I think I murdered my SNES. Please help my sanity.

Update 26/03/15: Console is working fine with a new fuse, but is locked in 50Hz, region-free, red light.

I believe I have found the problem stopping my SuperCIC from working, however - PPU2's pin 30 was loose when I originally modified it. I opened my SNES up today and found that it has now snapped off. I was very careful, but had accidentally bent the leg out of place when originally trying to solder to it, and so bending it back loosened it.

There is a tiny bit of metal visible on the corner of the chip where the leg was. I'm assuming if I am careful, I could sand or cut back a tiny bit of the casing to give my self enough room to solder to. I'm unsure if this is wise nor how I should proceed.

Still, even when the leg was loose, it was still connected. I don't know for sure if this is the only problem I have or not. I can't see anything else that should be problematic, though.

It's 7:30am. I've stayed up all night working on installing a SuperCIC mod into my PAL SNES. Wired pin 8 to the wrong place (old CIC's pin 12 instead of pin 11), so the thing wasn't working right. Fixed it. Tried it out but the cartridge wasn't working (I think it just needed cleaning - this thing is picky and the cartridge slot needs a good clean again soon).

Anyway, because I'm dumb (and seriously, it's past 7am), I didn't unplug the SNES to pull the game out. Board not screwed down so I just turned it off, held the board down on the grounding around the front edge, then pulled the cart up. Did this multiple times before correcting my soldering mistake. This time, it wouldn't turn on (no LED) after doing so. No idea which part is the picofuse because I'm dumb but guessed it was probably the little black thing by the 3-pinned black thing attached to the RF shielding which I believe is the voltage regulator. Did a continuity test on my so-called picofuse. Thing sparked and is brown and burnt on the left side (towards the back of the board). Yay. I'm now officially depressed.

Someone please tell me how to fix this thing short of spending $200 for a new one and actually going insane. I'm sick of breaking everything I touch (almost literally), and I'm sick of making these threads that no one replies to, although it's no surprise, given how long-winded I tend to make these posts, and how I solve some of my own problems and... I'm tired. I'm going to bed. If anyone can help me fix this, you can have my soul for free to keep under your bed or something. If I still have it. I'm not sure.

 

Preface: I'm only familiar with NTSC SNES.

If it's just your fuse then that's not bad. You can either get a new one (~$1 on digikey) or get a fuse holder to drop in glass fuses. Once you've replaced that, check the power regulator. The lead farthest from the AC adaptor should have 5V give or take 0.02V.

Fuses are designed to blow. Nintendo just did a silly thing soldering them to the board. You can do it!

 

Sounds like the fuse is gone. You could buy one from this website.
https://mortoffgames.com/index.php?_a=product&product_id=169

 

Thanks for the replies guys, and sorry about the melodrama. I was really tired. Hell, I'm just waking up at 7pm now. That SNES gave me a literal headache...

Anyway, that pleases me to know that what I thought was the fuse was indeed the fuse. I'm still unsure why it would blow when trying to test continuity, though, but regardless, wouldn't that indicate it's not the fuse stopping it from powering on?

The bonus is that I have a spare glass fuse and holder that works with the Mega CD 2, and I believe it is the right rating so I should be able to use that in place of what's there.

As for testing the voltage on the regulator, though, I'm not really sure how to do that. I presume I just set my multimeter to DCV (since - correct me if I'm wrong - I can only measure in ACV when the thing is drawing power from mains, something I hesitate to do right now) then just use any ground point and test the three legs (I assume one is a ground leg but I don't know which).

EDIT: The fuse I have is marked "F1,5/250V". I'm going to assume the "F1,5" part means it's a 1.5A fuse, although I checked and the Mega CD 2 requires an 850mA fuse, so I'm not sure why I would have bought a different one. Can anyone tell me if this fuse is correct for the SNES? The original one IS 1.5A. Just not sure about this glass one I have.

 

You can use any fuse 1.5A or less. BUT, it may blow when it doesn't need to. i.e. the SNES is okay with 1A, but the fuse will blow at .85A.

Look at the voltage regulator so that the metal plate thing sticking out the top is in the back. Left leg: in (around 10 volts NTSC); middle: ground; right: out (~5V). Touch ground somewhere else though, no need risking a short by connecting two legs.

 

Without offence, but you must stop doing this. Every console you touch = kill or mess :\
Maybe you have to do more pratice on something else
Maybe, your poket will say thanks XD

 

Thanks for the info. So do you know if I have the right fuse? I'm not sure if the comma between the numbers means something different or not i.e. I'm not sure if "1,5" means "1.5", or if it means something else. It doesn't have an "A" at the end of the number indicating the amperage, either, but the number starts with an "F" which I discovered means it is a fast fuse.

Thanks for the info. So do you know if I have the right fuse? I'm not sure if the comma between the numbers means something different or not i.e. I'm not sure if "1,5" means "1.5", or if it means something else. It doesn't have an "A" at the end of the number indicating the amperage, either, but the number starts with an "F" which I discovered means it is a fast fuse.

Gee thanks, because I didn't already feel really bad about it. I can't help it. Maybe I'm just retarded and should off myself (although I already tried that a few times, truth be told, and even failed at that), but just about everything I touch dies even when I take the utmost care. Although at the same time, saying that I make a mess of or kill EVERY console I touch is quite unfair. Although to be fair, it's almost all of them. Just not ALL of them.

Well, screw this, I'm going to bed. I haven't eaten all day, and I certainly don't feel like starting.

 

Anyone in this world is not retarded or similar! You need only experience and patience... That's the key
Without the basics you can repair nothing, and it's not absolutely good idea start learning with somenthing rare and expensive, plus without knowing what you have touching....

My was not an insult or something similar, but an advice. Start learning some basic of elettronic and play with something less expensive, like old pc, radio etc....
I'm serius, you can even die if you feel inconfident and touch the bad spot :S (here we say, when you feel the shock it's always late )

 

Was it the little fuse on the left side of the board - just below the power switch wires in this picture?


If it is it's a very cheap repair - fuses can be had off eBay in lots of 5 for very little money.

The fuse did exactly what it's supposed to do Thomas, it protected the rest of the SNES when you yanked a game with the power on - easy to do, particularly with the top casing off.

Just in case you already didn't know this - that big ol' cap at the back left there holds enough juice to do some serious damage, make sure you discharge it before doing any further work after having the system powered up.

 

I have been caught out a few times by forgetting to switch the power back on with the power supply disconnected to discharge the cap.

Always worth keeping spare fuses on hand.

 

You're right, I'm sorry, that was uncalled for. I got up at an actual reasonable time today and ate a LOT of food. Got a much clearer head now. Don't know what I was thinking yesterday. Well, apart from "I've fried $600 worth game consoles in the past few weeks alone". I just don't like people pointing out my obvious problems when I'm already knee-deep in them myself. I suppose that's a pretty human response, really.
Thing is, though, I've been working with electronics for years now. It's just hard to learn a lot of the basics when the only real formal electronics tuition I had was in intermediate (middle school equivalent). There's not really any other place to learn except uni, and they already kicked me out because I didn't study enough because I go to bed late and get up late.

I also have an average soldering iron (I believe it's designed for plumbers, but I could be wrong) - a Goot TQ-95. It's OKAY, but after doing some research, I am going to get a Hakko FX-888D, because that thing is relatively cheap and really good. Temperature controls will help, though. I lifted a few traces when removing the old CIC from my SNES, but I took my time (and unplugged the thing to let it cool down several times), and it turned out far better than I had expected. The two legs from the PPUs (especially pin 30 from PPU2) are quite loose, but they're holding.

I'm just confused because I thought that touching ground would be fine, even when the thing was plugged in. I thought that stopped it from short-circuiting, as opposed to the opposite.

Thanks for the info. Yep, that's the one. Funnily enough, though, I ALWAYS discharge electronics before touching them, but I guess in this case, since it was still plugged in, it's actually impossible to discharge. Still unsure about how holding down on a ground point causes a short-circuit, but that's my limited knowledge, I guess.

I've got no problem with buying more fuses, but before I do, I'd like to know if what I already have would do the job, since then I could repair it and test it today.

Once again, the fuse I have is marked "F1,5/250V". The only part I don't understand is the "1,5", because I'm not sure if it's the equivalent of 1.5A, or if the comma denotes something else.

The one thing that I truly don't understand is how I could make the fuse crackle and spark by testing continuity. I didn't think a multimeter would do that (and yes, I know it sends out electrical pulses, but I didn't think it'd be enough to fry a fuse. Then again, it lights up an LED well). Plus, if it did that, doesn't that mean the fuse wasn't already dead, meaning what I did didn't fry the fuse? Well, I'm going to open it up now to check the voltage regulator, anyway.

I usually do it, but the way I have things set up in my room makes getting to the power strip to unplug stuff kind of a pain in the ass (it's not far away and it's exposed, but I've got stuff in the way so I've gotta squeeze around stuff or lean over it, which is a pain. Guess I'm just lazy). I had tested a whole bunch of games just fine before figuring out I'd soldered a wire in the wrong place, so doing it a second time, I don't see what went wrong. That's my biggest problem here: it's hard to learn from my mistakes when there's no consistent pattern to help me understand what I did wrong.

As for spare fuses, I should get some. I presume getting them cheaply off eBay is okay? Or would it be safer to get them from a (somewhat) local electronics store?

 

The original fuse is rated at 1.5A, although the normal operating current of the SNES is about 1A. The original parts don't seem to be manufactured anymore, but any axial mount fuse with the correct rating will do, this one for example:

http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/025101.5MRT1L/F3170CT-ND/1984466

And don't get too upset about breaking things - that happens to everyone. One thing I learnt a long time ago is that when I start making mistakes that's normally a clue that I should take a break from what I'm doing - there is a strong tendency to say "I'll just fix this" - but (especially if it's early in the morning...) often the reason you screwed it up in the first place is that you are tired, and trying to continue at that point has a high probability of making things worse.

 

True, it's just frustrating when I break a LOT of stuff...

But anyway, I know what I need now, but if I can use this glass fuse instead, I can test it right now (I assume it's not a good idea to test the voltage regulator without the fuse in place, anyway). I have a container for it that I'm about to solder onto it. I can always remove it later if necessary. I'd definitely prefer one of those other fuses, but glass fuses are easily replaceable, and I have one sitting right here. I'm just really unsure if the fuse I have is 1.5A or not. It's been about two years since I bought them. I would check at the store, but it's about an hour away, so I can't go today.

EDIT: Put fuse in place, turned multimeter to 200DCV, tested the regulator and... nothing. Goddammit...
EDIT 2: Fuse looks like it has blown. Hard to tell, but comparing to the other one I have that is fine, I can't see the thin wire in it. Guess it wasn't 1.5A after all? I dunno. I'll have to order a new one for sure, now.

 

I have fuses dude, I'll happily put one in an envelope and mail it to you, might take a couple of weeks Canada to NZ though.

 

Oh man, I'd really appreciate that. I'll pay for the postage. I'll PM you with my address. So will the voltage regulator not give me any reading if the fuse isn't in place, or is it likely that it's dead, too? Or did I measure it wrong?

 

I would just work forward from the AC adapter - start by checking to be sure you have power coming out of that (I assume you have a PAL SNES, so use ACV), then check the output of the rectifier (DCV) and the both sides of the fuse with reference to ground. If the fuse is blown, then you should get volts on one side, but not the other.

 

Well, the fuse is definitely blown, especially after I tried to measure its continuity, which I apparently shouldn't have done. I removed it, if that makes a difference with testing.

I'm not exactly sure how to test the AC adapter with a multimeter (I do indeed have a PAL SNES), but I don't like the idea of testing something plugged into mains. I DO have a PAL NES that uses the same AC adapter, though, so I can test it with that.

I assume rectifier = voltage regulator? If I have to have a working fuse in place to test that, that'll have to wait. If it can be tested fine without the fuse, then I've already tested it properly with the DCV setting and got lovely zeros from both the 12v and 5v legs. I will check the fuse, though.

I think I'm going to need a new 4.5mm gamebit at this point, though. Man, my old one is wearing down. I could do without paying out for a new one since they're not cheap BUT it beats makeshift tools, and it's handy for more than just a single SNES. Anyone got recommendations on top quality gamebits? EDIT: Looks like AliExpress has dirt-cheap ones. Probably rubbish quality, too, but a few dollars for a short-term replacement is fine.

 

OK, you basically check it by connecting the meter across the output (one probe in the hole at the end, the other on the metal ring on the outside of the plug) with it plugged in. The reason it being PAL is important is that the PAL SNES uses an adapter with AC output and the NTSC SNES and the Super Famicom use one with DC output (center negative).

Plugging it into another unit is a perfectly valid test, too.

No, the function of the rectifier is to convert AC into DC - this is why it's only in the PAL unit (the NTSC one put it inside the PSU block), so it comes before the regulator. Basically, the transformer in the power cable converts 230V AC to about 9V AC (it will read higher off load, though), then the rectifier and filter cap turn it into DC (unregulated - normally something like 10-14VDC) and then the regulator regulates that down to 5V to run the logic.

If you take the heatsink off the board, I think the rectifier is just to the right of the place that the power switch plugs in - it's a little round 4-pin device with pins marked "+" "-" and two marked "~" - the ones marked "~" should have low voltage (< about 20V) AC on them and you should be getting DC on the + and - pins.

If your adapter is good but you aren't getting AC on the rectifier, check the input filter - this is another little 4-pin device right next to the power input jack on the rear panel.

Yeah, having worn tools is very frustrating.

 

Ah, okay, that makes sense. I'll check that out later (only just closed it up a couple of hours ago). I'll either do it later tonight or tomorrow morning. I assume to get the AC readings from the rectifier, I do need to plug the board in, correct?

AC adapter works fine on my NES, by the way (NTSC games, not so much, but Mega Man 3 is still awesome, even if it's running a bit slow).

 

As far as gamebits go, the shiny silver metal ones tend to be much better quality than the matte black ones - my experience anyway.