I think I killed my SNES myself. Do not make the same mistakes I did.

You may have seen my other thread:
http://www.assemblergames.com/forums/newreply.php?do=postreply&t=48497

I just realized I quite very likely borked that SNES myself...
I did a couple mistakes along the road.
I am quite pissed with myself but i must learn some lessons out of it.
Maybe this story can serve as a warning for others to not make the same mistakes I did.


LESSON 1 : ALWAYS FULLY TEST HARDWARE BEFORE MESSING WITH IT OR SELLING IT OR WHATEVER OR AFTER A REPAIR.
The first mistake was not fully testing the SNES before messing with it. By testing I mean play a few games on it and try both controllers.
All I did is power it up with a game and let it play by itself for a minute. This probably prevented me from making a connection with the fault and something I did.

But now I was thinking back on it and I recall I had tried StarFox on it initially and the game played all the way to the Start Game splash screen. Now it crashes before that. So it seems to indicate that the console was probably ok initially, before I messed with it. If I had tried the console properly initially I would have made that connection more easily.

This also cost me half a weekend of troubleshooting because I could not make the connection between the fault and something I did.


The second mistake is the one that I think have zapped this SNES.
LESSON 2: ALWAYS POWER CYCLE YOUR STUFF BEFORE WORKING ON IT. ESPECIALLY WITH A BIG FRIGGIN CAP CONNECTED TO THE SNES SWITCH.

This SNES model, being the very early american SNES has a big 1000uf Cap right on the power input, connected to the power switch. Subsequent SNES revisions do no have this cap.
What probably happened is I did not power cycle the console after I unplugged it, ( Yes, I have this bad habbit, even though I know I should do it.. )
I typically do it as an afterthought but It should be automatic. ESPECIALLY ON THE OLD SNES WITH 1000uf CAP.

After you disconnect power prong, the cap stays charged with over 10v even though the console is disconnected and this charge is connected to the power switch, which happens to be dangling on wires ready to zap whatever it happens to touch. I just now remember seeing a little spark from the switch when I was working on the Mobo. I bet I damaged an important IC that way. The fault being not readily apparent and the SNES still working I did not make a connection.

Maybe that is not what happened, but I find it very likely considering I did not discharge the cap before working and also did not disconnect the switch from the mother board, instead left it dangling there like an idiot.

That is a painful lesson for me because I have never damaged retro hardware before and it is a concept I abhor.

I will be very careful from now on, especially with SNES, because the Switch being loose is a complete hazard.
In fact, I think this might be why they stopped putting this big cap on american SNES. Because possibly many console were getting fried that way.
Or maybe they just realized this compromised the hardware.
While I think the dangling switch is a bad design by Nintendo, It does not excuse carelessness on my Part.

Furthermore, my next suggestion while working on ANY Snes, Always leave that damn switch secured with at least one screw and if you need to take the board out, disconnect the cable instead.
It is tempting to take the switch out with the board or simply to leave it dangling there because you need to unscrew the switch to unscrew the motherboard. ( another dubious design choice ).
But just screw it back right away. This thing can kill your SNES even if its not one of the old ones. Simply have the Console connected, even if Off and drop that switch on the Mobo and Thats all you need to do to kill a SNES.

 

Ah don't feel too bad matey, I have a few to add. Some recently.

1/Watch WTF you are doing (lol!) working on my PC engine recently I had the board out. It was working, went to move it whilst on to take pic. It switched off, luckily it has a fuse (big glass jobbie) which blew. The board as said was just on my desk (I have old newspaper down in 5-6 sheet piles for easy clean-up ie lift up all edges and crap like wire bits etc gets wrapped up) and there was a an off cut from a resistor (or whatever) under the board. It was fine until I moved it.

2/If selling a 32X, test the f&*ker for a few hours, a quick 10 minute play doesn't cut it! I recently sold a BIG Sega Gen 2, 32X and Sega CD2 set for $600+. It works fine apart from the 32X, it craps out after 15 minutes. I said no warranty, but the amount it sold for made me feel guilty, so I am replacing it with another unit (fully tested for 2+hrs lol!) It is my last 32X and I like having spares, so I will have to replace it at some stage.

3/SNES, I turn it off by pulling the DC plug out. Solves the "forget to flick switch" issue.

The simplest mistakes mate are just facepalm moments.

 

Egad! I tend to bleed the power out as well by yanking the power adapter while it's running. I do love that the old SNES holds enough charge to give that nice big red LED enough juice for a second

On one of the SNESes I have I let my a friend of mine try and use a multimeter to check the rails and told him to be very careful not to short the... *ZAP console powers off*... thanks for fuse! Actually, does the Mega Drive have a fuse? I don't think I've ever done anything power related on MDs apart from reflowing sockets on the MD2.

As a personal preference, I enjoy a good old zap from AC now and then, makes you remember you are alive. One arm behind your back kids! :toasted_nicely_toasted:
Wait, that's not a smiley?

It's a little bittersweet for me, if you hadn't brought up the caps on 7805 and S-ENC idea I'd still have my original EarthBound saves on the SNES
But on the flip side I wouldn't have rediscovered my DS Lite and it's ability to play SNES games
Cruel fate pushes us along, teaching us as we go.

 

Oh yeah, that dangley switch is a death trap. I had it fall off for me, but luckily I had the RF shield in place, so it landed on that and just blew the fuse.