Ever bought something advertised as "broken", and it wound up working?

[BetaWolf47]

I love it when this happens. You see something for dirt cheap, and then are told that it is broken. But then you take it home, then clean it or use a different cable, and it works just fine.

My favorite was a model 2 SNES (SNES Jr.) that was sitting in a box in a pawn shop and said "Not Working." It didn't have any cables with it, but it was listed at a measly $3 or $5, so I decided to risk it. Took it home, and it worked better than my primary SNES.

[Jimmy Yakapucci]

I friend of mine gave me a couple of Japanese Saturns that he had picked up for next to nothing while he was in Korea. He said that he couldn't get either of them to work. I opened them up and one of them had some version of mod chip in it that I have never seen anywhere else. Once I pulled that out, it worked fine. I then swapped part of the case with the other broken one and wound up with a nice working unit out of the deal. No more using an Action Replay for me!!

JY

[substantial_snake]

I was looking on craigslist for some Sega Genesis games and ran across a seller selling a lot of classic common Genesis basics like all the GOOD Sonic titles, MK3 ultimate, Jungle & Desert Strike, Street Fighter 2, etc. along with several 32x titles. All of these games were apparently boxed with manuals in really good shape with I think about 20 titles in all, he only problem was that he lived in a local city that was about a hour's drive away so we picked a date a few days later to make the exchange.

I called the guy along the way telling him I would be there in bit and he let me know that he had the console as well but it hadn't worked for years and if I wanted it I could take it as well for no extra charge. So when I got there he hands me two separate boxes. The first one was filled with the games in really good shape and the second had a dusty looking model 1 genesis, 32x, a ton wires, and a complete official sega IR controller set.

When I came back to the house I discovered that I actually had every wire I needed to connect everything to run properly. I even had that damn genesis model 1 to 32x adaptor so I connected everything and it booted up with no problems. I'm guessing the old guy either had a cable loose somewhere, a dead wall socket or just wanted to get rid of all the sega stuff he had. Regardless I was ecstatic because I had been looking for any model system, I just wanted to jump on the deal before someone else beat me to the punch.

So in the end I picked up 25ish immaculate games, a "broken" genesis model 1, 32x, IR controllers, AC adaptors, and that hard to find genesis 1-32x splitter cable for 25 bucks.

[Jimmy Yakapucci]

One other deal that I picked up was from a guy on Craigslist who was advertising a non-working Jaguar. He said that the screen would just turn red. I picked up the system, complete and boxed, as well as 10 games, complete and boxed, for $10. He also threw in a pair of non-working Genesis model 2 systems and some games for another $10. It took me all of 5 minutes to clean the Jaguar's cart slot to fix the red screen and the Genesis systems just had the wonky power connector.

JY

[Emperor Megas]

This probably happens with Jaguars more than any other system because the system doesn't power on without a cartridge in it. The led doesn't come on or anything. I thought that my first one broken myself because of this.

[Stringfellow]

I recently picked up 2 "non working" Atari 2600's. One 6 switch tele games and one 4 switch woody for $5 each. Cleaned both and replace the rf cable on one and now both work.

[theredlineboss]

This probably happens with Jaguars more than any other system because the system doesn't power on without a cartridge in it. The led doesn't come on or anything. I thought that my first one broken myself because of this.

That's how I got my Jaguar- sold as is / broken/ won't power on. In the auction, the seller mentioned that he didn't have any games for it. Took a chance, and it works great.

My SNES was also said to be broken. I got it for free at a garage sale & hooked it up at home and found that it worked great. It was ugly, but there were no other issues. Not sure what happened, but I'm not complaining.

-Rob

[Xtincthed]

This probably happens with Jaguars more than any other system because the system doesn't power on without a cartridge in it. The led doesn't come on or anything. I thought that my first one broken myself because of this.

this is the same for the Philips Videopac.. took me quite a while to figure out that it needed a cartridge to power on (and getting a cart to work, so it powers on is tough )

[Xtincthed]

i buy NES's all the time that "have a problem starting up", i just clean them and they work brand spanking new!

[exit]

After reading these stories, I really need to start looking on craigslist for these kinds of things.

[BetaWolf47]

After reading these stories, I really need to start looking on craigslist for these kinds of things.

Yeah, definitely stalk the Broward craigslist. That's how I found factory sealed NES games last year. Unfortunately, 95% of the listings are for people wanting $90 for DS flashcards, $300 for a modded Wii, and $30+ for handhelds that are worth $15 at best. You're bound to find something good if you get lucky though.

[Ryaan1234]

One time I bought a "broken" Canon Powershot 7 megapixel digital camera. The owner said it didn't work because it wouldn't take any images. Turns out the memory card was full

Not exactly video game related but I thought it was funny.

[allyourblood]

One time I bought a "broken" Canon Powershot 7 megapixel digital camera. The owner said it didn't work because it wouldn't take any images. Turns out the memory card was full

Not exactly video game related but I thought it was funny.

My brother-in-law was going to throw out his Canon Rebel DSLR after dropping it and having no luck getting the lens off (which took the brunt of the fall and became stuck) and not being able to get it to turn on. He bought a replacement immediately and my wife happened to ask if I could take a look at it before he tossed it. He said yes, and that we could keep it if we somehow got it working.

After determining that the lens was really stuck on the darn thing, and not repairable, I got out some tin snips and needle nose pliers and began nipping away bits of plastic and peeling it apart until it finally came to pieces and fell away from the camera. We charged the battery and for whatever reason, the camera started up perfectly. Bought a couple CF cards, and we were set. My wife still uses the same camera today.

As for video game-related stories, yep:

Back in '99, I bought a CIB 32X with about 5-8 CIB games. Back in those lovely days, the whole thing ran me about $35 shipped. It came in the mail in no time flat, and I set about starting it up. It just plain didn't work. After a day of trying all sorts of quick fixes, like cleaning, air dusting, crossing my fingers and condemning it to hell, I gave up and e-mailed the seller. He refunded my money and said to just throw the whole affair in the trash, as he had no use for it coming back. I threw it in a closet and it sat for probably 3 or 4 months.

It's common knowledge now, but at the time, most people weren't clued in on the fact that 32X systems are notorious for having easily-fixable problems. After casually reading on ASG, I found a post from someone mentioning loose ribbon cables inside the system that sometimes needed to be re-seated in order to work. I figured "what the heck" and dragged it back out of the closet. About 6 minutes later, I was playing my 32X games! And since I didn't have any of the good ones yet, about 6 minutes after that, I turned it off.

[bacteria]

I got a PS2 fat console for £5, and when I tried it, it didn't work, the discs weren't reading; nothing to lose, opened up the drive unit, and saw the disc that held the CD in place was wonky - now it works fine (i'm using that console in my Alpha Omega project).

Intellivision - they are unreliable these days by and large - had one unit that worked but controller didn't and so swapped with controllers from another unit, and system then worked fine.