SNES Black Screen/Won't read games

[Mad_Hatter]

Ok, so I bought a used SNES off of eBay b/c it game in a nice bundle of accessories.

The console powers on. However, it won't read the games/output anything (no video or sound) other than black.

My screen changes it's shade of black when I turn it on or off, meaning that it senses that something is sending a signal. However, nothing shows up.

I only have 1 game atm, which worked fine on my working SNES. It read the game no problem and I was able to play.

I have already tried cleaning the pins of the cartridge slot as well as the game with rubbing alcohol.

I also tried using different cables. I tried RF, Standard A/V, and S-Video. All the same result.

Anything you think I can do?

[TSTR]

My buddy's SNES has this issue if the cart isn't making good contact with the pins. Try wiggling the cart.

[Mad_Hatter]

I've tried that. Like 60 times, no good reads or hope.

Might just sell it for parts. It powers on at least, so that's good.

Going to take pics of it first, and clean the heck out of it, and take pics of any imperfection soldered chips or busted caps.

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[Mod_Man_Extreme]

It's most likely bad caps (or smaller surface mount caps) on one of the boards. Because the SNES isn't a system known to have caps fail most people don't know what to do if it happens and as a result the symptoms aren't widely known.

Unfortunately I've seen plenty of good, clean and non-discolored consoles just thrown in the trash by local game shops. Since the cap failure is just now starting to slowly become an issue people who search online are typically met with the response to 'just get another console' and think there's nothing they can do.

If you have a Super GameBoy try that out and see if you get a picture. If it works fine then it's guaranteed at least a few bad caps. If it doesn't then more than a few caps have given up the ghost.

The PPU or CPU units can fail, but it's extremely rare on a good working system with no defects otherwise.

[TheRetromancer]

The most likely culprit is the 1000uf cap in-line with the 7805 regulator. However, I wouldn't be so quick to discount a bad pin connector. Console5 sells cap replacement kits for SHVC and non-SHVC SNES consoles.

http://console5.com/store/kits/game-con ... tendo.html

One thing you may wish to try is to seat the cart firmly all the way down...and then use the eject lever to carefully push the cart up to the top of the connector, so that it's making contact with the upper portion of each connector pin. I've found that doing this seems to result in a more solid connector.

There was also a guy selling new-old stock OEM snap-in connectors on ebay, from whom I bought about ten or so. I actually have two or three still sealed - if you determine that it's the connector, I could probably sell you one.

[Mad_Hatter]

Thanks for the answers guys.

Might keep it for a while. And buy some tools to repair (like a soldering kit) in the meantime. This doesn't look like a hard repair. I have a few games and controllers that need re-soldering and stuff. Sounds like a good time to start learning how to do this kind of stuff on my own.

First things first, going to try the Super Gameboy suggestion, as well as seating the cart higher suggestion.

Rest assured, I won't ever throw this out. I threw a PS2 fat about 4-5 years ago, and still feel bad about it till this very day.

[ApolloBoy]

The most likely culprit is the 1000uf cap in-line with the 7805 regulator.

Actually most American SNESes don't have that cap so that wouldn't be a good place to start.

[TheRetromancer]

The most likely culprit is the 1000uf cap in-line with the 7805 regulator.

Actually most American SNESes don't have that cap so that wouldn't be a good place to start.

Really? Mea culpa. I have mostly SFCs (eleven of them at the moment, if you can believe it), and so far, all the SFCs I've opened have this cap. When I get home from work, I'll open up the rest and see what's what. I think I have a US model or three in storage, though.

[ApolloBoy]

The most likely culprit is the 1000uf cap in-line with the 7805 regulator.

Actually most American SNESes don't have that cap so that wouldn't be a good place to start.

Really? Mea culpa. I have mostly SFCs (eleven of them at the moment, if you can believe it), and so far, all the SFCs I've opened have this cap. When I get home from work, I'll open up the rest and see what's what. I think I have a US model or three in storage, though.

Most American SNESes don't have it because the filter cap is inside the power supply, whereas the Japanese power supply doesn't have said filter cap. The same thing even goes for the SNES mini and Super Famicom Jr.

[alexkidd401]

I've had 2 SNES actually have this problem recently. It's actually never happen prior. I'm going to try the Super Gameboy. Thanks for the tip