SNES purple-green swirl display

[Casati]

I bought a SNES about a year ago on Ebay, have played it every once in awhile, and it seemed to play fine. The other day, a handful of my SNES games had a purple-green swirl pattern on the screen. Is this a console problem or a problem with the handful of carts? Most of my carts display fine, and the ones that don't are mostly ex-rental carts. I don't have another console to test them. Has anyone else had this occur with their SNES?

[APE992]

Can you provide a picture of this? It almost sounds like someone ran a magnet too close to a CRT but if it happens on a cart by cart basis it couldn't be.

[Casati]

It must be the console because I tried it again today, and all of the carts display normal. I wonder why the console would have a display problem for just one day though.

[raylydiard]

bad ppu

[jb143]

I had an old CRT TV that every once in a while it would get purplish smears on the edges but only when playing games. Pretty weird. Typically a TV will degaussing itself when you turn it on so maybe that's what fixed your problem.

But yes, a picture would go a long way in telling what the problem actually is...if it ever happens again that is.

[old_skoolin_jim]

I had an old CRT TV that every once in a while it would get purplish smears on the edges but only when playing games. Pretty weird. Typically a TV will degaussing itself when you turn it on so maybe that's what fixed your problem.

But yes, a picture would go a long way in telling what the problem actually is...if it ever happens again that is.

My old CRT that I used to use would give me a purpley-green smear in the top corner, but that would be when I put my alarm clock/radio on top of it, and when I moved it it went away... magnet interference?

[jb143]

My old CRT that I used to use would give me a purpley-green smear in the top corner, but that would be when I put my alarm clock/radio on top of it, and when I moved it it went away... magnet interference?

Yeah, that was probably from the speaker in your radio. For me though, it was only when playing the SNES or Fate of Atlantis on the Wii. And it would gradually appear. It was our main TV and I never noticed anything any other time.

[wiggyx]

And as an FYI to anyone keeping magnets close to their CRTs, the damage can become permanent if the magnet is strong enough and left there for an extended period of time.

Basically, don't keep speakers too close to your tv.