Technical and Repair Assistance

[133MHz]

If it always does that given the same conditions and in different systems, I'd say that you have a bad mapper or ROM chips.

[famiac]

Does the famicom have any sort of lockout chip?

[133MHz]

Not at all .

[famiac]

Ok i was just wondering because i heard of a few cases where pirate games only work on famiclones and not the liscenced systems (FC and twin FC and AV FC...)

[nintendodork]

That's actually sort of true, but it's nothing technical.  It's more of a physical problem.  For example, my Pokemon Crystal pirate produces messy graphics when played in my Famicom, but when I put it in my Power Joy, the cart slot is much tighter, and I get a clear picture.
At the expense of the cartridge breaking. >_>

[ericj]

I would disagree..I have 2 carts that will only play on a clone. One of them will not even load the title screen and the other changes the first level of the game so it's unplayable although the graphics remain okay.

[133MHz]

But that's not because of a lockout issue. Your pirates probably don't work on original systems because they depend on the intrinsic design errors of clones to work properly (like the incorrect sound registers and some lines not connected to the cartridge slot - the same thing that prevents Castlevania III from working on most clones).

[ericj]

Oh, I didn't realize that famiac said lockout chip. Of course that's not the problem since the famicom ain't got one. 

[famiac]

  yeah i was wondering why the response

[Nightstar699]

On a famiclone im playing, the controlles acts as if left is always being held dowm. Why, and how to fix??

[133MHz]

Stuck switch inside the controller? Open it up and see if the problem goes away.

[Nightstar699]

K, this is my first ever time opening up a controller, im gona buy a screwdriver. Ill let you know how it goes.

[superpope]

Hi, remember me?  I'm the guy from page 62 of this thread who bought his eight year old son a Famicom Twin for his birthday that reads disks fine but won't write.  Here's a follow up:

My son chose to buy himself a separate FDS with money he had saved, with the thought that we could either swap out the drives or just plug this drive into the cartridge slot of the Famicom Twin.  Well, it came do-it-yourself with a fresh belt (I misread the auction and thought it came with a fresh belt installed and a spare). I put on the new belt and only get error 21 or 22 when I try to load any disks.

I see all sorts of suggestions on how to fix read errors, from adjusting the motor speed to adjusting the drive head to stretching the belt.  It seems to me that adjusting the drive head would be the most logical first step, but I don't want to just charge into this and complicate the issue by introducing additional incorrectly adjusted variables.  What do you think?

IN OTHER NEWS, pulling the drive from inside the Famicom Twin and installing it in the FDS allows me to load and save games perfectly, so clearly whatever is faulty and keeping the Famicom Twin from saving is in the Twin's internal FDS hardware and not the drive.

[Ruthenium]

I seem to be having some FDS problems as well.
I just recieved one in the mail today, and I was jumping for joy since I got my new toy.
However, when loading a game, it seems to be taking an obscenely long time to load the game.
How long is it supposed to take to load a game? So far, I haven't gotten any error messages.

[ericj]

It should load fairly quickly. The head may need cleaned or the spindle bearing may need lubricated since it may be spinning slowly. Is it able to eventually load your games?