I just received my original Famicom in the mail today. I hooked it up and set my tv to channel 95. I have perfect video, in color no lines, but no sound just a low buzzing. I tried different channels and changing the Famicom's channel set up but still had the same problems. What do I do?
Post Merge: January 09, 2012, 04:22:04 pm
Im using the American NES RF switch
Your microphone is likely the problem: It is probably creating enough noise that all other audio is blanketed out. You should restore it; search the forum for advice on how. There is an active thread on the subject. If that is not the problem, then it may be a synchronization issue with your display and either another TV/monitor or an A/V Kit (http://www.atariusa.com/RetroVideo) could solve it. :bomb:
could it really be the microphone even if the microphone volume is off? I even tried messing with the volume on the microphone and blowing into it. I got a little excited at first because I heard more static when I did.
Post Merge: January 09, 2012, 04:34:42 pm
I tried blowing in it again and couldn't get the static. Maybe it was just a coincidence
The easy way to tell is to disconnect the Player-II controller internally. If you get normal audio, then that is the problem. If not, try it on another display. If that doesn't help, you can try an A/V modification, or send it for service, etc.. :bomb:
I was afraid I'd have to A/V mod it. I might have to do that.
Post Merge: January 09, 2012, 05:12:45 pm
I disconnected the player2 controller internally. It still has the same problems. Do i need to change something about my television? is there a setting I need to do? I really want to avoid modding it and keeping it the way it is.
Try adjusting the Fine Tuning setting on your TV and see if you can get any audio even if the picture distorts.
Most likely you'll need to adjust the sound coil on the RF modulator board. Hook up the system, put in a game that plays some music and turn the coil with a non-metallic tool until you get clear audio out of the TV speaker. ;)
Unfortunately I can't find any fine tuning setting on my television. Chances are it doesn't have it :/ Ill try adjusting the sound coil. Which is the sound coil? I assume its in the metal box the RF switch is attached to.
Post Merge: January 09, 2012, 05:51:13 pm
I tried adjusting what I believe to be the sound coil (a black screw inside a metal box) it sounded like ti did something, the static sound got louder and softer, but it never resembled a melody.
Eh no, the problem is that you need to switch your TV to another audio norm! Some TVs have that setting in menu, Western/Eastern or something like that, I had that problem too!
What country are you in? PAL or NTSC?
I'm NTSC not PAL. This TV doesn't have that option. The menu is very limited. Thank you all for your help. I think tomorrow I'm going to mod it. But if anyone has any other ideas please let me know because I really don't want to mod it and keep it as original as possible simply because it is in such good condition and the previous owner took such good care of it.
Buy another one, a cheap yellow, and try if you have the same problem..
If it works well maybe you can switch the internals.
But somehow I doubt that the previous owner wouldn't have told you if there is no sound; besides, it is more commonly the TV that has problem with the sound rather then the famicom. The famicom has sound on a slightly different channel than picture (so I've heard)
You could also try with a different RF switch perhaps.
I really don't have the money :/ Maybe one day Ill buy another cheap one & switch the internals, but it looks like Ill be AV modding it, even though I know the Famicom works perfectly most likely but I dont plan on using this tv for the rest of my life so the AV mod might be the best bet because at least then it'll work with all the TVs I run into.
It is possible, although unlikely to be the switchbox. More than likely he has too new of a television, and it is synchronizing too tightly to the NTSC 3.58 frequency of Cable-Ch.95, versus the wider range of older analogue modulators. I covered this possibility in my original reply, and suggested that testing it on another display should be the second step in the flow for diagnostics.
For NTSC 3.58, you have UHF channels 95-96-97, which have a carrier frequency range of 90Mhz to 108 MHz. Newer tuners may however tie directly to a much narrower frequency range, in order to achieve a clearer signal with less noise, or do something to reduce external overlap.
The carrier frequencies are as follows:
Ch.95 91.25Mhz Video; 95.75Mhz Audio; 93.0Mhz QAM
Ch.96 97.25Mhz Video; 101.75Mhz Audio; 99.0Mhz QAM
Ch.97 103.25Mhz Video; 107.75Mhz Audio; 105Mhz QAM
Older tuners allowed for a a wider variation in modulation frequency, but newer tuners will lock onto these frequencies and ignore most of the rest of the signal.
NTSC-J Channel-1 band limits are~90Mhz to ~96Mhz. One of my guides shows them as having 91.25Mhz Video and 95.75Mhz audio, but does not list the QAM. NTSC-J Ch.2 is supposedly ~96Mhz to ~102Mhz with 97.25Mhz Video and 101.75Mhz audio, as noted in the same reference. This corresponds to NTSC 3.58 channel 96. If this was absolute, it would make using a Famicom easier, however not all tuners are made alike.
You may wish to switch the unit to Ch.2 mode and try selecting Ch.96 to determine if this helps. It's getting harder to track down analogue frequency information on the Internet, and Nippon is now essentially switching or has switched entirely to digital by law, so it's only going to become more difficult to view some of the technical information on this subject.
If using a North American display via RF, in my experience your best-bet is a television made between 1991 and 1998 by a better manufacturer (e.g. Sharp, Goldstar, etc.).
I didn't want to get into it before, until other options had been explored, but this could be something more serious, such as a damaged APU (or simply a weak or cold solder joint int he audio circuit). it is easy to build an audio tester for this:
It looks like this:
A------------[u1]---------------=o RCA
G--------------------------------/--
A is a wire to connect to the audio test pad inside the Famicom, then to a polarized axial capacitor (1µf is standard) and the other axial on the capacitor to a male RCA wire; G is a wire connecting the shield on the RCA cable to the GND test pad.
:bomb:
I've tried it on the channel 2 setting also on multiple channels. But as you said it's becoming harder and harder to use Famicoms on Newer televisions, and it's more then likely that I will be hooking this Famicom up to different television sets as time goes on, so in that case hooking this up with the RF switch is becoming more and more unlikely... Ive taken into consideration the AV mod and do not want to change the shell to much I might get lucky and run the cables through one of the holes for the switches. I will more then likely buy the Flashback Vintage kit because I tried going to radio shack for parts and they dont have a 2SC1815 transistor or 75 ohm resistor. I was going off the schematic 133MHz posted here:
http://www.famicomworld.com/forum/index.php?topic=3924.15
Post Merge: January 10, 2012, 12:43:24 pm
OK good news is this Fami can make audio. I hooked it up to a much older television and got the reverse, audio but no video. On channel 8 of all things! But this still doesnt solve my problem simply narrow it down :-[
An AV mod would be your best bet. It's pretty simple to do with a great payoff. You can use a substitute transistor in it, the 2SC1815 isn't the only one that will work. When I modded mine, I ran the cables sideways through the CH1/2 switch hole to keep the case intact, same as 133.
I run them through the controller wire holes; you can either set-aside the bushings or slightly enlarge the bushing aperture, as is illustrated in the RetroVideo manual.
I also don't use the 1815 on the kits... I use a slightly different video amplifier that I feel is an excellent improvement. :bomb:
Im more then likely going to run the wire out of the channel 1-2 hole because I don't wanna have em come out of the controller wire either. If I cant find any subsitute for the parts Im missing ill just buy the flashback kit
On our mods, we set in a connector in the back and use the existing RF connector for video out.
I think this is the cleanest maybe simples way and doesn't change the appearance much.
(http://medium.tradera.com/439/136291439_4.jpg)
Yea that's really what I want to do. As much as I dont want to change the plastic casing I dont want any more wires hanging out of it then it already has. So when you do this what do you do with the metal casing in this area? do you dremel it or drill it?
Post Merge: January 10, 2012, 10:10:32 pm
Well bit the bullet & bout the AV kit from http://atariusa.com/RetroVideo/ doesn't look like I have much of a choice anyway. Ill probably keep the famicom longer then Ill keep this television and its very unlikely that the tv after this one will be older. Since Audio Video is sticking around and is easier to convert I'll just have a modded fami. Thank you all for your help and if anyone has any ideas on what to do, the package should take a week :-[
Post Merge: January 10, 2012, 10:14:14 pm
Oh and about the mod you did fredJ did you remove the channel select also? did you have to change anything aside from moving it? like solder the switch to the chanel 1 section permently? or does the fact that the fami uses AV now make the switch useless and simply cutting it out has no effect.
To fit the audio rca you need to make the hole in the rf-box a bit bigger. Use a dremel or a pair of pliers to cut the metal, you don't need to remove much material. Then I use a washer big enough to fit the rca connector and cover the bigger hole so I can tighten the connector.
If you reroute the composite videosignal to the rf connector (Like I and fredJ does) you pretty much disable all switches since no videosignal is going into the rf-box itself, only to the connector.
Ok I'll jus slice up the box then & remove the channel switch. The exsisting RF outlet, I just solder the new video wire to it where it was already connected? does anyone have a pic of the solder points? or do I have to disconnect that from the solder points due to interference :-\
Either disconnect the RF connector from the RF board or remove the components that directly connects to the RF board and then solder the composite wire to the RF connector.
But it looks like the RF connector uses the entire shield for connecting. Do I just need to remove the solder points directly below it?
The shielding is ground, no need to remove that :P
I'm slightly confused, because isn't the composite cable the wire 2 wires one in the center and the other surrounding that one. So don't I need to solder the center onto to the enter of the RF port and the other gets soldered to the part connected to the shield?
Composite cable is 1 wire, in the middle of the cable and that carries the video signal. The surrounding one is shielding and that goes to ground.
Oh really? Wow, I didnt think that would all be ground. Well now I know & feel alot less pressure :-[
Thank you all for your help. Like I said before Ill post any further questions here if they occur. :)
The kit that you ordered has the RCA audio and video cables attached, so there is no need to worry about them. You will however need to decide where you feel is best to runt the wires if you do not wish to use the method suggested int he manual... :bomb:
Oh no I already have ports I can attach to the back of my fami and ill just strip the wires the kit comes with to attach them to the ports.
Normally I sell the kits three ways: PCB-only, parts kits, and assembled kits for the people with the least technical knowledge, or who want a very fast way to do a conversion with the least work. If you aren't going to use the wires, then I can send you a kit that does not include them, as it will also speed up delivery, as for the main kits I pre-assemble everything except the RCA cables,for I offer them in many cable configurations and the kit is otherwise universal.
That way,you need only attach jumper wires from your connector pair to the appropriate pads. It would also be useful to have your FC serial number. I plan t eventually build that as a field intot he form so that I know which manual to include, although the manual for VCCI models is at present a shoddy addendum, whereas the main manual is reasonably done.
I will eventually print a better manual that also covers other systems, but probably not until I run out of the existing manuals. I still need to do some tests and write the Atari & Coleco sections, for example. The kit should work on these, but I haven't actually been able to check due to time constraints :bomb:
Actually I already ordered mine & I ordered it assembled just to save me time, because I ordered this Famicom about a month ago and at this point I just want to play it asoon as possible. thanks for the offer though ;D
Quote from: jpx72 on January 09, 2012, 09:59:37 pm
Eh no, the problem is that you need to switch your TV to another audio norm! Some TVs have that setting in menu, Western/Eastern or something like that, I had that problem too!
What country are you in? PAL or NTSC?
Just one last piece of information on the problem that started this topic: as I said, I also experienced this behaviour with one of my TVs, I got the video through RF but audio was just a buzzing low noise without any hint of melody/changing pitch/tempo or whatsoever. But only on this one TV. So it's definitely not a Famicom problem.
Well Ive ordered my AV mod from http://atariusa.com/RetroVideo/ about a week and a half ago & paid for 2 to 7 day shipping and havnt received it yet. Nor have I received a reply to my email Ive sent them concerning the manor.
Xious hasn't been active for a couple of days, I hope he is alright. Don't worry though, you'll get it.
Yea it isnt his fault. It was just bad timing. Xious had a problem that kept em tied up for 2 weeks and when I ordered it xious was at a convention so thats why I had such a delay before I heard anything. SO it isnt Xious' fault. Although I did mod it myself eventually, I learned a great deal doing it myself. But I do recommend this mod for anyone else, because had the circumstances been different I would have rather used this mod because it is nice, compact & easy to install.