SNES Dying or Just in Need of a Good Scrubbing?

[marlowe221]

My SNES has been acting up lately. When I turn it on sometimes nothing happens. The power light comes on but I get a blank screen. Other times (with the same game, mind) it works just fine - although I occasionally get a little "screen roll" in the transition between menu screens, etc. I have noticed this behavior with multiple cartridges.

Does my SNES (and games) just need a good cleaning or should I be shopping for a new (to me) console?

Thanks!

[Dr. BaconStein]

Did you try cleaning the carts and pin connectors? Does it happen on every TV or just one?

[Kirbz]

Did you try cleaning the carts and pin connectors? Does it happen on every TV or just one?

Yeah You Might Want To Get One Of Those Duster's In The Aerosol Can And Blow Out The Cartrdige Slot And All Of The Cartridges And All The Port's On The SNES
Hope I Helped :) ,
KIRBZ

[marlowe221]

Well I haven't tried cleaning yet but I will certainly do so.

I guess I was just wondering if that behavior was a symptom of needs-to-be-cleaned-itis or if it was some terminal disease.

[Cornelius]

This is classic dirty contact syndrome. Both the system and games need cleaning and there are dozens and dozens of threads on how to do so.

[Aussie2B]

Generally speaking, it's very, very rare for a SNES to go completely belly up, assuming it didn't go through some sort of traumatic damage. There's not much that could break down, and they're built like tanks. This applies to the majority of cart-based systems, since they don't have the complexity and moving parts of disc-based systems. The vast majority of issues with cart-based systems can be solved by a simple cleaning.

[Cornelius]

Generally speaking, it's very, very rare for a SNES to go completely belly up, assuming it didn't go through some sort of traumatic damage. There's not much that could break down, and they're built like tanks. This applies to the majority of cart-based systems, since they don't have the complexity and moving parts of disc-based systems. The vast majority of issues with cart-based systems can be solved by a simple cleaning.

Agreed, although there is a fuse that can need to be replaced (or simply jumped, you can shoot me later). I've done it a couple times but at the moment can't remember what the symptom is. I think it is just no video. I've also had a couple with garbled graphics and/or color problems that I didn't know how to save. But for the OP if they even occasionally get it to work with clear graphics then 99% of the time it is going to be dirty contacts.

[Thrillo]

I dunno, many of the various SNES/Super Famicoms that I've owned had issues. My first SFC had garbled graphics which no amount of cleaning would fix; I think it was a bad video chip. I made the best of it and did a mobo swap with my SNES, creating a SNEFamicom :) .
Recently that same system wouldn't display color; after a quick google search it was a really easy fix: just gotta adjust a pot inside the system. One of my other SFCs seems to have bad RAM now: Street Fighter 2 has a few graphical glitches, and some games just refuse to boot past an intro screen (such as Doom), while others run fine with no problems.

Surprisingly my Gennys run like champs, even though I always felt they were the cheapest-built of the 16-bit systems. Even one of my PC-Engines has sound issues caused by dying caps :-/

[InsaneDavid]

One of my other SFCs seems to have bad RAM now: Street Fighter 2 has a few graphical glitches, and some games just refuse to boot past an intro screen (such as Doom), while others run fine with no problems.

I have a SNES Mini that I believe to have a similar problem. Most games run fine but Super Ghosts 'n Goblins has issues. The intro sequence loads up no problem, the stage layout screen scrolls by fine, but when the actual game starts up the timing goes to pot. The graphics glitch out and become garbled and the sound and video get slow. It never totally crashes but it gets to the point where the graphics don't match the level design, so a pillar will be in an open space or a wall will be shown as an open area, etc. Cart works fine in every other system I've tried it with.

[wiggyx]

I would be that your mini has a particular pin that's a bit dirty and that SG&G is rather dependent on that one pin for whatever reason.