50hz on an american snes jr

[Rom Raptor]

i recently bought an american snes jr, but since i live in Sweden i mainly buy european games.
most of them work fine since american snes jr are region free, but some of them have a 60hz lock which makes them unuseable since american snes jr only support 60hz.
unfortunately i happened to buy one of those games (super mario allstars) and i really want to play it.
is there any modification i can do or do i have to buy an american super mario allstars?
thanks in advance!  

[phreak97]

i didnt know the snes jr was region free.. hopefully you havnt got another pirate one.. :S
i dont know of a snes jr 50/60 switch, but if you dont get an answer here, ill be suprised

[Guest]

"i didnt know the snes jr was region free.. "
i don't know if all models are but some are

"if you dont get an answer here, ill be suprised"
i hope you're right

[atom]

Are their phillips screws in the bottom? Do you use RGB for your PAL TV?

The true SNES JR. has neither of these things. Open it up, does it have Nintendo labeled everywhere?

[Rom Raptor]

"Are their phillips screws in the bottom?"
don't have it here so i can't check tonight

"Do you use RGB for your PAL TV?"
yes

"does it have Nintendo labeled everywhere?"
i'm 100% the box has nintendo seal of quality on it

[Rom Raptor]

btw here's where i bought it:
http://www.spelfyndet.se/

[phreak97]

uh oh
you got yourself a pirate console i think. the nintendo seal of quality means nothing other than the pirates have a box printer, which they do. if you are using rgb, it's most likely pirate, if you can open it with a phillips head screwdriver, it is pirate. plus the box looks just like the one the pirate ones come in.
if you push in one of the cart door flaps and close it slowly, does it stop underneath the other flap? or does it come up properly to meet it? official nintendo will never sit underneath the other side.

this pirate company must be making millions, we've had about three cases of this here, and i know of at least two ebay sellers who have bought crates of them to resell before learning they are pirate consoles.

btw, ill be recieving one of these pirate consoles for myself (got it for free ofcourse, im not paying that much for that.) and will be posting as much info as i can on these forums. i might even add it to the wiki if it's still running.

[atom]

Yeah, but what bugs me about these pirates is that It would appear that the shells are legitimate... or at least they look like it. Are they? That last one I saw  looks like the stuff was really crammed in there to make it fit. I mean, are their really that many dead SNES jr's out there to regut?

[phreak97]

no, theyre just very well cloned cases, like i said, things like the cart flaps arent perfect..

[atom]

OMG look at the power supply from that link, how could people think thats legit?

[Rom Raptor]

i'll have a look at the console tomorrow but of course the power supply isn't original since american ones don't work in europe

[Rom Raptor]

i went and looked at my snes jr now. it had nintendo ingraved both on the console and the joypads. it also had several stickers on it that looked like originals. the cart doors work perfectly. the screws are regular small ones with a cross in them.

anyway, my question is and has always been: can i make it play games at 50hz?

[phreak97]

the screws are regular small ones with a cross in them.

that means it's pirate. nintendo use propriatry security screws otherwise known as gamebit screws, or (i think) external line screws. they dont use phillips head screws in their consoles.
to check properly, look at the motherboard, does it say nintendo, or mitsumi ANYWHERE on the board or the components? it should all over the place.

as for the 50hz, that depends on whether or not the makers of the pirate consoles used decent clones of the snes ppu's. i am getting one of these consoles hopefully in the next month, so if all else fails for you, ill attempt it myself then and let you know.

[Rom Raptor]

ok. i might look at the motherboard one day but the 50hz thing is what's important for me

[Rom Raptor]

are there any converters that fix the 60hz lock or do i need to install a switch?

[phreak97]

you need to install a switch.
how do you plan on doing the mod without looking at the motherboard?

[atom]

i'll have a look at the console tomorrow but of course the power supply isn't original since american ones don't work in europe

Really, so in your sealed package nintendo put a power supply with some crazy ugly white sticker on it so your US SNes would work in europe? Its a clone, it has regular screws!

The owner of this website has been contacted to be made aware of the problem.

[Rom Raptor]

" you need to install a switch.
how do you plan on doing the mod without looking at the motherboard?"
i was wondering if there was a converter. of course i need to look at the mobo if i'm gonna install a switch

"Really, so in your sealed package nintendo put a power supply with some crazy ugly white sticker on it so your US SNes would work in europe?"
no the company that sold the console to me replaced it.

"The owner of this website has been contacted to be made aware of the problem."
?

[Vertigo]

I don't know if it's just the light reflecting but I don't see any markings on that joypad either, just like the 'original' ones you can buy on eBay for a quid.
Looks like you got done mate.
TBH I'd report them to Nintendo also, although when I tried to do this about an Aussie TV station that was selling NES piracy machine N64-alike clones they didn't seem to give a shit.
BTW with the cable, it's entirely possible that it doesn't output RGB, it's just outputting composite via SCART.

SCART plug does not necessarily automatically equal RGB. It can output any of composite, s-video or RGB, or either choice of composite and one other.

[Rom Raptor]

vertigo - what kind of markings are you talking about? mine have nintendo engraved

[atom]

I am trying to tell you that it looks like you have a pirate SNES but you refuse to believe it. I contacted the seller to let him know that his source of getting SNES's is no good. The packaging is questionable, the power supply is unofficial, and the screws are pretty much proof. All you need to do now is open it and look at the PCB. Its not going to say Nintendo or Mitsumi anywhere inside.

[Rom Raptor]

atom - i've never refused anything. i just think you got a little overexcited about whether the console is pirated or not when my concern was to find the easiest solution to play super mario all-stars.

[Agentspikey95]

Yes you are refusing. Just because it has nintendo printed or engraved on it, doesn't mean nintendo made it.
If it's a pirate, you may not be able install a switch.

That is why you need to listen to these folks and just open the damn thing up already. maybe it has an actual nintendo mobo in it, or maybe it's a clone the whole way.

[atom]

Right, we can't help you when we dont know what were working with. If its some wierd pirate model then who on earth knows how to mod it? Actually, have you even tried the game, because it might work right out of the box. Best thing to do is open it and take a pic for us. Phreak is getting one of these and I am sure he will have a solution for the three of you that have now asked about this.

[Rom Raptor]

of course i've tried the game. i live at two places and i don't have much time right now but eventually i'll look at the mobo. however you've said there are no converters that can fix this and i don't have any soldering experience so buying an american mario allstars is probably the only solution for me.

[phreak97]

the only reason mario allstars doesnt work is cos it also uses a frequency lockout, so you need 50hz.
like i said, if they cloned the ppu's down to the last pin, then you shouldnt have too much problem with modding it, but yeah, ill let you know when i get mine.

[Rom Raptor]

i'll try to find time to look at my mobo this coming week. however i must ask: how come there aren't any converters that bypass the frequency lockout?

[phreak97]

because the freqeuncy isnt just the video output, it's the rate the whole console runs at.
to have the cartridge running at a different speed would require more than an entire snes console inside the 'converter'. you cant have the game running at a different speed to the console, it just wont work.

[Rom Raptor]

i read somewhere that it's only a check. if you have a switch you can start the game with 50hz and then change to 60.

[Vertigo]

Yes, I do this regularly for PAL games that have boot speed checks.
The only games that seem to get upset with this are SuperFX games (chip running at the wrong speed displays garbage because there are PAL and NTSC speed variants) and possibly Mario RPG. Even PAL SF Alpha 2 which contains a special graphics decompression chip is perfectly happy at 60Hz.
There may be one or two other games that do speed checks mid-game, but for about 99% of everything, it works.

PRETTY GREEN EEEEEEEEEEYES
SO FULL OF SPARKLE AND SUCH LIFE

Ooh. Sorry

[maz4ruth]

I remember seeing on my SNES2 (Pirate) mobo three pieces of solder (Where jumpers could easily be added) saying "50Hz" and "60Hz"

Could be a really easy mod potentially if they aren't just for show!

[Rom Raptor]

i'm going to take a look at the mobo this weekend

[Rom Raptor]

i have no looked at the mobo and didn't find nintendo anywhere on it. i took a bunch of pictures with my cellphone which i can upload somewhere later. you know any good places for image uploads?

[Endymion]

You can post images right here on nfg along with your post.

But you must register in order to do that.

[phreak97]

right below the cart slot on this most definately pirate system, there is a set of jumpers of a sort. three pads, marked 50H and 60H on the outsides. i am willing to bet the centre is common, and i am also willing to bed if you use a multimeter the centre is connected to the 60H pad. if you find the connection between these pads, you may disconnect it and put in a switch. i can see no use for this other than a 50/60 switch. however do not connect the 50H pad without disconnecting the 60H pad first. you could fry the whole thing.

edit:
looking closer it looks like the link between common and 60H is just a short trace between them, just cut through it.

[Rom Raptor]

picture 1

[Rom Raptor]

the picture i uploaded was a bit big so i tried uploading a smaller one instead but then i got "You cannot upload this type of file" so i removed the file

[phreak97]

did you try the 50/60 mod?

[Guest]

I got a SNES jr today which I bought on a net-auction and I think I got a pirate system too :S
The screws are regular small ones with a cross in them and it uses a RGB cable to my PAL tv. The strange thing is that if it would be a NTSC SNES jr (they were not made in PAL, right?) then why don't some of my NTSC games work?? It says just the same thing as when I try to play them with a converter on my PAL SNES, "this game pak isn't made for your SNES system" or something like that.
Everything looks very professionally made though. I bet they've fooled alot of people with their pirate shit.

[Guest]

It's probably giving you that message because the dodgy SNES doesn't actually contain a lock-out chip, it either contains nothing or a clone, so when the software checks for a real lock-out chip it gets nothing and displays that message.
What cartridge are you trying to you that gives you that message?