Repair/Mod General - Game Tech Wiki

[Anonymous No.3359486]

Got questions about repairs or mods you're working on? Bring 'em here.

http://www.gametechwiki.com/w/index.php/Main_Page

When attempting to fix any problems with your old hardware, the first thing you should do is thoroughly clean everything. That may fix whatever problem you had. Check out this guide for tips:
http://www.gametechwiki.com/w/index.php/Game_and_Console_Cleaning

[Anonymous No.3359523]

Just so you guys know, Retrobright and colored plastics are a bad mix. I found it actually speeds up the deterioration of the pigments instead of just reversing the discoloration. Only use it on white and light gray playstics. I had to order replacement switches for my NES but now hopefully I've saved one of you from making the same mistakes.

My SNES deck still has a treatment session or two to go before I put it back together. Things look promising so far although I'm not quite expecting a 100% return to the original color. We'll see. I've also got an NES that I need to get coated and out in the sun.

[Anonymous No.3359620]

I hit a bit of a snag with my Castlevania 3 reproduction today. I got my pin adapter in the mail from Ali Express, but it looks nothing like the one that the seller had listed, and it's a lot less space efficient. There's no way I can make this thing fit inside the cartridge with the Madara PCB. I guess I will have to pay a jacked up price on eBay for the one I actually need.

This bigger one might at least be useful for some testing, though, and it might be useful later for another conversion or a custom converter pack, so I'll hang on to it.

[Anonymous No.3360153]

>do pal snes 50/60hz mod
>only one wire left
>its the wire to pin I had to lift from PPU1
>it comes completely off
so is there anything I can do about this or is it fucked?

[Anonymous No.3360169]

>>3360153
It's probably fucked. You can theoretically get to the wire by VERY CAREFULLY filing away at the plastic until you see the metal sticking out but the wires are so small that there's a pretty good chance you'll damage one of the other wires in the process.

[Anonymous No.3360181]

>>3360169
Well right now you don't have much to lose see if the thing will power up with a game.

[Anonymous No.3360193]

>>3360169
Is there some reason they advise people to lift that pin up? Seems like you could have cut the trace with an xacto knife instead and that would have been a lot easier to accomplish and made it easier to solder to maybe

[Anonymous No.3360269]

Anyone use replica controllers that are any good? I want to get some bluefruit chips to throw in some controllers and I don't really want to destroy the original controllers to fuel my emulation dream. If they were damaged it would be one thing, but likelyhood of finding a controller that is non working in a way that doesn't affect playability is a pipe dream I think. NES, SNES, Genesis, Saturn and even n64 would be nice. I can find quite a few online, but my experiences thus far have been hardly passable to completely unusable. It's been 7 years since I picked one up, so I'm sure the market has changed a bit. Also want to build an arcade controller, are parts from xarcade solid?

[Anonymous No.3360326]

>>3360193
I'm guessing whoever wrote your guide was retarded. Judging by the pics you posted, you MIGHT be able to solder the wire to where the pin was on the chip, without having to file it down, but no promises. As a general rule, I never "lift" pins on any chip. As you said, cutting the trace or even cutting the pin itself is a far better option than bending the pin and hoping it won't break on you.

>>3360269
>If they were damaged it would be one thing, but likelyhood of finding a controller that is non working in a way that doesn't affect playability is a pipe dream I think.
You would be surprised. I bought 2 non-working Genesis controllers for $1 total, then cleaned the contacts and replaced the conductive pads on the one that didn't have corrosion. Now I have 1 working Genesis 3-button and a spare case, buttons, and cable for it as well.

Or if you really want to avoid junking controllers, I've heard good things about the Buffalo USB controllers. You could also look for old logitech gamepads. I just use a PS3 controller myself, but I'm lazy.

[Anonymous No.3360370]

>>3360269
The 8bitdo controllers are quite nice.

[Anonymous No.3360371]

>>3360326
I can see that, but I only have a couple spots locally that I can find things like old controllers and they're trash. Prices are too high and quality is too low. If I were to be able to find one it would be worn out, and if it weren't it'd be upwards of $25. I'll look into buffalo controllers though, I remember seeing that name on this board before. Thanks bro.

[Anonymous No.3360373]

>>3360181
I tired and it seems bit weird

In short, it seems to be stuck in NTSC/60hz mode, with super everdrive Im able to play DCK2 and megaman&forte no problem(doesn't trigger region protection screen and there is no letterboxing or audio issues). PAL mode seems to be fucked as the screen rolls vertically and then goes all over the place.

Weird thing is that none of my japanese games boot(black screen) while PAL games plays(with fucked up picture), and its not something with the jap carts themselves as they do work on my super retro trio.

So I guess Im lucky that it works even with ruined pin on PPU2.

>>3360326
Well all guides I looked into told to lift those three pins, or directly solder into them

[Anonymous No.3360392]

>>3360370
I'll look into those. Appreciate it brother

>>3360326
Also, I've been using 1st party ps3 controllers and 3rd party 360 controllers forever, and they work for the most part, but I'm just looking for some original style controllers to use. My mom used to play a lot of nes games but she can't wrap her head around newer style controllers, especially with so many unused buttons and muscle memory not adapting too well, so it'd be nice to have something for her when she comes over to have a beer with me. And my little nephew and cousin are getting into older games too and it'd be cool to have them play with me on the original controller, takes the element of newer games away from it. I forgot about the old logistics though, never really used them over a mouse and controller but I remember hearing good things about some of them.

[Anonymous No.3360405]

>>3360373
Yeah, there's a lot of shitty guides online on how to "improve" your consoles. Like that retroRGB site? He tells people to pull stereo audio off the headphone amp for Genesis model 1's, despite the fact that ties your sound into the volume slider and sounds like ass, when people should be pulling it from before it enters the LM358 and running each channel through a separate LM358.

[Anonymous No.3360431]

>>3360405
Noted. I was thinking about doing that mod last year, but something told me it was asinine. Especially when I couldn't find anything about what level to leave the slider at to prevent it from clipping.

[Anonymous No.3360432]

>>3360373
>In short, it seems to be stuck in NTSC/60hz mode,
I kinda figured that would happen it looked like that pin was tied to a ground originally so the console defaults to NTSC unless that pin is shorted. You kinda lucked out there since it defaults to the more useful mode.

You did try Jap games on the everdrive right? Sorry I couldn't tell if you were referring to physical cartridges or the everdrive. Jap games should work as well if American games do.

[Anonymous No.3360442]

>>3360432
>You did try Jap games on the everdrive right? Sorry I couldn't tell if you were referring to physical cartridges or the everdrive. Jap games should work as well if American games do.
Both, jap and us games on everdrive works, but jap game(non-everdrive) doesn't. PAL(non-everdrive) works. its bit weird.

[Anonymous No.3360470]

>>3360442
Yeah that's the lockout chip. Although you have changed your apparent region the lockout chip in the SNES still thinks its a Euro/Aus console so it prevents anything except Euro/Aus games from loading. Luckily the everdrive can operate in either mode. If you want to risk it you can replace the lockout chip in the console with a superCIC or something the console will be able to run American and Japanese games. American games wont fit the console though unless you remove the top or use an adapter

[Anonymous No.3360475]

>>3360405
Personally I like to pull stereo off the headphone on a model 1. It gives me control over the volume of what's usually sound fx on CD games. They're usually too loud for my tastes.
Of course I run that to the unused pins on the port the CD plugs into. And mod the model 1 CD if necessary. Stereo with volume control of sfx compatible across 1/2 models.
I'm sure your way is better.

[Anonymous No.3360523]

>>3360431
In case you were wondering, it should be at 7 to prevent distortion.

But yeah, it's a really fucking stupid mod, since you can get the exact same effect by plugging in an adapter cable to go from 3.5mm headphone jack to two RCA jacks. I don't see the point of making a modification when you can get the same effect with a two dollar cable. If someone wants to stereo mod their Genesis 1, the best possible sound will come from before the channels get mixed into mono in the LM358, not off the fucking headphone amp.

All I can really recommend is you look at the motherboard diagrams and ID all the components yourself, and know exactly what you are looking for. Too many guides online tell people to do some really stupid things.

[Anonymous No.3360552]

>>3360432
I got it backwards according to this

http://wolfsoft.de/wordpress/?p=603
>The Console is set to 60Hz if you set both Pins to GND
>The Console is set to 50Hz if you set both Pins to 5V

That plane there was a 5V apparently.

[Anonymous No.3360589]

>>3360153
Sorry to hear about that. My recommendation for little surface mount parts that need to be desoldered is to coat them with flux before you heat them up. The flux helps get the solder flowing and acts as a medium for the heat.

[Anonymous No.3362328]

My PS1 (SCPH-1001) was having trouble reading discs (skipping audio, not loading), so I turned it over upside down and saw "MOD CHIP + NEW LASER ASSEMBLY" written in permanent marker. Also, the little black plastic piece in pic related fell out of the console with the disc tray open. What should I do? New laser? Maybe I'll try disassembling it.

[Anonymous No.3362487]

>>3362328
First try to adjust the laser before getting another one.

Also, that piece seems to have been broken loose or a while now, I don't think its important.

[Anonymous No.3363264]

>>3362487
Looks like I found where the piece broke off. One of my parents threw the piece away. Oh well. It's not anything important, is it?

[Anonymous No.3363295]

>>3363264
Looks like it's not actually modchipped, unless it's actually under the motherboard. I'm scared of breaking something if I disassemble it any further.

[Anonymous No.3363335]

>>3363264
Never mind. I found the piece, and it looks like it's too small to fit it. I'll look up how to adjust the laser soon.

[Anonymous No.3364039]

Does it matter how many Watt a Step Down converter can use? I bought 2 consoles both with JP power supplies. Input should be 220-240 right?

[Anonymous No.3364079]

can i ask a PSP question here? please no bully. i only use it to emulate PS games.

for a while now, my analogue stick is misfiring. most of the time, it keeps sending an "up" or "up/left" command, give or take (it's analogue, after all) either when i'm using the d-pad or just plain not doing anything. sometimes, it mixes some "down" in, which makes this extra confusing.

will it be enough to replace the stick? already have one here, but i figured i might try some more fixes if i really have to crack this thing up. so if anyone heard this is a common problem with some sort of solution that's not the stick, please hit me up with it.

[Anonymous No.3364082]

>>3364079
oh, and it stops misfiring for a while if i press the d-pad real hard or do some hard circling motions with the stick, but that only works for a couple of seconds before it goes back to acting up randomly.

[Anonymous No.3364113]

One of my SNES' has a weird glitch when playing SMW. Yoshi does not extend its tongue when eating enemies. The animation for opening the mouth works but the tongue just stays inside the mouth. The enemies still get swallowed but they just move towards Yoshi without the tongue pulling them.
Some other games do not boot at all.

The same carts work fine in another SNES

Can this be fixed or the SNES fucked?

[Anonymous No.3364131]

>>3364113
why would you want to fix that
it's unique af

[Anonymous No.3364142]

Does anybody have comparison pictures of a Famicom with an AV mod, complete with lifted ppu pin and copper tape, and a regular AV Famicom? I'm interested in buying an older model and modding it because I prefer the way it looks and just want to make sure the picture quality is going to be decent. If I remove the PPU should I install a socket to make any future mods easier? I might end up getting an NESRGB and wouldn't mind using the same system later down the line.

[Anonymous No.3364239]

>>3364131
To have another working SNES.

[Anonymous No.3364465]

My Leon disc of Resident Evil 2 won't read. It plays all the FMVs and shit fine, up until the part where it says "They were parted by an inescapable destiny" and then it freezes ;_;

Are there any tried and true techniques to improving the reliablity of a PS2 slim laser? Maybe adjusting the positioning a little? The discs sometimes seem to "rattle" and scrape against the CD tray so I'm thinking that might help. My fat seems to read this disc just fine, so I'm pretty sure the disc is in good enough condition (it has a few scratches like any old game, but no huge gashes), the Slim is just somewhat fussier.

[Anonymous No.3364497]

>>3364113
There is a possibility you are fucked my anon. The best thing to hope for is thay the system is dirty or there is a broken solder joint or pcb trace.

[Anonymous No.3364528]

>>3364497
>>3364113
Yeah that's a really hard thing to figure out. It could be something as serious as one or both of the PPUs being defective or it could be a cracked solder joint on the cartridge slot, it could also be bad work RAM.

[Anonymous No.3365651]

>>3364497
>>3364528
Reflowing the cartridge slot's solder joints didn't help. I checked the address and data lines of the VRAM with a logic probe and they seem to be pulsing so it seems like they are being accessed. I haven't checked the WRAM because the finer pitch makes me wary of shorting the pins.

[Anonymous No.3365704]

Guys i really need help
I fucked up


I bought a pal snes and i live in south america. Any way of making it work on a ntsc crt tv. It also came with the nes power cable, not the snes.

I really want to play my dkc and f zero

[Anonymous No.3365817]

>>3365704
You could buy or create a SuperCIC chip and install it

[Anonymous No.3365827]

On a Atari CX40 joystick, is there any way to decrease the size of the deadzone?

[Anonymous No.3365869]

>>3364142
If you're going to be doing more modding, then yes, get a socket or some headers.

[Anonymous No.3366162]

>>3362487
Ok, I tried adjusting according to this:
http://www.dogbreath.de/PS1/LaserAlignment/Laser.html

I got to 11.5-11.4mV for the intensity, 1.708V for bias, and 1.819V for gain. It's still having problems (audio skipping, no loading) with games like THPS2 (it works perfectly on my fat PS2, so I know it's not the game disc itself).

As for audio CDs, I have to boot it up with no disc (or with the tray open), go to the CD Player option in the boot menu, THEN put on the CD and close the tray to get it to play. If you put in the disc before you go to the CD Player menu, it just keeps reading the disc and stops and starts again. You can only move the menu cursor when it's stopped reading (only for a second). Otherwise, the menu is frozen. It plays it perfectly in the CD Player menu, however. No skipping or anything.

Is the above guide only applicable to PAL PS1s? I have a US model SCPH-1001.

[Anonymous No.3366254]

>>3366162
>1001
If your laser assembly hasn't been replaced, then your lens carriage is probably melted and that's why you are having problems. Quick fix is to turn your PS1 upside down while running, but doesn't always fix it. The real fix is you need to replace the entire assembly so you aren't using a plastic lens carriage. They are about $15 plus shipping, make sure you get the right one for your model.

[Anonymous No.3366313]

>>3366254
I'm
>>3362328

Looks like I need a KSM-440-ACM. Do you think this will work?

http://m.ebay.com/itm/360534474878?_mwBanner=1

[Anonymous No.3366386]

Could this be fixed or I'm fucked?

[Anonymous No.3366393]

>>3366386
Unless you can find a way to open the connector and re-wire it, yes.

[Anonymous No.3366414]

>>3359620
I would desolder the pin connector and just wire the boards together. It looks like that would give you enough clearance.

[Anonymous No.3366418]

>>3363295
I would be surprised if it was on the underside. There's hardly any clearance under there. When I do installs I wrap the wires around the edge of the board and tape it down near the laser assembly. I've never see someone stick one underneath the board, either.

[Anonymous No.3366442]

>>3366414
Nah, it's hard to tell from the angle but there just isn't enough space. I ordered another pin connector from eBay that is supposed to be the low profile version. I'll find some use for this other adapter at some point but for now it's only really useful for testing. As far as Famicom to NES adapters go there are more elegant solutions available, though maybe I'll get something 3D printed for this one.

[Anonymous No.3366451]

>>3365651
If it's related to the RAM it would probably be the work RAM because the other games should still work just with artifacts if it was only the VRAM. It might also be the CPU which is another ugly problem to diagnose. I'm not sure where to even start here after you ruled out the pin connector.

[Anonymous No.3366478]

>>3366451
>the other games should still work just with artifacts if it was only the VRAM
Well this is making the assumption that the other games are just basic games that have no complicated co-processors like the SuperFX. In that case I have no idea.

[Anonymous No.3366824]

>>3365704
>Any way of making it work on a ntsc crt tv
You better be using RGB for this.
>It also came with the nes power cable, not the snes.
This is normal. The PAL SNES is designed to take 9VAC.

>>3366393
The clear plastic should help to find hooks that holds it together.

[Anonymous No.3366837]

>>3366418
>>3366254
I really wonder why it said that on the bottom then. Maybe the previous owner was planning to modchip it and give it a new laser, but never got around to actually doing it.

[Anonymous No.3366838]

Anyone knows what the red numbers next to the pins are supposed to be?

[Anonymous No.3366873]

>>3366837
>>3366254
Just tried running it upside down. Didn't work.

[Anonymous No.3366905]

>>3366254
>>3366313
>>3366162
>>3366873
You could also switch the laser drive with that of a later revision like 5001 or a PSOne.

[Anonymous No.3366953]

>>3366905
Do those have metal parts instead of plastic? I hope they'll work fine in my model.

[Anonymous No.3367060]

>>3366953
Don't worry about that, ALL replacement assemblies are metal. All assemblies from 3xxx models forward are metal too. Precisely because of the problems you are having.

>>3366313
Yes, but I highly recommend getting the KSM-440-BAM and a laser extension cable instead. The KSM-440-BAM's seem to be of higher quality, and people have reported less failures from them. The laser extension cable will be another $5-$10, but you're less likely to need another replacement a few months or years later.

>>3366873
>Just tried running it upside down. Didn't work.
And THAT's how you know that laser is a fucking goner. Usually the upside-down trick fixes the 1001's since the top of the carriage is melted but the bottom is usually fine. If it didn't work for you, then the entire carriage is probably fucked.

[Anonymous No.3367069]

>>3366838
I'm gonna guess voltage, though I've never seen an RGB encoder that needed 7.4V, much less three feeds of it.

[Anonymous No.3367250]

>>3359486
Hi /vr/ my master system is missing a color red.

Everything else work perfectly
Do someone know how to fix this ?

[Anonymous No.3367263]

>>3367069
It's not an RGB encoder. It's the controller of the CD drive.

[Anonymous No.3367268]

>>3367250
Have you tested the AV cable in another console? Have you re-flowed the solder in the AV output port?

[Anonymous No.3367279]

>>3367263
Well, that would explain it then.

[Anonymous No.3367562]

>>3364039
depends on how many watts your consoles are going to use.

You'll be fine with like a 100W for one or two consoles usually though (/vr/ consoles don't use that much).

I run a laserdisc player and my dreamcast of a 100W without any problems (I chcked their ratings beforehand). With power brick consoles I generally prefer getting a replacement brick instead, as that's just more convenient.

[Anonymous No.3367570]

What's the best way to play burned games on a Saturn? I've read about using mod chips and flashing an action replay, but is there any easier methods?

[Anonymous No.3367671]

>>3367570
You can remove the top on the system, tape down the door detector and use the swapper trick. I am not a huge fan of this method because I worry it can damage the discs or drive motor, plus it is inconvenient and sloppy. It works though.

[Anonymous No.3367674]

>>3367562
JP 3DO and JP Neo Geo CD

[Anonymous No.3367816]

>>3367060
Thanks for the info. I found the extension ribbon cable on eBay (http://m.ebay.com/itm/290990485296?_mwBanner=1)) and the laser you were taking about on Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B005EFUPWY/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1468791356&sr=8-1&pi=SY200_QL40&keywords=ps1+laser&dpPl=1&dpID=41aADS-DaYL&ref=plSrch).). The cable looks fine, but I don't trust the Amazon laser due to the reviews. Should I get it anyway or look somewhere else?

[Anonymous No.3368012]

>>3364113
I've had this problem on a console before and it's definitely a bad CPU, not PPUs. I also suspected at first it was a PPU issue when I saw it on my console since it seemed to only be the tongue animation that was affected, but after replacing both PPUs the issue remained. Replacing the CPU fixed it though.

[Anonymous No.3368352]

>>3367570
Unless you play the select few games too large to fit in the Saturn's internal memory, or you want to keep many concurrent save files for more than a few years, pseudosaturn is the way to go. That being said, the modchip is incredibly simple to install, and means you can preserve the action replay for cheating and saving. Pick your poison.

[Anonymous No.3368743]

Anyone know why for certain Genesis games Ill get a loud fuzzy noise? Do the cartridges just need to be cleaned? Ive heard it could have something to do with the AV adapter but most of my games sound fine.

[Anonymous No.3368751]

>>3367816
Wish I could help you more, but I have yet to need to replace my own, so I really can't say. If the amazon one gets bad reviews, check elsewhere.

[Anonymous No.3368768]

>>3368743
>no mention of model of genesis
>no mention of what sort of connection you use
Well, based on all the info you've given, it's probably your TV, get a new one.

[Anonymous No.3368794]

>>3368743
If it is model 1, you might try cleaning the contact for the volume slider.

[Anonymous No.3368827]

>>3368768
Sorry its a model 2 genesis. Im using the original power adapter but the AV adapter is one of the newer ones that hook up to the white, yellow and red ports on the back of the tv. Tv is a Sony CRT.

[Anonymous No.3368839]

>>3368751
I'm reading that one review by Tom. I'm not entirely sure if the screen going black and white is "definitely a laser problem" as he says, but I'm no expert. I could try eBay, but the last time I got a laser from there, it didn't work (Sega Saturn US model MK-80000). Also, I feel like that other one-star Amazon review seems to be coming from someone who didn't install it properly.

[Anonymous No.3369290]

>>3368012
Do they sell the CPUs for the SNES somewhere or do I have to find another broken console with a good CPU?

[Anonymous No.3369304]

>>3369290
You're better off getting another SNES and using or selling that one for parts. The CPU, PPU, and APU aren't made anymore so you'll have trouble sourcing them from anywhere except other SNES consoles.

[Anonymous No.3369821]

So I was using retroretrobrite on my NES, and it took the red lettering off of the cartridge door. I could have just ordered a replacement for, but then the plastic might not have matched. I found these transfer sheets on eBay for redoing the lettering, so we'll see how that goes.

[Anonymous No.3369914]

>>3369290
There are some IC dealers online that seem to have them, but when I went around and asked a few about the price per unit it was so high it wasn't worth it, especially since I bet some of them would end up being bad anyway.

The only reason I sometimes have spare CPUs is because I repair consoles and occasionally end up with ones that have been in floods and have totally ruined boards due to water or vermin. I take the CPUs and PPUs from those and then fix other consoles. If it weren't for the fact that I end up with those boards lying around anyway, it wouldn't be worth the cost or effort to repair systems that need a new CPU or PPU.

[Anonymous No.3369976]

>>3369821
>I could have just ordered a replacement for, but then the plastic might not have matched
I can confirm that, my door has been missing for years for some reason. The replacement door I got is lot darker and it really sticks out, and it doesn't seem to fit as nicely as the original door does.

[Anonymous No.3370276]

I have made progress on my Castlevania 3 VRC6 reproduction cart. I got the correct fami to NES adapter in the mail today, and after confirming it works I desoldered the VRC6 chip and backup battery from the Madara PCB. I had to cut off and file down a few bits at the top of the PCB and dremel out a little indent on the top, as well as clip away a few bits inside the NES cartridge shell. Everything currently fits together perfectly, though obviously without the VRC6 chip the game does not boot.

I'm going to have to take some IDE ribbon cable and bridge the VRC6 chip to the solder points on the back of the PCB, so that it will be out of the way of the grip indent on the NES cart. This isn't a fool-proof solution though, because it's quite likely that the additional wires, despite how thin they are, will be thick enough prevent the cartridge from closing properly. In that event, my plan B is to shave away some of the plastic on the inside of the grip indent to buy me some extra clearance. Plan C is to buy thinner wire, though hopefully IDE ribbon cable is thin enough.

Once I have the Madara PCB back up to 100% functionality in NES cartridge form (minus the battery, which Castlevania 3 doesn't use), I will order the EEPROM chips for my localized Akumajo Densetsu rom. That is the slightly scary part, since I patched and split the ROM file myself and if something is wrong with it, I will have to figure out what went wrong and then do it over again. I'm pretty sure it will go fine though, and I'm expecting that part of the project to be the most straight forward part. Actually fitting this massive Famicom PCB with the VRC6 chip inside an unblemished NES cartridge is the part that's requiring me to play by ear since there's no sheet music for this.

[Anonymous No.3370342]

>>3370276
Fuck you.

[Anonymous No.3370363]

>>3370276
There's no sheet music because it's pretty stupid to play a pretend NES game when you could just buy AD and play it without ruining a Famicom game to do it.

[Anonymous No.3370385]

>>3370276

Alright, I'll just come out and ask it: why? I will admit that I have next to no experience with the NES Castlevania games, but is CV3 so text heavy that the Famicom version is unplayable if you can't speak Japanese?

[Anonymous No.3370395]

>>3370276
Guessing you're the anon who was talking about this a few threads ago. Don't forget to swap the pins on the VRC6 since it's a different revision than what's in CV3.

[Anonymous No.3370407]

>>3370385
Not the anon doing that mod, but it helps to not make a mistake when given the choice for a partner, which CV3 does. Personally I would just use an everdrive instead of going through all that work for a repro.

[Anonymous No.3370408]

>>3370385
Not that anon, but it's just a lot of fun to do stuff like this. I've gotten my consoles all modded to where I want them to be and I like having electronics projects. Repro carts are fun because you can make your own label, do some good looking soldering work and then get the satisfaction of powering on your console and seeing a title screen.

[Anonymous No.3370539]

>>3370385
I'm doing it for fun and for a challenge.

Also, Madara is not a particularly in-demand game anyway. I paid about $10 for the copy I'm using for a donor cart. This whole project actually works out to costing less than a copy of Akumajo Densetsu, except this will be localized with English text and will play on a regular NES (if the expansion audio is wired up or there's an ENIO Board plugged into the expansion port, at least). Most of the music in Madara isn't particularly good anyway, and Akumajo Densetsu is a much better game to showcase the VRC6 chip's capabilities.

In all it's a fun little science project that gives me another NES cart to play, and it makes for a unique conversation piece to have on the shelf. For some people it makes more sense to just play it on an Everdrive or Power Pak, but I really like the Castlevania series.

[Anonymous No.3370705]

>>3370539
It's not about demand, it's about destroying a Famicom cart so you can play pretend. It's just incredibly gross to maim a perfectly functional Famicom cart so you can stuff it in a grey, lifeless NES shell.

[Anonymous No.3370781]

>>3370705
Why don't you buy every copy then so you can keep them safe? Who the fuck cares? He paid his money for it. It's his property and he can do what he wants with it.

[Anonymous No.3370849]

>>3370705
If you want to corner the market on famicom carts to protect them from us filthy modders you're more than welcome to bub. It's your money.

[Anonymous No.3370873]

>>3370276
So I did end up shaving down the plastic a little on the NES cart to keep it from bulging out where the PCB is, since the wires added a bit of thickness. Big update in a moment.

[Anonymous No.3370884]

>>3370873
I cut up an IDE ribbon cable into 1 inch strips for the near side of the VRC6 chip and 2 inch strips for the farther side. The pins of the VRC6 chip had to be bent in order to fit in the cartridge, but fortunately this also made the legs easier to solder to. I pre-tinned everything before soldering the bridge wires to the chip and the board. It was a lot of work soldering so so many wires directly to the legs, but in the end it worked out nicely. I also added a bridge wire on the front of the PCB for the battery terminal contacts, since the game doesn't boot unless it thinks there's a battery connected.

More in a moment.

[Anonymous No.3370891]

>>3370884
>just sitting on the wires
>pins next to pins of other chips
For the love of god anon, use some electrical tape before you break your shit.

[Anonymous No.3370901]

>>3370884
And now you can see the project finally coming together. This is the cartridge with the pin adapter and modified Madara game PCB all stuffed inside and screwed together. Ony two screws can be used but the third one really isn't necessary anyway-- I put a little piece of black electrical tape on the PCB just so there wouldn't be exposed green PCB visible from the outside.

Even though it's a snug fit, the cartridge closes up nice and clean. I went with a black catridge because I wanted it to look a little bit unique from a regular NES cartridge, and also because the original Akumajo Densetsu cartridge was black. It fits nicely with the whole Dracula theme.

>>3370891
Don't worry, I did use electrical tape on the spots where I was worried about a possible short occuring. The individual legs don't need any additional insulation, because they're pretty much immobile and they're not going anywhere. You would have to open the cartridge up and manually bend them in oder to make a short occur, and all of the other solder joints are rigid as well.

[Anonymous No.3370927]

>>3370901
And finally the moment of truth. The sealed up game still runs just fine, as if it were a retail cartridge. The VRC6 audio channels are still as clear as a bell too. The only things left to do with this project are to order the EPROM chips and install them, and to add a label. Now that I know for sure that this mod is viable I can go ahead and order the EPROMS.

In a previous thread someone mentioned that the first and second pins of the VRC6 used in Madara are reversed from where they are on the Akumajo Densetsu version of the chip, and they need to be switched. For now I've left them in their stock configuration, but I marked the locations of the pins with a pencil so I can find them easily later. Things are looking really good so far.

[Anonymous No.3370929]

>>3370884
It hurts me to look at this.

>>3370891
You mean heat shrink tubing.

[Anonymous No.3370940]

>>3370342
>>3370363
7>>3370705
Boo hoo, someone took a game that no-one was going to play and are turning it into a game that someone is going to play. Won't someone think of the children?

[Anonymous No.3371742]

So I just finished recapping one of the Game Gears I recently acquired, and I also added one of the Handheld Legend LCD backlights. Obviously not as impressive as the McWill replacement LCD, but it definitely looks more even than the flourescent tube, and the added battery life is certainly a plus.

Assembling everything is pretty awkward with the backlight mod. It's not as technically intense as the McWill mod for sure, but you still need to desolder a few things, and actually fitting it all together without getting fingerprints all over the screen is a bit of a pain. I'll probably be picking up more of these kits going forward since I'm planning to flip a some more Game Gears this year.

[Anonymous No.3371978]

Is there any other way to fix convergence than to open up the crt and play with those rings? I tried that once but it was a bitch and almost impossible to get right. I currently don't have the money to let someone do it for me.

[Anonymous No.3372014]

>>3371978
Check if theres service menu(google that + your TV's model number to see if anything shows up), maybe there you can fix it(if there is, write down all default settings in case you mess something up).

[Anonymous No.3374498]

>page 10

[Anonymous No.3374621]

Something I've been having a little trouble with using Retrobrite is that I keep getting streaks after every treatment. I re-apply the retrobrite and the streaks move. Places where the formula was thicker are darker, and places were it was thinner turn out lighter. I'm not sure if this is something that will just stop once the plastic has reached its maximum brightness, or if there is some kind of residue leftover that isn't washing out. I'm going to try leaving a piece of treated plastic exposed to the sun with no formula on it to see if that causes the tone to neutralize.

[Anonymous No.3374639]

>>3374621
You're not blending it properly anon.

[Anonymous No.3374653]

>>3374639
It's the pre-mixed peroxide cream from the beauty shop. Maybe I should try adding Oxi Clean?

[Anonymous No.3374854]

>>3374653
I think you should try mixing it because if it has an inconsistent consistency then it doesn't sound pre-mixed, but rather just pre-measured.

[Anonymous No.3374929]

>>3374854
I might give it another go next time I have a sunny day. Shaking it up or stirring it up in a measuring cup would probably be the way to go. For now I'm just going to put my NES and SNES back together. There's at least no yellow left on them, although I want a more consistent looking tone without any streaks or brush strokes.

[Anonymous No.3374937]

>>3374929
Also, i might want to try to thicken up the gel some how. It's actually a lot more runny than the Retrobrite that I see people mix up on their own. What would be a good addative to thicken it up? I tried using corn starch but it seemed to dry out a lot faster than the gel on its own.

[Anonymous No.3375251]

Is there anyway to play Sega CD games from another region?

inb4 buy console of that region
inb4 emulation

[Anonymous No.3375272]

>>3375251
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0ZESM1KHAg
I believe you can also just burn these bios to a disk.
or

http://products.genny4ever.net/megacart_v1x.html

[Anonymous No.3375319]

I just made one of those custom Genesis video cables and I'm hooked.

Are there any more proprietary/uncommon cables that can be hacked together with some wire, solder, and paper clips?

[Anonymous No.3375756]

>>3374937
So in regards to thickening up the peroxide cream for Retro Brite, I do have some xanathan gum although xanathan doesn't gelatinize unless it's mixed with hot water. I'm thinking I could dissolve some xanathan gum and oxi clean in a little bit of boiling water to make a thickening agent, and then mix it with the peroxide cream. That should give me something thick enough to get a more consistent coat, I hope. We're supposed to have another sunny day tomorrow so I guess I'll be taking the tops off of the NES and SNES again.

I think the real root of the problem is that the systems still need a lot more time in the sun before they're ready than I was expecting. The area near the power supply on the NES was turning brown before I started but now the discoloration is pretty much all gone-- it's jus that there's still streaks everywhere, which tells me the process isn't done yet. Hopefully with a thickened formula and more sun time I can get it all consistently bright, although preventing the formula from drying out has been tricky.

Pic related is what the homemade retrobrite formula usually looks like. The stuff out of a bottle is more the consistency of shampoo, so it's hard to apply a thick coat of it.

[Anonymous No.3375775]

Hey guys, I wanna get a custom cable made for my Genesis to output to my Amiga 1080 monitor. I wanna take RGB from the Genny and get it into the DE-9 port the monitor takes RGB from. Someone on Sega-16 said they successfully did it with a pin to pin connection, but someone in /crt/ said more electronics would be required because electronics and stuff. I want it custom made, so would anyone be able to make a diagram I can give straight to the cable maker? Also would it be better to have it end in a VGA and then adapt it to DE-9?

Here's the schematic the dude from Sega-16 posted.

[Anonymous No.3376076]

>>3375756
>>3374937
>>3374929
>>3374854
>>3374653
>>3374653
>3374653▶
>>3374639
>>3374621
Just so you remember that it will come back within 5 years. You're better of painting it.

[Anonymous No.3376080]

>>3376076
Only if you leave it in the sun, near a window or under fluorescent lights.

[Anonymous No.3376087]

>>3375272
>http://products.genny4ever.net/megacart_v1x.html
So what exactly does it do?

[Anonymous No.3376383]

Anyone know where the anti-static point on a PS1 laser is?

[Anonymous No.3376612]

I have a Famicom that recently stopped working. My suspension is that it's the pins on the card edge connector for the cartridges. When powered on I get a black screen (therefore a video signal) and when I blow/yell into the 2nd controllers mic I can hear myself through the TV. Any suggestions on how to fix it without having to buy a new card edge connector from Hong Kong and de-solder the old one. Any tips on isolating the problem are also welcome.

[Anonymous No.3376995]

>>3376612
Have you tested for continuity between each pin and where the traces lead to? If it's just broken joints or a broken trace you can just reflow or bypass respectively.

[Anonymous No.3377213]

I have a Hexen N64 cart that doesn't work at all. I got it for free years ago and it never worked. Finally got around to getting tools and I opened it and the metal inside was all rusted. I sanded that off, cleaned the contacts with alcohol and contact cleaner and no improvement.

There are signs of what appears to be corrosion, so I assume something was dumped on this years ago. I found a rusty solder joint on what I thought was a resistor so I cleaned that up and redid the joint, but it seems it's actually a capacitor.

Anyway, do you guys think the traces look corroded and worthwhile jumping them or do you think the actual chip is junk?

[Anonymous No.3377230]

>>3376383
I don't personally know where it is, though maybe a picture would help. Generally they look like large blobs, or like someone bridged two connections.

[Anonymous No.3377296]

>>3377213
It looks like you might have some damage to the traces directly below the left side of that resistor. I'd check them out and make sure they're not broken or shorted.

[Anonymous No.3377423]

>>3377230
I didn't see anything like that on my KSM-440BAM laser (pic related), so I just replaced the plastic cover and put it in. Now it acts like there isn't a disc inside even if there actually is one inside. Every time I turn my console on, there's a click which I believe comes from the new laser. I can only assume this means that there was a solder joint that I need to get off. Problem is, I can't find it.

[Anonymous No.3377445]

>>3377296
Traces are confirmed damaged. No continuity. I tried jumping with some old computer power supply wire, which I think is aluminum? The solder wouldn't stick to it, (leaded solder by the way) I might try like 24 awg copper speaker wire. Also a smaller tip may not hurt...

>>3377423
I had a similar issue with a Sega Saturn after I replaced the laser. Can the laser be easily removed from the sled? In my case it was on a small pcb on the side of the laser.

[Anonymous No.3377468]

>>3377445
Just turned the power cable around. It's working, but it seems to have the same issues the old laser had (skipping, not loading, etc.).

[Anonymous No.3377507]

>>3377468
You can try gently cleaning it with a qtip + isopropyl alcohol. It's entirely possible the laser is also defective. I went through 3 or 4 junk Chinese ebay lasers for a repair I was doing, before I ordered a more expensive one from Amazon that actually worked. Liberty Electronics makes a PS1 laser, if you end up buying a new laser I would suggest them.

[Anonymous No.3377563]

>>3377507
I'm testing out more games. It seems like THPS2 refuses to load a map on the PS1 (it also has skipping music) while it works flawlessly on my fat PS2. THPS1 loads fine on both the PS2 and PS1, but has skipping music on the latter. Ridge Racer Type 4 works fine on both.

My PS1 plays audio CDs just fine, but you have to turn on the console without a disc first so you can access the CD Player menu without it freezing, THEN put in the audio CD.

[Anonymous No.3377572]

>>3377563
Hows the condition of THPS2? Any dirt, smudges or significant scratching?

[Anonymous No.3377614]

>>3377572
I didn't look (I have to go to bed), but I think I looked a couple of days ago and it didn't seem too bad. Besides, it worked perfectly fine on a PS2, so I don't think it's a problem with the disc. As for Liberty Electronics, I think I got a Saturn laser from them and it didn't work. But I don't remember exactly where I got it. As for my new laser, it's this one:

https://www.amazon.com/KSM-440BAM-SONY-Optical-Laser-lens/dp/B005EFUPWY

[Anonymous No.3377703]

>>3375756
So I did succeed in making the formula thicker. I used an electric mixer to blend it and got striking with consistency like marshmallow fluff. Ultimately though, the streaks and spots remain. If I soak the plastic in water you can't see it, but as soon as it dries they come back.

Supposedly spraying the consoles with semigloss / satin lacquer will help even out the tone. Some shots can be reduced beforehand with acetone nail varnish remover, but people warn to be careful since it can melt plastic. I may skip that step on the SNES since I don't want to mess up the texture.

I guess the lacquer hides the streaks similar to how soaking the plastic in water for an hour does. I wonder if I should use Model Master, or the stuff for furniture?

[Anonymous No.3377778]

>>3376995
Yes. No problems there

[Anonymous No.3377790]

>>3377703
Upon further research, I think that the Rustoleum satin varnish may be the right stuff to use. It's suitable for plastics and supposedly provides UV protection. I may want to try cleaning up some of the really obvious spots with acetone nail polish remover first, but I'll have to be really careful not to smudge up the surface texture. I will probably test it on the inside of the console shell to see what kind of reaction it causes first.

[Anonymous No.3378020]

>>3377703
>Some shots can be reduced beforehand with acetone nail varnish remover
Anon when acetone touches plastic, it damages the structure casuing it to become a ruined cloudy white.

Don't ever let acetone touch plastic.

[Anonymous No.3378624]

>>3378020
Alright I will skip that.

Paint primer does have acetone in it because that helps it bind to plastics, however that is a lot different from smudging it on with a rag. I'm just going to spray the plastic with the clear varnish and hope for the best.

[Anonymous No.3378723]

>>3370927
>Keep Calm and Don't Press Down
Some people.

[Anonymous No.3378742]

>>3378723
It came with the Blinking Light Win. I didn't design it. It's a sticker to remind people not to slam down on the cartridge if they've never seen a Blinking Light Win before.

And on that note, the Blinking Light Win works spectacularly. The only downside of it is that it can make cartridges a bit of a nuisance to pull out because it grips them very securely. With Tengen carts that can be a real issuel although using a Game Genie makes a fine workaround.

[Anonymous No.3378878]

>>3378742
Why not just lock the tray and not depend on people caring about your shit?

[Anonymous No.3378902]

>>3378878
You don't seem to understand how the mod works. It has its own tray that does not move. That doesn't mean that it's impossible for someone to damage a game cart or the system if they slash down on it, although I've never heard of it happening. It's just a friendly little reminder that it's not a sock NES so that no one man handles it by accident.

[Anonymous No.3379746]

>>3378624
So I tried using the varnish and while it did give the SNES a bit of its factory new luster back, it did absolutely nothing to even out the discoloration. I am ready to give up at this point. Even though both my NES and SNES were significantly yellowed, I am thinking I may just plain be unlucky with the particular plastic formula on these two specific units, and the only thing that is going to even up the tone at this point is paint.

I think in the case of the NES I will just try my luck with getting a replacement shell, since they show up on eBay once in a while. As for the SNES, I'm in the market for a 1chip unit anyway, and my current unit can be sold as "good candidate for custom paint job."

This isn't the way I wanted this project to go but it was a learning experience that taught me not all plastics are created equal.

[Anonymous No.3379759]

Is it possible to buy famicom cart PCBs that have a repro mmc3 so that I don't have to sacrifice a working game to make conversions? I'm not interested in destroying a game to put game hacks on.

[Anonymous No.3379776]

>>3379759
There are bare cartridge PCBs available but I've only seen unpopulated ones. Then again I've never actively looked into making a reproduction from a bare PCB. I can definitely see the appeal of using new PCBs if you're making repros on a larger scale (particularly for selling them, especially since they'd be a more consistently priced source), although for people who only plan on making one or two repros it's more convenient to just use a donor cart.

[Anonymous No.3379803]

>>3379759
There are. However if your electronics skills are so poor that making a repro from an original game would destroy it then you would likely destroy any board you tried to work on. You also run the risk of hurting yourself playing with a sharp hot electric tool. Leave it to the pros and buy one.

>>3379776
What you smoking son? It is way more convenient to not have to unsolder anything and not have to cut traces and run jumpers by using a board designed to take the RAM/EPROM parts you're going to use.

[Anonymous No.3379806]

>>3379759
Yes and no.

I know there's repro PCBs for NES that contain all the MMCs. A sort of jack of all trades board.

It might be able to be adapted to Famicom though.

[Anonymous No.3379924]

>>3379803
It's not that I'm inexperienced, I just don't want to destroy old games when I could keep them as they are and use a brand new PCB designed for homebrew. It's about keeping the stuff I own and buy in tact, by destroy I mean raping a cart of Mega Man 2 just to put some shitty rom hack in to play in my spare time.

[Anonymous No.3380056]

My Saturn stopped reading discs, tried to calibrate the laser but it won't work at all. Is it easy to replace? Do I need to have soldering skills?

[Anonymous No.3380214]

>>3377703
The door on my NES is yellow, I wanted to try the retr0bright stuff aka the Sally's Beauty Supply stuff, does it really wipe the lettering off the door like you and >>3369821 said? Anyone here have experience with using tape or anything else to prevent the lettering from wiping off?

[Anonymous No.3380357]

>>3379924
If you can't modify an existing game without destroying it you are by definition inexperienced. I'm guessing your experience begins and ends with some hackaday blog that tells you to cut the chips off with nail clippers.

[Anonymous No.3380390]

>>3380214
The door is small enough that you could just stick it in a bag or jar and fully submerge it in regular Hydrogen Peroxide (the watery stuff from the pharmacy)

[Anonymous No.3380631]

>>3380390
I've used that regular hydrogen peroxide stuff from the pharmacy as well on smaller pieces like GameCube memory cards that were yellowed. Worked great for me. Do you or anyone else know if that will rub the lettering off the NES door?

[Anonymous No.3380645]

I have this SNES (model in pic) that seems to be having problems to boot up games.

Some games will start on the trademarks and logos then freeze after that, some others won't even try.

My guess is that as soon as the game requires a sound to be reproduced, it freezes, that's all I can think of.

Any ideas on how to fix this?

[Anonymous No.3380647]

>>3380645
I would start by recapping the system. Most problems start with bad caps.

[Anonymous No.3380652]

>>3380647
got it, will try that and come back with results

[Anonymous No.3380875]

>>3379806
Eh not really. Usually pirate carts have games hacked to support a different mapper.

[Anonymous No.3381204]

>>3380647
>>3380652

Recapped, same results.

[Anonymous No.3381212]

>>3379806
Obviously it can be done as plenty of flash carts emulate a wide range of mappers. In the case of the NES you probably do better to use a single mapper and use mapper trained games. Like the Chinese were doing before you were a twinkle in your dads eye.

[Anonymous No.3381215]

I bought four games at a retro store I hadn't been to before. Two of them work perfectly.

Two sadly don't. The system turns on, but the screen stays black and nothing loads. They LOOK clean and I know the SNES works.

Should I take them back or Q-tip with Alcohol? If I do Q-Tip and they still don't work, you think they'll still take them back?

[Anonymous No.3381223]

>>3381215
Clean the pins first. If they don't have one of those stupid ass warranty stickers that leave sticker residue behind you can open them up and examine the pcb for any corrosion and check continuity to the pins with a multimeter.

[Anonymous No.3381307]

>>3380357
The fuck are you talking about? Do you even understand the concept of preservation?

[Anonymous No.3381337]

>>3380645
Oh man, this is a really common problem that I hate diagnosing. You're probably right in that it's most likely caused by a problem with accessing the sound chip. That's why some games make it to the publisher splash screen before freezing. However, the trace that's broken could be almost anywhere. Most commonly I find that there's a broken trace for pin 28 through 30 or 59 through 61 underneath the removable cartridge slot that causes this on the earlier models, since the cartridge slot is a common place where moisture can settle.

But since you can't just lift off the cartridge slot on the RGB models to look closely, it could be even more of a pain in the neck than usual to solve the problem on your system. Assuming you don't see any visibly damaged traces or solder pads anywhere, I'd start by checking for broken traces between any pins in the cartridge slot and the S-SMP using a multimeter.

The schematics here will help even though they were made for the earlier SHVC motherboard revision: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/36237540/SNES/jwdonal/schematics/snes_schematic.zip

[Anonymous No.3381743]

>>3381307
Sure do. And have designed dozens of 100% non-destructive reversible mods. That's just what you do when you have understanding...and that other thing. You know. The one you say you have but don't.

[Anonymous No.3382403]

The Power Supply on my Nintendo 64 died a long time ago. Whats the best replacement I can buy? Ive looked at several on Amazon but many have fake reviews.

[Anonymous No.3382485]

for some reason Live a Live won't work on my Super Chink drive, is there a rom version that does work?

[Anonymous No.3382501]

>>3382403
>The Power Supply on my Nintendo 64 died a long time ago. Whats the best replacement I can buy?
A used working official. In general, 3rd party power supplies suck ass for consoles, and cause problems. The only ones I've ever used that weren't shit were the old Performance brand that used to be made back when these consoles were being sold. Just spend the extra dollar and get an official.

>>3382485
Does your rom still have a header?

[Anonymous No.3382653]

>>3382501
Fixed it already, expanded the bit size to 24.

[Anonymous No.3382897]

I got a GBA micro but the screen is scratched. I know it is not a retro handheld but I was wondering if there was a kind of way I could buff out the scratches on it to make it smooth? Like some kind of liquid plastic filler?

[Anonymous No.3382907]

Where do you buy triwing screwdrivers?

[Anonymous No.3382939]

>>3382403
I use Japanese power supplies. They work fine and cost a lot less.

[Anonymous No.3382942]

>>3382897
I think you can buff it out with PlastX. That's what I'm going to do with my Majesco Game Gear lens since no-one makes replacement screen lenses for that particular model.

[Anonymous No.3383064]

>>3382897
micro has changeable faceplates, so just get new one

[Anonymous No.3383078]

How hard is it to repair a broken NES if I find one for cheap on eBay? What besides the pin connector is likely to go wrong on the system? I'm hoping to find one that's in cosmetically good shape so I can transfer the guts of my working NES (which is in cosmetically bad condition) into it, and then hopefully repair the broken one and flip it which would likely cover the cost of the venture.

[Anonymous No.3383079]

>>3383078
the 7805 and the power filter cap are the usually suspects on a front loader. Both are easy to replace.

[Anonymous No.3383084]

>>3383078
Cartridge slot usually the worst problem. Nearly every NES you'll pick up online will have a really fucked up slot. Aside from that the only thing that tends to break on them is the power cap.

[Anonymous No.3383092]

>>3383079
>>3383084
Neat. I have a spare pin connector leftover from when I installed my Blinking Light Win. I've repaired a few Game Gears so if there's a cap that needs replacing I could do that easily enough.

I suppose the worst case scenario would be if I got one that someone spilled soda or a bowl of cheerios inside of and caused something to short out.

[Anonymous No.3383097]

>>3383092
even then, the parts are mostly over the counter except the PPU, CPU, and CIC chip.

[Anonymous No.3383098]

>>3383064
I know but they are almost $20 on ebay but they are always those gay flame ones.

[Anonymous No.3383107]

>>3383097
If the CIC fails for some reason I think the console should continue to work anyway. The chip doesn't stop the console from working it just resets the console if it doesn't find a mate.

[Anonymous No.3383109]

>>3383097
I'll give it a try then. It's easier to find a broken NES than an OEM shell in good shape, and I won't have something big leftover that I can't use for anything.

[Anonymous No.3383110]

>>3383107
I was saying that most of the parts except those you can order replacements for online.

[Anonymous No.3383114]

>>3383098
Mortoff Games sells black, silver and clear faceplates for $10.

[Anonymous No.3383115]

My Game Boy Pocket worked perfectly. I didn't touch it for a year or 2, but I used it the other day and at first everything was ok, but after a few hours the whole screen got black. The contrast slider doesn't do almost anything. What could be the cause?

[Anonymous No.3383123]

>>3383092
Water damage and spilled soda is probably the worst you'll come across. If you have those then the board is probably going to be fucked up.

[Anonymous No.3383159]

>>3383092
Just whatever you do don't throw away the original pin connector. Remove the connector, clean the hair and shit out of it, then tighten the pins. Don't use those chinkshit ones that claim to be "improved" or whatever, they come out of the factory tighter which makes them work okay initially(except with 3rd party games where they become impossible to remove) but they lose the tightness over time and they eventually become even less reliable. I've heard they're also susceptible to corrosion.

[Anonymous No.3383175]

>>3383159
Yeah I had one of those aftermarket ones for a while but I replaced it with a Blinking Light Win.I'm not sure what happened to the original connector on my system-- I didn't throw it out, but I misplaced it.

The BLW kit is quite satisfactory, at least. So far, it does exactly what it's supposed to and I've yet to have to blow on a cartridge so long as it's clean. If I buy another NES for repair, I will try manually repairing the connector, although worst case scenario I can stick the Chinese replacement connector I have in there.

[Anonymous No.3383770]

To all of those ITT, I'm wondering:

how did you come to modding your stuff (hardware or/and software) ?

what drives you in this hobby ?

any anecdote you'd want to share ?

[Anonymous No.3384057]

>>3383770
Probably best to start a separate thread for this if there's any interest.
I started when one of my machines broke and I figured it would be better to try to fix it than buy a new one. It was only natural to go from fixing to improving.

[Anonymous No.3384079]

>>3383770
>how did you come to modding your stuff (hardware or/and software)?
I started learning soldering because I wanted to be able to repair my shit, modding comes with the territory.

>>3383770
>what drives you in this hobby?
Getting better video/audio out of my old systems, replacing 7805's with components that don't generate as much heat to help extend the lifespan of the old systems.

>any anecdote you'd want to share ?
What sort of weirdos put a space between the last letter of their sentence and the punctuation? Stop that now.

[Anonymous No.3384138]

>>3384057
>separate thread
Why not but I didn't do this because it would be off-topic regarding /vg/ rules.

>>3384057
>>3384079
Thanks for you answers!

[Anonymous No.3384140]

>>3384138
I meant /vr/ rules.
also *your
Damn.

[Anonymous No.3385731]

[Anonymous No.3385979]

not done much repairing before, just a battery replacement, but for pic related I only need to reestablish the connections of those two corroded pins to the little circles above them, right? Bringing it to a friend with a tiny soldering iron today, seems to know what to do.
Pokemon pinball btw

[Anonymous No.3385983]

>>3385979
Forgot pic

[Anonymous No.3386025]

What's the status on 7800 RGB//composite modding? I've promised myself to get one after the RF issue is resolved.

[Anonymous No.3386349]

>>3386025
Currently the best you can do with the 7800 is S-video, unfortunately.

[Anonymous No.3387184]

>>3380056
A few screws mostly. Only soldering involved is removing the anti-static point on the back of the new laser.

[Anonymous No.3387245]

>>3381223
>>3381215
Thanks guys. The Qtip and Alcohol worked. I guess you really can't tell at a glance if the pins are dirty.

This is awesome.

[Anonymous No.3387280]

>>3377213
Update to my Hexen post. Jumped both traces and it works.

[Anonymous No.3387407]

>>3385983
Went ahead with a friend and soldered connections to pins, game works like new. Was definitely afraid I'd lost this game for good

[Anonymous No.3387431]

>>3387407
Awesome, always good to hear about successful repairs

[Anonymous No.3388874]

bump

[Anonymous No.3389005]

Is there a way to clean analog sticks other than dismounting them and risking them to stop working?

I have a few beaten up PS1 controllers a friend gave me when he sold his PS2 to me, but since he wasn't that careful with the sticks, now they feel kind of sticky and with a slightly higher dead zone.

[Anonymous No.3389046]

I've got this Megaman 2 that doesn't work, and I can't quite find why.

I have already verified continuity and everything seems to be working fine, however I noticed a little crack on the MMC1B2 chip, it's pretty subtle but I'm blaming it.

I compared with another copy of Megaman 2 I have laying around and I found that they have different eprooms.

I want to make sure they are the same (as if they will work if I swap the pcb) I want to rule out an eproom problem.

The one above is the one that doesn't work, the one below works fine.

[Anonymous No.3389181]

>>3389046
Show us the crack.

And yes it should be swapable but look up the data sheets for both chips first.

[Anonymous No.3389258]

>>3389181
It's kinda difficult to take a pic of it.

[Anonymous No.3389293]

>>3389258
Wow, that looks bad. It's shot.

Why not find a shit game and salvage the MMC1B2 chip off it?

[Anonymous No.3389301]

>>3389293
I'll try that, will look for a shit game with a MMC1B12

[Anonymous No.3390367]

>>3389046
These are just two different 8kbyte SRAM chips.
A EPROM is something completely different and are not normally used on retail carts.

>>3389301
If NesCartDB wouldn't be down then you could look up which games use the MMC1.
I used Chessmaster (got it for 6€) as source for my MMC1 devcart.

[Anonymous No.3390579]

>>3382939
Where do you buy them?

[Anonymous No.3390887]

Bumping since people don't understand why the catalog exists.

[Anonymous No.3390990]

I have a copy of Breath Of Fire that will not save at all. Just popped a new battery into it still won't save. Here's where the fun starts if I put the cart in, start it, and then run Hoshi No Kirby Super Deluxe the saves on it gets wiped too. Doesn't happen with any other games and the saves don't wipe if I play a game in between.

Willing to take pictures of internals if it would help. I'm not horribly knowledgeable but am capable of soldering well enough.

[Anonymous No.3391002]

>>3390990
>I have a copy of Breath Of Fire that will not save at all. Just popped a new battery into it still won't save. Here's where the fun starts if I put the cart in, start it, and then run Hoshi No Kirby Super Deluxe the saves on it gets wiped too. Doesn't happen with any other games and the saves don't wipe if I play a game in between.

Could you be a bit clearer? Are you using an everdrive or something?

[Anonymous No.3391012]

>>3391002
Sorry I'm on mobile. I'm using hardware. The Breath of Fire cartridge will not retain saves and when I switch the cartridge in the system out for Kirby Super Star the saves on that game wipe too.

I knew the BoF needed a new battery so I replaced it but it's still having the problem.

[Anonymous No.3391042]

>>3391012
Look, if your saves are getting wiped, and you are SURE the battery/SRAM on the other cart are good, then your SNES is at fault. Nothing a cart could do could cause OTHER carts to lose saves. This has to be an issue of your SNES sending bad data or something. Clean your cartridge slot.

[Anonymous No.3392482]

>>3390990
>and then run Hoshi No Kirby Super Deluxe the saves on it gets wiped too
This could be caused by glitches on the CIC lines.
I remember when I experimented with SuperCIC (changing the source) it also happened.
It may could be caused by a improper reset, perhaps hold the button while powering up and while turning off and check if it still happens.

[Anonymous No.3392812]

I recently bought a 1981 Coleco Pac Man mini arcade. However, the top sticker has almost peeled off. What should I use to stick it back on? I was recommended by a friend to use contact cement, but are there any other suggestions that you guys have?
Pic related

[Anonymous No.3392821]

>>3392812
I used double sided tape with some of my NES/SNES carts.
It doesn't look pretty but at least it sticks to the plastic.

[Yee No.3392823]

>>3385731
Wow women doing stuff they don't do irl.

[Anonymous No.3392874]

>>3392823
What are you talking about? Look at how she's holding that soldering iron.

[Anonymous No.3392925]

Maybe this question has everyone ticked off, but how do I remove the yellow "rust" from my SNES? I've had it since I was around 3 or 4 and even back then it was yellow. For a long time I thought it was its color until back in 2009 when I googled it I found out it's meant to be gray and that some of the consoles had/have a "rusting" problem.

[Anonymous No.3393049]

>>3392812
Spray adhesives are a great way to rettach stickers and labels that have lost their stickiness. Just make sure you test it on a similar material first. Alternatively, a very even application of some mod podge with a brush can help with that too
>>3392925
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retr0bright

Consider mixing up some retr0brite, but be advised that hydrogen peroxide can make the plastic more brittle over time and may not be a permanent solution to yellowing

[Anonymous No.3393073]

Not exactly repair/mod related, but I'm certain this doesn't need its own thread. Does anybody know where I can find a reliable s-video + composite splitter that doesn't introduce heavy visual distortion, lag or checkerboarding? It's difficult to find consistent reviews online for such a niche product and the price range of these things seems to vary wildly depending on manufacturer. Anybody who splits retro consoles to more than one source have any experience with this?

[Anonymous No.3393109]

>>3393049
Thanks, although I don't have an idea of where I can find TAED.

I went to the site and it mentions a cleaner called "Oxy", but I've never seen it in any store in the country I live on. The only alternative I can think of is a product called "Vanish"...

By the way, if I decide to go for the gel mixture, how do I apply it? A thin layer will be sufficient or do I need to apply a generous and slightly thick layer?

[Anonymous No.3393247]

>>3393073
I personally use a RCA 4 port S-video+composite switch, and I've recommended to others in the past. One anon mentioned getting video quality issues, and I've seen a few other reviews online that say the same, but my video/audio quality is flawless. It's $15, and a gamble if you'll get a good one or not, and there's also Magnavox switches out there that are just relabeled RCA's.

Another option I've heard people recommend is Pelican switches. They are about $15 as well, and I think they used to be sold at gamestop back in the day. Some people swear by them, but I've never used one myself.

If you have money to burn and want the best possible, just go commercial grade. Of course, you'll be spending over $100.

[Anonymous No.3393269]

>>3393247
>Pelican
I have one and it works fine, I haven't noticed drop in video/audio quality or lag.

Although its hard to find one outside of US(did they even sell them elsewhere?).

[Anonymous No.3393282]

>>3392812
>contact cement
Bad idea. Use something designed for paper. Spray adhesive is good advice.

>>3392823
Oh God. Namefag and dumb as fuck. So sad.

[Anonymous No.3393301]

So, anyone know much about the MSX around here? I have a really battered CX5M and it could really use some repairs. It's missing a few keys, and its been crashing/resetting often while in use. I imagine the latter problem is a pin problem, since its acting much like an NES with a worn-out pin reader. Finding spare parts for these kind of things would be kind of difficult, no?

Also, I read awhile back about how it was possible to mod a genesis controller to properly work on a MSX. The atari, C64, MSX, and genesis all use the same style of controller port. However, when using a Genesis controller on the MSX, only one of the face buttons works (while most MSX games and official MSX controllers have 2 face buttons). Since MSX controllers, and most MSX accessories in general, are ridiculously expensive, I'm more willing to learn how to solder genesis controllers as a cheaper alternative if that's what I need to do here.

[Anonymous No.3393346]

My Model 2 Sega Cd is driving me fucking nuts.
It won't read games and only reads audio cds.
So i bought a new laser because i thought that would solve the problem.

Now things seen worse than before.
Audio cds will still work.
But with games when it get past the "checking disc" and asks for you to press start, 2 things will happen: Or it will reset to the checking disc screen or it will froze int the Sega logo screen.

Any help would be appreciate.

[Anonymous No.3393750]

>>3393346
>It won't read games and only reads audio cds.
From what I see online, if your laser isn't properly adjusted, it's possible to play audio CDs but games won't work. The way to fix this is to adjust the pot on the laser.

Google the hell out of adjusting a laser through the pot, since you can break your laser by pushing too much voltage through it.

[Anonymous No.3393896]

>>3393049
What kind of spray adhesive would you recommend? Like what kind and what brand?

[Anonymous No.3393953]

>>3393109
If you decide to use the gel, get yourself a handful of differently sized foam brushes (pic related) for the application. Much more convenient than bristle brushes and won't leave any hairs behind for you to pick out later.

>>3393896
I don't think the brand should matter much, I always use the 3M kind but I think anything you could pick up at a crafts or hardware store would do the trick. Just use a relatively light touch with the glue and try to apply pressure as evenly as possible all along the decal to avoid bubbles. Hope that helps

[Anonymous No.3393956]

>>3393247
>>3393269
Thanks for the advice anons, it's much appreciated

[Anonymous No.3393965]

>>3393301
I always thought the MSX was really interesting looking and I'm surprised it never came to the West.

[Anonymous No.3395050]

Do Dreamcast lasers actually die or is the problem that they need to recalibrated with regular use?

[Anonymous No.3395057]

Stupid question but just want to make sure
I can use this http://www.amazon.ca/dp/B002TK3GYG on a PS1 correct? Since both the AV Multi out on the back are both the same

[Anonymous No.3395112]

I got an original Dualshock (the gray one) and two directions of the Dpad (down and lefft) require extra force to register, and after some time your finger hurts because of this. How can I make them as soft to press as the other directions?

[Anonymous No.3395190]

>>3395050
Any optical media laser can die/burn out. What makes you think they can't?

>>3395057
Yeah, PS1 and PS2 both use the same connector. If it works on one, it should work on the other.

>>3395112
You either need to open it up and clean it, or replace the conductive pads. The replacement pads might be stiffer than the ones you are replacing. Many people say you need to break them in by playing them.

[Anonymous No.3395271]

I have a Super Smash Bros 64 cartridge that won't boot, the game was not in use for 10 years and i assume it has corrosion, i cleaned the contacts, but some of them seem pretty fucked, i'm a total iliterate when it comes to electronics, what can i do to make it work? I also don't know anyone that repairs this kind of things.

Picture 1

[Anonymous No.3395275]

>>3395271
Picture 2

[Anonymous No.3395279]

>>3395271
Picture 3

[Anonymous No.3395283]

>>3395271
Picture 4

[Anonymous No.3395292]

>>3395271
Picture 5

[Anonymous No.3395395]

>>3395271
What the holy fuck? Did someone take a fucking screwdriver to those contacts?

>i'm a total iliterate when it comes to electronics, what can i do to make it work?
Being illiterate when it comes to electronics, not a damn thing. Anything you do will only make the problem worse.

[Anonymous No.3395418]

>>3395395
Hey fucktard, the game was in this status when i found it, i said that was in storage for ten years, i don't know who treated it like that.

[Anonymous No.3395432]

>>3395418
No, I'm serious. If you don't know what you are doing, you will only break it worse. Leave it to someone who knows what they are doing. You can get as angry about it as you want, but that's the truth of the situation.

[Anonymous No.3396259]

So, I have a rather stupid question.

Can you take a FX 2 chip cartridge and put in a FX 1 chip game like Star Fox and it will work and run smoother/less laggy?

Thanks

[Anonymous No.3396269]

>>3375775
>too stupid to figure it out himself
>too stupid to actually do the job himself
>has a fucking 1080 monitor
Fucking mad.

[Anonymous No.3396287]

>>3392823
Wow wonder who came up with the Commodore 64 on a chip.

[Anonymous No.3396289]

>>3395271
>not using contact cleaner
It's literary 3 bucks per can, how fucking stupid can you be

[Anonymous No.3396349]

>>3395271
You've got rust. Possibly water damage. I'd soak the contacts in white vinegar for a few hours and then buff it with a pink eraser. It's possible that this cart is beyond saving though, because I've never seen one with corrosion this bad.

[Anonymous No.3396504]

>>3395271
You seem to have some broken traces, you're gonna need to identify them and bridge them, but if you don't know how to do that, is better if you send it to someone who knows.

[Anonymous No.3396510]

I have a SNES that shows some annoying buzz sound, it sounds like a radio on AM not picking any radio station, horrible.

It doesn't matter which cable I use (granted, I've only tried on Scart and AV), I'm using an original AC adapter, and these cables don't show this issue on other consoles.

Its a SNES CPU-RGB 02 for what is worth.

[Anonymous No.3396548]

>>3396510
Have you tried component cables (The ones used in N64 and GC)?

You could also try to clean the jack, it might be corrosion or dust.

[Anonymous No.3396564]

>>3396548
Those are the Yellow, Red and White right? I've tried those indeed.

[Anonymous No.3396573]

As I'm sure many of you know, both OOT and Majora's Mask have the deadly pause screen glitch. It's driving me on the brink of throwing my brand new pi out the window.

I'm currently running my pi3 overclocked (see below)

arm_freq=1300
over_voltage=5
gpu_freq=500

# sdram overclock
sdram_freq=500
sdram_schmoo=0x02000020
over_voltage_sdram_p=6
over_voltage_sdram_i=4
over_voltage_sdram_c=4

..... And still nothing. I've tried every emulator as well. Some don't register the A button. All that works is
Lr-mupen64plus.

Somebody please tell me they have found a way to play these games without that pause glitch

[Anonymous No.3396586]

>>3396564
Yes, also apologies for the bad wording.

You could try to dampen a cotton swab in alcohol (isopropyl highly recommended) and carefully clean the jack.

And clean the "male" connectors of the cables too, just in case.

[Anonymous No.3396623]

>>3396510
>>3396548
New Findings, I just noticed it only happens on one speaker, and not on the other, so probably there's an issue with one of the audio outputs.

I already cleaned the jack btw.

[Anonymous No.3396952]

I have an Amiga 1080 monitor which accepts RGB through a 9-Pin D-Sub Terminal. I want to hook up my Genesis, and later my SNES and Saturn to the port with a custom cable, being that all of them output RGB natively. Someone on Sega-16 said they made a pin to pin adapter from the Genesis to the TV and it worked, I'm just checking if that's the case. Would I need any more electronics in the cable? It won't be super bright or something right? Is there a website I can buy the Genesis Model 1 (and later SNES/Saturn connectors) DIN cable from? Or do I have to buy an RGB cable from somewhere else and sacrifice it.

Pictured is the pinout that dude from the forums made.

[Anonymous No.3397095]

>>3396952
>nobody answers
>lets spam my shit
literary autism

[Anonymous No.3397435]

>>3396259
The second is a defendant No. Don't know if they can be swapped though.

[Anonymous No.3397439]

So I have a Sega CD model 1 and I forgot to take pictures of the gears before taking them off for greasing. I was wondering if anyone had the proper alignment for them.

Thanks

[Anonymous No.3397448]

>>3397435
So the fact that the FX chip runs faster does not reduce lag?
How about the overclocked FX 1 chip videos on youtube that you can really notice it being smoother.

[Anonymous No.3397450]

>>3397448
That's just it. The chip is over clocked. As in, the clock has been changed, swapping chips most likely won't increase performance.

[Anonymous No.3397453]

>>3397450
But the fact that the FX 2 chip runs twice as fast won't give it performance boost over the FX 1 chip? What was the point of the FX 2 chip then?

[Anonymous No.3397457]

>>3396269
What the fuck am I doing wrong? Sorry I'm not an electrical engineer???

>>3397095
Right, let me just not try to get an answer, that'll make more sense.

What the fuck repair thread, I come here looking for help and all I get is hostility and /b/-grade name calling.

[Anonymous No.3397529]

>>3397457
>What the fuck am I doing wrong
You asked for help on 4chan
In the summer
You must be new here

[Anonymous No.3397681]

>>3397453
There's two versions of the SuperFX1 chip, one runs at about 10mhz, the other at 21mhz. Can you tell the difference in which copies of Star Fox have V1 and which ones have V2? Just because you have a faster chip doesn't mean the console or game will take advantage of it. Overclocking =/= faster chip. Did you know overclocking either version of the FX1 or the FX2 involves using the exact same oscillator? Because they are both on the same clock.

>What was the point of the FX 2 chip then?
It could access more RAM, and work with larger ROMs. You can't get a 16Mbit game on a SuperFX1 cart.

As for being able to swap ROMs and have them work, I have no fucking clue. I have no idea how compatible the FX1 and FX2 are code-wise, but I know they are a different pin package so that might cause problems, depending on how the FX interacts with the ROM chip.

>>3397457
No, this is intro to electronics stuff, which you should know if you want to make your own cables or otherwise mod shit. And if it requires "more electronics would be required because electronics and stuff", then I'm guessing you can't solder and thus can't do it anyways?

This is the Repair/Mod general, not Anon's Personal Intro To Electronic Work, hence why people are pointing and laughing at you.

[Anonymous No.3397685]

>>3397681
I'm not asking for an electronics lesson in general, I was just asking for a simple yes/no answer to a specific question I had. I thought someone in another thread said more would be required, looks like I thought wrong. Goes to show me for looking for help with a basic question. (See: 4Chan in general)

[Anonymous No.3397692]

>>3397681
Star Fox never used the FX1, that's why I'm asking if I could use the faster FX2 on it, holy smokes, are you too stupid to see that?
Oh and yeah, I know how overclocking works, the FX1 frequency just gets divided by a chip to 10 MHz.

>"The first version of the chip, commonly referred to as simply "Super FX", is clocked with a 21.4 MHz signal, but an internal clock speed divider halves it to 10.7 MHz. Later on, the design was revised to become the Super FX GSU (Graphics Support Unit); this, unlike the first Super FX chip revision, is able to reach 21 MHz."

Overclocking exactly means faster chip, because it introduces more clock cycles per second to the chip.
But a faster chip does not always need to be a higher clock rate to be faster, but this is irrelevant in this discussion.

[Anonymous No.3397693]

>>3397685
Lots of people are getting simple questions answered in this thread without problems. You got insulted and laughed at because you asked a stupid question. There is a difference.

[Anonymous No.3397701]

>>3397685
>I was just asking for a simple yes/no answer
You asked for schematics you could take to someone so they could do the works for you.
Without you having to do shit or knowing shit, probably paying less to the person making the cable too because someone else did even that work for you.

[Anonymous No.3397708]

>>3397692
>Star Fox never used the FX1
>Overclocking exactly means faster chip, because it introduces more clock cycles per second to the chip.
I can't help you. I just can't.

[Anonymous No.3397712]

>>3397708
>>3397692

FX2*, never used the FX2

[Anonymous No.3397745]

>>3397693
How was I supposed to know it was stupid? The whole point of my coming here was to get an answer because obviously I don't know electronics. Guess I should shoo off because I don't have enough know-how. Way to make your hobby inviting to newcomers.

>>3397708
Why is not doing things I'm unfamiliar with bad? I'm not paying anyone, I personally know the guy doing it.

I'm not insulted or anything, I'm just genuinely astonished at how uninviting and hostile this thread's been. Could've sworn this wasn't /v/.

[Anonymous No.3397749]

>>3397745
>make your hobby inviting to newcomers.
Nobody wants that, cringe.

[Anonymous No.3397772]

>>3385731
She must have the highest pain tolerance in the world!

[Anonymous No.3397773]

>>3397772
>not trading supreme grip and dexterity for the skin on your fingers
do you even solder pleb?

[Anonymous No.3397834]

>>3395271
UPDATE ON THE N64 CARTRIDGE.

So i made the whole rom swap and to my surprise it did work (first time atempt) i am so happy.

I found a cheap honor for this PCB, WCW/NWO Revenge, a shitty fighting game that uses the same board, i was worried that i couldn't find the exact board as only 12 games of the entire N64 library use it and the great majority is expensive. To my luck i found some guy that was selling his N64 with 3 games including this one, he agreed to sell it to me for $3 and took me 1 hour so desolder/solder the 2 chips, one being the ROM and the other the CIC chip.

The backside pic looks shitty (i just realised) but the soldering was good in general.

I feel great /vr/.

[Anonymous No.3397842]

>>3397834
Very nice

I was wondering if there might be any interest in basic repairs such as swapping chips, replacing chips and re-capping consoles on /vr/

[Anonymous No.3398046]

>>3397834
>WCW/NWO Revenge, a shitty fighting game
> Fuck RIGHT off. 4 player knockout/first bloods only made that game amazing.

[Anonymous No.3398605]

>>3397834
So, the PCB was at fault and all the chips are okay.
You know what I would do in that case.
Fix the faulty PCB and put the "shitty fighting game" chips back in and maybe sell it for dirt cheap or whatever.

[Anonymous No.3398610]

>>3398605
The olb PCB is beyond repair, i don't event think it's worth to try to fix it. Anyway the donor cart was $3. Not a big deal.

[Anonymous No.3398668]

>>3397834
Glad to see you got it working.

>>3398610
That's too bad. Between the two Smash is a much better and more valuable game to have, although if it was possible to get the other board to work it'd be good to get the copy of WCW working again too. If the board had water damage and rust there might not be much of anything you can do though, because if the traces are bad then it's pretty much fucked.

[Anonymous No.3399141]

Not entirely retro, but it goes for all carts -In general, if a Gameboy Advance Cartridge is not booting up - is it fucked? The contacts are basically sparkling and the game is sensed on a Nintendo DS Lite but white screens after the Gameboy logo.

Is there a way to fix these? Or is it just a better idea to buy another one?

[Anonymous No.3399272]

Reminder: back up your Memory Paks and check your batteries.

[Anonymous No.3399346]

>>3397439
Well, I got the tray opening and closing well enough.

Then the laser driver gear started skipping so I switched it out for another drive.

Turns out that drives laser is not working so I am going to switch it out with another.

[Anonymous No.3399351]

>>3399141
try re flowing the pins on all the chips especially the ROM

[Anonymous No.3399518]

>>3399346
Speaking of the Model 1 Sega CD. Anyone have any good sources for replacement lasers for the model one?

[Anonymous No.3399548]

So... yesterday i got a Super Nintendo at agarage sale for $15 AV cable was missing so we only tested if it turned on and it did.

At night, trying to p-lay some games the very first time i actually turned it on with a game inside, i noticed the was no sound at all, at first i thought TV volume was off then that i had pluged the cables wrong but everything was fine.

After something like 15 seconds i heard like a scratch noise, then the music frme the game played normally, played for about 30 mins (game was Castlevania Dracula X) changed the game, and this time there was no video signal, changed to previous CAstlevania cart i was just playing seconds before and no video signal either.

However, if i just press the Re3set button like 5 times without touching the cart., it eventually boots and i can play with no problems.

Just moments ago i was trying to play Sunset Riders and when i turned the console i could see just garbage graphics, pressed Reset and then it booted.

What the fuck is this? could it be a dirty slot? some fucked up capacitor? only one time a game has hanged after the intro it was Megaman X, and just to be clear, all my games wortk perfectly on my Super Famicom, ive never had any problems at all.

Any hint appreciated, ill open the console tomorrow and clean everything with alcohol.

[Anonymous No.3399774]

Hey everyone, first time in one of these threads. I have a Sega Genesis Model 2 VA 2.3 that I want to do a "simple" audio mod on to balance out the PSG volume with the main audio chip (YM2612). The thing is, I have no electronic engineering experience whatsoever. Not even soldering (planning on getting a kit and learning). I wanted this to be my first project because what other people tend to say about this mod is that it's easy and it could be a stepping stone for me to get into this sort of thing.

Ok, so my problem here is the instructions. (http://www.sega-16.com/forum/showthread.php?7796-GUIDE-Telling-apart-good-Genesis-1s-and-Genesis-2s-from-bad-ones/page83&p=454013#post454013))

In the steps, I'm sure I understand 1 and 2, and I kinda see that the resistors on the motherboard seem to be called film resistors? There's also capacitors to replace in the same shape but I'll learn about that when I need to get them. My main problem is in step 3 where it says to "relocate" the resistor at R2 BEFORE the 2.2Kohm resistor placed in the last step.

I don't know what the fuck this means. My best guess is to turn the resistor but I just know it can't be that easy. Someone commented on this and this Ace made a reply here (http://www.sega-16.com/forum/showthread.php?7796-GUIDE-Telling-apart-good-Genesis-1s-and-Genesis-2s-from-bad-ones&p=457565&viewfull=1#post457565).). I just don't know what this means, and I really hope someone can help me with this because the PSG audio channels are fucked on this model 2 and it bugs me so fucking hard. I wish I majored in engineering.

[Anonymous No.3401094]

Is a cr1616 interchangeable with cr2020?

[Anonymous No.3401264]

>>3399548
CONT.

So this afternnoon i cleaned the board and connectors compltetely with alcohol and compreseed air.

Now the games boot everytime with no black screen but i let the console running just to test it and in every game so far, after a while lets say 20 minutes, tsound just starts crackling, just like if the cable was broken but it isnt obviously, tested bot Av outputs and problem persists.

Next stepo is replacing all caps and heres where i need help from someone with more knowledge, i know how to solder, but i just dont know anything about electronic components, so i need help ordering a complete set of new capacitors, pic related ins what i saw, none of them look partiocularly bad but changing them anyways just to be sure.

Its the old model with the removable sound module, any help appreciated, if its an Ebay link even better.

[Anonymous No.3401378]

>>3401094
Yes but it might be hard to fit.

[Anonymous No.3401382]

>>3399518
>>3399346
Well, I some how fucked the tray up trying to adjust the shitty "Switches" Sega installed in this thing.

Going to try and adjust them so they work but it doesn't look good.

[Anonymous No.3401394]

>>3401264
It might be a bad sound module or connection to the board. Take a look at the connection for any sort of damage and clean the connection with contact cleaner.

[Anonymous No.3402204]

>>3401094
I've done it, although I was installing a battery holder. Electrically speaking nothing bad will happen, if that's what you're wondering.

[Anonymous No.3402301]

>>3401394
the pins on the sound module look fine, i clean them with some W40 and let it dry, after that a pass qith alcohol just to be safe but still it failed.

Will the console boot if i take out the sound module? i mean, just to discard that possibility, if the game still plays normally and doesnt freeze, theres a bigger chance of a damaged sound module.

Also, does the sound module have capacitors too? ive tried to take a look but the shield is actually soldered.

[Anonymous No.3402384]

>>3402301
>Will the console boot if i take out the sound module?
Almost all games refuse to start if the Sound CPU doesn't respond. There are like 3 games that show something on the screen before trying to upload their audio code/data, unfortunately I don't remember the names.

[Anonymous No.3403014]

Somewhat of a broad question but can anyone recommend a good set of anti-tamper screwdrivers for getting into electronics?

I need to get a proper tri-wing and star screwdriver for digging around in nintendo stuff

[Anonymous No.3403042]

>>3403014
Here's a whole set of game security screwdrivers:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00EKS9BX0

I don't have the triwing screwdrivers from that company but I do have the gamebit screwdrivers and they work great.
I do not recommend buying one of these:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000VPBYS6..

Very small screw driver with very little room to grip it and it doesn't seem to fit the screws in the original gameboy properly.

[Anonymous No.3403418]

>>3401382
I got the tray to eject and close fine now.

Now I have a whole new issue.

My Sega CD Model 1 seems to refuse to play sound files. I tried playing a few audio CD's and nothing. I have this hooked up though RF. I can hear the bios music and the "Sega" splash screen but nothing after that music wise.

I pop a game in, Ecco, and none of the back ground music is playing, although sound effects and FMVs seem to work.

Would this be indicative of a re-cap being needed or the laser being replaced?

Also if it is a re-cap where does the Sega CD processes audio so I can re-cap around that chip to save time.

[Anonymous No.3403515]

What do you use to buff out scratches on the screens of handhelds? Besides buying a new screen.

[Anonymous No.3403676]

>>3403515
Putting in a glass screen will give you the nicest results, but of course that's expensive and depending on the handheld they won't always be available.

PlastX is the way to go.

[Anonymous No.3403984]

>>3403418
I might have narrowed it down to the sub-board that has the DAC on it. I'll try swapping it out and see if that makes any difference.

[Anonymous No.3404000]

>>3399774
>>3399774
No one?

[Anonymous No.3404134]

What is the best option for replacement N64 control sticks? Two of my three controllers are badly worn and I would like to get them working properly.

[Anonymous No.3404293]

Does somebody know where I can find a tutorial on how to open and repair the original Dualshock controller? All I cand find on youtube and other sites is Dualshock 2 and the white Dualshock 1, which is different from the original. Thanks in advance.

[Anonymous No.3404564]

>>3404134
This one looks promising, but its not out yet apparently:
https://twitter.com/SteelSticks64

Another option is the "gc style replacement" stick, which works but is bit too sensitive, they aren't that expensive so it densest hurt to try.

If you like GC controller, and if you can get used to using GC button layout and shoulder buttons for playing N64 games then theres GC-to-N64 controller adapter that works perfectly(you can remap buttons as you like and it has nearly zero delay), but for an adapter its bit expensive:
http://www.raphnet-tech.com/products/gc_to_n64_adapter/index.php
Although its out of stock right now.

[Anonymous No.3405176]

>>3396510
I know this is a really late response so you may not see this, but I once had a console with this issue that was solved after I replaced C18.

[Anonymous No.3405472]

>>3404293
it just takes a screwdriver to split one open, not much to it. Also, what are you trying to fix about it?

[Anonymous No.3405547]

>>3403984
I can confirm it was the sub board with the power and audio DAC on it. I tried re-capping it without results. I conclude it must be the chips themselves, which ever one it may be.

[Anonymous No.3405552]

>>3405472
I got this one Dualshock 1 from some guy, swapped it for a generic, cheap Dualshock 2 controller. The controller has one analog fucked, it doesn't "click" and it's always pressed, and whenever I performed some action in the game that would make the controller vibrate the analog function would just turn off. I fixed the vibration problem by removing one of the vibrators, and I plan to leave the analog as it is, the replacement is hard to find here where I live, so my goal was to use this Dualshock for emulation and games that don't require the analog function of the controller. But the "x" button is hard to press. It isn't that bad, but it requires a little extra force to make the thing press. I wouldn't bother me if it was for example the triangle or circle button, but the X button is the most important and used, and for racing games where you have to keep the button pressed it's a pain. I changed the rubbers and cleaned the contacts but it still refuses to function as it's supposed to. Spent 3 hours today trying to fix it but man I just couldn't. Love the D-pad of the thing though, it would be a shame if I can't use this controller to play emulators.

[Anonymous No.3405926]

>finish recapping laseractive sega pac
>caps were too tall and it doesn't fit together

[Anonymous No.3405938]

>>3405926
Lay them on their side. It's shit looking but it works.

[Anonymous No.3407481]

I want to see if you guys can diagnose something. This is my laseractive with unamplified RGB. It looks really weird.
I mod I followed called for "coupling capacitors" on the inputs to the RGB amp, but my amplifier chip is bypassed right now. It's still going through those capacitors.
Would those capacitors somehow be at fault here? Would there be any danger in bypassing these capacitors?

[Anonymous No.3407484]

>>3407481
Honestly, you're not going to find help here.

Most people only have heard of a laser active, let alone seen one or worked on one.

If I where you, I'd send it to some one who can work on it.

[Anonymous No.3407490]

>>3407484
Thanks for the reply, but I just diagnosed it as just weak signals messing with my monitor. It looks absolutely beautiful when the monitor is set up for weaker signals.

[Anonymous No.3407493]

>>3407490
Ah, very nice.

Always good when it's something simple.

[Anonymous No.3407513]

>>3364142
If you put a socket in the original famicom you have to pull out the ejection slider. Also its a crapshoot how completely you'll be able to get rid of the jailbars on the original famicom after an AV mod. I still went with the original for myself, because I like the look, and I don't have to do any mods to get the volume right for expansion audio.

[Anonymous No.3407816]

>>3393073
I've used (and still use) these

https://www.amazon.com/Philips-Switcher-Component-Discontinued-Manufacturer/dp/B000WS5I7U

one for component (newer consoles) and another for standard RCA. work well enough. no lag I can detect.

[Anonymous No.3407824]

>>3404293
not to be a dick, I know this is the repair thread, but why not just get another? they're dirt cheap.

[Anonymous No.3407831]

so, what's the consensus on PSIO. sure, it's a bit on the pricey side, but it would be nice to not have to replace the laser every ~3 months because of shitty manufacturing. have a 7500 series with a shit laser (last one with the parallel port) in a custom case exactly like pic related, with matching controller (still need to get a matching memory card).

I don't want to keep using my 1001 model as the lasers wear out even quicker on them and it still works perfectly.

[Anonymous No.3407945]

My japanese sega saturn wont read discs anymore, so I bought a new replacemen and still won't read. So I just discovered that the laser it self isn't coming out of the the lens! There are more pots on the PCB for adjusting but I don't know which one is for. Also I've checked the ribbon cable and cleaned the contacts. Please welp

[Anonymous No.3408397]

>>3407816
I have one of those and I still love it. I should buy another for the downstairs TV.

[Anonymous No.3409208]

>>3407945
Check if there's limiter switches and all that. They usually tell the console to try and read the CD.

[Anonymous No.3410543]

>>3409208
>limiter switches
the Disk Spins the I can see the lens movint up and down and even the laser unit moves but there is no laser coming out of it! I'll check if there is limiters

[Anonymous No.3410578]

>>3407945
>so I bought a new replacemen and still won't read
It might be a possibility that you forgot (or didn't knew) to remove the solder blob on the laser that protects it from ESD. I'm not sure if that applies to the saturn but I sure did that when I replaced laser units on CD players a long time ago.

Was something like that mentioned in the guide you where using?

[Anonymous No.3412153]

>>3410578
It was the very first thing I did. I don't know what to try anymore. There is a guy in other state that can fix it. I think I'm going to send it to him

[Anonymous No.3412761]

>>3359486
Hey /rmg/, I picked up a game genie, but it's broken as somehow one of the capacitors split in half.

I can't find what capacitence it is on the circuit board or schematics online. Any ideas?

[Anonymous No.3412969]

>>3412761
I bet it says 104 which stands for 100nF.
103 for 10nF could be possible too.
However, if this capacitor goes between power and ground as I suspect it then it doesn't matter that much.

[Anonymous No.3413005]

>>3412969
>power supply bypass cap
>not mattering
please don't spread misinformation like this. the part may work without the bypass cap, but you may experience reduced performance / glitches / etc.

[Anonymous No.3413021]

>>3413005
I actually meant that the value doesn't matter that much. He could actually use 220nF, 470nF or even 1µF.
Sorry, next time I'm gonna read my text twice as hard before posting to prevent unclear interpretations by fellow technicians like you.

[Anonymous No.3414523]

>>3412969
I removed the other one, and it does say 104 on the bottom. The first one happened to have a char mark where the label was from when it cracked I guess.

[Anonymous No.3414683]

>>3414523
They're wired in series by the way. I'm not sure why they did that rather than using a smaller capacitor but whatever.

Is there a reason to use 2 100nF caps instead of 1 50nF cap or whatever the equivalent is?

[Anonymous No.3415024]

>>3414683
Just the fact that you mentioned that it doesn't work makes me think that one is for the (power on) reset generator.
Does the middle point of these two go to somewhere?
You could also post more pics. NesCartDB is down and I know they had some high quality PCB pics of the old GG.

[Anonymous No.3415893]

>>3415024
Tried replacing the caps. Didn't work, tested with smb2 and rad racer. Still got the blue screen. Eh, maybe it got fried when one of the caps blew. Maybe something else is broken. Maybe the caps I bought were bad. Maybe my pin connector just doesn't like he ghetto connection of a game genie.

Anyway, looks like the middle of he 2 caps is connected to pin 1. Also the diode connects the caps as well. I can't tell where else the caps are connected to as the traces run under the IC.>>3415024

[Anonymous No.3415902]

>>3415893
Sorry for shitty photo quality. I don't have good lighting.

[Anonymous No.3415936]

Yesterday I got my NesRGB and procceeded to install it using a Multi Out from a busted SNES I had around.

I did the connections like pic related.

RGB Looks and sound perfect.

However, composite video is not displaying any video, and S-Video displays video but with a lot of interference.

Any ideas what did I do wrong?

[Anonymous No.3415950]

>>3405552
Playstation controllers are a maze of shenanigans man. There are just so many revisions of them that you can almost never use a busted controller for parts to fix another, or change the cases.

I've wasted so much time with this, I don't want to touch another playstation controller in my life.

And don't even get me started with those cheap "paper circuit" ps2 and ps3 controllers, god how I hate them cheap shits.

[Anonymous No.3416015]

does anyone here do commissioned work? I bought a Game Boy Pocket with a missing vertical line I'd like to get fixed and backlit.

I'd do it myself but I left all my things at home while I'm doing grad school

[Anonymous No.3416076]

>>3415024
Scratch that. Gave female connector second deep cleaning and now she works.

They were disgustingly dirty I guess. Even then cap was still shattered.

[Anonymous No.3416093]

>>3415902
Camera flash is sufficient, but if you hold it directly above what you are taking photos of, the flash will bounce back into the optics, fucking up the picture.

Just hold the camera at an angle, problem solved.

[Anonymous No.3416185]

I hate troubleshooting the NES front loader.

I have one that barely plays games, the connector looks good and I've cleaned it a lot but still it won't boot a game. I cleaned both edge connectors and the one on the main board and of course the game.

A lot of the time I get nothing or gabled shit. Some times I get a game but then it turns to shit.

I noticed the VRAM chip seems to be a bit crusty. I tested with a multimeter and the chip seems to have contact with the board.

[Anonymous No.3416193]

>>3415950
I just hate playstations in general.
Such fuckin garbage

[Anonymous No.3416224]

>>3416015
Lines on a Pocket basically mean it's fucked.

[Anonymous No.3416237]

>>3416224
the line comes back with some pressure on the ribbon cable, I'm assuming it just needs some resoldering

[Anonymous No.3416467]

>>3416237
The soldering iron reheating doesn't work the same with Pockets. The cable is constructed differently.

[Anonymous No.3416495]

>>3415936
So apparently mi composite cable was busted, I tried with another one and it works perfectly.

However, S-Video still looks all distorted and ugly

[Anonymous No.3416989]

>>3416495
are you using a properly shielded cable?, have you tried with another power supply?

[Anonymous No.3417014]

>>3416989
Well, the cable I'm using works fine on my Snes so I think so?

I'm using the official power suply, I can try with another one tho.

Could it be something sync related?

[Anonymous No.3417476]

>>3417014
S-video doesn't have a sync line unless you mean something else.

What exactly does the distortion look like? Take some pictures.

[Anonymous No.3418426]

>>3417476

[Anonymous No.3418429]

>>3418426

[Anonymous No.3418431]

>>3418429

[Anonymous No.3418435]

>>3418431
And then it starts looking like this.

[Anonymous No.3418491]

>>3418426
At the very least I think you have the wires wrong because the color pallet is fucked.

Not sure what's causing the wavyness if you don't get that on RGB.

[Anonymous No.3418601]

>>3370927
I finally got an email from GameRepros saying my translated Castlevania 3 EPROM chips have shipped. They said on their website that the turnaround for custom orders is about a month so they're on time. I also got a high quality label printed up and put on the front. It's not a custom design but I think the black cartridge sets it apart from the original enough.

[Anonymous No.3418612]

>>3397834
>WCW/NWO Revenge
>bad

You have bad taste in games, not suprising since you are playing the second worse smash bros.

[Anonymous No.3418618]

>>3418435
that looks really cool actually. at least everything is still visible. I would play this for the aesthetics.

[Anonymous No.3418776]

>>3407831
>so, what's the consensus on PSIO
I don't care about price to be honest.
It's fine for features offered.
But it's pretty much impossible to buy one. Last time it was available (late July) their website went down, and only select few people could F5 through their way to actually pay for it.

[Anonymous No.3418880]

>>3369821
EXACT same happened to me, except I was using a spirit to clean mine up as there was some pen mark from a previous owner.

The replacement doors are just shit 3D prints and the colour and texture is pretty off.

Settled for a transfer like your pic related and it's close enough. They are a nice size and stay on well.

It's satisfied me and I obsess over stupid trivial shit like this.

[Anonymous No.3418891]

>>3377790
Don't even try nail polish remover anon, it will fuck the surface right away.
Tested some on my donor gamecube and it had an effect in seconds.

[Anonymous No.3418939]

>>3418435
It looks like a PVM to me. Is the Sync source set correctly?
However, I think there's something wrong with your grounding.

[Anonymous No.3419086]

>>3418891
I've given up on restoring the color of that particular NES and SNES. The damage is done. I might pick up a cosmetically better NES for repair and swap the housings, and for the SNES I wanted to get a 1chip unit eventually anyway.

Apparently the trick with Retrobritetime on gray plastic is to do it on a cold day tip keep it from bleaching streaks into the plastic. I wish I had known that ahead of time. Apparently with white plastic there's nothing to worry about, because my Dreamcast came out perfect.

[Anonymous No.3419421]

>>3418618
Yeah, I should do a playthrough while blasting some vaporwave before fixing it.

>>3418939
Yeah, it is a PVM 2030, well I'm using the same cable I use on my SNES and it works fine there. There are two grounds on the NesRGB and on the AV Multi Out tho, should I use both?

[Anonymous No.3419715]

>>3419421
PAL or NTSC SNES?
The cables are different.
If it's really the NTSC cable (no capacitors or resistors to ground are inside) then it should work.
NESRGB outputs should go straight to the display (you can see the capacitors and 75 resistors in series on the NESRGB as the encoder needs it)

>should I use both?
You attached the ground to one pin of the MultiAV only?
If that's the case then you get problems, the cable might just use one ground pin and possibly the one you didn't wired and thus you get these glitches. Maybe the that one composite cable of yours isn't broken as you believe it.

The way these pics look and the fact that there's no video on that one composite wire makes me think that there's no correct ground connection.

[Anonymous No.3419724]

>>3419715
Yeah I only attached one ground pin, I'll try attaching the other one too.

Also, yes, it is an NTSC Snes.

[Anonymous No.3419858]

>>3419715
>>3419724
It worked! S-video now looks pretty, and my other composite cable is working fine now!.

Thank you my dude! Now I'll be able to stream on S-Video.

[Anonymous No.3420598]

I'm currently removing tarnish from the RF shields on my Commodore 64. They were pretty bad but so far they seem to be cleaning up quite nicely with vinegar and steel wool.

If I spray them with some clear Rustoleum semi-gloss varnish, will that actually provide any protection against future corrosion, or should I just hope for the best? And in the case of the one over the CPU, would varnish inhibit its ability to dissipate heat, since it acts as a heat spreader for the CPU?

[Anonymous No.3420636]

>>3420598
It would technically remove some ability to dissipate heat but I'm don't think it would be significant. Does varnish actually stick to the metal though? Varnish is normally designed to stick to wood, not metal.

You could always try electroplating the RF shields in zinc if you want to do something cool.

[Anonymous No.3420640]

>>3420636
The stuff I have says on the label that it's good for metal.

Eventually I will probably cut a hole in the RF shield to make room for a proper heatsink on the CPU, so I'm not too worried about a tiny bit of additional heat in the long run.

[Anonymous No.3420641]

>>3420636
>>3420640
Also, the Zync plating idea does sound really cool. Maybe I'll give it a try.

[Anonymous No.3420642]

>>3418612
Oh yeah, because there are more Smash Bros games for the N64? Fuck off, Smash >>>>> Shitty wresting game.

[Anonymous No.3420951]

Is the Nintendo DS Lite retro? Well, there is no Repair/Mod General on /v/.

I need some help with mine. Sound is ok, touch is ok, bottom screen is ok, upper screen lights up, but stays black. When i approach very closely to the upper screen, i can see it has some light on it, but it's completely black. Since the ribbon cable for the upper screen and the sound are the same, should i assume the problem is entirely on the upper screen, and not the cable? Any experts on the scene can help me? Also, the power socket is kinda faulty, it stops charging randomly. Is it too hard to fix? Too hard to replace the power socket?

[Anonymous No.3421004]

Bought a couple of Super Famicom controllers off fleabay. They seem to be in good shape but need a good cleaning and a set of replacement contact pads. Since i'm taking them apart to clean what's good to clean them with?

Also anyone use these contact pads? I see these branded ZebLabz ones but also see generic ones listed as well.

[Anonymous No.3421934]

>>3421004
There are these contact cleaners like pic related, I use them to clean the conductive parts of the pads until they lose their shine and look dull. You can also clean the contacts on the board with them.

Basically take a bit of toilet paper, and spray a little on it, then use that part to clean the contacts and the conductive parts of the pads.

[Anonymous No.3422014]

>>3421934
When I saw worn out I mean the springy ness of the rubber domes are worn out, that that it doesn't make contact.

[Anonymous No.3422559]

I got a Sega 32x plugged into my Genesis model 1. Every game I try works except sonic and knuckles. It acts like it has a game in it and it's giving the error message "No way"

What gives?

[Anonymous No.3422561]

>>3422559
And I did try it without the 32x and it works fine with just the Genesis.

[Anonymous No.3424634]

Are there any controllers from other systems that are compatible with the Neo Geo?

[Anonymous No.3424896]

Are the buttons on the Dualshock 2 harder to press when you're using it on the PS1? Dualshock 1 works fine, but to make the buttons on the Dualshock 2 "activate" they require more pressure put to the buttons, is it because of the sensitive pressure buttons gimmick or is it just my controller?

[Anonymous No.3424901]

>>3424896
The Dual shock does pressure sensitivity while the PS1 doesn't recognize that signal.

[Anonymous No.3424926]

>>3424901
Isn't there a way to turn off this useless function so I can play properly with my dualshock 2?

[Anonymous No.3424928]

>>3424926
No. you should be playing a PS1 with a dual shock, not a dual shock 2.

[Anonymous No.3424932]

>>3424928
I own a dualshock 1 but the analogs are kind of fucked. Thanks anon seems like I will have to get a new one.

[Anonymous No.3424937]

>>3424932
You can get new sticks for it if you're any good at soldering.