SNES Super Wild Card repair

[DaveJ-UK]

Hi guys,

I know you guys aren't big fans of backup units but given the fact I own more than 500 SNES carts, I hope it's clear that this is just another accessory in my collection and not a tool for pirating games!

I recently picked up a couple of Super Wild Cards but they're both faulty.

Unit #1; won't boot at all. Not even a flicker on screen when I turn the SNES on. I tried 2 consoles and 2 power supplies. Same result. Unlike other units I've seen, it has a power jack drilled into the side. I understand this is 9V DC but since it was user added it's not clear whether it's centre positive or negative. If I use 9v DC centre-neg then I get a flicker on screen when I turn the console on but ntohing else. If I use 9V DC centre-pos then I get a constant clicking sound about once every second when I turn the console on. I guess that means it's probably centre-negative.

Unit #2; can format and write floppy disks but after it finishes loading a game from a floppy disk it just displays a black screen. It doesn't have an input for an external power supply. I tried another floppy drive with the same result.

Both units have old and corroded batteries but that's only for SRAM saves, right? I've ordered replacements anyway, just to rule it out.

I have cleaned the contacts on both units too - both were spotless.

Short of going over all of the caps and resistors with a multimeter, is there anything obvious I should be checking?

I was hoping to get at least one working unit from these two!

Thanks in advance.

[eidis]

  Many years ago I obtained two FireFox backup units. Actually those were ProFighter clones. One of them did not show any signs of life because the ram board was faulty. My friend removed old ram using a heat gun and we scavenged new ram from old pc simm modules. If you will take this route, please pay attention to your SWC ram chip specifications. The original specs must match with the donor ram. Donor ram could be faster, that's not a problem, but the addressing should be the same, otherwise it wont work. Google for the chip part number datasheet.

Your second backup unit could have a 16mbit game size limitation or you are feeding him incorrectly prepared rom. Try uCon and convert the rom in SWC native format if needed. The ram board could be faulty as well.

Best of luck and let me know how it went.

Eidis

[KeepGood]

Hey Dave,

I would concentrate my efforts on unit 2 for the moment, just with it having a bit more life in it.  I think its safe to assume the FDC controller and the Wild Card rom are okay.  I would have a look into the RAM in the system as Eidis pointed out.  It could be that the unit is getting to the point where the game should load from the internal RAM then is freaking out. 

I would open them both up and start attacking them with isopropyl alcohol (most nail varnish removers will suffice) and a fibreglass pencil. Get them completely cleaned out, removing any corrosion they have gathered.  Generally speaking the batteries are for the sram saves, take them out.  The system should function as per usual without the batteries, the sram just wont retain its info.  I am shooting in the dark as I'm not familiar with the inside of a Wild Card.

As for unit 2. Can you post some pictures of the board?  Some snaps of the extra power connector and where it leads to etc would be good.  It wont be hard to tell you what power supply you need.   If the extra power connector is there to power the floppy disk drive its more than likely you would need a 12v power supply.  5 volt floppy drives do exist but I think the majority need the 12 volt line.  I've just had a look at my floppy drives, of 11 drives, 8 of them are 12 volt.  So its worth looking into.  Dont start trying out different psu's until you know what the polarity should be, the circuit the power connector connects to may not be protected.

If it comes down to the ram I may be able to help you out but lets see how far we get on repairing these badboys first. 

[DaveJ-UK]

Thanks for the replies.

I'm feeling a bit of an idiot... I removed the DRAM module  from unit #2 and it behaved exactly as before. I connected it back up and it wouldn't boot at all. So I reseated the DRAM module and now it works fine!

Unit #1 had a corroded battery so I went looking in the loft for my soldering iron to remove it... and found another two Super Wild Cards!! So I now have 4! One of the units I just found is working, so I have 2/4 working now.

However I am no closer to getting #1 working and #4 has the same fault - no power at all. #4 doesn'thave an external power connector but it does have a removable DRAM module, whereas #1 has the memory chips soldered directly on to the PCB. I have attached pictures below.

I have a bottle of Isopropyl but I don't see how cleaning up the PCB will help? The connector/pins that go into the console are clean.

Unit #1 PCB:



Unit #4 PCB:

[l_oliveira]

ST10198S is a pirate replacement for the Nintendo D411. Meaning the units with it are likely to only work on NTSC SHVC/SNS consoles. Or consoles with the CIC bypassed or disabled.

Maybe you want to check if that's what is causing you trouble with these ...


AAAAAAAND .... Unit 4 seems to also be missing the jumpers on the connector that selects the CIC from CART SLOT/Internal CIC  (J9 on unit #1) connection has pin numbers on unit #4.

Should have 4 jumpers on this way:

I:I:I:  or :I:I:I   (one way causes it to use the internal CIC chip the other causes it to use the CIC from the cart connected to the dump/copy slot)

[DaveJ-UK]

l_oliveira: You're a star!

I didn't know that's what ST10198S was (or about the jumpers) but I can't believe I didn't even think to consider the lock out chip.

Unit #1 works with my US SNES using either jumper configuration, and also on my UK SNES if I use a PAL key cart.

Unit #4 works fine on my US SNES without any jumpers but it won't work with my UK SNES no matter what settings I use. The jumpers don't seem to make any difference.

[l_oliveira]

Okay... Unit 1 has the pirate CIC chip wired straight to the solder points of the connector. It working without any jumpers means that the way the CIC chip is wired in bypasses the jumpers.

Unit 2 has no jumpers but the CIC is on it's socket so it's just not connected to anywhere. Your US unit is likely to have the internal CIC disabled or bypassed.


Glad to hear you got your stuff working fine and we all learned something new today (I learned that there are several versions of the same "model" of board for FFA magicom units.)

[KOL]

Hi
I have a Super Wild Card SWC 3201 DX.
The problem I have is that it won't turn on. I'm using it with my UK PAL SNES.
When I first got it a few months ago, it would not produce any picture on screen. I hear a brief noise from the disk drive then stops after a second.
I opened it and found the battery had corroded. I replaced the battery and when I tried it, it powered up, showed the title screen and the menu screen, then crashed. When I tried to power it up again, once again, there was no picture with a brief noise from the dick drive.

I powered it up again today and it loaded up title screen and menu, then just crashed again. The tried to power up again and wouldn't show picture.

Can anyone help me out to get this working properly?
The PCB look exactly like the picture labeled 'unit 4' apart from the chip that says 'ST10198S', mine says ST10198P' and my sticker says'Super Wild card SWC 3201 DX'.

Any ideas?
Thank you

[l_oliveira]

Damage control:

Stabilize the corrosion by washing the board with neutral soap plus water. Rinse and let it sit in a bucket with some vinegar + water to neutralize the basic material which leaked from the battery.
Wash again with neutral soap + water.
Dry the board with hot air. (hair dryer is fine for that)
I recommend you do identify the position  and detach any socketed parts before starting.

Repair:

Analyze the corroded area for damaged copper tracks and patch as needed.
Replace the SRAM rechargeable battery.

[KOL]

Thanks for your help. I got it working

[KOL]

Hi again. It seems I was too quick to presume it was working.
It works, and it copies games to disks but it does not play the games from the disks.

I did a diagnostic test from the options and tested all the option; DRAM read/write, SRAM read/write and Floppy drive. All passed apart from DRAM read/write. After the bar filled up, it just says ERROR
Could this be the reason why its loading the games from the disks?

Your help has been most appreciated so far.

Thanks

[DaveJ-UK]

You said it looks like Unit #4 pictured above - have you tried reseating the RAM module?

Try copying the smallest game you have (1Mb) and see if that works. Good luck!

[eidis]

 Sorry to resurrect an old topic but have you considered replacing the capacitors ?

Eidis

[DaveJ-UK]

I got them all working in the end. It was a long time ago so so I don't remember exactly but I would usually explain it in the thread.