Technical and Repair Assistance

[ericj]

You could accomplish the same thing though the 15 pin expansion port with a neo geo cable & it'd be a lot less work, plus you wouldn't have to muck up your system.

But, if you must, controller pins should be fairly easy to figure out if you open up a controller, look at the wire color and where it goes, and find the same wire inside the system. A 25 pin port seems a bit overkill.You could accomplish the same thing with a 15 pin VGA or D-sub cable and still have almost half the pins to spare. Even better would be to use 2 NES ports and save yourself the extra work.

Also, there are wireless famicom controllers that work through the expansion port. I have a pair of them and they work as well as the Satellite and waste just as many batteries.

[petik1]

Sorry, I didn't fully explain my reasoning on this. The 15 pin port won't work with 133mhz's gameboy reset mod on his blog. I need a 25 pin d sub because I want to move other mods in there. Four wires for the AV mod, two for an LED, ten from both P1 and 2 controllers, and six from 133mhz's reset mod. A total of 22 wires. Once those are connected to the project box, I would need to split the GND from the AV mod into four wires, and split the sound into two, which makes 26 wires in the box.

So to recap:

NES satellite's receiver PCB in project box.
Ten famicom controller wires go to the satellite's two ports.
I move the video amp from inside my famicom to the box.
I have a simple power LED inside the box.
133mhz's creation for reset in the box.
Add NES connectors to the end of the famicom controllers.

All I really need to do to the famicom is solder the wires on the board and make a hole for the connector.

Also, there are wireless famicom controllers that work through the expansion port. I have a pair of them and they work as well as the Satellite and waste just as many batteries.

But then I can't use the NES zapper, NES controllers, NES max or advantage.

I am also getting An NES to famicom converter, which is my reason to have the NES ports from the satellite's transmitter.

Sorry, but do you know the answer for the pinout? I'm not a pro at this, and I don't want to bother my neighbor (who will help me actually put this together) with a simple question.

[ericj]

Makes sense, but you really only need one ground and one 5V+ supply. That would be less wires than you're stating. You should be able to wire your LED off these, too. I look forward to seeing your final project.

I don't know the pinout, but I believe it's the same as the NES where the controllers plug in on the PCB inside the console, which should be on the web somewhere. I'd look, but most of the sites where it would probably be are blocked here. 133MHz probably knows.

[petik1]

I found the Pinout. I was just wondering if the wires in the famicom and the NES would be the same color. They are! I know I only need one 5V+ , did I ever say I needed more? Unless the LED or the reset mod needs more... And couldn't I just "daisy-chain" the ground to all of the places that need it? Also, there's another blue wire coming from the P1 controller. Do you know what it is for? I'll worry about the D2 & 3 when it comes time. Should I hack off the controller ports on the satellite's receiver, or should I solder the wire directly into them? Also, if anyone has an NES satellite, could you tell me if it has gamebit screws or regular. Thanks!

EDIT: ericj, I just read that the zapper is compatible with the satellite, I just need to flip some switch...

[Marlon]

I think it has the regular game screws

[petik1]

Thanks. Now, overclocking. I can only find one tutorial for an NES. It uses the PR2A03 CPU just like the famicom. Do I just follow it exactly, removing the trace on pin 29? http://kyorune.com/modding/article.php?id=67 there it is.
Post Merge: June 24, 2010, 06:26:04 pm
OK I revised my plan. Turns out I only need a 15 pin D sub after all.  

So from the board, im using:
GND
Clock (player 1 controller)
Strobe (player 1 controller)
Data (player 1 controller)
+5V
Clock (player 2 controller)
Strobe (player 2 controller)
Data (player 2 controller)
VIDEO
SOU
The point in the reset switch that moves back when pressed.

Correct me if anythings wrong.
From there, The GND, +5V, SOU, and clock strobe and data from the p1 controller are all daisy chained. Audio is daisy chained for dual mono.

So from the top.

1. Power switch turns on. LED lights up.
2. game boots. I press a button, which the NES satellite's transmitter sends.
3. The receiver picks it up and sends the code to both the FC board and the reset board to see if I'm hitting A+B+start+select
4. I do so. The system resets.
5. I begin to sit back in awe, then proceed to play a good multicart!

Also, would a regular VGA cable be good to connect the 2 d sub connectors?

[Squeakychu]

Hello. I'm having a problem opening my famicom controllers. One of the screws is completely stripped (rounded pretty much) as seen in this picture (Sorry if the picture quality is not good. I took it with my phone).



I'm trying to find a way to get the screws out without damaging the controller itself, but I don't even know what size the screws are, or what to look for. One option I thought of was to find tweezers that have rubber grips to hold on to the screw and yet are small enough to fit in the opening between the screw's side and the hole itself. If anyone could help me out with this, I'd greatly appreciate it. Thanks.

[133MHz]

Do you have a Dremel? You could carefully carve a new straight groove on the screw head itself in order to grip it with a flathead screwdriver.

[ericj]

You could drill a small hole in the screw and use an extractor bit to get it out. Or, use a drill bit just as large as the screw head (or at least the diameter of the screw thread) to drill the head off it.

[Squeakychu]

Dremel sounds like a good idea. However, does anyone know what size the screws on the famicom controllers are (or what size of a dremel I'll need)? Thanks for the suggestions.

[ericj]

You could just take one of the other non-stripped screws out of the controller to find out what replacement you could use and what Dremel bit will do the job for you.

[Squeakychu]

I can take out the non-stripped screws and tell the size physically. The problem is that I have no idea how screw sizes are named, or what size mine would be in relations to other screws. I also don't have anything like a dremel, nor do I know of any stores by me that carry them (except for, Home depot, but they don't seen to carry the right size). Perhaps tomorrow I'll check my local Right-Aid pharmacy to see if they have dremels, considering that they carry all kinds of items (including a glasses kit that came with a flathead screwdriver for glasses, which I was able to use to remove most of the screws). Otherwise, I'll need to find some other way of determining the size of the screws so that I can buy the proper size of the dremels online.

[Squeakychu]

I finally managed to get the screws out of the controller, but now I need to find replacement screws for the famicom controllers since the normal ones are unsuitable to be put back in. However, I can't seem to find them anywhere. Would anyone know of an online dealer that sells replacement parts for the original famicom? Also, thanks a lot for the advice that you all have given me. This is a great site!

[nintendodork]

I personally have never compared them and I'm sure you would've thought of this by now if it was a viable option, but have you looked at the screws of an NES controller?  If you have any lying around, I'd take a look at those.

[petik1]

Hey i have a new question on my mod. The easiest thing i could do to fit my 15 pin d sub was to break off the current one on the console (yell at me now). According to an article on 1up.com, nes and famicom controllers use 5 of the 7 (nes) and 15 (famicom) pins for their controller ports. Since my mod only requires 10 pins and i already have a gnd and +5v going to my project box, could i just use the data strobe and Clock from the points on the board From the d original d sub and connect those five  to another 15 pin d sub connector for use with the famicom light gun, robot, etc.?