays REALLY REALLY fast like 2x speed.. any idea what the fix could be

[@ROX99]

Can this also works with the dreamcast ?

[@iamcornjulio2563]

Thanks for this video

[@ichrismoku]

Just looking at some solutions to laser problems on the Sega Saturn and boy have I wasted hours trying to troubleshoot my issue: mostly seems to run great once the game is running, but getting it started is the issue. Much of the time it'll only recognise it as an audio CD, but be able to play the music on the disc no problem. Thought it might be the lid mechanism, occasionally noticed that slapping shut the CD lid seemed to get it to boot the game. Eventually I just took the disc out and looked at the laser, noticed it was kind of parked in the middle - not at the inner ring or the outer end of the laser rails. I literally just pushed the lasers gently (without touching the lens) alllll the way out to the end of the rails. It reads discs every single time now, and there's nothing wrong with the laser. Apparently Saturn discs have to read some text at the very outer edge of the disc to successfully boot, if it can't read the text then it may read some of the inner data (i.e sound tracks) but it won't boot properly. This is in a modchipped Saturn by the way where you'd think it really wouldn't matter, but even with a Phantom modchip, it still needs to go through the motions of "reading" the outer ring text. So yeah - just try gently moving the laser along the rails, and possibly even adding some lithium grease. In my case it just wasn't able to squeeze it's way all the way out to the end of the rails to read the outer ring of the disc. Makes you wonder how many perfectly good lasers have been chucked away.

[@michaelc.1710]

You absolute legend! I’ve been having trouble getting my Saturn to read back ups. It was loading the game about 1 in 20 times. I’ve tried a few different things and was considering going down the road of replacing my laser when I saw your comment. I just pushed it all the way back like you said and all my burned discs worked first time! You’re a genius. This needs to be shared far more widely, you’re the only person I’ve ever seen recommend this.

[@ichrismoku]

@@michaelc.1710 thank you that's awesome! I'm so glad it worked for you and that another Saturn has been saved 👍 definitely an obscure solution lol best of luck to ya mate

[@michaelc.1710]

@@ichrismoku cheers. I’ve ordered some lithium grease so I’m going to try and use that on the rail and see if that’ll mean I don’t have to manually push it. Thanks again for the tip 👌

[@ichrismoku]

@@michaelc.1710 Yeah pretty sure dust clogs up the rails and some fresh grease will help a bunch

[@zacharyrendon9657]

Awesome! Thank you! I just picked one up and the drive doesn't work at all. I already ordered a new lens though

[@LIRetroGaming]

Cool, hope that this guide will help you out and enjoy the Saturn!

[@zacharyrendon9657]

@@LIRetroGaming thanks! I'm not getting a picture at all either, is that normal?

[@Hikuro2pnt0]

I'm looking into buying a Japanese unit for cheap, as the listing puts it as parts. It powers on, but not reading discs....so this could be an easy fix OR, I'll have to go another route. I do currently own a US Saturn and I'm having some issues where audio glitches or the game freezes. I DO use a PSeudo Saturn cartridge and burnt backups...so I'm not 100% if those are the issues, or if this saturn is having issues.

[@LIRetroGaming]

That sounds like laser issues to me, but it’s hard to know for sure

[@simon8542]

But what if the laser is moving but the CD not Spinning? Can you fix the Motor?

[@HielUFF]

By turning it to the right in a clockwise direction, you are lowering the power of the reader, not raising it. To increase the power of the reader, turn it to the left, counterclockwise. It is best to use a multimeter.

[@osurpless]

I actually did to the left as you suggested, and it led to even “real” discs not working, whereas about 90 clockwise, not only restored factory discs, but my old burnt ones as well. So it makes me wonder under what circumstances turning to the left would be helpful; if the laser is older?

[@finnthecake8859]

I did it without taking off the whole disc drive, you can use a screwdriver through the back, takes a little aim.

[@rolandbaron5813]

Hello 👋🏽 I have a question: my saturn boots up. The sega saturn screen boots. The problem it freezes to a certain point. Seems like it partially reads the disc? Could be a lazer issue?

[@LIRetroGaming]

If it’s freezing while trying to run a game, it’s most likely the laser. What happens when you boot it with no CD, does it still freeze?

[@patrickmcwilliams7609]

It's not the laser it's the lid not closing properly put a smell coin in worked for me

[@mastergamer5779]

Any way you could help out i recently purchased a sega saturn and after a while of playing say street fighter when game is loading after a few battles the console resets on its own and boots up the game again. Would you happen to know the cause of this. I noticed when i got the console where the power cable connects the screws that hold it were broken but when opening the console i couldnt find any damage other than the plastic were the screws entered nothing crazy

[@LIRetroGaming]

It sounds like a problem with the power adapter pcb. I would consider replacing the capacitors on it and seeing if that resolves the issue

[@mastergamer5779]

@@LIRetroGaming thanks for the quick reply. So i ended up opening the console and cleaned it again. Also noticed the power cable i was using the points that entered the power connect were round i switched it with my dreamcast one which has the round on one end end and a square on other end. They both are the same 12.6 voltage but its stopped the resetting. Not sure if the cleaning helped or switching the power cable.

[@LIRetroGaming]

Glad to hear that the problem is resolved and my guess is that the cleaning is what helped!

[@timothye.2644]

Thanks so much! I followed your tutorial to the letter and now my Saturn works again 👍🏼

[@user-wj9xq7ig2v]

I wonder if you can help a guy out. I've got a saturn that tells me the game won't load and the system memory needs to be erased. I've held R at boot and erased the memory but it still says zero blocks free. I reflowed the sram and still nothing. Has anyone had this problem?

[@LIRetroGaming]

My suggestion would be to replace the FRAM, maybe the original chip has gone bad

[@user-wj9xq7ig2v]

@@LIRetroGaming I was thinking the same I ordered 2. Thanks a lot for confirming. Gonna be doing some more left handed soldering soon🙂

[@brandontucker2989]

Where is this located on the japanese sega saturn

[@LIRetroGaming]

I don’t understand the question but a Japanese Saturn uses the same design

[@RodanChi]

Pinching drive door switch... Aren't you near mains voltage?

[@LIRetroGaming]

Yes, that is something I really should have mentioned during the video. There is mains voltage coming from the power regulator daughter board and you have to be careful anytime you are near there

[@ichrismoku]

@@LIRetroGaming Use a clothes peg

[@raycarey21]

I changed my laser and now the disc doesn't spin. Any ideas?

[@LIRetroGaming]

Did you remove the anti static solder blob on the laser? It won’t work until that is removed

[@16647]

Sega Saturn's are abundant EVERY WHERE! please dont contribute to the hype!