iVirtualZero

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  • June 4, 2026 at 5:20 PM in reply to: Investigating the Black Screen Faults in the Sega Saturn #69705
    iVirtualZero
    Participant

      This is awesome to hear, I will definitely be sending some Saturns over to you to have a look at. The motherboards in them are already fully recapped. Your findings definitely deserve an entire blog post with images and then you can share it on X. I would love to see a replacement PLL board with the DFO/50/60hz mod integrated into it.

      June 4, 2026 at 5:15 PM in reply to: Investigating the Black Screen Faults in the Sega Saturn #69704
      iVirtualZero
      Participant

        There is now a PLL chip replacement thanks to this person. But it’s looks like there is more to the Black Screen fault then just the PLL Chip.

        October 9, 2025 at 11:46 AM in reply to: The Sega Saturn and the dreaded PLL chip #67409
        iVirtualZero
        Participant

          It looks like a user by the name of elmagnot42 is attempting to create a replacement. If there is any way you can help, please contact elmagnot42.

           

          https://segasaturngroup.proboards.com/thread/12589/help-creating-replacement-circuit-saturn

          October 1, 2024 at 12:21 AM in reply to: Investigating the Black Screen Faults in the Sega Saturn #63558
          iVirtualZero
          Participant

            It’s definitely not always, as I have repaired a bunch of Black Screen faults which indicates general hardware failure. Usually excess heat getting to the PLL damages it, but that’s not always the case. Sometimes a reflow, 1 person fixed there’s by reflowing the PLL chip though recommend to be quick with the reflow using flux and lead free solder, and or a recap, or replacing the Clock battery, PSU, bad inductors labelled L1 and beyond, or replacing the VHC04 IC fixes it or there could be a bad trace somewhere. It’s always worth diagnosing it to determine what’s really going on. I wish I had and knew how to use an Oscilloscope, since this will need a Schematic level investigation. But I do wish somebody with the skills can manage to reverse engineer the heat sensitive PLL IC’s code since there are likely substitute IC’s out there to replace it, perhaps integrate the DFO mod into it with the ability to switch from 50 to 60hz.

            • This reply was modified 1 year, 8 months ago by iVirtualZero.
            • This reply was modified 1 year, 8 months ago by iVirtualZero.
            • This reply was modified 1 year, 8 months ago by iVirtualZero.
            • This reply was modified 1 year, 8 months ago by iVirtualZero.
            September 19, 2023 at 12:12 AM in reply to: The Sega Saturn and the dreaded PLL chip #58054
            iVirtualZero
            Participant

              .

              • This reply was modified 2 years, 8 months ago by iVirtualZero.
              • This reply was modified 2 years, 8 months ago by iVirtualZero.
              September 19, 2023 at 12:12 AM in reply to: The Sega Saturn and the dreaded PLL chip #58053
              iVirtualZero
              Participant

                Yes that would be appreciated to reverse engineer it and come out with a way to clone this with a more reliable chip that isn’t heat sensitive. I have two units VA0’s that i have recapped and even with that i’m still getting a black screen. The other one i remember i damaged a bunch of traces on the bios fixing it and recapping it got it working for a bit until i randomly lost video and got a black screen. The others all of the traces are intact but i think the excess heat may have damaged the PLL. And the rest i have yet to recap and find out. I also have yet to see if replacing the EMI Filters could fix some of these. I think if i try this one last fix on these two units and nothing happens, then i will be happy to sell to you as it’s pretty much guaranteed to be a bad PLL causing it to not boot.

                June 5, 2023 at 9:50 PM in reply to: The Sega Saturn and the dreaded PLL chip #57186
                iVirtualZero
                Participant

                  Yes it would be a repair dream come true. It mainly affects model 1’s and i would love to see a modern replacement for both the model 1 and the model 2. Perhaps a more custom DFO mod.

                  August 7, 2020 at 10:33 PM in reply to: Sega Saturn Region Free Bios help VA0 #40409
                  iVirtualZero
                  Participant

                    Fixed it. Redid all of this. And corrected that green wire which was going to the wrong trace.

                    Pictures of my work

                    Sega Saturn Trace Repair help. I’m still getting a black screen.

                    April 1, 2020 at 7:07 PM in reply to: SNES RGB Amp Black Screen #36699
                    iVirtualZero
                    Participant

                      I only have a multimeter.

                      April 1, 2020 at 6:57 PM in reply to: SNES RGB Amp Black Screen #36698
                      iVirtualZero
                      Participant

                        I have desolderd the RGB and CSync from the CPU and have soldered them to the bottom of the board. R6, R7, R8, soldered csync aswell. But i still get a Black screen. Source for install. https://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=58863&start=270

                        March 28, 2020 at 1:14 PM in reply to: SNES RGB Amp Black Screen #36599
                        iVirtualZero
                        Participant

                          The cable is from RetroGameCables NTSC SNES CSync 470ohm cables.

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