Super Famicom Display Problem

Post by **Steel A Jeeg** » Fri Jul 06, 2007 3:11 am

Hey everybody, I was wondering if somebody knew what I could do to fix this problem.

About a year ago I purchased a very cheap Super Famicom from Ebay. The seller said that the system hadn't been tested, and didn't come with any wires. After picking up cables and a power supply, I turned the system on, and every single game comes up as garbled green blocks on the screen. I've checked online, and the power supply is correct. I've tried several different cables, everything from the original RF adapter to S-Video cables, and nothing changes. I kept the system in storage, with the plans of transferring the guts from a US SNES system into the case, but after finding this forum recently I thought that it was worth a shot asking.

ANY replies at all will be greatly appreciated!

Post by **Pullmyfinger** » Fri Jul 06, 2007 4:05 am

It seems to me that either your games are dirty or your console is, also the connector might be loose, I had a snes that I had to put a credit card in front of the cart so it would push it back a little or the games would not work.

Post by **Steel A Jeeg** » Fri Jul 06, 2007 4:55 am

The screen seems like there's something wrong with the system itself, though. The green image looks like a bunch of random textures, and its moving. Of the games I'm familiar with, all of them have the sound playing while the screen is up, too.

Post by **pixelbender** » Fri Jul 06, 2007 11:20 am

Could it be because the famicon is Jap NTSC and it won't work with the US NTSC??? I know it should, but ya never know...

EDIT: OR its a PAL system from the UK?? Does it say on the bottom?

Post by **extrarice** » Fri Jul 06, 2007 3:48 pm

Steel A Jeeg wrote:The screen seems like there's something wrong with the system itself, though. The green image looks like a bunch of random textures, and its moving. Of the games I'm familiar with, all of them have the sound playing while the screen is up, too.

Cartridges or the cart slot are dirty.

Get some Q-tips and rubbing alcohol and clean the games.

As for the slot in the Super Famicom, get a lint-free cloth, like what you would use to clean glasses. Get a thin plastic something, like one of those fake credit cards that the credit card companies send you to get you to sign up. Pour some rubbing alcohol on the cloth, fold the cloth around the credit card, and insert/remove the works in the cart slot. Every once in a while shift the card in the cloth to use a clean bit of cloth in the slot. Make sure the pins aren't bent out of alignment or that there isn't anything in there to obstruct operation or bridging a gap.

If that doesn't work, make sure the cart is pushed in as far as it will go, or pull up slightly on one side or another, resetting the system after each pull. Some carts can be kind of finicky - I have a FFV cart that doesn't like to work on my NA SNES unless I have a nickel in front of it pushing the cart against the back of the slot.

Post by **Steel A Jeeg** » Sun Jul 08, 2007 4:12 am

I've tried cleaning the system. It doesn't help at all.

Could it be something wrong with the system itself? If so, then what could it possibly be?

Does a Super Famicom use the same plug as an American SNES? My SNES power supply will not fit in the back of the Super Famicom, I had to get a third party plug with a more narrow connector. It has two connectors, one wide and one narrow. Oddly, my SNES works with the third party power supply.

Post by **extrarice** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 12:30 pm

Steel A Jeeg wrote:I've tried cleaning the system. It doesn't help at all.

Could it be something wrong with the system itself? If so, then what could it possibly be?

Does a Super Famicom use the same plug as an American SNES? My SNES power supply will not fit in the back of the Super Famicom, I had to get a third party plug with a more narrow connector. It has two connectors, one wide and one narrow. Oddly, my SNES works with the third party power supply.

A Japanese Super Famicom uses a different power supply than a US SNES. Make sure the power supply will work with US voltages.

Playing a JPN NTSC system on a US NTSC TV should present no problems - the broadcast standards are the same.

Have you tried the games in another system?

I still think it's a dirty system, though it is possible that it may be something else. *shrug* Shine a flashlight down inside the cartridge slot to see if anything is in there bridging a gap or getting in the way of cart contact.

Post by **Pullmyfinger** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 2:14 pm

Have you tried sticking objects such as trading cards, or cardboard or anything to push the cart back??

Post by **Steel A Jeeg** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 1:10 am

I have. Its hard to describe what the screen looks like when the system turns on, but it happens with every single game. Just random blobs of pixels moving around like they're the actual title screens. The music plays, the screen animates, its just... all random shapes.

I've already given up hope for the system, and ordered a Security Bit to start messing around with the innards. If someone has any other solutions, I'll be eternally indebted!

Oh, and thanks to everyone else who took the time to reply. Its nice to post on a forum and actually get answers to a question.

Post by **Steel A Jeeg** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 1:22 am

extrarice wrote: A Japanese Super Famicom uses a different power supply than a US SNES. Make sure the power supply will work with US voltages.

Playing a JPN NTSC system on a US NTSC TV should present no problems - the broadcast standards are the same.

Have you tried the games in another system?

I still think it's a dirty system, though it is possible that it may be something else. *shrug* Shine a flashlight down inside the cartridge slot to see if anything is in there bridging a gap or getting in the way of cart contact.

Its a 120V plug with two adapters, so it can fit the US and the Japanese systems.

I haven't tried the games in another system, because I don't have an SNES that can play Japanese games at the moment. However, even the Japanese games that I already owned won't display. I've used those as recently as a year ago on an old SNES, and they worked just fine.

I've been down that road a few times already. I was convinced for the longest time that there was something wrong with the connectors that I was just missing, but they actually look cleaner than my current SNES. I purchased the item "AS IS/UNTESTED" on Ebay, but it was so dirt cheap that I didn't bother complaining outside of the neutral feedback. I'm going to take it apart and see what I can do with it. if nothing else works, I'll just swap in the guts from my SNES and use it as a really lazy Case-Mod.

Thanks for the help!