Has a console ever broken on you?

[theoakwoody]

Of course they have I hear you guys bitching all the time about them. But what I'd like to know is what are some of the most reliable and some of the least reliable systems out there, going back to pre pong whatever. I'll start it off.

My first system was a Sears 2600 followed by a 7800, both work fine but didn't get a whole lot of use because I got my nes soon after.

I have several nes's but I can't remember which ones the original so it's not fair for me to say how it has held up. I think everyone knows that the pins on these things go out sooner or later.

I just got my master system a few years ago and it doesn't load games some times but overall pretty good.

Snes and Genesis are both a little iffy now adays(Games don't load up everytime) but I can't say that I have taken great care of them over the years.

All gameboys, original, color, advance, sp all good.

Game gear all good. Didn't use this one much.

Psx and Psone both broke on me and I didn't bother replacing the psx.

Xbox has worked great and my dvd drive has also worked flawlessly. I've never checked if it's a thompson or not.

Gamecube-My bro has had his since it came out and it hasn't had any problems.

I do have some other systems but I never really played them that much such as my Saturn(games are too expensive now!) my virtual boy, and my dreamcast. I've actually been playing a lot of SNK vs. Capcom 2 lately so I guess I'll give the dreamcast a rating here. It hasn't broken yet.

So anyways how have your systems held up?

[Flack]

The sound chip died in my original, 1984 Commodore 64 after about 15 years.

Both of my NES units blink too bad to play. I'll have to fix the pins should I ever grow tired of emulation.

Other than that, everything from my original Atari and Odyssey II all the way up to my PS2 and Xbox are still going strong.

I do own several broken consoles -- at least two Dreamcasts, one Atari 2600 and three PSX units that I can think of, all of which were purchased "untested" and were non-working when I received them. But, I have no idea how their former owners treated them, so I really can't comment as to why they broke.

[Jibbajaba]

Just a PS2. Had a bad case of the DREs so I sent it back to Sony. Now that I think about it, my original GameBoy broke. Screen stopped working. That was a sad day because I didn't have the scratch to replace it so I just got rid of my games (I was only like 14).

Chris

[Azazel]

Least reliable would probably be the Sega CD, Turbo Duo and PSX to a lesser extent. Most reliable probably the Saturn.

[postulio]

my original nes is like a tank, perfect astheatically, quirky inside. but the 72pin was all that needed to be replaced, kicks ass now.


the dreamcast has died on me once, but after moving the laser up myself it started working again. i hate the dreamcast motor. its pure crap.


also the original gameboy i had had some pixels lines die, but thats cause i used it A LOT. and i mean A LOT!

My original Mark I Sega CD is still alive and kicking, i sold it off cause i got a broken one for free which i fixed (replaced fuse) Overall the Sega CDs i think are reliable as long as you take care of them, the blown fuses are easy to fix.



my vote for least reliable has to be Dreamcast, and most reliable goes to NES (they only have 1 problem, and it is so so so so easily fixed with a new 72pin, youre garanteed to pick up a working nes no matter where you buy it, the blinking i dont consider 'broke')

but some are picky, so i would say TG16. 15 years old and still going strong.

[robotriot]

Of the two VC4000s I have, one only outputs garbled pictures, the other one has no sound.

My C64I died (no picture) about 2.5 years ago.

I had to replace the keyboard on my A500 and the A1200's PCMCIA port seems to be broken.

One of my CD32's broke after falling down on the floor from about 1.5m height ;)

The Saturn I got a couple of months ago doesn't read some CDs at all, and other games crash during gameplay.

My GBA has a scratched display and the GBA SP a badly scratched upper surface, both from transporting them in my backpack without protective measures.

All the other consoles/home computers I have work just fine, especially no problem with the PS1/PS2 drives, nor with the V1.0 Xbox.

[Lord Contaminous]

My first saturn stopped reading discs.

My Dreamcast Agetec stick (aka "The Green Goblin", popular among fighting game players when Dreamcast was the capital of home fighting gaming) killed off controller port number 1 in my DC system. From what I heard, the stick has more OHMS than the console itself.

The audio is currently fucked up in my PC Engine Duo.

My first NES had bad audio which I had to turn the volume all the way up to max which I couldn't hear half the sounds in a game due to the TV hissing when the TV is up all the way loud.

[tritium]

my first PS2 became very unreliable, i was able to get rid of it before it died.

I dropped the GDrom laser from one my dreamcasts when I took it apart, that sucker died.

-Tritium

[tholly]

my 1st xbox had a thompson drive in it that got DREs like noones business

what a piece of junk that was....now, my other 2 work perfectly and the broken just sits there on display

[LiquidX01]

My Dreamcast took a plunge off my entertainment center when someone walked by and tripped on the cord a while back.

Strange thing is, it now reads CD's but wont read Dreamcast games... :hmm:

[pixelsnpolygons]

Actually, no. Well, yes - but it was my fault. I imported a Dreamcast when I was living in Australia and didn't know there was a voltage difference - plugged it in and BAM! Amazingly the thing kept working for years, and then finally died. It is the only system I've ever had that has broken, out of dozens and dozens of systems.

[VinnyT]

My Genesis is starting to have a real annoying buzzing sound when it plays. Sometimes the screen starts jumping over to the left, and blinks a bit. Sometimes it's almost unplayable.

I think it's slowly dieing. :(

[stuffedmonkey]

I had a 2600 die on me - spitting out a *ton* of gray-black smoke. I first ducked awa, then dove to unplug the thing before it cought fire....

Convinced my dad to upgrade to a 7800 though :)

[unbroken]

ive had a bunch of nes's break on me. though, my snes and n64 which ive had since their release, have worked 100% perfect for me. i had a psx that i bought used that broke. my ps2 and xbox still work perfect(i got these on their release too). Basically, only the used systems i have bought have broke on me...shows how much people take care of em.

[Berserker]

Most Reliable: NES.
Around 1986 or 87, during a fit of rage, my father hurled our Nintendo Entertainment System out of our kitchen/dining room window, where it eventually found it's place on the ground some 10 feet below. I still have it today, it works just fine. Haven't even had to replace the 72-pin connector on it, and I've played the daylights out of it for the last 17 years or so.

Least Reliable: Colecovision.
I have no real explanation for this. It just quit working one day. This was about a year or so after we got our NES, and has thusfar been the only console system that I've ever had stop working on me. I gave her a decent burial, BTW.

[Escape•From•Jenny•Island]

PSX, First Model overheated. Didn't replace it for a LONG while.

PSone, doesn't output stero sound. This is what I replaced my PSX with som 5 or 6 years later.

PS2, Fan Broke.

SEGA Saturn V.2, System Memory doesn't work and is unable to read Cartridge memory or even accept a new battery.

SFC, dropped it down the stairs while moving :embarrassed:

32X, yeah... something involving a cat and its need to go to the bathroom.

I'd say most reliable system Hardware is the GameCube, Built like a Rock! A lot of software bugs though.

[VinnyT]

I remember hearing today at school how someone's Xbox suddenly exploded. And they didn't mean it just stopped working on the inside, they ment it actually exploded into hundreds of pieces. Apparantly, the green light went red, then BOOM!.

They had to carry the thing in 4 bags back to the store, which is where they just bought a new game for it.

LOL

[SegaAges]

i found out when trying to play Mortal Kombat 3 on my Game Gear that the sound doesn't work anymore.

I busted 1 ps2, but that was because i was playing burnt games by using a messed up swap method that would leave my system's insides exposed, and one of my dumb friends stepped on it (literally). Wal mart swap for that and since then no problems.

i am on my 3rd saturn. the lasers kept going out on them. when i was playing saturn, i was playing for at least 8 hours at a time. now i play for a few hours on a rare occasion.

other than that, no broken consoles.

[SoulBlazer]

No major problems here. I always try to take good care of my consoles.

My NES suffered from blinking more often then not by the time I gave it to a friend in 1994 -- but after being in regular and heavy use from 1987, I can't say I'm surprised. :)

My PlayStation was also starting to have a minor disc tray cover problem before I gave it to a friend in early 2001. But, again, it had seen heavy use since being obtained in early 1998.

I had to send my PS2 (gotten early 2001) back to the factory in January 2003 to fix a broken drive, but that was my own fault. I did'nt pack it carefully enough in my bag when flying. :/

Both my GC and XBox are used and no problems with either.

[thetoxicone]

Only system to break on me was my Playstation, got the thing fairly soon after launch and it was one with the notorious overheating problem. After it started failing, it'd still play games if you placed it upsidedown but only a few and loading was worse than normal. That Playstation really soured me from buying a sony system until I finally broke down about a year ago and got a PS2.

[Barbarianoutkast85]

My original Playstation died on me but i havent had any other consoles just die on me. I did have a nintendo i droped down a flight of steps and a couple other things happened to it but it still works.

[Sotenga]

I do not lie when I say that the NES has been a part of my household since before my own birth. Ergo, it is older than me. Sixteen years later, it STILL holds up magnificentally. Sure, I do have to blow on the carts often, and the occaissional dab of alcohol can't be counted out, but hey, it still plays games. :D

My PS2, on the other hand, stops reading discs a year and a half after I bought it. :/

They told me that the particular model I had was defective, and it was therefore not the only one with this problem. So I got a new one for free as a result. :)

My XBOX also got fried in an electrical storm, and the hard drive couldn't be replaced... so I received a new one from the repair company, also for free. This sucked more than the PS2, as I had about forty or so soundtracks copied onto the hard drive... I'm still somewhat miffed for having lost them. :angry:

[stressboy]

My Dreamcast started failing a few months after I got it. It would randomly decide to not boot a game, or reboot shortly after a game was started. Now it just come up to a black screen.

I used to have 2 NES' back in the day, and they both became unplayable due to that damn blinking. I lost those years ago though.

Every other console I own is still going strong.

[calthaer]

The original NES was an inferior piece of hardware, no doubt about it. Mine barely works, and that's even AFTER replacing the pin thing. Nintendo's systems since then have been much more reliable, but...

My PS2 hasn't broken - yet. But some of my games make an annoying humming / buzzing noise when the drive spins them.

[ubersaurus]

I busted my first 2600 by breaking the left controller port. Never did get it fixed...we also went through like 3 NESs, flaky things that they were, until finally the top loader came out. Beyond that, about all I can think of is my 7800's original power supply broke, and that my PS1's disc drive is starting to die.

[Emily]

My cousins SNES took a fall (in only fell a foot) and died.
Playstations have all had problems....

Vectrex is very reliable.Unless its obviously damaged,like a smashed screen or something. Ive managed to fix almost all of my broken used systems.

[Lemmy Kilmister]

Beside your typical blinking nes. I have had to have sony repair a DRE in my ps2, a few busted playstation (one was modded) and have sega fix a model 1 saturn for me. Seems to me that they just don't make them like they use to.

[The Manimal]

i haven't fully tested my saturn that i paid $50 for. the two discs i have played work fine, though i have not tested the cartridge port or the system memory or whatever.


broken consoles?


only my VCS which changes mid-play to B&W ...

[dreamcaster]

The only piece of hardware to die on me is my Sega Game Gear. :(

What's more frustrating, is that I think it was my fault for using a dodgy power adapter.

I think it fried some of the circuitry, because now it refuses to power up at all (power light comes on for a second, then dies).

I have bought stuff that was not working or not working properly on first use:

First NES: Very bad blinking problem. Barely playable. Re-aligned the pins on the connector and now it works perfectly. Currently my regular use NES.

Sega Dreamcast: Suffered badly from the random reset problem. Opened it up to find the console was clogged to death with cigarette ash. Blech! Stripped it down to it's bare bones, and cleaned every inch of it. Has worked perfectly ever since.

Second NES: Totally dead. Wouldn't load a single game. Cleaned console thoroughly, re-aligned pins - worked perfectly ever since. Sold later on eBay for $36 AU. :D

Sega 32X: eBay seller said it didn't work (I only bought it for the connector cable to attach to my existing 32X). Tested this 32X anyway, didn't seem to work. Disassembled, cleaned thoroughly. Works fine now.

So yeah, aside from one bad luck with the Game Gear, I've had an excellent track record with games consoles. ^_^

[sabre2922]

Ive had my current Dreamcast for 4 years now and still works great although its getting very noisy :roll: its been through some rough times also like when a friend of mine had it for almost a year and his kids pulled it off the entertainment center at least 3 or 4 times.
I also bought an old ragged out DC at a pawnshop a few months ago and it didnt want to read most games so I took it completely apart and cleaned all the bug guts and cigarette ash out of it and it plays great now even though I gave it to a friend who always wanted a DC. kinda wish I would have kept it now.
Ive had two PS2s and both were good the one I have now is the online kit that came with ATV offroad fury2 and it seems to work great much better than the first one i had in 2002.
at one time or another Ive owned just about every U.S. released home console you can think of so ive had more than a few "die" on me.
a couple NESs blinking and just plain fried
one Sega Genesis that I got for free from someone lasted about a month for some odd reason
alll my gameboys seemed very reliable
had my launch PS1 for at least 2 years and traded it to a friend who used it for another year then he traded it to another friend who used it for like 3 years and it still works! @_@ even though he built a custom stand so he could turn it on its top since the bottom tracks were wore out.
had 2 saturns that worked great for a long time before i traded the first the one i have now only has the system and one controller :(
had 2 turbographix-16 systems ONE OF MY FAVORITE SYSTEMS EVER! but one had been used to the point that I had to constantly clean the connectors that read the HUcards
had the old atari 2600 when i was a kid and it was put through hell but still worked fine when i got rid of it
the only system I ever had major problems with was the N64 I had like 3 of them total at different times and 2 of them would crap out in the middle of gameplay or not display some games at all
anyway I take very good care of my systems if possible so I havent had one break on me becuase of neglect or abuse like all my friends PS2s and Xboxs :)
I do think that the Gamecube is the most reliable and well built current gen system but thats becuase IBM built it IMOA I plan on getting another one soon ;)

[jdc]

I've only had one Dreamcast cut out totally. My Pikachu N64 is a little finicky...bought it used, so it most likely needs a cleaning or longer play time.

IMO the worst disc system for reliablity is between the black Sports Dreamcast and the white one that was released at the same time. I believe that they were the final runs. We warrantied a shitload of them. The best seems to be the Cube.

[NeoVenom]

Yeah...I dropped my NES many times to the point that the front cover broke off, not to mention chipped corners aswell. I think when I was a kid, or when my brother was, one of us yanked the cord of the Intellivision system and now it doesn't work. :/

[ehall]

My PS2 quit working recently. granted it was because I did a horrible job modding it, but what are you going to do. On a side note, can anyone here repair a PS2?

[LiquidX01]

On a side note, can anyone here repair a PS2?

I believe Sylentwulf can. I think thats how he spells it...

[Nez]

I have a few broken consoles. 2 broken SMS from Tynstar got one to work for about a month then it crapped out on me again.

One of my Sports DCs has a weird problem were it never knows the date and allways wants to be reset, anyone know how to fix this?

An N64 wich I brought back to life.

A Psx with a bad laser, plays music CDS fine though.

A dead 2600, someone left it out side for too long and its rusted solid.

And a NES that has a problem with its cart slot it never stays down.

But non of these systems have died on my hands, I have never had a console die on me. ( With the exception of the already dead SMS from tyn.)

[buttasuperb]

I had 2 playstations die, and that's it.

[Jasoco]

There's the obvious NES Blinking dealie.

Then there's my original Game Boy which died after a long life. But I got many replacements. All still work... if I knew where they all were.. :/

Other than that, all my systems are fine.

[XxMe2NiKxX]

My Genesis (which I play a LOT), a first-gen, with all the attachments, all work fine. My NES blinks with a lot of regularity, my SNES occasionally doesn't read games, my saturn has a battery problem, my dreamcast reads everything fairly well, except for my fuxx0red power stone disc, which it occasionally fails to read, and if I have a dead VMU battery loaded while playing sonic adventure, it freezes during cinematics. Everytinh else works perfectly.

[Rugal]

Yes:

1 PS2
3 Dreamcasts
8 NES (back in the day)

[Eternal Tune]

My SNES died on me. Oddly enough when it was taken apart, the inside was almost completely dirt free. I take excellent condition of all my stuff and I was the only one who ever played with the system, but she died on me anyways.

However, her insides were replaced with another systems insides, so she works now. I actually cried over that system. Eep.

My Sega Gamegear's speakers died. I wish I could figure out how to fix that....but I never play it and it still technically works....

[briskbc]

I had 3 Atari 2600s in a box in my closet. They all worked fine three years ago (which was the last time they were played). After a couple of moves and 1 child later they died. I only learner this last month when I tried to test some joysticks I wanted to sell. Kinda pissed me off really.

[Fuyukaze]

First system-Gameboy. Totaly my fault as I would let my cousin play it and I would creep up behind him and scare the holy hell out of him. He would jump up about 2-3 ft, and the gameboy would fly around 4-5ft. Was it worth it? Every single minute of it. I loved (and still do) torturing my cousin.

Second system-PS1. Got Star Ocean 2. Nothing else was important. For 300 hours of one entire month. Not eating, not sleeping, not bathing, not friends, not family, not TV, not sunlight. Nothing. I stoped playing it for 2 weeks. It stoped working forever.

Third system-DC. I know I played it quite a bit, but I honestly dont know why expect for being left pluged in all the time. It left me with fond memories, and thankfully when getting a used replacment only set me back 20$.

Fourth system-PS1. I replaced the first, and decided to never play it more then 10 hours a week. It worked all to well as I eventualy played it no more then 10 hours a month. I didnt unplug it and now it doesnt work. I nolonger leave any system pluged in if I have no plans on playing it any time soon.

Fifth system-X-box. I dont realy know if the system is dieing or just dirty and in need of a good cleaning. For a while I was unable to get a good 2/3 of the 16 games working. After using a CD cleaning disc on it, the numbers have droped down to only 3 games not working. Odd part being that all 3 are in very good condition and one of them is basicly brand new.

[Videogamerdaryll]

Re: Has a console ever broken on you?
One PS2 out of 4 (disc read error)..sent in for free repair

Atari Jaguar just stopped working/Doesn't power up.(bought another one though I don't remember if I ever checked the PS on the broken one..
I should check the power supply with another,..(pulls broken Jag out of closet.. :D


Power supply blown out on a N64...EB used purchase.

Sega CD/1rst version.. bad belt/won't raise tray high enough.

Playstation..I have one that has to be stood on it's side to load..out of 5 other working.
Another PS just stopped working one day/no power /good fuse..sold as not working....(purchased too...Somebody must know how to fix this stuff.

Dreamcast.
I was listing a DC one of two on Ebay..I was giving it a good testing before I finalized the listing.(recently)
The system was playing great for the longest then while I was playing NFL 2K/new disc it just stopped reading the game..
It went to the system menu and it won't load a game now..(no game)
Listing as broken..

Another Dreamcast.. 2 brought from EB used.
One: non working controller posts.
Second..Won't load games..
Combined the two,made one and sold it..Sold the other as broken..

Sega Master System..
Wrong RF adapter used..Pushed back pin in RF input on console..
No picture or sound..simple fix,but not that simple..

NES systems in the hundreds..I fix them and reselll..


So anyways how have your systems held up?
Everything else holds up..

[Slate]

I'm only listing systems that had/have problems with them.

Game boy advance - Bent pins (It was my first system, So it got a lot of wear)
Game boy (Original) - had water in it, but works fine now.
Atari 7800 (I have 2) One had a diode go bad, along with the power switch dying on me. It's fixed now, however.
Atari 2600 (4 Switch model) Video was bad. I took it apart and removed the video cable then put it back. It works now.. But it uses blue instead of green now. LOL
Sears video arcade II - Video is messed up. (Since it has a direct cable to the TV, and it is built in, I KNOW that that is it)
Commodore 64 - Video isn't 100% clear. I don't have the proper cable for it.
NES (I have 2) Both Blink... But after cleaning they work.
PS1 - Eject button sticks sometimes.
Game gear (I have 2) One of my GGs won't play games. I suppose it is a bent pin?
Genesis Model 2 (I have 4) One's LED is broken.
32x - Won't work sometimes, But i fix it when that happens.
Lynx model 2 - Might work, Might not. It could be the game.. (I only have 1 game for it)

[Lord Contaminous]

My 32X burned out my first Sega Genesis. Tried to play Phantasy Star 4 after playing Kolibri, and I heard only sound and saw no picture. Inside the cartridge port it smelled burnt.

Was it because I didn't put the metal plates in before the 32X machine?

[LAGO]

I had a SMS just up and quit working once. Played it in the morning turned it off and left. Came back that evening and it never turned back on again.

Also had 2 DC die, got both of those used and one 32x that my roommate kicked by accident once.

[shopkins]

I haven't had too much trouble.

Our Atari 2600 crapped out on us eventually. We took it out of the closet one day after storing it a while and it wouldn't play.

The NES blinks pretty badly, but my brother was still using it about a year ago.

My Playstation was an earlier model, prone to skipping. The only way I could get it to work was to put it on its side.

My Nomad has a bent AC input that makes it too unstable to play.

Both of the Dreamcasts I've had will barely read disks unless they are brand new and pristine.

My Xbox, with a Thompson Drive, will no longer read disks.

My Gamecube didn't break down but it did have a defect. The button to eject the disks broke shortly after I got it and sticks down if you push it to hard.

[AdamAnt316]

Our first PS2, like so many others, developed DRE problems, so we managed to send it back to Worst Buy to carry out the service contract a mere month or so before it expired. To top it all off, the price had fallen by then, so we got an extra $100 back! 'Course, we put some of that money towards another service contract, but profit is profit. 8-)

Other than that, my only serious system problem has been with my four-switch Atari 2600, and it was self-induced... My hacked-together PS decided to come unwired the exact same day I tried to use a play-only VCR (VCP) as a reverse RF modulator (which didn't work out), so I couldn't tell if it was working or not. A few minutes and polarity changes later, PFFFFT! X_x The main input capacitor blew. Replaced it with a suitable replacement awhile later, and it worked fine (and still does).
-Adam

[pr8cjb]

My Mark 1 MCD had to be sent back twice in the two years or so after I got it - both times it powered up and responded to the controller but wouldn't read any discs (music or game). It was a flat fee of £35 to get it fixed (which was a big hole in my pocket about 10 years ago at the age of 16) plus about 8 quid to send the bloody thing out by Recorded Delivery. Usually took them several weeks to fix it too. Had my MD1 repaired once (no video) and other than *very* occasionally needing the cart to be put in a couple of times it's going fine - and that's probably grubby cart contacts rather than the console.

Other than that, so far so good as I try to look after them. Silver PS2 and clear XB both still going strong. Now watch the things break this week.

[NeoSNightmarE]

ive never had a nintendo product break on me. and my retro systems are good. i did however have my 1st PS2 go fubar on me. that sucked and i had to get trash it. damn drive clicking on it. the 2nd one i got is fine. then i got my XBOX. and i modded it. when i modded it, it worked awesome for about 18 months. then all of a sudden it started flashing on me. so i opened it up and the CPU got disconnected from the board somehow and thats down for the count at the moment. so my conclusion is that the current gen systems are made like shit and the retro ones were made way better. :D

[ozyr]

Here are the systems I've had problems with over the years...

2600 - first one I got (around 1980?), died within the first 24 hours!

Bally Astrocade - works, but has to warm up for 1 hour.

Intellivision - I've bought three of these units that were dead. All had the same problem - a part on the curcuit board where the heat from the unit had melted the solder away from a component (don't remember which part, just that it was the same one on all three units). Easy fix though.

Atari Lynx 2 - I had one unit that just died - not power, no nothing! And this was after sitting in a case for a few months. Go figure...

Other than that, I've never had a problem with any other unit, new or old.

[Super Mario Fan]

If you count replacing teh 72-pin connector on the NES, then yes. If not then no. I take care of systems pretty well (not saying everyone here doesn't).

[drewbrim]

I've had the worst luck with Dreamcasts. My third @_@ recently stopped working. If I didn't love the thing so damn much I would give up on it all together. Oh well, looks like I'll be buying no. 4 this weekend.

[slip81]

PS2, PSX and Toaster NES' have all given me problems, as well as one Genny, but that was my own fault, I dropped it pretty hard. I also had the power button go on my first Master System.

Most reliable systems, Genesis model 1, SNES, GCN.

[goatdan]

I seem to have been amazingly lucky with all of my consoles.

My original 2600 still works. Same goes for my NES, SNES, Jaguar, Jaguar CD, CD-X N64, 3DO, Xbox, Neo Geo Pocket, GameCube, GameBoy, Lynx, Playstation (2) and Dreamcast (5). Never had to repair or replace a part! And most were purchased used.