Retro Console Repair

[Anonymous No.9814239]

i've got a snes that isn't working correctly but feel free to use this thread to discuss general retro console repair issues.

bought a snes on ebay to replace my old one that has graphics problems. the old one still works fine otherwise and i've been using it to troubleshoot the new one that has several issues
>biggest concern is pic related, mario kart not loading screens correctly and lakitu immediately pics me up which https://www.projectvb.com/nss/logs.htm specifically mentions as a likely CPU problem
>super metroid and mario all stars give me me their anti piracy screens. if i understand correctly, metroid's anti piracy check is supposed to delete the saves if it fails, but mine are still there after triggering it multiple times
>only tried with SMW, but it doesn't seem to be able to save correctly. If i put it in my old snes and save, it will still be there when i boot it up in the new snes but trying to save new progress while in the new snes doesn't work. If i reset or power off then start it up again, it'll just be at the old save data written on the old snes, un-updated.
>super gameboy usually doesn't work (loads in the gameboy border but not the "super" or the jingle), but it did a few times. i had a gb everdrive in and it played the snes version of space invaders through the gameboy rom correctly. tried pokemon silver and the screen started flickering shortly into the game. sometimes it will load with the jingle but then not boot into the gb cartridge.
i have cleaned the cartidge slot with 91/99 percent IPA and a toothbrush multiple times, but the problems persist. i've opened it up and the inside is somewhat dirty. it's an rgb-02 board revision. the seller told me he replaced 2 filter capacitors. I don't think the ppus are bad because i don't have any general graphics issues and haven't had any problems with super fx stuff.

i'm leaning toward the cpu being bad, but 'm not sure if it's just the dirtiness or non-replaced capacitors being bad.

[Anonymous No.9814242]

cpu is fine, otherwise it'd lock up and not run anything. looks like PPU2 is fucked, though

[Anonymous No.9814252]

this is the flickering i got with pokemon silver. i'm using an OEM power supply/RCA cable and a super famicom controller. snes is ntsc.

[Anonymous No.9814478]

Are you testing with a known working cart?

Cleaning will only accomplish so much.

Could simply be a cold solder joint.

Get a soldering iron, some flux and reflow the PPU pins.

Failing that, at least you know the chip is dead. Source a new one.

[Anonymous No.9814676]

The RGB doesn't have the issue with self-destructing CPUs. It's more likely a cracked/intermittent trace.

[Anonymous No.9814702]

there's Youtube videos about repairing SNESes with broken traces which may actually be the cause of a lot of malfunctions attributed to the CPU being faulty. I think this is a fairly common problem because the eject lever system is not a good design and tends to flex the PCB which can damage traces.

[Anonymous No.9814974]

My issue isn't console related, but cartridge related. Someone wrote their name on a banjo kazooie cartridge and I only just now noticed it, the only problem is that it's on the back, near the bottom, near the motherboard. Is there a way to easily clean this without it getting into the cartridge?

[Anonymous No.9815053]

>>9814242
>looks like PPU2 is fucked
this

[Anonymous No.9815090]

>>9814239
>likely CPU problem
lmfao. That tards the source of pic related, which is regularly shitposted here. I highly encourage anyone interested in diagnostics/repair to read his blog so you can learn exactly how not to do it. To be fair, it's just a hobby of his and he's been learning as he goes. But it's strictly low skill no education autism.

[Anonymous No.9815443]

>>9815053
he has a RGB, one of the one chip models. it doesn't have the dual PPUs.

[Anonymous No.9815464]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBzuMxUia_s

Here's the video you need, OP.

[Anonymous No.9815470]

>>9815443
>one of the one chip models
how are you so sure?
Wouldn't a one chip affect CPU aspects as well?

[Anonymous No.9815481]

>>9815443
I thought it was the 1-Chip and SNES Jr. that had the consolidated chipset and the RGB still had the two PPUs. If that's the problem however there was also this video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvXOWPn8YXM

[Anonymous No.9815505]

>>9814974
Open the cartridge and clean the plastic?

[Anonymous No.9815519]

As anon said, the eject lever tends to flex the PCB when it's used and this can eventually break traces with enough use. It was a rather poor design choice and this may actually be a cause of a lot of SNES faults blamed on a bad CPU. This is actually a nice advantage of Flash carts--you don't have to constantly remove the thing to play a different game.

[Anonymous No.9815524]

>>9815519
is this an American console thing?
I haven't heard of many Sufami or PAL SNES chip issues

[Anonymous No.9815537]

>>9815524
one anon claimed the SFC cases are better ventilated than the US SNES which tends to allow heat build up and component malfunctions but idk. there's also the fact that the US SNES has the power filtering inside the power brick while SFC/PAL SNES have it in the console itself. so if you use a non-OEM PSU there's absolutely nothing to protect it from voltage spikes.

[Anonymous No.9815557]

>PSOne
>Removed laser, put it back on, laser stopped working on PSOne, but works on other PS1 models
>GBA SP
>Installed an audio amp and power cleaner, stopped reading cartridges. Removed both mods, still the same. Tried reflowing the CPU, probably bridges some pins, no video/doesn't turn on
>N64
>Tried to RGB mod it, successful installation but I see some shadows that seem like interference. Try to reflow connections, no video and audio at all. Remove mod, lift some traces due to being a retard with the hot air station and even if video and audio are back on, both are fucked.
I'm a retard for breaking completely fine consoles that aren't easy and cheap to find nowadays. And I still want to install an XStation and a switchless mod for the SNES.
At least I didn't fuck up modding my Mega Drive, Saturn, GBA, GBA and Dreamcast.
With all the money I've wasted I could have bought pre-modded system and never bother with difficult repairs.

[Anonymous No.9815565]

Does anyone know if you can swap disc drives from different Sega Saturn models? I have a working one and a non-working one, but the boards are quite different and there's an extra power connector in one of them.
My bad laser makes a loud noise while trying to read discs, maybe it's a mechanical and not actually the laser itself? This happened alot on my PSX's I've opened.

[Anonymous No.9815652]

i remember on Lemon64 how they said NTSC C64 seem to malfunction more often than PAL ones. what are you Americans doing with your shit? seriously.

[Anonymous No.9815746]

SNES carts also seem to be more prone to broken traces than NES and Mega Drive ones. It's not _common_ just a little more common than the other ones.

[Anonymous No.9816783]

>>9815746
I don’t see how

[Anonymous No.9817021]

>>9816783
Nintendo might have cheapened on the quality of the PCBs. Mega Drive carts sometimes get broken traces too but they're normally just a single ROM chip and nothing more so they're stupid easy to fix.

[Anonymous No.9818062]

>>9814242
there was some gunk pic related on one of the ppu2's pins but it cleared off with alcohol. aside from mario kart fucking up i haven't noticed any other bad graphics
>>9814478
my carts are all good, they work fine in the old snes aside from the graphics issue it has. i should note some games seem to be working normally in the new snes like sf2 new challengers, Castlevania IV, lttp, SMW (aside from the saving issue)
>>9815443
RGB-01 and 02 are not one chips

[Anonymous No.9818074]

>>9818062
here's what it looks like after cleaning. there was white stuff between most of the pins on the cpu/ppus/wram, i don't know if you can tell in the first pic but it cleared up with alcohol as well.

[Anonymous No.9818095]

My PC Engine CD can't save games nor format, I take it that the cap that holds the save RAM is dead but which is the cap? Using the normal Briefcase version

[Anonymous No.9818105]

also that black stuff to the left of the ppu1 came off with alcohol too but a little bit of darkness remains

[Anonymous No.9818116]

if Mario Kart is the only game that glitches there may be an incompatibility with the RGB. this is certainly possible; it was an early game that had been designed around the SHVC which had some differences in its behavior. it's known for example that certain Capcom games produce graphics glitches on SNES Jr.

[Anonymous No.9818136]

>>9818095
Seems to be the big green one.
https://www.pimyretro.org/pc-engine-duo-repairing-expanding-the-internal-backup-memory-life/
Is the PCE one of those consoles with shitty caps? I have no idea if a full recap is advised for the PCE CD.

[Anonymous No.9818142]

>>9818136
That's just for the Duo. or does the briefcase use the same cap?

[Anonymous No.9818160]

>>9815565
As in model 1 and model 2? AFAIK no, since one uses a 20 pin connector and the other is 21 pin

[Anonymous No.9818176]

>>9814702
Never heard that before. All the times wincing when my friends ripped the cartridge out...they were...right??

[Anonymous No.9818183]

>>9818142
https://console5.com/store/47f-5-5v-memory-backup-supercapacitor-for-nec-cps2-vertical-super-capacitor-0-47f.html
I guess it's the same for every version? Might as well just open the console and check it out.

[Anonymous No.9818192]

>>9818160
No no, I mean between different model 2 all with 21 pins.
I have a VA6 and a VA SD and the drives are not the same.
Pic related.

[Anonymous No.9818197]

>>9814252
>>9814239
missing sprites and flickering is soul

[Anonymous No.9818520]

>>9818183
>>9818142
>>9818136
>>9818095
Opened it up and it doesn't have the cap, this is all I could find

[Anonymous No.9818940]

>>9818520
>pic of half of the board
>this is all I could find
Found yer problem tardanon. Your system is missing half the board.

[Anonymous No.9818969]

>>9818940
There's only 2 small caps on the other side assface

[Anonymous No.9819189]

>>9818969
Cope harder zoomie. This is why knowledgeable people don't spoon feed any more.

[Anonymous No.9819335]

>>9818520
I noticed one this site it says the revision I have has no electrolytic caps. Does that mean the save RAM should have just worked whatsoever?
https://wiki.console5.com/wiki/NEC_IFU-30

[Anonymous No.9820226]

bump

[Anonymous No.9820259]

My PS1 doesn't read third party memory cards, but my PS2 reads them just fine. What gives?

[Anonymous No.9821121]

bump

[Anonymous No.9821168]

>>9820259
Your PS1 has standards while your PS2 is being a fat greedy whore for any memory card that gets shoved into its slots.

[Anonymous No.9821315]

>>9819335
no

[Anonymous No.9821378]

>>9821315
So how do I know what cap to look for?

[Anonymous No.9822007]

>>9821378
You don't. Maybe when you're older and wiser.

[Anonymous No.9822065]

>>9822007
go back to rëddit

[Anonymous No.9822561]

@9822065

[Anonymous No.9823098]

>>9819189
>Cope harder zoomie. This is why knowledgeable people don't spoon feed any more.
It's because of people like you that this site keeps getting worse

[Anonymous No.9823169]

>>9823098
Yes. It is indeed because of grownups who've been here since the beginning that the place went to shit when you showed up.

[Anonymous No.9823179]

>9823169
keep being a lying nigger

[Anonymous No.9823819]

>>9823179

[Anonymous No.9823847]

>>9819189
>cope
>zoomie
You seem to have mistaken /vr/ for /v/

[Anonymous No.9825835]

bump

[Anonymous No.9827747]

>get a bunch of GB games out of storage
>all of the AUS releases are fine
>the plastic on every JP and US release has a slightly sticky, powdery coating
All of the games were in cases as well. What would be the explanation for this? And what do I do to stop the plastic from further deteriorating?

[Anonymous No.9828553]

I just finished recapping and doing the jailbar fix, looks pretty good so far but I am still getting a little more noise in my RGB output than I do compared to some of my other consoles. Is this pretty typical for PC Engine consoles? Or is the cheap RGB booster I got off Amazon to blame?

I am waiting for Krikzz to release his RGB output board that mixes stereo CD audio from the Turbo Everdrive Pro, or anyone else really. I don't think any currently available solutions are compatible.

[Anonymous No.9829705]

>>9828553
How does your AC port look? I got core grafx like ayeara ago and noticed it has some rust type stuff in the port.

[Anonymous No.9829905]

>>9823847
That'd be the /v/aby in/v/aders