The SNES Plague

[People?]

Hello everyone!

I used to buy a lot of loose SNES consoles in bulk, clean them up, repair them if broken, pair them up with controllers and the necessary cables, maybe make them region free, then sell them on.

I was a bit slow on the selling bit, though. I've had far too many of them stored in a closet for a couple of years.

During that time, quite a few of them have gone defective. Likewise, I've encountered many recently deceased consoles in the wild. Not my systems but certainly faulty in similar ways.

On Reddit (and other communities), I've seen a painfully large amount threads with people having the same issues, over the last few years. Nobody seems to know what's up: most just reply with "clean the cartridge slot". This never helps.

This is clearly an age-related problem, rather than anything else. The main thing in common is this: it happened recently. And it happens to consoles that are left sitting unused - as well as consoles still being played every day.

I've tested the consoles that still can display something legible with the SNES Burn-in cartridge, and they all show various problems (practically at random). I've tested cleaning, re-soldering, re-flowing (in a reflow oven), replacing components back and fourth, replacing all electrolytic capacitors, different power supplies, video options (rf, composite, rgb) etc, and nothing solves anything. They're fubar - all of them.

I suspect that this is something that will happen to many more - perhaps even most - consoles in the coming years. I like to call it the SNES Plague. It's real, folks.

Have you encountered it? What are we going to do?

[Hojo_Norem]

I don't know if this is related but a few months ago I was plying Starfox 2 on my main workhorse SNES when all of a sudden the GFX all went corrupt but the game went on regardless.  I swapped out the cart for good old Super R-Type only to find it a mess as well.  Incorrect colours, garbled GFX but executing correctly.

I switched to a different machine, not been used for a few years but very clean on the inside.  That machine has problems with SFX games, usually the lower half of the screen being a corrupt mess.

My third SNES motherboard at the moment seems to be working OK...

[Fix_Metal]

You didn't describe the symptom which these snes suffer, or perhaps I didn't get it

[ApolloBoy]

You didn't describe the symptom which these snes suffer, or perhaps I didn't get it

It's graphic corruption, I would think that it's a RAM issue but it seems like it might be a PPU issue from what I've heard.

[Fix_Metal]

Well if it's about graphic, nothing can be done about it. I've lost several pc graphic cards over the years just for...who knows why. I always supposed line harmonics/voltage drops from mains/shit coming from earth. The downside about having switching high efficiency PSUs is they are totally prone to this stuff, because filtering would need too much space/heat (and that's just what they are meant to avoid).
Unfortunatly these old consoles just had transformer->diode bridge->rectifing cap and nothing more (not even a zener, which would be the minimum). If only they had proper regulation (78xx), maybe these long term issues wouldn't ever show up.

[KillingBeans]

If only they had proper regulation (78xx), maybe these long term issues wouldn't ever show up.

The SNES has an 7805. So, it has proper regulation... if you can call the old 78xx series proper. At least it's sturdy. Not like the crappy switch mode LM2576 you'll find in the AES. That thing dies for no good reason.

Some discrete ICs from certain manufacturers have shown a tendency to loose their internal connections between the chip and the legs over time. Maybe it's the same thing that's starting to bug the SNES. Simply an unfortunate choice in the manufacturing process, that's only beginning to show it's downside now. Who knows...

[Fix_Metal]

The SNES has an 7805.

Really?Didn't recall that, you're right. Odd enough it isn't dissipated.
Guess you're right in your theory. Well I've seen lot of PC hardware going failure just after 3-4 years of use. This stuff has almost 20 years over it. I wouldn't call it "unfortunate choice" rather "collateral fact". Too bad it's just us who will ever experience the fact 

[eidis]

 Hi Guys !

Just wanted to share my two cents on this topic. After spending many years collecting vintage equipment I noticed that almost all troubles and disasters are linked to capacitors. They tend to go bad after approximately 20 years. I believe that the SNES falls exactly in that category.

The most fragile and vital part is the PSU and there is only one component which you need to worry about. The big capacitor. When it goes bad, it takes the voltage regulator of the PSU with it and outputs more voltage than it should. Most of the times this means that magic smoke is summoned and a simple capacitor replacement can turn into multi feature repair extravaganza.

The bottom line - replace all 100uf and larger capacitors in your collection before it goes bad.

P.S. There is a new plague which you will soon have to combat. It is called rust.

Keep the scene alive !
Eidis

[KillingBeans]

But People? wrote "replacing all electrolytic capacitors" as one of the things he had tried without succes 

Besides "100uf and larger" is not a good criteria. All electrolytic capacitors are crap, no matter how big they are. Well.. that's not completely true. You can get some good ones that are spec'd for aerospace use, but they cost an arm an a leg.

If you wanna be really good to your electronics, replace every single electrolytic cap with a high grade solid/polymer equivalent.

P.S. There is a new plague which you will soon have to combat. It is called rust.

I'm not too worried about rust. There's not much iron in PCBs. Copper carbonate, on the other hand, is a nasty adversary 

[Fix_Metal]

But People? wrote "replacing all electrolytic capacitors" as one of the things he had tried without succes 

+1

All electrolytic capacitors are crap

Almost true from an audiophile side of view. They are just needed for filtering. Never seen film caps more than 4,7uF since I'm involved in audio stuff. And they are obviously way bigger than the elec counterpart.

You can always refactor elec, but better spend 4 bucks and change them out before turning old stuff on.
I remember an ol' snes a guy gave me, which had been unused since ages (not even years, lol). Once turned on, I happened to see the game splash screen and then BOOM! Dead.
Years later I fixed it, having the knowledge that regulating circuit was dead gone (along with the diode bridge). Guess what, I suppose it was the main elec being short circuited because of the same ol' shit about them (gel inside them dries, capacitance drops and it tends to short).

[KillingBeans]

All electrolytic capacitors are crap

Almost true from an audiophile side of view.

I'd argue that it's 100% true from any side of view.

Using components filled with liquid in electronics is brain dead, no matter how you look at it. Everybody knows that electrolytic capacitors are a shitty thing to utilize, but we don't have a good alternative yet. Polymer capacitors will be the obvious replacement sometime in the future, once they get past the low voltage tolerance.

It's a bit like mechanical hard drives vs. SSDs.

[Fix_Metal]

I'd argue that it's 100% true from any side of view.

Using components filled with liquid in electronics is brain dead, no matter how you look at it. Everybody knows that electrolytic capacitors are a shitty thing to utilize, but we don't have a good alternative yet. Polymer capacitors will be the obvious replacement sometime in the future, once they get past the low voltage tolerance.
[/quote]
Well you're just right. Can't argue.

It's a bit like mechanical hard drives vs. SSDs.

Na, SSD are here, while big film caps ain't 

[KillingBeans]

Na, SSD are here, while big film caps ain't 

Yes, but the SSDs are based on Flash. That's just as bad as polymer caps with low voltage ratings... if not worse.

When HP and Hynix finally get ReRAM products in the stores (in 2015?), I'm gonna shit my pants of happiness 

[Fix_Metal]

When HP and Hynix finally get ReRAM products in the stores (in 2015?), I'm gonna shit my pants of happiness 

[eidis]

People?,

Could you please post pics of those random errors and comment on what happens when you switch them on ? If it's the dreaded black screen then CPU or the PPU-1 could be bad.

A few more things which you need to know about rust. The process starts if ambient moisture is above 40% and mostly affects matte and glossy metal parts. PCB' s are more immune to it. First signs of contaminated PCB will be a small corrosion on Vcc pins of IC's. The matte metal parts should be smooth to the touch. If they have some textured feel to it, clean them with contact cleaner, baking soda mixed with water (it really works and stops rust. tried and proven on my rusty Amiga 600) and then, preferrably, treated with commercial rust converter. Glossy parts are more immune but still can form rust. Please don't take this matter light-heartedly because sooner or later you will have to combat it.

[nathan118]

I know this is old, but I've replaced a voltage regulator in an SNES to fix graphical errors. The original voltage regulator wasn't putting out 5v...more like 3v. The system would power up and everything would work, but bad picture. You'd need to test it of course and see if that was the problem.

Replacing it with a new voltage regulator did the trick. Pretty easy fix for $1-2.