SNES having graphical glitches on LCD TV

[ChuChu Flamingo]

A lot of HDTV's have problems recognizing 240p correctly. One side effect is transparencies not showing up correctly (think shadows below fighters feet and shmup shadows). They will either become invisible or static. This seems to be what you're experiencing.

Additionally, I would recommend cleaning your SNES console contacts. I usually use a brush+contact cleaner/rubbing alcohol and scrub away. I then wrap a credit card in a white t-shirt to dry it off

[Ziggy]

Did you clean the carts too? You can clean the cart slot on the console all you want, but if the pins on the carts are still dirty then you'll still have the same problem.

[AppleQueso]

A lot of HDTV's have problems recognizing 240p correctly. One side effect is transparencies not showing up correctly (think shadows below fighters feet and shmup shadows). They will either become invisible or static. This seems to be what you're experiencing.

Well sprites turning into "random squiggles and digits" certainly doesn't sound like a 240p problem to me.

[Hobie-wan]

A lot of HDTV's have problems recognizing 240p correctly. One side effect is transparencies not showing up correctly (think shadows below fighters feet and shmup shadows). They will either become invisible or static. This seems to be what you're experiencing.

Well sprites turning into "random squiggles and digits" certainly doesn't sound like a 240p problem to me.

Indeed. The fake transparency done by the flickering trick is what causes shadows and things to act weird on some LCDs and Plasmas. The SNES does actual alpha color blending so does not have this problem. My ED plasma gets some strange ghosts from the SNES if I use composite, but behaves fine if I use s-video. I assume this is related to some overscan in the composite being interpreted incorrectly.

[BearChair]

Well guys thanks for the help and the advice. I tested the console more thoroughly today, and I've come to the conclusion that it is the most likely culprit for the problems I'm having.

I tested FFVI more and it will not load battles at all, neither in saved games nor from a new game. It was still dropping background layers as well.

Secret of Mana was having the same problems as ever, but I found it only exists for enemy sprites. I got to the first village and all of the villager sprites are there. All the menus look fine too, so the problem is just enemy sprites.

I finally tested Chrono Trigger and it loads to the ticking clock at the beginning and that's all. However, I can hear from the audio clicking through menus the 'ting' sound that you should hear. So the its just not being displayed.

I've cleaned all the carts thoroughly with q-tips and rubbing alcohol and tried using a toothbrush with rubbing alcohol on the contacts on the console and nothing has changed since I first reported these problems.

The common denominator among all of the games is the console, and all of the games have been stored in a plastic container in individual boxes with the dust covers over the openings, so I can't believe all three of these games is broken, at least I really, really hope not.

Sorry I haven't posted any pictures. I don't have a digital camera, so there is no way for me to do it.

Again, thanks for all the help, but it looks like I'm in the market for a SNES. I'm not happy about it, but accept it.

[Ziggy]

Try the SNES out on another TV first, preferably a CRT, and see if it still happens.

[AppleQueso]

Try the SNES out on another TV first, preferably a CRT, and see if it still happens.

It'd be a waste of time. His problems pretty obviously aren't because of his display.

[Ziggy]

No harm in trying.

[Hobie-wan]

Again, thanks for all the help, but it looks like I'm in the market for a SNES. I'm not happy about it, but accept it.

Well that sucks. Do you live in a place where static is a problem in winter? Maybe it got zapped? Don't toss it though, especially if the case isn't yellowed. Might be useful for parts or if you get a yellowed replacement to swap cases.

[Ziggy]

Yeah, I was gonna say, if you're getting a new SNES, please don't toss your old one. If you don't wish to hold on to it, I'm sure a number of people on this forum alone would be interested in it.