SNES repair, powers on no video
10-22 UPDATE
So at the end of the day I cam into possession of 5 broken SNES consoles with costs as is...
1. No power @ all - $10
2. No video - $FREE
3. No video - $10
4. Broken DC jack - $10
5. Broken DC jack and no video - $10
Every unit was fully disassembled, dc jacks resoldered, connections traced, voltage regulator tested, caps tested, pin connectors scrubbed, motherboards cleaned, AV ports tested for continuity and reflowed, reset switch tested for open/close. Results as follows...
1. Bad fuse replaced, worked fine. Repair cost - $0.53
2. Unit had dead cockroaches inside and corrosion all across the base of the pin connector. Scrubbed everything while in an alcohol bath, reassembled, worked fine. Repair cost - $0.00
3. Bad RAM chip on the PPU. Replaced, worked fine. Pulled form a dirty as hell half working system my buddy had. Repair cost - $FREE
4. Had to order replacement DC jack. Replaced and resoldered. Works fine. Repair Cost - $7.95
5. Same as above, replaced jack. This was a tough one. Didn't see anything wrong with the board initially so went thru and did everything stated prior to listing the units and still didn't work. As I was about to give up, noticed some rust on pin 5 on the mobo for the AV multiout. Tested continuity with the probes above and below the rust, nada. Cust the pin, pulled out the broken/rusted portion, fashioned a new leg out of thick gauge copper wire, soldered in, tested. Boom. Worked like a champ. Repair cost - $7.95.
So that my friends is my latest adventure in console repair. Id like to call it a successful one. I took tons of pics of everything along the way but really don't wanna upload em this second, im super lazy and tired right now.
ORIGINAL POST
Unit powers up, no video or sound.
Every forum post I could find anywhere is full of the dumbest rocket rangers imaginable lol. Clean your cart, clean your pin connector, use a different power adapter. Buy another one, they are cheap....Herpa derp. Ya think?
Looking for an actual, real possible troubleshooting next step. This is an OG 1990 board with the seperate sound module.
Pulled the pins off, cleaned them thoroughly with a toothbrush and alocohol til the brush stopped being dirty.
checked for popped/distended caps
no broken or damaged traces, this board looks shiny and perfect
tried different AC adaptor
RF/AV, same issue, multiout port solder points are true and not loose, same with RF
Someone suggested the reset button switch may be damaged and "stuck" at an electronic level...I doubt it but I suppose I can try that next.
Anyone have any similar experience or thought to possible issues? Any other suggestions will be appreciated. Thanks!
UPDATE - Checked the reset switch as someone suggested and it opens and closes the circuit as intended so thats not the issue.
Some caps appear to not be reading appropriately on the meter so I may as well try a cap kit sicne its less then $5.
So at the end of the day I cam into possession of 5 broken SNES consoles with costs as is...
1. No power @ all - $10
2. No video - $FREE
3. No video - $10
4. Broken DC jack - $10
5. Broken DC jack and no video - $10
Every unit was fully disassembled, dc jacks resoldered, connections traced, voltage regulator tested, caps tested, pin connectors scrubbed, motherboards cleaned, AV ports tested for continuity and reflowed, reset switch tested for open/close. Results as follows...
1. Bad fuse replaced, worked fine. Repair cost - $0.53
2. Unit had dead cockroaches inside and corrosion all across the base of the pin connector. Scrubbed everything while in an alcohol bath, reassembled, worked fine. Repair cost - $0.00
3. Bad RAM chip on the PPU. Replaced, worked fine. Pulled form a dirty as hell half working system my buddy had. Repair cost - $FREE
4. Had to order replacement DC jack. Replaced and resoldered. Works fine. Repair Cost - $7.95
5. Same as above, replaced jack. This was a tough one. Didn't see anything wrong with the board initially so went thru and did everything stated prior to listing the units and still didn't work. As I was about to give up, noticed some rust on pin 5 on the mobo for the AV multiout. Tested continuity with the probes above and below the rust, nada. Cust the pin, pulled out the broken/rusted portion, fashioned a new leg out of thick gauge copper wire, soldered in, tested. Boom. Worked like a champ. Repair cost - $7.95.
So that my friends is my latest adventure in console repair. Id like to call it a successful one. I took tons of pics of everything along the way but really don't wanna upload em this second, im super lazy and tired right now.
ORIGINAL POST
Unit powers up, no video or sound.
Every forum post I could find anywhere is full of the dumbest rocket rangers imaginable lol. Clean your cart, clean your pin connector, use a different power adapter. Buy another one, they are cheap....Herpa derp. Ya think?
Looking for an actual, real possible troubleshooting next step. This is an OG 1990 board with the seperate sound module.
Pulled the pins off, cleaned them thoroughly with a toothbrush and alocohol til the brush stopped being dirty.
checked for popped/distended caps
no broken or damaged traces, this board looks shiny and perfect
tried different AC adaptor
RF/AV, same issue, multiout port solder points are true and not loose, same with RF
Someone suggested the reset button switch may be damaged and "stuck" at an electronic level...I doubt it but I suppose I can try that next.
Anyone have any similar experience or thought to possible issues? Any other suggestions will be appreciated. Thanks!
UPDATE - Checked the reset switch as someone suggested and it opens and closes the circuit as intended so thats not the issue.
Some caps appear to not be reading appropriately on the meter so I may as well try a cap kit sicne its less then $5.
Comments
Did you use a multimeter to see if you had any broken traces.
http://www.gamesx.com/importmod/sneslockout.htm
Nothing has ever worked. No one has been able to give me an answer over the years of asking either.
I would give up, no one seems to know a fix.
Originally posted by: Pikkon
You might have to replace the ram chip or possible one or both of the ppu's.
Did you use a multimeter to see if you had any broken traces.
which is fine, I can source one from another unit but being surface mount and requiring more effort, Id rather have a solid next place to start rather then blindly start chip swapping
Originally posted by: nes freak
try disabling the snes lock out chip. maybe its no good.
http://www.gamesx.com/importmod/s...
was unaware of this, I will look into it, thanks
Originally posted by: Nullface
I've ran into this problem a few times and can never get it working again. I've tried reflowing every chip on the board using hot air, resoldering the cartridge connector, changing the fuse, cleaning everything with alcohol thoroughly, checking for broken traces; everything.
Nothing has ever worked. No one has been able to give me an answer over the years of asking either.
I would give up, no one seems to know a fix.
this makes me a sad panda :-(
Originally posted by: Chrevans1
here is that video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p...
interesting and useful video, even if painful to watch lol. Thanks!
I know Majesty ZX also has a SNES that plays in black and white also. I did some minor troubleshooting (looking for broken traces, checking solder joints and reflowing/resoldering a few), but it seems like it's a GPU issue, so I didn't bother (like you, surfacing mounted chips are a pain and would rather look elsewhere for a solution, but if it is the GPU, it's just cheaper to buy another SNES than spending all that time to repair a broken one).
Good luck on your quest! If you find out the cause, I'd love to know what it is
Originally posted by: leatherrebel5150
I had the same problem with my families original unit. In fact this is one of the first questions I asked when I joined this site years ago. The basic answer, if I remember right, is that the original board version is prone to PPU failure and there is not a way to fix it because you can't just go buy a PPU for it. So yeah basically you have to buy another one. I just bought one with a beat outer case and switched the board so at least the outer shell is still my original.
I can get more broken units so I can source a part, no big deal. If other steps yield no results, I may try PPU first then. Thanks.
Originally posted by: dra600n
I have a similar problem in one of my SNES's, except instead of no video, it's black and white (it did boot in color once, but after 30 seconds or so, it went to black and white).
I know Majesty ZX also has a SNES that plays in black and white also. I did some minor troubleshooting (looking for broken traces, checking solder joints and reflowing/resoldering a few), but it seems like it's a GPU issue, so I didn't bother (like you, surfacing mounted chips are a pain and would rather look elsewhere for a solution, but if it is the GPU, it's just cheaper to buy another SNES than spending all that time to repair a broken one).
Good luck on your quest! If you find out the cause, I'd love to know what it is
will do brochacho. My time is valuable to me, but so is the self satisfaction of figuring something like this out so just buying another isnt in the cards :-P
Originally posted by: ulasamosa
Originally posted by: dra600n
I have a similar problem in one of my SNES's, except instead of no video, it's black and white (it did boot in color once, but after 30 seconds or so, it went to black and white).
I know Majesty ZX also has a SNES that plays in black and white also. I did some minor troubleshooting (looking for broken traces, checking solder joints and reflowing/resoldering a few), but it seems like it's a GPU issue, so I didn't bother (like you, surfacing mounted chips are a pain and would rather look elsewhere for a solution, but if it is the GPU, it's just cheaper to buy another SNES than spending all that time to repair a broken one).
Good luck on your quest! If you find out the cause, I'd love to know what it is
will do brochacho. My time is valuable to me, but so is the self satisfaction of figuring something like this out so just buying another isnt in the cards :-P
Love the ambition, James Besides, learning can never hurt you