I have three SNESs and none of them are working

[Reprise]

Hi guys, your help would be very much appreciated thanks

Long story short (see my posts in this thread: click, I have owned a SNES since 2010ish. It was bought boxed, complete and in excellent condition with the original power supply and av cable. I have it connected with RGB Scart and it has worked fine all these years up until this past weekend. I turned it on to play a game and I had picture but no sound. I changed game, still no sound. I swapped out the RGB Scart cable for a S-Video cable and same deal, picture but no sound.

So thinking it was the SNES at fault I bought two new SNES consoles off Ebay (one as a back up). Thinking I had working cables, I just bought replacement models with no cables. I mean I'm on a budget really. Now I have received both new models and I plugged them in and both models are powering on, but giving no picture or sound this time. So thinking how odd and coincidental that is to myself, I plugged my original model in and - lo and behold - surprise, surprise, no picture or sound. I then wondered if the Scart cable had become faulty, so I plug my S-Video cable in, but same issue.

So what's going on here? All I can think of that by coincidence and poor luck, I have found myself in possession of three faulty SNES consoles, all with the same fault.

OR it has to be the power cable/adapter right that is plugged into the wall? That's the only thing left I can think of. But is that even possible? I have never known of a power cable causing such an issue. All the consoles power on, they all light up. It's simply that there's no picture. My original SNES had picture and no sound at the weekend, but now there's no picture either. I'm at a loss here, so any advice would be appreciated. I guess I need to buy myself a new AC adapter has the last thing to try... Just wondering how much that'll cost me and if I can even still get an official one cheap. Bet it's just third party ones...

[Tanooki]

I'm pretty certain it's not the system. I mean what really are the odds that 3 systems from different people, time periods, and amount of use would all have an identical failure?

I'd put it to something coming off it, like the ac adapter or the video cable as I see you're not using the standard RCA jack it came with but other stuff. Perhaps the TV is having a fault, the plug in back or multiple, or some board inside that. Try another TV? Try the original in box SNES video cable and ac adapter (or multiple AC adapters all first party?)

I was reading within a week or two another space where someone had a problem with the SNES, ended it up being confused by a third party ac adapter causing the issue because the dumb thing was just 1 little volt (amps same) lower and it was enough to have a problem.

[Reprise]

We had RF in the UK, but it's terrible and unusable. Or maybe the SNES came with composite, I can't remember. I probably have the original cable somewhere, but I can't see it being the video cables at fault, since I have Scart and S-Video and the same issue remains (S-Video works fine with my N64). I also don't think it can be the TV, since it has always worked fine and none of my other consoles connected to that TV are having issues.

One horrific thought I've had is the AC power adapter could be faulty and blowing the consoles somehow? Is that even possible? Because if that's happened, it's possible I now have three broken SNES consoles...

I think I'm going to have to bite the bullet and buy a AC adapter to test that instead. There's a third party one on Amazon with excellent reviews. But man, third party... Should I really avoid and just buy a more expensive and second-hand official AC adapter instead? Ugh and it's all MORE money to spend that I shouldn't be spending

I'm so tempted to just stop with retro consoles. It's more headache and more money than it's worth.

Edit: To clarify, I am currently using the original and official AC adapter.

[ESauced]

Have you tried connecting it to a different tv/sound system? I would be shocked if it were the systems at fault.

[Reprise]

No, I haven't tried a different TV. I will do that now.

[Reprise]

Update: Tried my other TV and the following occured:

- SNES 1 (original SNES I've owned since 2010) - booted with the original issue. I.e. Picture but no sound
- SNES 2 - booted with no picture or sound the first time. I turned the power off and back on again and it booted up with picture and sound!
- SNES 3 - booted with no picture or sound the first time. Tried again. Nothing. Tried again - green screen this time. Tried again and nothing. Tried again annnd picture and sound!

So what's the issue here? Third SNES perhaps has slightly dodgy cartridge slot that needs cleaning? But is the TV I was originally using also now having issues? I just don't understand. SNES 1 presumably is broken as I suspected when I bought two new ones.

[Sarge]

Given that you got the "new" systems to power up with audio and video, I'm leaning toward dirty (or worn) cart connector. I have this issue with my old system; I sometimes have to reseat the cart a few times before it powers up properly. If you're getting a black screen (no video or audio), that's normal if the cart isn't engaged properly. You shouldn't get any cases like the NES where it sort of comes on but with graphical corruption.

The only other thing I would test is a different power supply. Even if you have an OEM brick, they will eventually go bad and not be able to supply power like they should. That can cause all sorts of weird issues.

I'm not sure if this is the case with the SNES, but I believe electrolytic capacitors, if put in storage for quite some time, can lose their "conditioning", and need to reestablish it to function correctly. This may have occurred through your multiple power cycles. (The whole conditioning thing has to do with the chemical makeup of the capacitor itself.)

[Reprise]

Thank you for the reply. I'm thinking it's dirty or worn cart connectors as well. Is there anything I can do to fix this? Perhaps I should attempt to clean the cartridge slots in the two 'new' SNES consoles?

Edit: Just to clarify, I was testing with SNES cartridges that are in decent condition and I know have never given me much if any issues before when my original SNES was working (to be honest, all my SNES cartridges are decent and tend to work fine, I keep them clean and covered in a box). And my SNES was last played and working just a few weeks ago. So I think if there is an issue reading the SNES cartridges, it's the cartridge slots in the new consoles rather than the cartridges themselves.

The only other thing I would test is a different power supply. Even if you have an OEM brick, they will eventually go bad and not be able to supply power like they should. That can cause all sorts of weird issues.

I was thinking the same thing. What would you recommend? I can get a third party power supply off Amazon for £10 and it has good reviews. But I've never used a third party, 'unofficial' power supply for a console before. I know people can be weary of them... And I definitely don't want my consoles to get damaged by a dodgy cable. Alternatively I can buy a second hand 'original' and official SNES power supply for not much more, but as it's second hand and Super Nintendos have been around for nearly 30 years, who knows how good it'll be and how long it will last.

I'm not sure if this is the case with the SNES, but I believe electrolytic capacitors, if put in storage for quite some time, can lose their "conditioning", and need to reestablish it to function correctly. This may have occurred through your multiple power cycles. (The whole conditioning thing has to do with the chemical makeup of the capacitor itself.)

I don't understand any of what this means haha. But I hope it's not something bad or permanent?

[Sarge]

I think if you buy from a reputable source, you should be fine, especially if it has solid reviews.

The capacitor thing isn't permanent, but it can put a lot of stress on them, and at some point when left in storage, they will likely stop working. Of course, electrolytic caps will stop working eventually regardless of what you do, so darned if you do, darned if you don't. I'm anticipating a day where my systems start failing and I need to do a full recap.

[Reprise]

Thanks for the help.

Okay, so I've got one of my 'new' Super Nintendos working upstairs on the TV I was originally trying now. Seems to be behaving much better now. Guess the cartridge slot had a bit of grime or the console just needed warming up (who knows? It was the one I got cheap as heck from a charity shop in a bid, because it has an ugly sticker on it and was sold as untested). I think the other SNES (ironically, the 'better' condition one that cost me more than double the price of the other one) needs it's cartridge slot cleaned a bit before it will work better (I hope!). I'll give that a shot sometime, perhaps at the weekend. If it still has problems after cleaning, I might contact the seller, since they graded it as 'good' quality, their second highest grading, and claimed they clean and test all their consoles before sending.