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Someone. please, help my SNES!

BTPBTP Registered User regular
edited February 2009 in Moe's Stupid Technology Tavern
I just bought a used copy of the Super Scope 6-in-1 cartridge, and it looks absolutely pristine. There's not a scratch on the front or back labels, and I took a magnifying glass to the contacts and could not find a trace of dirt, or a hair, or anything. It looks like it was played once and then never played again.

I just put it into my SNES, which has never had a problem whatsoever since I had it from all the way back to Christmas '92, and the last time I played it was a few days ago. Perhaps a week and a half ago at the most.

I put in the 6-in-1 cartridge and turn it on. I get a garbled screen of what I know is supposed to be the part where "Super NES Super Scope 6" reverse-zooms in on the screen. I turn it off, eject, and clean it the cartridge. I try again. I still get the same garbled screen.

Thinking the game is just defective, I put in the game I last played (Metal Combat: Falcon's Revenge). NOW IT IS GARBLED AS WELL!

I immediately take the official SNES cleaning kit (yeah, I have one of those) and begin quickly using it on the console. I try again with Metal Combat: STILL GARBLED!

It is also the same garbling every time. For example, with Metal Combat, what I know is supposed to be just the Nintendo logo as soon as you turn it on is now a crazy maze of white and black of the same garbled sprite repeated. And it's always this with each time I try to turn it on.

The game plays like nothing is wrong. The sound is fine as well. It's just the screen is garbled like nothing I've ever seen before.

WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED AND HOW CAN I FIX IT?!

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BTP on

Posts

  • ObsObs __BANNED USERS regular
    edited January 2009
    Probably a short circuit in one of the chips.

    Obs on
  • BTPBTP Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    Does that mean I just have to open it up, find the fuse responsible, replace it, close it, and hope it will work again?

    Or rather, research what fuse is responsible, open it up.....

    Edit: .....or is the chip outright fucked because of the short circuit? Assuming that's what this is, of course.

    BTP on
    Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection & DS High Scores Thread
    I WILL NOT BE DOING 3DS FOR NWC THREAD. SOMEONE ELSE WILL HAVE TO TAKE OVER.
    Spoiler contains Friend Codes. Won't you be my friend?
    My Friend Codes!

    More Friend Codes!
    Mario Kart Wii: 3136-6982-0286 Tetris Party: 2364 1569 4310
    Guitar Hero: Metallica: 1032 7229 7191
    TATSUNOKO VS CAPCOM: 1935-2070-9123

    Nintendo DS:
    Worms: Open Warfare 2: 1418-7870-1606 Space Bust-a-Move: 017398 403043
    Scribblenauts: 1290-7509-5558
  • FyreWulffFyreWulff YouRegistered User, ClubPA regular
    edited January 2009
    Your SNES is dead, man.

    This happens to NESes too. They'll work fine, and then bam, garbled screen.

    FyreWulff on
  • IdolisideIdoliside Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    Today is a day of mourning. I suggest you all take a minutes silence for our fallen equipment...

    Idoliside on
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  • UncleSporkyUncleSporky Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    Now don't give up hope yet. Since it's broken you clearly can't make things much worse, so look for some instructions, pop it open and give things some cleaning.

    My NES was dead in this same way when I broke it out a few weeks ago. I followed the instructions here and now it works perfectly. Maybe something similar can be done inside the SNES.

    UncleSporky on
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  • FyreWulffFyreWulff YouRegistered User, ClubPA regular
    edited January 2009
    The NES can be saved due to the 72 pin connector, however the SNES has a direct connection.

    Something on the board just goes bad. I mean hell, it's 17 years old. That's pushing it already. The plastic on my first SNES became brittle and fell apart before the logic board went.

    FyreWulff on
  • ArcSynArcSyn Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    Doesn't Nintendo still support the SNES? They only stopped supporting the NES a few years ago. You could see about getting it repaired.

    ArcSyn on
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  • FyreWulffFyreWulff YouRegistered User, ClubPA regular
    edited January 2009
    Nope.

    http://www.nintendo.com/consumer/repair/repair_limitations.jsp#snes

    In fact, they already killed support for the N64.

    FyreWulff on
  • ArcSynArcSyn Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    Well then.. :(

    ArcSyn on
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  • InfidelInfidel Heretic Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    FyreWulff is correct that it's easier to fix the NES than the SNES due to the separate connector. For cheap we bought a 3-pack of the connectors and fixed up all our buddies NES consoles a couple years back, works great!

    The link UncleSporky gave is basically just trying to repair the damage of the connector on the NES instead of replacing it. It's not expensive to buy new ones so we did, but on the SNES apparently that's not an option so maybe you can follow the same kind of advice? I don't remember what the connectors on the SNES are like precisely but if they're spring-loaded then maybe you can perform the same procedure.

    If the alternative is just finding and buying a different SNES console, then you don't have much to lose by trying some surgery imo.

    Infidel on
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  • CrashtardCrashtard Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    Something similar happened to my SNES a while ago, and after a bit of searching I ended up junking it and getting a new one. The good news is that you can get another one for around 40 bucks on ebay.

    Crashtard on
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  • CronusCronus Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    Crashtard wrote: »
    Something similar happened to my SNES a while ago, and after a bit of searching I ended up junking it and getting a new one. The good news is that you can get another one for around 40 bucks on ebay.

    There are also Taiwanese knock-off SNES's that are still being produced. I never picked one up, but I've talked to the guys at the local import game shop and they've said they generally work well. You can also pick one up for less than fifty bucks. You can find them pretty cheap online to. I'd ask around, maybe in G&T what a good one is to buy. Surely someone on this forum has a recommendation.

    Cronus on
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  • ObsObs __BANNED USERS regular
    edited January 2009
    Why does hardware die?

    Obs on
  • UncleSporkyUncleSporky Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    Obs wrote: »
    Why does hardware die?

    Because it isn't made by Apple.

    UncleSporky on
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  • ViscountalphaViscountalpha The pen is mightier than the sword http://youtu.be/G_sBOsh-vyIRegistered User regular
    edited January 2009
    Obs wrote: »
    Why does hardware die?

    The chips eventually give out. Memory, Bios, The main CPU or sound chip. Eventually everything fails.

    Viscountalpha on
  • autono-wally, erotibot300autono-wally, erotibot300 love machine Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    Obs wrote: »
    Why does hardware die?

    capacitors die pretty fast, as they simply dry up
    chips have basically wear and tear through electrons practically chipping away parts of the circuit paths, kind like why light bulbs wear out

    sounds like this was a short circuit though. which maybe also was the reason the game was only "played once", because it destroyed the first SNES it was put into, too

    autono-wally, erotibot300 on
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  • RizziRizzi Sydney, Australia.Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    Viscountalpha wrote: »
    Obs wrote: »
    Why does hardware die?

    The chips eventually give out. Memory, Bios, The main CPU or sound chip. Eventually everything fails.

    That's deep man.

    Rizzi on
  • BTPBTP Registered User regular
    edited January 2009
    I just wish I knew what exactly happened. Was it a chip that just died of old age in electronic terms? Did the AC adapter give a little too much current for a microsecond? Or did the game itself cause an overload somewhere?

    At least I know I can return the 6-in-1 game. Maybe I can explain what happened and haggle with them for another SNES. :P "Hey, about this warranty you have for used games. What happens when a game as clean and pristine as this destroys my SNES on its first powering on?" But yeah, I should try opening this one up and seeing if there's anything I can do. I wonder how many Bic pens will have to be sacrificed for this.

    BTP on
    Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection & DS High Scores Thread
    I WILL NOT BE DOING 3DS FOR NWC THREAD. SOMEONE ELSE WILL HAVE TO TAKE OVER.
    Spoiler contains Friend Codes. Won't you be my friend?
    My Friend Codes!

    More Friend Codes!
    Mario Kart Wii: 3136-6982-0286 Tetris Party: 2364 1569 4310
    Guitar Hero: Metallica: 1032 7229 7191
    TATSUNOKO VS CAPCOM: 1935-2070-9123

    Nintendo DS:
    Worms: Open Warfare 2: 1418-7870-1606 Space Bust-a-Move: 017398 403043
    Scribblenauts: 1290-7509-5558
  • FyreWulffFyreWulff YouRegistered User, ClubPA regular
    edited January 2009
    As said before, one of the capacitors probably just dried up. I doubt the game killed it - it just so happened that you found out it was dead when you put that game in.

    FyreWulff on
  • NAND NORNAND NOR Registered User regular
    edited February 2009
    I just ran into some trouble with my NES. I just opened it up today to replace the 72-pin connector with a new one. Everything as far as I can tell went fine. No broken wires or anything by way of basic inspection.

    However, once I had the system reassembled ... it no longer powers on. Not even a blank screen. It just won't power on at all. I tried switching the old connector back in, but no good.

    I'm not very hot when it comes to this sort of thing ... any ideas?

    Are there any other AC adapters that might work with the NES? I wanted to try and maybe swap one out and see if that wasn't it.

    EDIT: Seems it is the old NES AC Adapter ... switched it out and it works. Boy do I feel dumb.

    NAND NOR on
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