My nintendo 64 won't power on help me out!

Hello everyone, just got a 64 from a friend, she said one day she hit the reset button , and it never came back, now I am not used to the nintendo 64 I usually work on sega consoles, so any help would be greatly appreciated. Now I opened her up, and noticed one of the legs for the power supply port had no solder, I added some made sure it was sealed, it still will not come on, I checked for blown capacitors, or anything of that sort, nothing, no weak solder points that I could see.. If you have any idea what else could be causing the old system to not power on please help me out.. it is greatly appreciated..

Also I know from working on a SNES a couple times I know the snes had an internal fuse, I did test the power cord and it worked fine on another 64 system.. so i know it's not that either, so any input what I can do.. I would be very appreciative of it, thank you for your time and your help

Reguards Dan the Mega Sega Fan.~

 

not sure as i've never worked on a N64, but i'd check the actual switches too.

but before that look for a any fuse resistors or diodes / regulators that may have blown.

can't really help much more than that. also give it a good clean

 

Oh but of course, I did all of that, just got finished cleaning the ram chip or jumper pack whatever you wanna call it. Not sure if the N64 has a internal fuse, but if it does I would guarentee that's what would have blown. every contact port has been cleaned, no loose solder or holes, the 64 just won't turn on , no red light no picture, I read somewhere else that they are known to fry out? strange I had my N64 since I got it , never had any of these problems =/

 

Check the fuses (yes fuses) in power supply. There are a few, ac input fuse and from memory 2 dc fuses.

 

Have you tried another jumper pack? Unless the one you've got is crapped out. Then again, it should of turned on anyway.

Guess it's the PSU then, doubt it's anything else. Double check the reset switch too.

 

Wait so the reset button can cause this? that's really odd you say that because the person who gave the console to me said that she reset a game, and it really never came back, if this could be the problem it very well may be. As for the power supply she uses the same one on another 64 she owns and it powers on just fine. The only strange thing I noticed upon opening it was basic, the two prongs on the board where the power supply plugs in, one side was soldered the other side just had the black leg sitting there so I soldered it. But thank you .. and HEX1GON if you have any more detail on the reset switch please let me know because that really has my curiosity now , being what made the system stop working was the reset button being hit. Perhaps it's stuck in reset and won't power on or something... man you guys are very helpful this is my first time working on a good old Nintendo 64, any more help is appreciated and once again HEX tell me more about the reset switch because I am now thinking that really could be the issue, I will open her up and wait for your reply again =)

 

Also I forgot to mention before, the Jumper is just fine, I tested it on my other 64 even got some brasso and cleaned it out, I am no beginner on repairs this is just my first time taking a leap of faith on the nintendo hardware vastly different from what I am used to, but thank you people for helping me any more is greatly appreciated =D

 

Getting into the psu is a bit tricky If I remember right I had to cut my way into the psu case. On a side note never put a n64 cart pcb into the slot with out its shielding ( blows power supply every time).

 

Here is something odd I found while looking, not sure what this is , know it's not a voltage regulator because it has nothing on it but looks like one of the legs were busted.

 

I once had a problem with the reset switch where the N64 would still power on but just be a black screen. Opening it up and freeing the reset switch did the trick, but if I'm right you're not even getting the red power light?

 

Sometimes one of the pin is connected to the tab on the back so that one is fine. You can verify that by using ohm meter (or multi meter in resistor setting) and check the resistance between the metal tab and the cut off leg. It should read zero ohms. The silkscreen reads VO (+5v) and VI (+12v) so it may be a 5v regulator such as 7805, the pinout is right for that. VI and VO implies voltage in (unregulated 12v) and out (regulated 5v)

 

No I never get a red power light, but from what I have been researching it's either the PSU like you guys are saying, or apparently it's fried.. now the 3 legs on the power port are they supposed to be soldered on the top of the board as well as the bottom because one of the three legs in the port has no solder at all.. I will try and get another good pic for you guys.

 

Well bro glad I can help out

I've honestly never got a problem with a Nintendo 64 not powering on. I have heard people's reset switch get stuck and then nothing would happen.

I guess the regulator is the next thing to look at. Does the power supply make any slight ticking noises or anything like that? Completely remove the regulator, solder in another one (if you're comfortable doing that).

Apart from that I sadly can't help you any more, completely out of knowledge.

 

Works fine for me

 

It never worked for me I blew 2 psu's doing it. If your wondering what I was doing, I was installing a battery socket on my copy ssb.

 

With respect, you may have done several repairs but it would seem you don't have the basic knowledge behind you - I'd suggest learning some basic electronics and fault finding. Once you've got that under your belt, common places to look will be second nature.

Checking the reset switch isn't stuck on is certainly a first step. That means a physical inspection and a continuity test - a very basic fault finding step, that one.

You seem to be confused. Is it two pins or three? In actual fact, there are six pins on the power connector and they're all soldered onto the bottom of the PCB.

With respect, using Brasso on a circuit is a beginner's move. Please, use the proper materials - either IPA or a contact cleaner.

That's not odd at all - and you are wrong - that IS a voltage regulator and I can make out some form of markings on the component. The floating leg is commonplace on such a component. If you look closely, it should say TA78M05F, which is a 0.5A three terminal positive voltage regulator.

Please take my comments in the light they were given - as constructive criticism. Your repair skills will drastically benefit from taking a step back and going over the basics again. Basic component theory will help you identify components, what they do, how they do it and how to test them (and would have told you that fuses are often marked on the silk screen as F1, F2...). Basic computer theory will give you sound knowledge of the basic blocks in any computer circuit, which will greatly assist you in fault finding. And basic fault finding techniques are very useful, too. I'm not saying stop what you're doing, more like carry on but get some solid reading material to have a bone up at the same time (not literally with soldering iron in hand, though!) - you'll find a decent book or ten will teach you a lot.

IIRC the power light should come on regardless, but try the reset switch first, anyway. Obviously there's some kind of power issue if you're not even getting a red light, so some basic probing would tell you what parts of the circuit are and aren't getting the right voltages. And yes, a regulator could often be the cause. Oh, and just because a capacitor isn't swelling, doesn't mean it's not bad!