Got a free SNES today and all I'm getting is a blank screen

Man. My buddy hooked it up with a free SNES (his aunt was getting rid of it, and my buddy already has one), including two controllers, Aladdin and Earthworm Jim. So far, so good.

I cleaned off some of the gunk on the outside of the console, and then took some q-tips and rubbing alcohol and really scrubbed the hell out of the contacts on all 7 games that I have. Popped the Super Game Boy (with Kirby's Dream Land!) into the cartridge slot and... nothing. The light comes on and the screen flickers for a second, but then it's all black.

Repeated that with all of my cartridges and, of course, none of them are working either. I took a credit card wrapped in a thin undershirt, dabbed some alcohol on the end of it, and worked that in and out of the slot a few times. Still nothing.

I'm using an R/F cable to connect it to the tv. I have the correct A/C adapter and they're both first-party Nintendo products. Of the cartridges that I have, I know at least half of them work (played on the SNES 2 we used to have), so I'm assuming that isn't where the problem lies.

Any ideas or fixes that aren't gonna take a whole lot of time and/or effort? I don't mind taking everything apart to clean it provided it's not too hard, but I'm useless at any kind of soldering or serious electronic replacement/repair.

Such a bummer! I was so excited to play Kirby on the tv, too. :/

does the power light stay on ?

My last two SNES started doing this increasingly and then eventually wouldn't load games at all. As near as I could tell something on the board died, my second one started not playing chipped SNES games for it failed entirely. I even tried swapping the cartridge ports out with working SNESs to see if that was the problem.

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Originally Posted by streetsofrage

does the power light stay on ?

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First check this.


Second, if you've got a Gamecube or N64 try using the AV cables for it on the SNES if you know they work. Maybe the RF is busted?

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Originally Posted by streetsofrage

does the power light stay on ?

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Yup.

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Originally Posted by xelement5x

Second, if you've got a Gamecube or N64 try using the AV cables for it on the SNES if you know they work. Maybe the RF is busted?

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Don't have any Gamecube or N64 A/V cables, and I'm weary of buying a stand-alone set if I'm just gonna have to buy a new SNES anyway. I have another RF switch that came with my NES and I know it works, guess I could try that.

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Originally Posted by sheath

My last two SNES started doing this increasingly and then eventually wouldn't load games at all. As near as I could tell something on the board died, my second one started not playing chipped SNES games for it failed entirely. I even tried swapping the cartridge ports out with working SNESs to see if that was the problem.

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Shit, that's what I was afraid of... :(

I think Capacitors are starting to become an issue with these, seen a few now with leaking or busted caps....

Tried the other RF switch I had AND cleaned a decent sized dust bunny out of the slot. Still no change.

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Originally Posted by omp

I think Capacitors are starting to become an issue with these, seen a few now with leaking or busted caps....

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So, presuming it is the capacitors, how much should that run me for parts and labor? My local game store does repairs, so I'm gonna see if they can fix it.

You want to make sure a game is inserted and that the ac plug is connected to the power outlet and system.

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Originally Posted by Thunderblaze16

You want to make sure a game is inserted and that the ac plug is connected to the power outlet and system.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4ev-BtPMM8

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Originally Posted by Thunderblaze16

You want to make sure a game is inserted and that the ac plug is connected to the power outlet and system.

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Oh, come on now, I'm not an idiot! Everything is connected properly, everything has been cleaned, I'm just not getting anything other than a blank/black screen.

Did you wait a few minutes for all the alcohol before testing the system out? I know it doesn't take that long, but for cart slots it doesn't hurt to wait a little while.

Sandpaper.

Fold 600 grit sandpaper in half and run it back and forth in the cartridge slot a few times. Follow up with 91% isopropyl alcohol and a toothbrush, scrubbing back and forth, being sure to get the bristles deep into the cartridge slot.

Additionally, use sandpaper on the contacts of each of your game carts, both sides of the pin connector, followed up by 91% alcohol.

Finally, if none of that improves the situation, borrow the A/V cable from N64 or Gamecube to try it out with composite hookups. If you don't have these, $5 at a used game shop will normally do the trick.

Sandpaper wears down the thickness of whatever metal contacts you're sanding, meaning worse cart to slot connection. Also, sanding tends to take the copper/gold/whatever plating along with the dirt. Without that covering, the contacts become prone to corrosion.

Even using a rubber eraser will eventually ruin the contacts. But if we are talking about a one time thing on a very obviously corroded contact I can see very fine sand paper being useful for a very slight cleaning.

Thanks for the suggestions, guys, but I think I'm just gonna take it into my local game store and see what they can do. I'm sure they'll be able to fix it and I don't think it'll cost too much. Thanks anyway!

Think it would be cheaper to just buy a "new" used one, than to have yours refurbished..

The last time I had this happen to me I bought a beat up SNES and swapped the innards out with mine.

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Originally Posted by sheath

The last time I had this happen to me I bought a beat up SNES and swapped the innards out with mine.

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Yeah, I've got a couple vomit colored SNES shells still as well. That system is such a crapshoot when it comes to the appearance.

That's why I painted mine black.

Oh, one other thing, there are at least two main board revisions for the SNES, one with the SPC whatever on a separate module and another with it built onto the board. The bottom of the shell is different for each and as far as I could tell the boards couldn't swap between the different shell bottoms.

You know, Retr0brite works wonders, especially that one variant I've heard of on NintendoAge. It involves a less costly mixture that still works.

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Originally Posted by sheath

The last time I had this happen to me I bought a beat up SNES and swapped the innards out with mine.

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That's what I did with my original Sears Video Arcade from 1981. I ruined the main board by trying to take the cartridge pin connector off, and still wanted my original game system back to its old self, especially with the knotty woodgrain goodness that only the Sears consoles had. I came across a donor system at GW a while back and switched out all the innards. Presto, my baby came back to life. :D

Heh, I just did the reverse: cannibalized the switch board from a Sears to bring an Atari light sixer back to full strength. (In fairness, the Sears probably has a bad RIOT chip, so better that all the bad parts be in the same machine.)

^
I don't know how you could prefer the look of the Atari woody to the Sears woody. Why didn't you put the good innards in the Sears casing?

Eh, I just do. *shrug* Aesthetically I prefer the Atari, and I didn't grow up with a Sears unit, so it has no sentimental value to me -- if anything, I associate the Sears games with borrowing a friend's carts and being disappointed to find out that it was the same games I already had. Also, the plastic molding around the cartslot was a bit tighter on the Sears unit, which made certain carts difficult to insert/remove. (Certain carts still are; I have a Star Voyager that feels like I'm breaking something whenever I put it in.)

http://www.nintendorepairshop.com/sh...epair%20Center

Or you could buy a 3rd party clone console. Retron 3 looks pretty damn good, especially since it supports S-Video.

... Except the Model 1 SNES already supports S-Video. The SNES Mini can easily be modded for S-Video, just a couple wires I think.

I know, but you have to buy a special cable, is what I mean.

It also plays Genesis in S-Video too.

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Originally Posted by Solkia

http://www.nintendorepairshop.com/sh...epair%20Center

Or you could buy a 3rd party clone console. Retron 3 looks pretty damn good, especially since it supports S-Video.

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The RetroN 3's SNES side is okay but it's still an inaccurate clone ultimately. The sound is really loud which makes it come off as crackly and distorted even when turned down on your TV and the colors are a bit off.

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Originally Posted by Solkia

I know, but you have to buy a special cable, is what I mean.

It also plays Genesis in S-Video too.

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The Genesis side is better than the At Games trash but the audio levels are all messed up. The S-Video is nice but it doesn't compensate for some of the other issues.

All that said the RetroN 3 is okay for convenience but it's not a good console replacement and not exactly cheap either.

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Originally Posted by Guntz

You know, Retr0brite works wonders, especially that one variant I've heard of on NintendoAge. It involves a less costly mixture that still works.

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Lol, I actually have the ingredients to make a batch of retrobrite but I've been too busy with other stuff to whip up a batch. Hopefully once I get some free time in the near future I'll give it a try.

As a side note, I heard from a friend who did a lot of C64 de-yellowing that you can just use a regular old peroxide cream or something that beauty shops sell to get the exact same effect without mixing anything. I already bought the damn Xanthan gum though so I'll definitely at least whip up a batch of the original formula.

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Originally Posted by Solkia

I know, but you have to buy a special cable, is what I mean.

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The "special cable" is not hard to find... Although, finding a quality one can be somewhat tricky.

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It also plays Genesis in S-Video too.

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... You're on Sega-16, but you somehow don't know that most any Genesis can be modded for S-Video?

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Originally Posted by Guntz

The "special cable" is not hard to find... Although, finding a quality one can be somewhat tricky.



... You're on Sega-16, but you somehow don't know that most any Genesis can be modded for S-Video?

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I meant without modding. I know the Genesis can be modded for S-Video. Not everyone has the skills to do it, or the money to get it done.

If the Genesis has a CXA1145, it's one of the easiest mods one can do. Anyone with a soldering iron can do it.

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Originally Posted by Guntz

Anyone with a soldering iron can do it.

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Many accidents have started this way... :p

Don't worry Jerry the SNES is so awesome you can just play the blank screen. :J

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Originally Posted by Melf

Many accidents have started this way... :p

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http://i3.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/...12/563/05d.jpg

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Originally Posted by old man

Don't worry Jerry the SNES is so awesome you can just play the blank screen. :J

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I tried playing a dirty SNES game. The black screen was still just as fun.

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Originally Posted by Solkia

Or you could buy a 3rd party clone console. Retron 3 looks pretty damn good, especially since it supports S-Video.

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Allow me to link you to this giant video-filled post I made a while back so you can see why you should NEVER EVEN CONSIDER a RetroN3 unless you, by some miracle, find a RetroN3 Version 1. The only RetroN3 you can find brand new is the Version 2, which is absolute garbage. If getting a Super NES clone is an option, do yourself a favor and get an FC Twin or RetroDuo (only the latter supports S-Video out of the box, though).

Wow.

I've heard that FC twin has serious sound issues with NES games though.

The FC Twin's NES audio actually varies from one hardware revision to the next, and I'm aware of 4 different revisions:

-Revision 1: Has horribly inaccurate NES audio due to the use of an NOAC with reversed duty cycles. These have no Yobo branding.
-Revision 2: The audio on this one is near-perfect, but has some slight issues with volume levels and completely screwed-up DPCM. This is when Yobo put their name on the FC Twin in 2007.
-Revision 3: This is where Yobo screwed up their NES audio amp and made the audio excessively loud, causing distorted sound. Not sure when this revision was introduced.
-Revision 4: Same deal as revision 3. This revision appears to have been introduced in 2011, though its main change is a size reduction in the Super NES chipset, corrected Stereo output (I had a revision 2 FC Twin a while back and it had reversed Stereo sound while my new revision 4 FC Twin does not) and *possibly* altered Super NES audio amp as the audio seems more heavily low-pass filtered than I remember it being on my revision 2 FC Twin.

The one clone you DO NOT want to get for NES games unless you can modify it is the RetroDuo. Although the FC Twin has very loud and distorted NES audio, the distortion varies from game to game, and in most cases, is tolerable, but on the RetroDuo, the audio is so badly screwed up, some games have completely missing audio channels. Then, you have games like Jackal where the audio is just output as a jumbled mess of distorted sounds. On the FC Twin, this game sounds okay, but has volume spikes due to the audio being amplified too much. The audio amp on the revision 4 FC Twin is the same as on the revision 2 FC Twin, but the resistor placed between Base and Collector on the transistors amplifying the sound (the Mono audio out of the NOAC is split into dual Mono then amplified via two transistors to make its amplified dual Mono output) is considerably stronger on the revision 4 FC Twin. Instead of using 2.2KOhm resistors, 33KOhm resistors were used, which makes the audio WAY too loud.

The audio problems with the RetroDuo are actually caused by missing components on the NOAC's audio amp, which are a 0.1uF capacitor (serves as a low-pass filter) and a 2.2Kohm resistor between Base and Collector on the transistor used to amplify the NES audio. If you don't add those parts, NES games will sound like in the videos I showed in this post. The problem has still not been fixed on the RetroDuo v3.0 (I used a RetroDuo v2.0 for these videos, but the two sound the same).

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Originally Posted by Melf

Many accidents have started this way... :p

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I've seen people blow up their consoles without even using a soldering iron. Not everyone was meant to mod.

It sucks that these multi-clones never manage to get the "best" versions of each in one box. It's usually one is alright and the other one or two are lousy.

Personally I'm kind of happy with the RetroN 3 version 2 but like I said earlier, not as a replacement console. If I didn't have the original hardware as well I wouldn't be as forgiving.