nintendo 64 problem

[red5standingby]

hello..i have two nintendo 64's and they both have the same problem. they both power on cause the light comes on both of them but there is no picture or game sound and i have cleaned the game paks and the connector on the systems but still i get the same result. no picture and no game sound.can someone help me with this problem?

[kendrick]

It's very unlikely that two consoles fail exactly the same way at exactly the same time. Standard troubleshooting steps are to look at the things in common to see if there's a single failure point. Are you testing both consoles with the same video cable, and if so what type? What happens if you try RGB, composite or S-video output? Do these same video cables work correctly with a SNES or a Gamecube? And if you're using the same power supply, do you have others to test with? Eliminate the external cabling and power issues before you test further.

[red5standingby]

i have checked the cable and it works fine with my gamecube. so it's not that and i have 3 power supply and all three work so it's something to do with the hardware. any ideas on what it might be?

[albino_vulpix]

Do you get a black screen? If so, that's usually a bad connection between the cartridge and slot. How did you clean that area?

[red5standingby]

i used alcohol and a tooth brush. plus i modded an old nintendo cleaning kit where i cut the cleaning board to fit my nintendo 64. but i still get a black screen and no game video or sound. so the connector is clean on both systems. just don't know what it could be wrong.

[Link83]

This might seem like a silly question, but do both systems definitely have a jumper pak or expansion pak inserted? Because without one of those you will get the symptoms your describing. To check you just need to look under the small slot cover on the top of the N64 near the front. Theres a guide to installing the expansion pak on Nintendo's site which shows where you should be looking:-
http://www.nintendo.com/consumer/systems/nintendo64/hook_expansionpak.jsp
If theres nothing inside that slot on your N64's then thats definitely the problem.
I hope that helps  

[red5standingby]

yes the expansion pack is in it's slot but i still get the same result. and i have checked the expansion and the jumper packs on a working nintendo 64 and they both work. so it's something else that is wrong with the system

[Link83]

Hmm, I cant think of many other problems that there could be  

One possible problem I have noticed with the N64 is that the reset button can sometimes get stuck down with 'gunk' and the console constantly thinks its being reset so wont ever have chance to' initialise' and load a game, it just displays a black screen and no sound much like you described. You can try pressing the reset button in a number times to check if it properly 'pops up' again afterwards, if it doesnt theres a good chance that could be the problem. You can properly test if this is the culprit a lot easier if you can remove the top half of the casing and are able to try a game without the top half on (You will still need a jumper or expansion pak connected, but please be careful to insert it the right way round!)

If it is the plastic part of the reset button getting stuck the best way to fix it would be to take off the top half of the casing and then remove the reset button itself by pressing in two small plastic clips and popping it out, you can then properly clean the button and the hole it fits in with a small amount of soapy water - make sure you leave it to dry afterwards though.

It could also be the actual reset switch itself on the motherboard thats the problem, but that can be alot fiddlier to fix. if you press it in a few times you should be able to see if the game comes on though, since it can usually be 'temporarily fixed' with a few presses. The switch can be dissassembled and cleaned if you are careful and good with fiddly jobs, I can explain this in more detail if you think this might be the problem.

Another possibility I thought of is are you definitely using the correct region games for the systems? Import N64 consoles can end up in unusual places and you can easily plug a European game into a Japanese N64 console or visa-versa but it still wont work due to the different lockout chips used inside the consoles. You can check by looking at the stickers on the base of the console and seeing what country code comes after the 'NUS-001' model number, some examples are JPN, USA, EUR, FRA, etc.

Other than that all I can think of is perhaps there are some bent pins inside the cartridge port, memory expansion slot, or extension connector (The port on the bottom of the console) Or perhaps a small piece of metal has fallen between some pins?

I'm just guessing now really, as N64's are usually pretty reliable and I cant really think of much else that could go wrong unless they are just 'properly broken' (But please dont throw them away!) Please do be careful if you decide to open the N64 and dont have any prior experience with possibly live electronics.

[albino_vulpix]

Have you tried different cartridges? Sometimes they just die.

[red5standingby]

yes i have tried other cartridges and they all work in my nintendo64 that works. so i know for a fact that it's not the games.

[Link83]

Did you try any of the suggestions I mentioned in my previous post, especially the reset button problem/fix?

[red5standingby]

yes i have tried what you said but thats not the problem..the reset buttons are working fine they don't have any dust or dirty in them i checked. so it is something else