NES Screen Problem

[Crimson_Knight]

I posted this over on Atari Age but, I didn't get a lot of help. The only thing I figured out was that it may have been caused by using the Genesis Power Adapter on my NES. Basically when I pop in a game and turn he system on there are wavy lines that move around on the screen. At first they went away after like 5 min. but now it takes almost 20min for them to go away. I've taken my NES apart and cleaned all the contacts both on the games and the NES and now I'm out of ideas. Here's some pics:

http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n248/Hikaru809/IMG_13887-1.jpg

http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n248/Hikaru809/IMG_13907-1.jpg

http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n248/Hikaru809/IMG_13917-1.jpg

[PC-ENGINE HELL]

Its hard to tell for sure from just taking a glance at the pics, but Im betting its signal interference. Are you using RCA composite video? If so, and your running the Nes through a video selector, try running it directly into the tv instead. I was going to say if it was more then the Nes doing it, its your tv and it could need to be degaussed or whatever.

[Crimson_Knight]

Its hard to tell for sure from just taking a glance at the pics, but Im betting its signal interference. Are you using RCA composite video? If so, and your running the Nes through a video selector, try running it directly into the tv instead. I was going to say if it was more then the Nes doing it, its your tv and it could need to be degaussed or whatever.

I've tried different cables and I've hooked it up to every TV in the house and it's still the same. I did try it w/ the Genesis power adaptor and the lines went from wavy to solid, diagonal lines.

[Mitch]

I've tried different cables and I've hooked it up to every TV in the house and it's still the same. I did try it w/ the Genesis power adaptor and the lines went from wavy to solid, diagonal lines.

You didn't answer the question. Did you hook it up with the composite A/V cable or with the RF switchbox? Those pics make it look like an RF switchbox.

Mitch

[Crimson_Knight]

You didn't answer the question. Did you hook it up with the composite A/V cable or with the RF switchbox? Those pics make it look like an RF switchbox.

Mitch

Sorry bout that. I hooked it up with the A/V cables.

[gokugohandave]

any idiot can tell you that not using the original or equivalant nes adapter can have massive consequences on the hardware. STOP STOP STOP!!! USING YOUR GENESIS ADAPTER AND USE OR FIND A REAL ONE!!! Unless you like having your nes look like a pile of melted plastic.

[thunderkid]

Sorry bout that. I hooked it up with the A/V cables.


I think you are being very picky about the picture. My NES has been doing that for 20 years. That is normal for just about any NES that I have ever seen. Using a genesis AC adapter means nothing because it powers the NES just fine. Why do you think that 3rd party AC adapters are inter changable between NES SEGA AND Atari Jaguar?

[gokugohandave]

I think you are being very picky about the picture. My NES has been doing that for 20 years. That is normal for just about any NES that I have ever seen. Using a genesis AC adapter means nothing because it powers the NES just fine. Why do you think that 3rd party AC adapters are inter changable between NES SEGA AND Atari Jaguar?

Because your one of those ignorant dorks who think that if you just plug it in and it works then it must be the right adapter, when its not. Ill be happy to not buy anything from you because its probably fried.

[gokugohandave]

The NES expects 120v AC, while the genesis expects 10v 850A DC, quite a difference my friend.

[FABombjoy]

The NES is designed for 9V AC, which is then run through a bridge rectifier inside the NES and converted to DC

The Genesis supply provides 9V DC, which then passes harmessly through half of the BR and still comes out as DC on the other end.

A genesis, NES, Odyssey 2, Jaguar, TG16 supply... any of these will work with a NES.

[gokugohandave]

I knew it was converted inside, but the genesis is 10 instead of 9, im looking at both the adapters right now for genny.

[Crimson_Knight]

any idiot can tell you that not using the original or equivalant nes adapter can have massive consequences on the hardware. STOP STOP STOP!!! USING YOUR GENESIS ADAPTER AND USE OR FIND A REAL ONE!!! Unless you like having your nes look like a pile of melted plastic.

I haven't used it in a few months. I got the correct adapter from my cousin (who gave me the NES)

[gokugohandave]

Whoops looked at input instead of output. You can still damage it by underpowering it, even though they both use 9 volts the amps are off. The nes wants 1.3 an the genny only needs 850, wich means while using the genny cord the nes wont get enough current.

[FABombjoy]

It doesn't matter if it's 9V or 10V. The next step is a 7805 which can take upward of 35V, or as low as 7.5V.

NES power supplies are overrated for the NES console. The rating on the bottom of the console is listed at around 800 or 850mA (been awhile since I've looked so I don't recall the exact number).

Also, the Genesis AC adapter you have, the one rated at 850mA, doesn't really fit in the NES power jack. The Sega 1602 adapter does, and it's 9V 1.2A. I'd put my money on the OP using that adapter.

[thunderkid]

Because your one of those ignorant dorks who think that if you just plug it in and it works then it must be the right adapter, when its not. Ill be happy to not buy anything from you because its probably fried.


First of all don't call me an ignorant dork. I know what I'm telling you. Yes the NES expects AC current. The internal regulator converts it to DC. Plugging in a Genesis DC adapter does nothing to the console. You just bypassed the DC conversion stage. You are feeding direct DC power to the NES, instead of it converting AC to DC. Hell half the NES consoles sold on ebay come with 3rd party DC adpaters. You will only have problems if you plug the NES AC adapter into a Genesis or TG16 or Jaguar. Machine expects DC you give it AC and before you know it, its dead. Please refrain from calling others names, as some of us know what we are talking about.

[gokugohandave]

ha, wow, from someone who probably cant even replace a cap or a regulator, and probably doesnt even have any degrees or experience in the matter at hand. I based my answer on the fact that I happened to use a genny adaptor on my first nes when I killed the original one by having it get yanked out of the wall, smashing it. So, silly me places genny adapter into nes, and goodbye nes and adapter in a nice little puff of smoke. Ive had a few incidents using the wrong adapter, and after my nes died ill never do it again.

oh and the fact that I have a nice little piece of paper coming to me that says I know what im talking about and can tell my toes from my fingers. Good day sir.

[thunderkid]

ha, wow, from someone who probably cant even replace a cap or a regulator, and probably doesnt even have any degrees or experience in the matter at hand. I based my answer on the fact that I happened to use a genny adaptor on my first nes when I killed the original one by having it get yanked out of the wall, smashing it. So, silly me places genny adapter into nes, and goodbye nes and adapter in a nice little puff of smoke. Ive had a few incidents using the wrong adapter, and after my nes died ill never do it again.

oh and the fact that I have a nice little piece of paper coming to me that says I know what im talking about and can tell my toes from my fingers. Good day sir.

There you go again talking. I work in the electronics industry. I have been for the past 10 years. I am a manufacturing engineer that deals with surface mount, thru hole and mixed technology. I can rework and solder very well thank you. I also have a piece of paper that tells me that I know what I'm doing, but I guess any one can get one these days. Anyway, as others have said above. a GENNY adapter WILL NOT kill your NES. I don't know what you plugged in to your NES so many years ago, but it should not have killed your NES if it was a GENNY adapter. I am ending this now with this ... a GENNY adapter WILL NOT kill your NES!

[PC-ENGINE HELL]

gokugohandave, you should respectfully back away from this topic and leave it to those who know what they are talking about. What your doing isnt helping the op. Posting what would be fear provoking hyperbole for possible noobs to read about melting Nes decks, confusing mis-information about using a Genesis 2 power supply on Nes, which isn't even possible, as they use different plug types, does not help the situation for the op, or anyone else or may end up with a similar issue.

You not even knowing the specifics on what the Nes actually requires power wise, or anything about this subject it seems, just makes it worse that you are posting insults here at others. Your advice is all built around misinformation. Even if you somehow had a Nes go up in smoke once, there's more then one explanation for that happening anyway, and your experience would not define everyone else's experiences. If you cant respectfully back away from it, then refrain from posting, and instead read and learn from people who know what they are talking about.

To the op, one guess on this is that the issue is due to your tv itself. It may be needing to be re-calibrated or serviced. This problem you are having, if that is indeed the case, may not be noticed on other systems that or stuff that presents more detail on screen, but is probably still present anyway. It could be thats why after a bit the issue goes away. Im only making this guess on the fact you are using composite cables and by what Im seeing in the pictures you posted.

Its really hard to make a solid judgment on still pics alone. I guess I should ask, does this curved like interference stuff present on the screen move any when the game is paused, like in waves kinda, or just stay still? That would tell me alot more. If it stays still, then yea, its a issue with your TV most likely, and servicing it could fix it. I have a Samsung 19 inch CRT that presented a similar issue to what Im seeing in your pics, but kinda near the corners of the screen, and after I re-calibrated that got rid of the issue. Id also recommend hitting up the AV forums if that is the case. If your tv does need to be re-calibrated, you can get solid advice there on how to do so. If the stuff moves on screen when the game is paused,rapidly or whatever, then Im betting you have some kinda interference going on. In that case, you could try moving the Tv and Nes to a different wall outlet, and hook nothing else up, just the Nes directly to the Tv, and see what happens.

[gokugohandave]

I actually do know what im talking about, but I guess working an 18 hours shift on a job dealing with this stuff and a simple mistake at posting the wrong information because of that is what this is all about.I never whatsoever said the words "a genny adapter will fit into an nes", so hows that for misinformation? I was done already.I was simply stating the difference in power requirements. And based on my experience from what I have seen, never use an adapter that was not made or matches the requirments of your device. I was also stating that using the wrong adapter can cause a very large range of malfunctions in many cases and could very well be the OP's trouble as hes experiencing it.

[thunderkid]

Thanks pc-enginehell. Like I said before, I have the same issue with my NES. The problem happens with any AC adapter used or with AV or RF. I always assumed that the problem was the NES itself. I never gave it much thought and just continued playing. Now I have to go home and check if my top loader NES is doing the same thing.

[PC-ENGINE HELL]

The problem is you posted a lot of wrong information, and passed some of it, along with your opinion off as hard fact. Not really caring for what you do for a job, or how many hours you work. It has no bearing on the fact on the multiple post above you are flat out wrong and were insulting to others. Continuing to post in a bickering manner wont help anyone, including yourself.

[PC-ENGINE HELL]

Thanks pc-enginehell. Like I said before, I have the same issue with my NES. The problem happens with any AC adapter used or with AV or RF. I always assumed that the problem was the NES itself. I never gave it much thought and just continued playing. Now I have to go home and check if my top loader NES is doing the same thing.

Yea when issues like these come up sometimes its really handy to have a extra CRT around to test with. A good calibration disc also helps, one like the Avia A/V Calibration DVD. Between that and having full access to your CRT's service modes sometimes you can fix problems that way too, or at least help to eliminate other possibilities and locate the real problem if its not caused by the Tv itself.

[Crimson_Knight]

gokugohandave, you should respectfully
To the op, one guess on this is that the issue is due to your tv itself. It may be needing to be re-calibrated or serviced. This problem you are having, if that is indeed the case, may not be noticed on other systems that or stuff that presents more detail on screen, but is probably still present anyway. It could be thats why after a bit the issue goes away. Im only making this guess on the fact you are using composite cables and by what Im seeing in the pictures you posted.

Its really hard to make a solid judgment on still pics alone. I guess I should ask, does this curved like interference stuff present on the screen move any when the game is paused, like in waves kinda, or just stay still? That would tell me alot more. If it stays still, then yea, its a issue with your TV most likely, and servicing it could fix it. I have a Samsung 19 inch CRT that presented a similar issue to what Im seeing in your pics, but kinda near the corners of the screen, and after I re-calibrated that got rid of the issue. Id also recommend hitting up the AV forums if that is the case. If your tv does need to be re-calibrated, you can get solid advice there on how to do so. If the stuff moves on screen when the game is paused,rapidly or whatever, then Im betting you have some kinda interference going on. In that case, you could try moving the Tv and Nes to a different wall outlet, and hook nothing else up, just the Nes directly to the Tv, and see what happens.

The lines still move when the game is paused and I have the NES connected to a power strip by itself and it's connect right into the TV. I could try hooking it up straight to the wall or even hooking it up to an AV selector box and see if that helps.

[GOLDEN KEYS]

Because your one of those ignorant dorks who think that if you just plug it in and it works then it must be the right adapter, when its not. Ill be happy to not buy anything from you because its probably fried.

irony...

[Ye0ldmario]

I've used 3rd party Universal system adapters for my consoles before and none of them "melted into plastic". Or broke.

What I see in the picture looks like signal interference of some sort perhaps from a microwave or a computer or something else plugged in/near the system.

[gokugohandave]

Basically my main argument was that hes portraying for noobs the notion that you can plug anything into anything, and this might work in some cases. But what will this lead to? More plugging and oh this fits that and this goes there and ten years down the road there arent any more consoles left to go around because everyone went with the notion that "if she plugs she'll chug".

As we know with various adapters, particularly the nes adapter's ac; and other devices that are rectified outside of the unit, supplying it with the wrong type of current can damage your device. Example is a miracle piano, give it 12dc and the speakers go haywire, give it ac and its fine, if its rectified inside I dont know, I havent looked.

I do not believe this is a practice anyone should be condoning or advising and was the main point behind all this. So yeah, I grabbed the wrong number without double thinking, yeah, I had two adapters crossed in my head and gave out some wrong info, yeah, ive had experience with doing so before, and wish to be able to continue purchasing console ten years from now if need be.

I think from my previous posts in this forum, show that I do know somewhat about what im talking about. I got a little blown out of proportion over somthing small, but my main fear was seeing some noob come in here and say oh, so and so said they used different adapters for this and that and it worked and now I can try it too. Somethings need to be a little dramatic to get the point across from both sides.

To the OP, mine, and my friend jason and logan's tv's both do this, sit back a bit from the tv as far as you can and I dont notice it. I always thought it was some interference or some artifact being amplified or distorted by using the enhanced av cables instead of rf.

[Crimson_Knight]

To the OP, mine, and my friend jason and logan's tv's both do this, sit back a bit from the tv as far as you can and I dont notice it. I always thought it was some interference or some artifact being amplified or distorted by using the enhanced av cables instead of rf.

My main problem is that only the NES does this and it's noticeable no matter how far back I sit.

[gokugohandave]

is your tv capable of multiple resolutions? Try setting it to 480i or P or vice versa.

[Crimson_Knight]

is your tv capable of multiple resolutions? Try setting it to 480i or P or vice versa.

It's definitely the NES not the TV. I think I've stated earlier that the NES does this on EVERY TV in my house.

[PC-ENGINE HELL]

If it is signal interference, swapping resolutions will most likely not yield any positive change. The original video source is analog, and unfortunately analog signals can get bad interference sometimes, just the way it is. Mainly why for video cables I only use thick shielded cables and run them away from power sources. I run my game systems,dvd players, and laser disc players on one power line, and my tv and audio on another. The only video cable types I use are composite and s-video. So far this has paid off and Ive been able to maintain nice clean interference free picture quality on everything.

Its very possible there is just something internally wrong with the video output on the Nes too causing the interference. In that case cleaning it wont help, it could need some servicing. Nes decks are pretty old. Caps dry out, ect... Only other thing I could suggest is obtain another Nes deck and see what happens.

Gokugohandave, there was no need for hyperbole dramatics for tech advice. No one else here had to resort to those tactics in order to relate solid advice. No one suggested using any ac adapter that did not work with the Nes fine, so your argument is moot. The person you assumed to being a noob didn't provide all the false information, you did. No one else became insulting to get a point across, just you. According to what you said above, your only fear should have been you yourself. The only person wanting to even maintain a argument was you too. Instead of replying with a 4 paragraph justification as to why you dealt out total misinformation,insults, and hyperbole, you could have just dropped it and moved on giving that last bit of advice you gave..... Id like to be empathize with your plight, but I just cant because it doesn't appear you are really sorry about the approach you took in this, and that you still feel very much that everyone (all the noobz) but you is wrong on this.

[Crimson_Knight]

Its very possible there is just something internally wrong with the video output on the Nes too causing the interference. In that case cleaning it wont help, it could need some servicing. Nes decks are pretty old. Caps dry out, ect... Only other thing I could suggest is obtain another Nes deck and see what happens.


Thanks for the advice. I'll take the NES apart when I get the chance and see if anything looks out of place.