Question about Dead N64

Surfrock66 · Post by **Surfrock66** » Thu Dec 08, 2005 3:18 pm

I got an N64 for a project, and I plugged it in and it worked for a while, I took it out of its case, and it still worked, then I powered it back up and it wouldn't power, no LED no anything. I thought I may have tripped a fuse in the PSU so I tried to take that apart, accidentally destroyed it, and ended up using the 3.3 and 12 from a PC PSU to try to power the board. Still no LED, the wires I used heated up (too much current prolly) but nothing on the board heated up (I was worried this further fried the board, but I doubt it.) ANy ideas if this is a fixable problem, or am I toasted?

EXE · Post by **EXE** » Thu Dec 08, 2005 3:42 pm

mine had died once but i think it was just that the power wasnt contacting right with the plug. how many times did u power it?

Surfrock66 · Post by **Surfrock66** » Thu Dec 08, 2005 4:02 pm

I had it working twice, afterwards many times, I had read letting it sit for a while worked too so I left it overnight and while I worked on a paper, but to no avail. I first used the PSU, then bypassed it with my PC PSU, then bypassed the switch itself on the board, all to no avail

timmeh87 · Post by **timmeh87** » Thu Dec 08, 2005 10:32 pm

so youre saying it stopped working, then you let the original power supply sit for a day, then you tried again, making sure everything was plugged in right, THEN you started to mess with your power supply and broken it, and then you tried using a pc power supply.

the original power supply should have worked. did you test if power was coming out of it? if there is still power, you might have messed something... up on the board.

Is your expansion/jumper pack in?

Is it in FORWARDS??

were you using power straight out of a running PC, or were you just using the PSU on its own? i heard that comptuer power supplies dont work unless there is a load across them, and apparently small electronics dont count as a load (a computer typically draws 300 watts, compared to about 10 or 15 for a game system). i was told that if you hook a 24v car lightbulb between the +12 and -12 lines, the power supply will "kick in". you could also find a different power supply.

Surfrock66 · Post by **Surfrock66** » Fri Dec 09, 2005 2:32 am

<head hanging in shame> flipped the expansion port around, worked perfect, I thank you so much. The PSU for the comp is totally an extra one I had around, and it works great, for ATX power you jsut need to short the green wire to a ground, the orange is 3.3 and the yellow is 12. I killed the PSU after it wasn't working, but this is a fine alternative for what I'm doing until it's all done. The other problem I'm having is it came with 1 controller, which may be dead (I got it on ebay) but it always says "no controller" and I haven't had a chance to get a new one to test, any diagnostics to run? All solder points are good, haven't tested continuity (damn grad school and it's time taking ability). Thanks for the help!

timmeh87 · Post by **timmeh87** » Fri Dec 09, 2005 1:24 pm

lol n/p. same thing happened to me actually. gave me quite a fright.

as for the controller, i dont know of any way to tell if its working other than to stick a working controller in there.

nos_slived · Post by **nos_slived** » Sat Dec 10, 2005 12:09 am

You can test your controller by attaching it to power and ground, then use an oscilloscope to watch for a signal when you press various buttons.

timmeh87 · Post by **timmeh87** » Sat Dec 10, 2005 12:45 am

lol. go oscilloscopes. i saw one at a local suplus store for 300 canadian.... i wish i had a job.

nos_slived · Post by **nos_slived** » Sat Dec 10, 2005 1:05 am

They are easy to steal from my school. If you're ever in Vancouver, let me know, and I'll get you in there.

cennar · Post by **cennar** » Sat Dec 10, 2005 2:26 am

last night i thought i screwed it all up like if you looked at the mess i made no way could it had worked, but it did first power up i thought i had fryed it for sure. but right now im trying to make a realy eazy step by step to make a "fool proof" n64 manual, so i did fallow my instructions just it didnt look vary nice.