No sound from my Famicom

[toploaderleo]

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

[Xious]

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 could solve it. 

[toploaderleo]

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

[Xious]

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.. 

[toploaderleo]

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.

[133MHz]

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.

[toploaderleo]

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.

[jpx72]

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?

[toploaderleo]

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.

[fredJ]

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.

[toploaderleo]

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.

[Xious]

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.

[toploaderleo]

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 

[ericj]

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.

[Xious]

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.