SNES adaptor acting perculiarly

Okay, so I'm new to this stuff, so I'm not sure if this is really simple or not.

I have purchased a region adaptor for my PAL SNES to allow me to play NTSC games. Here are some images of it, showing the model and that it works.
http://imgur.com/a/45wHd

But, there's an issue. Randomly, the adapter will just... stop transmitting a signal. The screen goes black and I get my television's "no signal" error.
However, the device is powered on, still. The console is not in an area where it has been knocked or disturbed, nothing has interfered with it.
This problem is random - It can happen at a 5 minute mark, immediately, or after around a half-hour. There seems to be no contributing factor.
I'm not sure if this is an issue with the game doing some sort of check, or my adapter being faulty.
I wouldn't think it's a region issue because the game does boot up.

I only have the one import game (Final Fantasy IV) at the moment to test this with.

I cleaned the console, both games and every part of the adapter with Isopropyl carefully. It worked for 45 minutes before cutting out again and now cuts out as randomly as it did before.

Does anyone else have experience with adapters and this kind of issue, or know why this game would be an issue?

 

Apologies for responding to myself, but I have more data, as I have been thinking.
The more I think on this issue, the more convinced I am that the issue is something to do with regional lockouts.
The game, despite running on a 50hz PAL console, runs fine, I don't think this issue is related to that.
You see, Final Fantasy IV does not bring up a "this game is not designed for use in your region" screen if inserted into the console by itself. I just get the 'no connection' screen, same as this error that's happening randomly in the game.
I'm not sure about if Final Fantasy IV checked for region beyond start up, of course - so I could be talking out of my butt, here.
If it does check periodically, that could be what my issue is - eventually for some reason my adapter fails to give the correct requirement. No clue why that would be. No clue if it's possible.
But it's a working hypothesis.

Does anyone have any experience with games acting this way in regards to this?
Is my only choice to either get a famicom and a voltage compensating plug, or a new adapter?

 

Do you have a Game Genie? I could try whipping up a region bypass code to see if that is the issue with the adapter or if the game even has a region check.

 

I don't have any experience in using an adapter but instead of looking for a famicom/step-down you could look for someone UK based to install a SuperCIC mod. This a replacement region chip that allows booting of all region games directly without any adapters but also switches the machine to 60hz for the NTSC games. Of course installing the SuperCIC chip will allow the machine to boot all games and both Pal UK games & NTSC Japanese games will fit but the American games are a different shape and so the slot would also need to be filed to physically fit them.

More info here

http://consolingmyself.co.uk/post/1251747918/supercic

and the authors website

http://sd2snes.de/blog/cool-stuff/supercic

 

Helder - I'm afraid I don't. My SNES collection is new and growing - Right now, it stands at Super Mario World (which I'm using right now as the rear cart because a few guides said it's one of the best carts for using to get import games to boot), Starwing (PAL name for Starfox), Mario All-Stars + Mario World, Super Castlevania IV and the Super Gameboy player - All are their PAL releases, except for the fact that the Super Gameboy is region free just like the Gameboy itself was.

Then I have this adapter and Final Fantasy IV, being the NTSC release from Japan... Hence my asking questions - I have no other way to see if it's my device, or my game, or what.
I've not encountered a SNES Game Genie in the wild yet, so I don't own one.
I was tempted to see about getting an Action Replay, as they work as an adapter as well as being a cheat device, but again, no luck tracking one down.

Sadly, people in England doing this sort of thing is rare, so it's not like I can just go meet up with a buddy and test stuff.


scrappysphinx - I'm not sure a SuperCIC is the answer - if this game IS being a pest because of it's regional checks, as I think (because I have no clue why else it would randomly turn off), would the same issues persist?
These adapters are designed to read the CIC from your region game (rear slot, usin' Super Mario World) and then after getting a successful check, load the game from the front slot (the import)
So, if it were some sort of CIC issue with the game, wouldn't that remain?
I don't really know much about modding, so genuine questions...

Unless it is some sort of hz issue that I don't understand, of course... If it doesn't matter, I don't much mind the 'letterboxing' effect running in 50hz has. I don't really notice the slowdown people report, or anything else, either. Seeing as it's running on the default cable that goes into the TV's aerial port right now, it's kind of not going to be able to give me a noticeable image increase until I upgrade my cable connection, either.

 

Not really a direct answer but, it might be more simple getting a Super Famicom and a step down to play your imports.

 

Getting nothing at all is exactly what you would expect - the CIC chip in the console is connected to the system reset and will only allow the system to come out of reset if it can communicate with a matching CIC in the cartridge - if they don't match, then the CPU never starts up and nothing at all happens.

To be honest, this sounds like either a broken import adapter or a broken cart to me. One thing you could try is putting some PAL carts into both of the sockets on the adapter and see if that results in a crash after you play for a while. If it does, then you can be pretty sure the adapter is busted.

 

HEX1GON - Believe me, I'm considering either getting a Sfami or a US SNES (which can easily be modded to fit Japanese carts) and a step-down converter. It'd be the right region and hz range.
I don't think that these adapters are that great, based on this tiny experience I'm having. I'm sure some models are great, but mine seems to have had any identifying markings removed, making it impossible to track it's exact type...

TriMesh - Thanks, I'll give that a go later on.
Seeing as I have Super Castlevania and Mario All-Stars (Not counting Starwing, as it's an expansion chip game, reputed trouble on these things) I've at least got those to test with - but would that really see if the adapter is busted?
I mean, they're both PAL. Wouldn't it read the correct region even if the rear cart connector fails?
Or do these mean it can't detect anything except that cart when doing it's CIC check?
I apologise for the questions, it's just that I have the most basic of understandings of what these things really do right now, so I might have the wrong end of the stick here.
Honestly I need to get some more NTSC stuff in the future to test with.
I hope it isn't an issue with the cart itself - it seems stable the rest of the time. Game runs fine, no distortion to video or audio or anything, so I'd hate to have spent a little over the going price for a dud.

 

So the console plays PAL games fine?

There are actually several of us on here who would modify a console, and it's a better option than those terrible adapters. You could sneeze on them and they'd stop working! Of course, modifying a PAL console won't get over the shape of the US cartridges. There were these types, too - but not much better and you have a cart hanging off it:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/snes-supe...s_VideoGameAccessories_JN&hash=item43c605c689

As for a Game Genie, there are a few on eBay... or try a decent retro gaming shop.

 

The console is PAL and without the adapter runs all of my PAL games fine.
I did a test, tonight, using PAL games in both slots of this adapter.
I am thoroughly confused because I could not reproduce the issue I've been having with any of my games - any - including the game that's giving me the issue right now.
Any information on what the heck happened are appreciated, because... The damn thing WORKED.
I've included my logs from tonight's test below.

 

I'd test the cart on an NTSC system, personally. Does FF4 have any special chips?

Try another NTSC game, preferably a simple one. Again, a decent retro gaming shop should stock them for a few quid, or get one off eBay. You could try cleaning all the contacts, but it shouldn't make the system stop outputting video. It sounds rather more like an issue you'd expect to be with the console.

 

FF4 doesn't have any special chips as far as I'm aware and I think it's copyright 1991. So I don't think it's from the advanced generation of detecting these devices, either.
Plus, Starwing worked through the device - that game uses a Super FX chip and still booted fine.

I don't have an NTSC console or other games to test this with, I kind of got this to start getting into NTSC games without having to have multiple consoles about - when I found this game wasn't working, I got hesitant to buy more NTSC games in case it's the device.

Given the test run today, do you think it's possible that the device is just dirty, despite the fact I've cleaned it once with Isopropyl? I could have not cleaned it enough.
I mean, if the part that reads the english CIC or the video data from the NTSC cart isn't clean, couldn't that cause this kind of error intermittently?

Also, do you happen to know any decent retro shops this side of the pond? I'm in Stafford, my local retro only does PAL region of NES, SNES and Megadrive really, so I'm always on the look out for a better place for imports, there are other games on my to-buy list.

 

It's fairly clear that there were, at least initially, bad connections on the adapter. My assumption would be that at some point with all the plugging and unplugging of carts you managed to clean the contacts up and hence everything started working.

I also wouldn't read too much into the fact that different games crashed in different ways - if you have intermittent address or data lines then the effect is going to be quite variable and heavily dependent on the way the code is written.

I would suggest that you just try playing the game some more and see if it's stable - if it is, then you can pretty safely assume that it was just an adapter problem.

 

It would be well worth checking the contacts under a magnifying glass and decent light source, to see that there's no corrosion, dirt, obstructions or poorly contacting pins. Give the edge contacts on the game a good clean with some cotton buds and IPA.

There are plenty of good retro shops still in the UK, although eBay is becoming the major source nowadays. We have several shops in Kent. Try grabbing an issue of Retro Gamer and looking at the ads - I haven't read it in years, but I assume they must have ads for shops still.

I don't know whether this place has a physical shop or not:

http://www.retrogamingworld.co.uk/

There is an address on there - might be worth giving them a visit, perhaps. I'm sure you'll find something Birmingham-way, too.

Maybe this one:

http://www.thegamer.org.uk/

and Retro Station in Sutton Coldfield.

 

My suggestion for the SuperCIC was basically so you can remove the adapter all together and just plug your import games directly into the console. I understand that the adapter reads the CIC from the pal game and verifies it with the console then loads the import game if successful. The SuperCIC chip replaces the internal PAL CIC with a multi-region replacement, thereby requiring no adapters at all. It will also run the games at there intended 60hz speed.

I see you say that you don't notice the slowdown but is that because you haven't played the games at there intended speed yet? I thought the same until i started playing games at their intended speed and the difference is really noticeable once you actually experience it.

As for the cable, an RGB scart can be picked up really cheaply and i'd recommend it over the RF cable however i found the ones on ebay are advertised as working with Snes/N64/Gamecube but mine gave a really bright picture which quickly faded to black. The fix was to remove the 3 capacitors from the scart connector.

If its something you'd be interested in pm me as i've done a few now, just not looking to offer a service to the masses lol

 

TriMesh - Thanks, I'll do another round of testing today and see if I get any more errors. I might try a second clean-up job. It was particularly filthy when I cleaned it the first time. The internals of the connectors on top had an actual black discharge, rather than just grey like the carts tend to.

retro - seems ebay is probably my best bet for affordability given that I'm limited to public transport - it's about a tenner to get to Birmingham these days. I'll try to pick up a couple of the other games I both want and can play in Japanese, see if they have similar issues.

scrappysphinx - I'm definitely interested, I'll shoot you a message.

 

Spotted this and thought of this thread

Action Replay

 

I've been doing some more tests.
Every time it cuts out, it seems to be on the NTSC game, but then, that's 90% of what I've been playing.
I've cleaned it up again and not only did it make the picture clearer (less wobbly lines on the TV), but once again the gameplay lasted longer before the problem returned.
I have to say, therefore, the issue is not technical in nature. The adapter works, it just needs to be cleaned up more than I can manage in one sitting.
I am posting this for the prosperity of anyone having a similar issue in the future Googling for this sort of issue - Clean your games, console and adapters with isopropyl thoroughly and regularly to improve the issue.