Star Wing (Star Fox) not working...

[Mudk112]

Hi, and thanks in advance to anyone reading this...

I recently purchased a copy of Star Wing off a second-hand seller (which happened to be Chillout Games)

Upon inserting the game into my system and powering up, all I get is a black screen.
I've tried cleaning the cartridge, first with a rubber (before I inserted it) then the classic alcohol and cotton bud trick, even tried blowing on it, but to no avail - still black screen.
I'm sure it can't be a bad chip on the motherboard, as I've tested the machine with a non-SuperFX cart (Super Soccer) and there's no problem in that.
The people at Chilloutgames certainly said that they'd tested it, prior to shipping.
All I can possibly think is that maybe I damaged the extra connectors at the sides (the extra ones on the snes motherboard where the SuperFX supposedly plugs in) when I cleaned the connector when I had a previous problem concerning a trippy Mario World cartridge (some of you may have seen that post)
I've inspected the connector on the motherboard, one or two of the pins on either side seem to be slightly further forward than the surrounding pins, but I'm not sure if that's anywhere near enough to cause any connection problems. Might it be worth buying a new connector?

I've attached an image to this post, both showing what I mean with the connector
It may be a little harder to see, I've taken these with my iPhone 4S
If you want some higher-res images, then I could arrange that

Any ideas?

Thank you very much in advance

[HVC-Man]

Star Fox and other SuperFX games use just one of the 16 extra pins in the SNES slot, the 21MHz signal. Sometimes, the cartridge has a crystal onboard and doesn't use any of the extra pins, making it basically the same as a regular SNES game. Try cleaning the game more, clean your system slot too. Easiest way is to wet the cartridge connector in alcohol and then scrub the slot with that.

Also, the pictured extra pins look fine.

[chowder]

Well I was wrong when I thought it was a bad chip with your last problem, so maybe take this with a pinch (fistful?) of salt

The connectors LOOK alright to me, but it's not impossible there's a problem with their connection to the board or something.  If at all possible, I'd try to find someone local with a SNES so you can test the cart to make sure you're not just really unlucky with them!

I'd offer to help myself, but I only have a Super Famicom.

[Mudk112]

Well, I tried HVC-man's suggestion of cleaning the cartridge again, I cleaned it again using the q-tip and then using the alcohol left on the cartridge to scrub the inside of the cart slot on the console (including the enhancement chip tabs) However, still a black screen.

Strangely enough, I do happen to know someone who owns a SNES, I've already contacted him and asked him if he owns any games with enhancement chips, but he's not got back to me yet.

Given what you've said Chowder, if this cart is ok, then I guess it may be worth replacing the connector?

In the meantime, I'll see if I can get in touch with the guy I mentioned and I'll report back when I have some results

Thanks you guys

[Mudk112]

Well, I went and tested my game at my Friend's place with his console, and it worked fine...
I think Chowder's original statement about the console at fault is probably true - the console is at fault here, and not the games as I was lead to believe with Super Soccer
I also tried some of his games (and mine) in my SNES, all of them produce different results:

Super Mario World: Boots with scrambled graphics and gives a black screen upon entry into some levels
Super Soccer: This one's an anomaly, it works with absolutely NO flaws whatsoever (or at least haven't come across any yet)
Star Wing: (as said above)
PilotWings: Boots with semi-scrambled graphics, appears to crash upon selecting start in the menu
Donkey Kong Country: Boots with the graphics completely intact, but goes to a black screen and does nothing else when I try to load a Save File
Super Mario All-Stars + Super Mario World: Boots with no graphical errors, but when one of the 5 games is loaded, graphics go scrambled again
Mortal Kombat 2: Boots, but when it's been through the first 2 credit screens, shows a black screen and refuses to do anything else

So, it seems that my console is at fault, the only question that remains now is, 'Is it fixable?'

[HVC-Man]

CPU RAM, PPU RAM or PPU cores could all be at fault here. The SNES uses off the shelf SRAM, just find something of the same speed, size and package type (probably SOP24).

[Mudk112]

Ok, so you reckon it's one of the chips then? Well, that's a bit of a bummer...
I'm quite happy to invest some time and effort into a repair attempt, but first I need a rough idea of what I'm up against...
Just a few more questions:

-Assuming that the ram chips (and not the PPU(s)) are at fault, and these parts are off-the-shelf, Where will I be able to find such chips?
-Might it be possible that the chips are fine, but the 'tracks' connecting the components need re-flowing or something? (I've read in a few places that people had problems with the tracks, and after doing something to them (re-flowing I think) the console was fine again)
-Any other general tips on such a project? (I.e - soldering those tiny pins for the chips)
-Any other things that might be worth a try?

Apologies for deviating from the original title, I just really want to get to the bottom of this problem

Thanks in advance

[HVC-Man]

- You can find SRAM at buyicnow.com. Probably something like this http://www.buyicnow.com/it.php?i=350
I haven't been inside a SNES console for a long time, so I'd have to double check. When in doubt, examine the parts numbers of the RAM chips in your SNES. 64256 typically describes 256Kbit SRAM, "-12" or such means how fast the chip is. Those Sony SRAMs are 58257-70 but should still work.

- If your SNES had sudden electronic failure, then it's the parts, not the traces.

- If you've never done surface mount soldering before, find someone who is and have them replace the RAM chips for you.

And yes, the S-PPU cores are custom Nintendo chips, only available in other SNES consoles. If those are bad, you'll have to get another SNES console. Best option then would be to put power filter caps in, so the new SNES won't suffer premature failure as fast.