Technical and Repair Assistance

[Doc]

Argh!

I can't believe this, I should know this. But I guess I'm rusty.

I tried hooking up my old Fami for the first time in forever, because I've been so awfully busy for a long time. I have the hook-ups. The A/V cables were plugged in, the AC Adaptor was also plugged in, but when I try to turn my Fami on, I get no results on the screen. It doesn't even sound like it's turned on! I thought it was my VCR/DVD combo, which is newer, since I've heard that newer VCR's have been known to not work with the older Fami, but I'm not sure. It could be anything, seemingly. Anyone have any ideas on what's wrong?

[Rogles]

When I've been playing my famicom for a while, and touch the area in the back where the RF modulator is, it feels warm. Not hot or anything, just kinda warm. Is this normal?

[133MHz]

Yes. It's the 7805 voltage regulator dissipating heat through a big aluminum heatsink.

[133MHz]

Here's a weird one that could be useful to somebody in the future:

One of the FDS RAM adapters I received was quirky - it displayed graphical corruption on almost every moving sprite with tile flipping on my NES (e.g. goombas). The other RAM adapter worked fine, but I tried the 'broken' RAM adapter with a cheapo Famiclone and it worked perfectly!. It was like that particular RAM adapter disliked my NES console for some unknown reason. Connection problems were ruled out after cleaning the pins and checking that the errors didn't change when wiggling the RAM adapter around. Also the errors weren't random, they were always the same. RAM adapter self-test showed PRAM CRAM OK.

Using the almighty finger technique on my NES with the 'broken' RAM adapter plugged in (lick your finger and start touching random pins on the motherboard checking for altered behavior - every electronics nut worth it's salt swears by this) I managed to get a glitch-free picture! Eventually narrowed it down to five data lines: PRG D3, D4, D5, D6 and D7; which correspond to CPU pins 21, 22, 23, 24 and 25. I soldered a 6,2kΩ resistor between each of the suspect CPU pins and ground and et voilá! No more glitches!

So, if you're getting graphics errors with your FDS RAM adapter, try pulling your CPU data lines low .

[PatMan33]

*stumbles out of a burning house*

Look at what you've made me do!!

Very cool though, I love reading about the process you went through.

[Rogles]

i have a standard HVC-001 famicom. I'm using the packaged RF cable with one of those little boxes that has the 2 prongs on that cable coming out. I have that hooked up to an antenna adapter that has 2 slots for the prongs, and plugs into the tv via a regular rf plug. When I have my TV set up downstairs, It works fine. When I took it upstairs last night(it's a small TV), and set it on my desk, I hooked it up, and I had a real hard time getting it to display anything. It was on the right channel(96), but the image was all fuzzy and scrolling down the screen. today, I took all that downstairs, and it worked perfectly. Any ideas?

[BadWolf42]

Hello all.
After months of dissapointment, I finally aquired a Disk System. Not posessing a Famicom, I used a converter from an NTSC Gyromite cartridge to connect it to a disemboweled Toaster NES.

I have three problems, and I think they may all be connected somehow.

1) While all the FDS screens occur, they have distortion, like when a dirty cart is put in (Though I know that isn't the problem, I rubbed the thing with Q-tips for a good 20 minutes)
2) The only disk I have loads until the copyright screen, and then the screen goes black (The disk is Tarot Uranai, if that's important)
3) When I run the RAM diagnostic check, it says PRAM CRAM 6000H, and I don't think that's good.

I hope all you FDS experts can help me out here, I'll appreciate it.

Thank You!

[133MHz]

Try your RAM adapter in a Famiclone first, even the cheapest Polystation will do.

[BadWolf42]

So you think the problem may be the 60-72 adapter, or even the NES itself?

Another quick question, does the Generation NEX have Disk System support? I'm almost sure it does, but I'm unable to find a definitive yes or no.

[133MHz]

Yes. If you read back a few posts, you'll see that I had graphical corruption problems when using my FDS RAM adapter with my NES, and it turned out that the NES was the culprit. A quick test with a Famiclone would rule out that possibility.

[BadWolf42]

Alright, thank you very much!

The FDS was given to me by a very close friend, and to my surprise, it was actually the right thing.(We've dubbed her "Fami-clueless" in the past) I didn't have the heart to tell her that it didn't work, so the greater chance there is of this thing working, the better off I'll be.

Unfortunately, my last working Famiclone tragically perished in a freak AC Adapter accident, so I guess it's off to the nearest retro-gaming store for me.

THank you so much, 133MHz!

[Esgher]

Hi,

I'm new to this forum and I have a question:

I just got a Famicom + Disk System for my birthday, and I want to hook up my Famicom to my tv.

I live in Holland, Europe, so I have a European TV. Since it is less than 2 years old I presume it also supports NTSC however I am not sure. I have a 110/220v stepdown converter (it came with my Virtual Boy and I know for a fact it works)

I would like to know how I can hook up my Famicom to my tv.
The Famicom has an RF switch from which 2 fork terminals leave to go in to the (Japanese) TV.
Not the same, but something like this:


In Europe/ Holland we have a different way to hook up a console (like my NES or SNES) to a TV (it is also the same connection as the regular cable TV). It looks like this:



Does any of you know how I can hook up my Famicom to my Dutch TV? I have been struggling with this and I do not know how to get it to work.

If I could get it to work, I can use my super-cool Famicom Robot with Block set (which just came in) and my Disk System with Super Mario Bros. on disk.

[133MHz]

You can either replace the coax plug on your Famicom's RF switch with the one that your country uses, or simply use a NES/SNES RF switchbox, assuming you have one with the compatible connector.

random edit: This thread's page number had reached my shoe size (European) xD.

[Esgher]

Thanks much!

Once I get back from vacation I will get cracking with this. Can I just use the TV feature of "search for channel" and it will automatically find the Famicom channel, or do I have to switch the TV to a NTSC setting first (or is that being done automatically?)

Is there any way to check whether my Famicom powers up, when not connected to a TV? The NES has a red led light to check, but the Famicom doesn't... so is there any way that you can see?

by the way, we have similar shoe sizes. 

[wolf9545]

The closest way to see if the famicom powers on, without opening it up and using a voltmeter, is to plug the unit into the wall and flip the power switch.  Since it does not have any lights if you put your hand on top of the unit after a few minutes and it is warm at least you know the power is going through it.  All though this doesn't tell you if the complete circuity is completely working.