The Problem
I was playing on an Everdrive N8 and simply stood up on a staticy floor, which was apparently enough to send a shock through the controller that froze the game, and now every time I try booting up with a game in (including real games), it just goes to a solid (not blinking) gray screen. If I don't have a game in it's a blinking gray screen.
The Hardware
Modded front-loader NTSC NES. I modded it a long time ago to paint it (so I don't have any more detailed model info since the stickers are gone), put the stereo mod, and gave it a cartridge viewing "window". For the window to work I took off the upper RF shielding, maybe a bit naively at the time. I wonder if the absence of the shield affected charge dissipation and made it possible for static to fry it?
Troubleshooting so far
- AC adapter still works, tested on another working NES
- ICs are warm after being turned on ~5 minutes, but not too hot to comfortably touch
- No visibly damaged caps or resistors on the mobo. I haven't opened up the power module yet
- Haven't cleaned the 72 pin yet but no visible issues
Thoughts on what this could be? The most common culprits I've found seem to be the 72 pin connector and the CPU, but I read the CPU should either be excessively hot or not warming up at all. While I can't rule out the 72 pin yet, I'm not sure how it would've been damaged by a shock.
My next thought was to check the capacitors with a multimeter, but the one I have now can't do capacitance, so I thought in the meantime until I get a nicer meter I'd check if anyone here had ideas. I don't own any other testing tools like an oscilloscope or logic probe right now.
I was playing on an Everdrive N8 and simply stood up on a staticy floor, which was apparently enough to send a shock through the controller that froze the game, and now every time I try booting up with a game in (including real games), it just goes to a solid (not blinking) gray screen. If I don't have a game in it's a blinking gray screen.
The Hardware
Modded front-loader NTSC NES. I modded it a long time ago to paint it (so I don't have any more detailed model info since the stickers are gone), put the stereo mod, and gave it a cartridge viewing "window". For the window to work I took off the upper RF shielding, maybe a bit naively at the time. I wonder if the absence of the shield affected charge dissipation and made it possible for static to fry it?
Troubleshooting so far
- AC adapter still works, tested on another working NES
- ICs are warm after being turned on ~5 minutes, but not too hot to comfortably touch
- No visibly damaged caps or resistors on the mobo. I haven't opened up the power module yet
- Haven't cleaned the 72 pin yet but no visible issues
Thoughts on what this could be? The most common culprits I've found seem to be the 72 pin connector and the CPU, but I read the CPU should either be excessively hot or not warming up at all. While I can't rule out the 72 pin yet, I'm not sure how it would've been damaged by a shock.
My next thought was to check the capacitors with a multimeter, but the one I have now can't do capacitance, so I thought in the meantime until I get a nicer meter I'd check if anyone here had ideas. I don't own any other testing tools like an oscilloscope or logic probe right now.
Statistics: Posted by MegaMace — Sat Dec 28, 2024 9:55 am — Replies 6 — Views 233