I forgot to include this in my last post, sorry. Here is the installation guide for the EMSIC 7 v2 Saturn modchip.
Also, here's an excellent comprehensive guide for the common v1 modchip.
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Sorry i'm late.
Well, I promised an update Thursday night, and here we are -- late Sunday night.. or Monday morning, actually.
The good news is that the pictures and information contained within this post will make the wait worthwhile, at least for the Saturn enthusiasts out there, both of you.
Back in 2001 or 2002, when I was just getting into the Saturn scene, I ordered some modchips from a company in Hong Kong. They were advertised as wireless modchips, which was interesting enough for me, since soldering the data wire was somewhat difficult, and the A-B bridge method hadn't been discovered yet.
I hadn't heard of this type of modchip before, and it piqued my interest enough to order 10 of them.
When I received them about a month and a half later (I think EMS ships it from Hong Kong via a man in a rowboat or something), I quickly plugged one in to test it, which to my disappointment did not work. At the time, I had no idea how the Saturn worked, really. I simply followed the instructions provided online for the Saturn mod installation. I knew it was possible that I was doing something wrong, but I was busy with life in general at the time, so I stored them away for later.
Fast-forward 5 or 6 years. I'm closing in on an EE degree from UF, and I'm currently doing a summer internship with a large engineering firm. I know a thing or two about electronics now.
Also, over the past few weeks, I've been digging through some old crap in my mom's house, trying to restore some semblance of order there, not that there ever was any in the first place.
So while digging through one of the boxes in my closet, I come across these old modchips. I take a picture of one of them and send it to my good friend Ryan for analysis. He comes up with some install instructions for a v2 Saturn modchip being sold out of GB.. Indeed it looks similar to, but not exactly like mine.
Later, after some trial/error, I found that the guys in HK sent me some intermediate revisions of their v2 board design. The v2 mod board currently being sold reads "EMSIC 7", which is version 7 of their design. In my possession are versions 0, 1, 3, and 4. Specifically, one 0, one 1, two 3's, and six 4's. I imagine they're somewhat rare, since the differences between these chips are mostly small, remedial fixes or slight trace alterations and such.
If you're (un)lucky enough to own one of these rare modchips, I'm going to detail methods for getting them to work below.
The EMSIC 0 and EMSIC 1 chips worked immediately after connecting both ribbon cables and connecting a thick wire (you need something thicker than wire wrap for the +5V, otherwise you won't get enough power to the laser unit and the disc won't spin)..
The EMSIC 3 chips need a slight alteration to work. You'll need to un-bridge two points, bridge together two other points, and cut a trace, as shown in the pic on the right below.
The good news is that the pictures and information contained within this post will make the wait worthwhile, at least for the Saturn enthusiasts out there, both of you.
Back in 2001 or 2002, when I was just getting into the Saturn scene, I ordered some modchips from a company in Hong Kong. They were advertised as wireless modchips, which was interesting enough for me, since soldering the data wire was somewhat difficult, and the A-B bridge method hadn't been discovered yet.
I hadn't heard of this type of modchip before, and it piqued my interest enough to order 10 of them.
When I received them about a month and a half later (I think EMS ships it from Hong Kong via a man in a rowboat or something), I quickly plugged one in to test it, which to my disappointment did not work. At the time, I had no idea how the Saturn worked, really. I simply followed the instructions provided online for the Saturn mod installation. I knew it was possible that I was doing something wrong, but I was busy with life in general at the time, so I stored them away for later.
Fast-forward 5 or 6 years. I'm closing in on an EE degree from UF, and I'm currently doing a summer internship with a large engineering firm. I know a thing or two about electronics now.
Also, over the past few weeks, I've been digging through some old crap in my mom's house, trying to restore some semblance of order there, not that there ever was any in the first place.
So while digging through one of the boxes in my closet, I come across these old modchips. I take a picture of one of them and send it to my good friend Ryan for analysis. He comes up with some install instructions for a v2 Saturn modchip being sold out of GB.. Indeed it looks similar to, but not exactly like mine.
Later, after some trial/error, I found that the guys in HK sent me some intermediate revisions of their v2 board design. The v2 mod board currently being sold reads "EMSIC 7", which is version 7 of their design. In my possession are versions 0, 1, 3, and 4. Specifically, one 0, one 1, two 3's, and six 4's. I imagine they're somewhat rare, since the differences between these chips are mostly small, remedial fixes or slight trace alterations and such.
If you're (un)lucky enough to own one of these rare modchips, I'm going to detail methods for getting them to work below.
The EMSIC 0 and EMSIC 1 chips worked immediately after connecting both ribbon cables and connecting a thick wire (you need something thicker than wire wrap for the +5V, otherwise you won't get enough power to the laser unit and the disc won't spin)..
The EMSIC 4 is much more of a pain in the ass. For whatever reason, the guys in HK who designed this put a 74HC157 (normal mux) instead of what was needed, a 74HC158 (inverting mux). You can do one of two things to remedy this. You can either hook up an inverter chip, or simply take out the 157 and replace it with a 158.
I chose the latter because it would be much more simple than the huge mess an inverter chip would involve.
However, this means you have to desolder all the points where the 157 is connected. Grab a solder pump, some wick, and go at it. Once you have it out, replace it with a 74HC158 or 74LS158.. Either one is fine. Solder all the pins down.
You'll also need two 1K resistors, and a 150 ohm resistor. Solder those in the appropriate places, as shown in the pictures below. Once that's finished, connect the ribbon cables, the +5V wire, and it should work.
Oh, and I almost forgot -- for some reason, the guys in HK decided that some traces needed to be cut in certain places. Make sure the cuts are not effective.. Grab a multimeter, set it to ohm-meter, and test the connectivity.. If you don't have connectivity, you need to scrape away some of the green stuff on the board and put solder over the cut trace to create a connection. This is easier than it sounds, trust me. :)
These mods were all tested on a model 2 v.0014 Saturn console.. If you have a v.0019, you may need to bridge those 4 circled points differently.
I chose the latter because it would be much more simple than the huge mess an inverter chip would involve.
However, this means you have to desolder all the points where the 157 is connected. Grab a solder pump, some wick, and go at it. Once you have it out, replace it with a 74HC158 or 74LS158.. Either one is fine. Solder all the pins down.
You'll also need two 1K resistors, and a 150 ohm resistor. Solder those in the appropriate places, as shown in the pictures below. Once that's finished, connect the ribbon cables, the +5V wire, and it should work.
Oh, and I almost forgot -- for some reason, the guys in HK decided that some traces needed to be cut in certain places. Make sure the cuts are not effective.. Grab a multimeter, set it to ohm-meter, and test the connectivity.. If you don't have connectivity, you need to scrape away some of the green stuff on the board and put solder over the cut trace to create a connection. This is easier than it sounds, trust me. :)
These mods were all tested on a model 2 v.0014 Saturn console.. If you have a v.0019, you may need to bridge those 4 circled points differently.
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Welcome.
This is a new thing for me. I've never attempted writing online like this, on some sort of blog or journal, ever before.
The first thing I want to do is let you know what to expect from this. There's no set topic that this is going to revolve around. Whatever I feel like writing, I'll write. I'm not going to be updating this every day with all the details of my mundane life. I've seen that done before, and it's mostly shit.
I'll try to limit my posts to material that would be at least somewhat relevant and interesting to most people, or at least the people who are likely to stumble upon this place.
This should actually work out for both of us... You get to read (hopefully) interesting things, and I get to be lazy.
However, the next update will (or should) come later today, when I explore all of the [known] Sega Saturn modchips, including a few very rare ones, complete with installation instructions..
Until then..
The first thing I want to do is let you know what to expect from this. There's no set topic that this is going to revolve around. Whatever I feel like writing, I'll write. I'm not going to be updating this every day with all the details of my mundane life. I've seen that done before, and it's mostly shit.
I'll try to limit my posts to material that would be at least somewhat relevant and interesting to most people, or at least the people who are likely to stumble upon this place.
This should actually work out for both of us... You get to read (hopefully) interesting things, and I get to be lazy.
However, the next update will (or should) come later today, when I explore all of the [known] Sega Saturn modchips, including a few very rare ones, complete with installation instructions..
Until then..
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