So I finally got a replacement to my broken Genesis, a Genesis 3 in good shape with cords and two controllers for $25, I get it home and it doesn't work. So I open it up and use a q-tip and some alcohol to clean the pins of the blade connector, along with a screwdriver to push the pins closer to each other and... Nothing. Try the other cables. Nothing.
So then I realize I'm on the wrong input on my TV.

It works! However, the other cable is busted. I tried it on my TV and It will not work at all. Soon, after testing, I realize that two RF modulators (switches RCA to RF) I was using had failed.

So I rip those out. Then I try two others. One *kind of* works, the other spits out the worst signal I've ever seen that isn't static.
And all of this because my TV doesn't have RCA jacks. "What?" I hear you saying, but tis true. My mid-ninties Sanyo was designed with nothing but a cable input (and has mono sound

). Guess what I'll be doing today! I'm going to get a replacement TV! This one has 2 RCA jacks, I believe an S video port, and a cable input.
The morals of this story? Don't but a TV that doesn't have RCA. Stay away from Modulators, they are cheeply built. Don't buy a game system when the flea market booth that is selling it also sells furniture. Check your TV's input before ripping your game system out and driving to the flea market to demand a refund.
I've been through every kind of miserable wasteland of broken stuff these past couple of months and I'm really here just for reassurance. Anyone else having TV problems???