Finally got me a Famicom Disk System, with some games, Famicom ect. But after about 15min of play, the game froze. Reset didn't do anything. I get grey screens, garbage, freezes in all states, even if no disk drive is connected, or while loading from disk (loading screen freezes). After resting it some minutes / hours, I'm able to play again, for 5-10min. It's not my AV Famicom or it's connections, other carts play fine. It's not a specific disk, as it happens with all of 'em (If they load, the all load). It's not the drives belt, as there are no noises which aren't to be expected of a disk drive (it played fine before, and it's still the same noise). It's not the batteries (I removed them and got a trusty Battery Error) So it must be my RAM-Adapter, but what excactly? I mailed the guy I bought it from, but no response as of yet (only about 90min ago). Any Ideas what it could be? Temperature? Moisture? Bad Connections? EDIT: It seems I posted it in the wrong sub-forum, should it be in 'Rare and Obscure Video Gaming' or 'Rare and Obscure Video Gaming', If a moderator or administrator could move this thread to an appropriate place, it would be appreciated. Thank you.
Suggestion, is it always like 15 minutes of play or so? Or have you tried turning it on and kinda shaking the adapter in the cartridge slot, as maybe it does have a bad connection. Remember that the system's slot is only half the battle. Maybe the FDS has alot of dirt or scum built up on the cartridge pins. Or maybe there are capacitors or something in it that went bad or something. I'm guessing you can't get your hands on another RAM adapter by itself too easily?
The first thing I did after encountering this problem, I cleaned the cartridge connectors on the RAM-Adaptor. And as no other carts have any problems, I didn't try to clean the connetors on the AV Famicom. But even if I leave it connected and do not play for some minutes, and turning it on again, I can play some 5min or something before it freezes. And sadly, as it's my first FDS, I only have this one. So, I finally opened my RAM-Adapter up, and that's what greeted me: Image 1 Image 2 It seems as would this be a heavily refurbished unit, some plastic missing, cohesion or something around the SHARP-Processor on the right / front.
Nothing atypical about some wear on connectors, but possible something's wrong with the Sharp chip (DRAM). If the chip's damaged and gets hot, that could both warp the board and accelerate data loss. Unfortunately if that's the case, it's a proprietary part, so you'll need another adapter.
A replacement adapter should be on its way, and a friend is looking the defective unit over, suspecting defective caps. Best Case: 2 Working units, Worst Case, 1 Working unit. I can live with that. But thanks for your tip. I hope it's not the DRAM.
Yeah if it happens after 15 minutes over and over, I would suggest a bad solder joint. The expansion that happens with heat causes it to fail. Of course, figuring out which solder joint will be the game. Also, since the 60 pin connector is broken, it may have been hit hard enough to damage one of the pins (or that is where the bad solder connection is from). The bubble around the capictor just looks like some rosin to me, but I it could be an overheating capacitor. Your friend could be right. If replacing that capacitor doesn't do it for you, I wouldn't spend time on it unless you can find something obvious...
Long time no post here. The seller sent me a replacement RAM-Adapter, which works without problems. He suggested to throw the old one away. My Friend resoldered some connections, but the problem persists, what can / should I do with it?
If the outside looks nice then keep it as a cool paperweight? Sell it to someone else that is interested in trying to fix it? Melt it down into a slurry and feed it to someone you don't like maybe. Really I don't think there is much to do with it. I wouldn't throw it in the trash though.
