SNES repair

Got a 1-chip snes model 1 that had a bad cartridge slot.

to repair it i first took the snes apart and took the board out.

then, i flipped it upside down and took the solder out of each pin by hand with a desoldering iron so it wont get too hot during the next step.

when i use a desoldering iron, pieces of solder tend to hang on the connector just enough to keep it from coming out and no matter how much i go back and clean it it it still wont budge.

so the next step is to set a heat gun with a fine, round tip on it to about 680 degrees right where solder melts. then i prop the board up on a piece of tile, and a brick to keep it from resting on the connector.

next step is to take the heat gun and move it slowly back and forth across the entire 2 rows of pins at the same time until the solder hanging on melts. as you are doing that, stick a screwdriver on the bottom of the connector where the screws go through it, and push down, if the solder is good and melted it should just push right out.

after that, i take time to clean up each hole on the pcb with the desoldering iron.

Grab new connector, make sure its seated all the way against the pcb, and have at it solder it in, making sure not to miss any pins. reassembled snes.

another thing to remember is that these new connectors arent being made now, and most of them are old and will have a layer of oxidation on them, and your snes wont want to work with the new connector until you clean it a few times with a cleaning kit, and also take a clean game and insert it over and over about 10 times to break the layer of oxidation.

My snes works like brand new and i hope ive made this much easier to do.

I did this a couple months ago. Totally worth it I could punt my SNES across the room and it'd still read the cart.

sad thing is that when these connectors were being sold by mcm, nobody needed them.

That's awesome! I've never had a snes cart connector die on me. I love top loaders.

Drakon wrote:

That's awesome! I've never had a snes cart connector die on me. I love top loaders.

they do go bad - the game cuts out if you move it ever so slightly.

mvsfan wrote:

Drakon wrote:

That's awesome! I've never had a snes cart connector die on me. I love top loaders.

they do go bad - the game cuts out if you move it ever so slightly.

I think the strangest was reading on sega16 that someone was replacing his cartridge slot which was working fine.

Drakon wrote:

mvsfan wrote:

Drakon wrote:

That's awesome! I've never had a snes cart connector die on me. I love top loaders.

they do go bad - the game cuts out if you move it ever so slightly.

I think the strangest was reading on sega16 that someone was replacing his cartridge slot which was working fine.

and why would you do that? dont fix it if its not broke.

on a regular, yellowed snes with a soldered in connector i wouldnt even bother replacing it but a 1-chip is definately worth fixing.

mvsfan wrote:

and why would you do that? dont fix it if its not broke.

I asked the very same question I thought it was stupid. He said "might as well replace it while I'm working on the system it's not as tight as a new connector."

Really the risk of damaging something isn't worth it.

Drakon wrote:

mvsfan wrote:

and why would you do that? dont fix it if its not broke.

I asked the very same question I thought it was stupid. He said "might as well replace it while I'm working on the system it's not as tight as a new connector."

Really the risk of damaging something isn't worth it.

i really hope the guy didnt do that on a sega - those slots are built like tanks. all ive ever needed to do is clean them.

if you run across a genesis with a loose cartridge slot it was probably used every hour of every day since it was new... :P

I discovered recently that while the shvc consoles dont share a cartridge slot footprint with 1-chips (1-chips are wider)

the GPM revision does share the exact same pin spacing as the revisions with soldered-in connectors such as 1-chips.

so if anyone wants to put a snap-on cartridge connector into a 1-chip for future replacement you can take the header out of a GPM.

and the snap-on connectors are still available. theres a guy on ebay who has hundreds of them.

I still have yet to get a slot that doesn't work. At worst I have to sometimes insert a game all the way then pull it back up just a tiny bit and that makes a great connection.

At worst I have to sometimes insert a game all the way then pull it back up just a tiny bit and that makes a great connection.[/quote]

Yeah thats the thing if your having to do stuff like that its not working right.

If you put a new connector in it will just work provided that your games are clean.

Ive also revived connectors by using superfine sandpaper. I was having to push the game forward to get it to make a good connection

and after a couple swipes with 3000 grit it just worked like new all the time.

Btw i have a box of about 15 brand new snap in connectors for snes if anyone needs one.