Technical and Repair Assistance

[Rob64]

Wow, wasn't expecting that to be the culprit. The interference starts at any time, it can even start during the bios screen before I even put the card in. I'm assuming the problem will go away when I use the official adaptor?

Will the batteries last me till christmas if I play it somewhat regularly, like 2 or 3 times a week?

[famiac]

batteries would last 5 to 6 months if played every day.

So yes they will last until christmas.

[Rob64]

thanks guys

I'm sure the problem won't occur if I were to get the official ac adaptor for christmas?

[senseiman]

I got a problem and would appreciate any help anybody could offer.

I bought a second Famicom today and I'm having trouble with it.  Basically I hooked it up and put a cart in and I would get this distorted image (like you'd see the opening screen of the game but it would be moving wildly up and down with a kind of wavy effect too).

I took the whole thing apart and cleared out about  25 years worth of dust but that didn't do anything.  I checked all the connections, etc but everything seems all right.

The really weird thing though was that after spending several hours doing all that and not getting it to work I just left it for a few hours, then came back to it and turned it on and it worked perfectly.  I played a couple of games on it just to make sure it was OK and they all worked fine.  But then I left it for a couple hours and came back and it was back to the messed up screen thing (even though I hadn't touched it since the last time when it was working).

Anyway, its got me baffled and if anyone has any ideas I would be really grateful!

[manuel]

One of my Famicoms does exactly the same, and I'd like to know what might be the problem, too.

[133MHz]

Sounds like cold solder joints to me, maybe around the RF modulator area.

[wolf9545]

When you say you leave it for a few hours do you leave the famicom plugged in or unplugged?  If you leave it plugged in then I would also say some cold solder joints.  Small amount of power might just be enough to heat it up a little, not to re-flow the connections.

[retrostick]

Hi everyone!, couple of weeks ago I bought CIB famicom, and I plugged AC adaptor in to a 240v... and it blown-up. Thing is that I plugged adapter in to a fami but I didnt turned it on. How I can check is it work? I dont want to open it because I'm not spec, as you can see. Anyway I smelled a ventill and its smell like old-metalic-plastic not smokey.

You guys have great website!!! and sorry for my english, its my second language

[133MHz]

The AC adapter is garbage now. You could get the internals replaced but it's not worth it. As for the Fami, the only way to know that it's working without opening it is by trying it out with another AC adapter, a game and a compatible television set. You can do without the telly by using a game with a red LED on it such as Spelunker. If the LED lights up, it's working.

[retrostick]

Thanks for reply!, yes I have new adaptor

AC ADAPTOR
HA-7
AC100V 50-60Hz 16VA
DC10V 850mA
made in japan HORI

so still I have to get EU step down voltage converter. Can some buddy tell me how fried famicom would smell and normal one famicom? couse I warry to much about it :/

sorry again for my english

[RoryDropkick]

I've seen a few times on here that the A/V Famicom will not work with S-Video....  In some instances that is true, however, on 2 occasions I have seen it work! A friend of mine found a generic S-Video cable used for GC/N64, and sure enough it works, and works beautifully!  He lent me the same cable and on my A/V it works just as well..  so is it the cable itself? Anyone want to shed light on this?

[133MHz]

I don't have an AV Famicom with me anymore so I can't test what I'm going to postulate, but it's possible that Nintendo bridged the composite video output along the S-Video pins on the AV Multi Out connector, basically sending composite through the S-Video lead, and your TV is smart enough to display it even if it's not a proper S-Video signal.

Anybody with such a cable, an AV Famicom and a multimeter can trace the path of the S-Video pins on the Famicom motherboard to see where they're going.

[RoryDropkick]

I don't have an AV Famicom with me anymore so I can't test what I'm going to postulate, but it's possible that Nintendo bridged the composite video output along the S-Video pins on the AV Multi Out connector, basically sending composite through the S-Video lead, and your TV is smart enough to display it even if it's not a proper S-Video signal.

Anybody with such a cable, an AV Famicom and a multimeter can trace the path of the S-Video pins on the Famicom motherboard to see where they're going.

Dang... no multimeter here, however your theory makes sense to me.  Interesting though! I never thought it'd work until I saw it with my own eyes.. and am seeing it with my own eyes as I'm playing St. Seiya right now 

[senseiman]

THanks 133 and wolf  You are geniuses!

I tried it again cold (after leaving it unplugged for a while) and it was still messed up.

Then I tried starting it after leaving it plugged in for about an hour and it worked fine!

Any ideas about how to fix this problem so that it just works normally?

[133MHz]

Reflow the solder joints in the RF modulator box.