Trouble with my Yobo console

[tankexmortis]

Hey folks,

So I picked up a Yobo at the flea market today. Used, one controller, an A/V cable, and a power supply. When I brought it home the first thing I noticed, after pushing the flaps apart, was that the inside smelled distinctly of cat urine. Not a good sign. Anyway I hooked it up to the TV, plugged it in with the power supply that came with it (I'm not sure it's the original one but it seems to at least turn it on), and switched it on. The TV responded with a flickering, vertically scrolling blur of yellow fuzz and no sound. The power button did light up, so that at least seems to be working. I tried it both with and without a game and got the same result.

I then opened the system up. After nearly falling out of my chair due to the overwhelming stench of cat piss, I did my best to clean the system's innards of dead moths and dust and such. I think I did a decent job, and it barely stinks at all now. I didn't notice anything wrong with it visually other than the boards looking kind of dirty around the solder sometimes, but I wasn't able to clean that off so I assumed it was either something the system came with or something I couldn't deal with. I'll go over it with a volt meter later in the week.

My first thought is that there's something wrong with the A/V connectors, which can of course be easily replaced. That, or the obvious: a cat peed in it and messed it up permanent like. What do you guys think?

[133MHz]

I've rescued old Atari computer hardware and even a modern IBM laptop from the terrible abomination that is cat urine. Not only it reeks of putrid ass, it's also highly corrosive and it will rust metal and eat through circuit board traces if left to settle and dry up.

If you want to save that Yobo, dunk the motherboard in 91% or better rubbing alcohol (isopropyl alcohol is better if you can get it) as soon as you can, and I really mean to submerge the whole thing in alcohol. Let it penetrate for some time and use an old toothbrush to remove any contaminants from hard to reach places like the 60 pin cartridge slot.

Let it air dry (or use a hair dryer on it if you're impatient) and then inspect the board for signs of rust and broken copper traces. If you don't find any you can call yourself lucky and plug it in, otherwise you'll have to repair any broken traces by bridging them with solder or by jumpering them with wires.

I think that the 'dirt' you're seeing around some solder joints is actually residue of solder paste flux from the automated soldering process. You can scrape it off with your fingernail or dissolve it with a little alcohol, but it doesn't really affect the operation of the system.

[tankexmortis]

Thank you sir, I'll do that as soon as I can. We probably have some isopropanol around here somewhere. About how long should I soak it? 15 minutes? An hour?

I figured the "dirt" was something like that, I've seen similar stuff before and it didn't look like it was anything bad, but I thought it was worth mentioning since I wasn't sure what it was.

[MS-DOS4]

I would have just shelled out the $15 to get one new,  but yes that sounds absolutely disgusting. My atari 2600 cartridges reek of urine and mold.

[satoshi_matrix]

This is the Yobo FC game console correct? Man, there's barely anything to that. I agree with 133Mhz, clean the fuck out of it and it should work.

[tankexmortis]

Well I soaked it in isopropyl alcohol for a half-hour, gave the pins and other connectors a good scrubbing, and it has the same behavior. I think it's destined for the junk pile at this point.

[MS-DOS4]

Don't worry about it too much. You can get great deals on ebay for a brand new one.

[tankexmortis]

Yeah, and a guy on Craigslist is offering one CIB at the same price I payed for this one. D'oh.

Oh well, I learned some stuff and that's the important part. First lesson: isopropyl alcohol is useful. Second, possibly more valuable lesson: check used stuff for cat pee stink before buying. Thanks for your help, folks!