SNES Game Won't Boot - Fixing eBay Junk - Super Mario World

I recently picked up a copy of Super Mario World for the Super Nintendo. This game will not produce any signal. In this video, I open it up, fix the problem and replace the battery.
Tools You'll Need (Ebay affiliate links)
rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-532...
#RetroRepairs #FixingEbayJunk #RetroGaming
Want to buy me a beer? Or a broken console? Hit up the donate link (But only if you want, don't feel obligated). www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr...
Thanks for watching

[@Tronicsfix]

Great fix! Love your channel.

[@EdgyShooter]

KZbin actually suggested something I'd enjoy. Praise be the algorithm!

[@serpientepatudona]

Eject button: "Am I a joke to you???"

[@RetroRepairs]

Don't tell me how to live my life

[@TheDc2K]

It starts to get Loose If you push It too much times... Best way to preserve "mechanical" parts are not using them.

[@nathanhamman418]

@Dave Hanson Nah, this is why you buy a retrode 2 and just dump all of your save data and roms and play through an emulator, save the original hardware, keep it in good shape, and still get to enjoy all of your favorite classics www.dragonbox.de/en/accessories/cartridge-dumper/retrode-2-cartridge-dumper

[@NaoPb]

@Dave Hanson Or: just leave it on 24/7 to not wear out the power switch.

[@juansolo1617]

Really the eject button does what you can do by hand. It just applies extra leverage.

[@Vorlaith30]

You do a great job with explaining clearly in your vids man. Keep it up

[@ashleighharris5801]

I have never seen a more thorough and helpful tutorial in my life. I learned so much! Thankyou for sharing your knowledge with us interwebs. I look forward to polishing and restoring some of my own personal collection! ❤🎮

[@andynaka]

Instead of soldering the battery directly to the board you could solder a CR2032 battery case to it and then put the battery into that case... that would be a cleaner solution which would make a future battery replacement easier too

[@michaelholmes4374]

Battery will last over 10 to 20 years will you really need to replace it again

[@Gorton]

@@michaelholmes4374 short term thinking

[@michaelholmes4374]

@@Gorton how is that short term thinking in 10 to 20 years most people will have moved on I've had enough of retro collecting sold most of my expensive games replaced with a flash cart

[@coltonmiller7984]

Thanks so much for doing these videos! I recently picked up a copy of Mike Tyson's Punch Out at a flea market for a great price and noticed it wouldn't boot when I got home. I was able to find three broken traces and fix them all thanks to these videos. It now works flawlessly and I saved $10 on the game! It's actually kinda relaxing therapeutic doing these kind of repairs.

[@RetroRepairs]

Nice! Good job.

[@crazycanadeincamper]

Nice video dude. I enjoy watching these. Real chill and relaxing.

[@MattRose30000]

He's like the Bob Ross of microelectronics.

[@RetroMike1324]

No, that would me.But not gonna lie this guy is awesome👍

[@EvilishDem0nic8732WhatItDo]

Just found this channel and it is chill.

[@Jesus.G.Ramirez]

For reals! Hos vids get me relaxed and in a chill vibe, sometimes even helps me to fall asleep easily in a weird way lol

[@RicardoCooper]

Flush cut the battery leads, this will make it easier. This removes the battery that is acting like a heat-spreader absorbing all the heat from your iron.

[@colejohnson66]

Ricardo Cooper also, heating a battery is a bad idea(tm)

[@PSUQDPICHQIEIWC]

It also doesn't help to first remove the all the solder from the bottom of the board. If the pad is dry, the iron only makes contact in small spots. Working on a fillet reduces the thermal resistance between the tip and the board -- as does using something better than a D1.6 tip. I'm assuming most people don't have a desoldering iron that's worth anything. Parts like this with only a few flexible leads can easily just be walked out of the board with the iron. Add solder, hinge part out, wick pads, replace part. Wicking is even optional. For something like this, you could just walk it back in. Before anyone complains that there's a risk of lifting traces on the top side, I have to point out that digging around and prying while insufficiently heating the bottom side is an even better way to ruin things. The same goes for scrubbing around with a weak desoldering iron, trying to get the topside fillet to melt or trying to get the last bit out of the hole.

[@TheBypasser]

@@PSUQDPICHQIEIWC In fact PCBs are pretty hard to delaminate mechanically unless you do something very stupid. What kills them is the absence of preheating - and the thermal expansion that follows. So what I usually do with through-hole mounted stuff is preheating things (well, I always do this), applying much solder to have some heat storage - and then just pulling them out while heating with both the iron and some supporting heating (can be done even with a small blowtorch should you get used to it). Can require walking for wider components (some small ones can be just shaken out), but this never caused any bad consequences. Of course, doing this with a battery isn't the best idea though, so I'd just cut the leads off :)

[@PSUQDPICHQIEIWC]

Preheating is good advice. A lot of people recommend plate heaters, though I find that it works better to use your hot air station to add heat where needed. A hot air station (or heat gun) can couple heat to either side of the board and can be selectively applied, unlike a hotplate. But you're right. The whole thing is an issue of heat flow. The plating in the hole has such a thin cross section that it has a significant thermal resistance on the through-board axis. Similarly, the solder annulus has a small cross section and the alloy has low volumetric conductivity. A large part of the heat that you're coupling to the top side has to go through the part lead. This is why it's a pain to wick a hole after the lead has been removed. You're either going to have to increase the temperature or minimize all the resistances on the solder side, or you're going to have to bring heat to the top side via some other path. FWIW, the plating adhesion on paper phenolic is much weaker than it is for something like FR4. Especially if the board has been hot in service, they peel extremely easily.

[@TheBypasser]

@@PSUQDPICHQIEIWC TBH I prefer to not use wicks for holes at all. Those are not SMDs so you don't care about any extra solder anyway, all you need is the hole itself. The most fun way I found so far was adding much solder to make it melt better - and next using a thin tube to just blow the air through the hole. Unlike the vacuum solder removers this requires no contact at all (even some significant distance is still ok), and the surface tension makes most of the solder just fly away should it be heated well enough. As for air guns, yes and yes! Hotplates take too long to properly heat things up (as your board has different heat diffusion paths and inconsistent IR reflectivity you are forced to heat it very slowly) - and with a gun you can control the heat gradient on the fly. Though I sometimes prefer smaller torches - as the flame is a stream, it has a lower pressure compared to the ambient air, as a result the colder air gets mixed in, creating a very stable temperature gradient - just find the "sweet spot" and use it :)

[@DamienNightmarish]

I love to watch you fixing the issues. So satisfying.

[@therepairsloth]

Great video, and love the quality of the new camera. You and the entire group are getting me fired up to get back into fixing, once my family and I get moved into our permanent home (in process of getting our current house put up for sale.).

[@roscoebiscoe7376]

Dude that's awesome. It hurts my back watching the tiny work. Like a claustrophobic feeling. I'm proud of you.

[@reyjr3608]

if only this video existed 20+ years ago..it might save most of my broken game..=) nice video by the way

[@hgbugalou]

That qtip squeak is like a nail through my head.

[@Dessan01]

3:10 that’s where John Riggs would have said the game is beyond repair lol

[@323GONZALEZ]

Screw john riggs lol he doesn't know how to fix games 😂 in all his videos he just cleans them. He doesn't put effort on fixing the game. He likes to take the chips off and put them on a working board. Basically sacrificing a game to make the other game to work.

[@pianoman7753]

Learning how these things work and what to do if something isnt working right is why I subscribed. Thank you! I imagine myself fixing my own old games in the far future. And with this sort of content, that vision can easily be reality.

[@RicardoCooper]

That was a pretty cool trace repair, learned a new trick from you today.

[@GenerationalGamer]

I always learn something about retro game repairs from your videos.

[@martinsamuelsson2322]

Great video! I usually put kapton tape on the edgeconnector before going near it with solder, hate when the nice golden fingers turn silver..

[@TrolleyMC]

True, if you watch AkBKuKu's video on him trying to add chips onto a ram board, he get solder on the pad and trys to remove it with a sucker, he ripped the pad itself off and had to use a little copper piece from a spare PCB to fix it.

[@RonSayss]

Your so cool bro!!

[@kingearwig]

@@RonSayss "you're" you mean?

[@nickpavloff8977]

It started up was such a warm feeling. That game was my first love

[@SamGTA4]

When you put in the cartridge... those sounds brought me back to my childhood. =)

[@kraj2571]

Great video. When I repair my cartridges I use a metal polish called “Brasso” on the pins. It does a fantastic job of removing the tarnish and makes the pins bright and shiny. You have a new subscriber. 🤘

[@epsileth]

Brite boy may also be worth a shot, similar to brasso but less harsh. :)

[@gav240z]

Brilliant, useful not just for fixing games. But fixing any old electronics. I have an old AM Radio in a vintage car which could benefit from a lot of these repair techniques also.

[@KreeptOut]

These vids are therapeutic, I swear. Lol.

[@ItsaRomethingeveryday]

I like how easy you made this fix to do, Good Work saving this classic, most people would've gave up, Liked

[@ieatpplseeu]

Investing in a micro lense and your close ups will be amazing to watch! Love the videos!

[@retrogamer9030]

Thanks to your videos that I fixed my broken cartridges. First timer at soldering and I did great 😉 thanks bud!

[@grandolddrummer]

These videos never feel as long as they are. By the time you're done it's like, "Wow, that was almost 30 minutes!?"

[@CattleRustlerOCN]

Especially at 1.5x speed 😋

[@nicholassturms9209]

Hearing you clean the pins gave me cold chills😂

[@davidherrerosfernandez1361]

I didn't know u could fix it like that. Also strangely satisfiyng and relaxing

[@chrishopkins209]

When you were trying to get the battery out with the tweezers, I remembered what I was thinking the last time I tried to replace a potentiometer on a guitar “damn, you need 3 hands for this sort of job”

[@frazzleface753]

Always enjoy your vids and your laid back style. :)

[@KISSbestfan]

No nail polish on the broken trace this time. But hey, it does work. Great job !

[@98SE]

Really enjoying the content, keep it up! :)

[@michaeldavis6473]

Always clean the entire cart before even testing it, so your system doesn’t get dirty and break too. Nice work btw 👍

[@barthanes1]

Excellent, comprehensive repair video. Thanks for sharing.

[@anthonyboccardo2726]

Since u found gunk above the pins in ur 1st step, i would also clean the carts inner casing too as there will still be gunk left there that more than likely broke the 1st trace u repaired. non the less great vid mate.

[@ThomasGrillo]

Thanks for sharing this. Had no idea there was a battery inside these carts. I still have some of these. :)

[@Antony_AMGenthusiast]

This is a great video. I have a few snes games (luckily that all still work) but if 1 starts to play up after viewing this I know my soldering skills are enough to sort out problems like this

[@apr2499]

Great job on this video! Out of curiosity, what brand of soldering iron do you have? What temperature do you have it set at?

[@TheHokkaidogaijin]

Rescued another one from the Trash Bin.... Well Done!

[@Criminalsolid39]

I love your contents my man I've Fixed a ton of cartridges and consoles from watching you videos. But I have a recommendation for you I don't know if anyone has told you before but I have found that glass cook top cleaner does the best job of clean the pins on cartridges. Hope you find that useful and thanks for the videos.

[@dawn_h6]

Thanks for not editing out the solder reflowing asmr

[@PapaYoshi]

Hey boss!!! When cleaning your pins. I use a big pink eraser. Then follow it up with IPA. It gets all that brown oxidation off the pins. For polishing it’s a whole different thing. You can use glass top oven cleaner. And it will get the pins superclean. But I prefer using brasso. And light scrubbing. Great job as always.

[@L30NBL4NK]

But I rather think the brass went off from the pins, because it was used a lot. They losed their colour.

[@gwockamol]

I always thought moisture would hurt the board. I’ve learned a lot thru this video, thank you so much! I have a few games to try this on.

[@Nesseight]

Nothing that he used was really moist. 99% alcohol dries insanely fast and mops up flux residue.

[@GameKollector]

First 10 minutes if this video.. All I could think was "Please use an eraser on those pins as they are dirty as hell". Then you did it! Very cool watching these videos you.

[@HardwoodSports]

Wow! In depth how to.... this is what everyone needs to see!

[@SaccoBelmonte]

There are rubber blocks with sanding bits mixed in, they're to polish Guitar frets. That should work wonders with the worn out pins.

[@shadowfrost44]

What do you do with all of these games? Good work by the way!

[@SunBleachedYouth]

Thanks for the video! I will definitely be checking out your other videos! You should have tried blowing in the cartridge first though lol. Works every time.

[@bryanmoore7229]

Hey, good to see a new video!

[@Ghozer]

when trying to get the battery out, it's often easier to put on fresh solder as you did, then heat-up and use the tweezers like you did, then wick AFTER to clean up the pad's that remain - it's also easier to use the wick once the component is removed...

[@1122markj]

It's so simple yet so impressive!

[@juliantotriwijaya9208]

"to desoder, the first thing i like to do first is add more soder" Me: *surprise pikachu face*

[@AlwaysBolttheBird]

It sounds weird but it's the way to do it

[@alanclarion6765]

Desolder..... Solder.

[@NearFarMedia]

It helps form a bridge to allow the heat from the iron to flow into the joint easier.

[@10siWhiz]

The pencil eraser trick works amazing on lots of metallic oxides. I use it on silver coins and is the best way to clean the black silver oxide without ruining the original patina.

[@tommy6934]

What kind of stand do you use to put your phone in?

[@ninjacell2999]

Killer Queen. It has a nice compartment in it's stomach area

[@woofoof]

The cleaning of the pins makes my ears and soul bleed

[@EdgyShooter]

I read this before watching and though, how bad could it be? But you nailed it

[@Kaltinril]

OMG I wish there was a warning for this, ouch.

[@davidporter1285]

EdgyShooter i was going to comment exactly what you said lol

[@adamgh0]

I wet sand my NES contacts with electrical contact cleaner and 2000 grit automotive sandpaper. Quit cringing. If your contacts were tarnished when you started cleaning and were shiny when you were done then you removed metal from them. That's how removing tarnish works, no matter what method you use. You can't get clean contacts without removing damaged metal.

[@woofoof]

@@adamgh0 i understand this, but it doesn't make it any less painful to hear... Also can't believe you used the word cringe unironically.

[@yourposer]

Picture and sound quality are excellent. The new phone is great!

[@biduleman6941]

I would recommend using a fiberglass pen, also called fiberglass scratch brush, instead of a box cutter to expose a trace. It's made exactly to remove solder mask without breaking the traces.

[@ozzy1976]

New viewer here. You have great content! I do have one question for you. Where do you buy your resistors, diodes, capacitors n the batteries from? I would greatly appreciate your input. Thanks again for the quality uploads. Of course, I subbed too

[@SlowerIsFaster139]

i learn a lot about soldering which seems to be a dirty word when it comes to noobs like me and doing repairs on electronics haha. thanks for the videos man

[@harryrathien1082]

hope you didnt learn it from these videos...

[@derwake1]

Awesome job! What kind/size of wire do you use to repair the traces?

[@RetroRepairs]

I have 30 gauge stranded wire, and usually use 2 individual strands, not sure exactly what size the individual stands end up being

[@Chris020687]

Nice to see such enthusiasm in restoring a game into a working condition - you quess it - BUT, I must wonder why you didn't check the capacitors at all?!? After 26 jears all kinds of residue from this age has gone bad... I NEVER had only a single CAP measuring good from over 10 consoles and over 100 games. Maybe it's worth a try considering that, too! ;)

[@jochenwuerfel]

"Quick repair video" = 27min :D

[@stephenchristian6018]

27 youtube Mins might as well be hours in real time.

[@will9603]

Little hack, we use nail clippers to cut the wire as you get a very close cut and it tight spaces very easy to use.

[@EdgyShooter]

Did I miss it or did he never actually test his jumper?

[@hootsmccoy1450]

Another excellent video repair!!!

[@djyoshiman9448]

This was so satisfying to watch! Also, The Source associate here. Just noticed their brand (Nexxtech) of your solder there, if that is the case, that's awesome! Does that mean you're Canadian as well, or you visited one of the stores from over the border?

[@feelingkoii]

He's clearly Canadian, Listen to him say 'Out' at 20:00

[@miguelchavez2126]

Learned a lot so far thanks for the videos

[@boodro2122]

Tedious, but worth it for the sense of accomplishment alone. Good job.

[@markrichardson7192]

Omg! you did a very good job at repairing it I love you're skills😃

[@andrevarnava6115]

I love your videos, the struggle to get that battery pin out of the board felt real. You didn't just cut to the part where it came out. Very nicely done. Was the original battery dead, or did you just replace it since its 26 years old?

[@RetroRepairs]

The latter. Even if there were saved games i would have replaced it

[@thunderdragon8341]

do u customize retro consoles im looking for a backlight to be put into my Gameboy

[@rpetersn]

What temperature is your soldering iron? It seems to melt solder a lot faster than mine. Thanks!

[@remogaggi82]

Use chisel tip. Not enough thermal capacity in the pointed tips. Aroud 650f?

[@klax001]

I don't know why I watch this shit, but I love it.

[@zaydsnaynay6736]

Could someone help me I know this is not related to the subject of the video but I booted up my SNES to play super Mario kart but for some reason when I did, it didn’t look right at all. The off-road green grass you see on the very first track of the game took the whole road to the point where I can’t see the road and same exact problem for the map on the bottom it’s all light green and I can’t see the road to play. Is the game cartridge the problem or the SNES because I booted up another game and couldn’t see the characters. Both the games are old I personally think it’s the games because they are both brown on the bottom and old

[@retrogamer9030]

What stuff are you using? What king of multimeter, soldering tool etc... please I need to know

[@cenglebretson]

Do you know what would cause the graphics to be glitchy? I have Super Black Bass and it comes on and works fine just glitchy graphics. Thanks

[@acumenium8157]

11:42 (and other timestamps) that yellow thing on the corner of the cartridge (lower-right of this timestamp), what is that? That's a really strong yellow unless it's just the same gold as the cart pins or something and it's just a lighting thing. Is that a water damage sticker?

[@ricardo77773]

Hi RetroRepairs nice soldering,what brand of soldering iron you use on the video?

[@RetroRepairs]

I use a hakko fx-888D. It's a pretty solid starter station for the price.

[@oo0speed0oo]

that zoom is amazing, you said that's with a phone ?

[@josephneale10215]

Awesome video as always ❤️👍

[@unccred]

I'm curious why just a little bubble of solder wouldn't bridge that break in the trace?

[@RetroRepairs]

Not enough solder can stick to the trace to cover the gap

[@CoolerCream]

Love the video but a problem has come up for me. What’s the temperature you use for sauntering and all that good stuff. Is there any correct temperature?

[@daffhead4975]

Louis Rossman: "That's not the right amount of flux".

[@michaelladue5655]

Checking PPBUS G3

[@BrunoMrx]

hahahahahahahhahahahhahahahhahahhahahahhahahahahhahahahahahahahahaha best comment eveeeer!

[@9ElevenGamer]

I have a PCB that only works without graphical errors when it's not encased in it's plastic cart' case any ideas?

[@KYBlueJedi]

Can you use a CR1616 battery instead of CR2032 on SNES games? I'm thinking its possible but not sure. I had trouble installing a CR2032 battery holder with SNES Zelda LTTP PCB. I was considering installing a CR1616 battery holder instead. Id rather not do tabbed batteries.

[@viaujeff]

I know this is good to change the battery but my old Zelda nes cartridge has my old game saved again and the cartridge has over 30 years old... I know in computer, you have to change the battery at every 2-3 years, but never changed one in cartridge and game are still saved. Do you know why?

[@LingsKazemiro]

Hey man! 1st of all great video, I really enjoyed that! Funnily enough I will have to do exactly the same to my Mario world copy! :) also what av cable do you use? I just got a random amazon one and my picture looks in 8 bits compared to yours! :( thinking if that would be the cause and kinda hoping it's not the TV haha keep it up :)

[@RetroRepairs]

I've got the oem av cable. It definitely could be your tv, this is a tiny one so it looks a bit smoother. Trying to run it on a big flatscreen will definitely look choppier

[@LingsKazemiro]

@@RetroRepairs thanks I might give that a go just to see the difference. I only have a 40inch so that's I was hoping it was the cable - bit cheaper fix :)

[@dozzer]

Where did you learn to do this? I love the vids, but im cautious to following them alone when repairing my stuff. Also, do you flip these? Buy them broken, repair, and resell? Is it profitable?

[@RetroRepairs]

Learned by watching videos and tinkering with my own stuff. Sometimes I resell, usually i keep them unless ive got a few copies already. It's not particularly profitable, you'd need to do a LOT at once to make enough money to consider it more than a hobby

[@screenietodyt]

how come the snes test cart was Pal and super mario world was NTSC and they both work in the console? i thought ntsc version could not use pal carts without a converter

[@RetroRepairs]

It's not a PAL, it's an NTSC cart in a super famicom shell so it can work on either. Not sure if it would work on a pal system or not

[@GamingHistorySource]

You can also clean the pins with white vinegar. let it set on the pins for about 3 minutes & then clean it with alcohol. It is great for restoring the shine to the pins.

[@Bernard-zb5sx]

wouldn't you want to add solder to each pad so any repair would be more reliable

[@JONMPG]

Maybe that is why my all stars isn't saving everytime I take it out of the system.

[@Lukeno52]

Genuine question - why not replace the soldered battery with a holder?

[@RetroRepairs]

Mainly because i see no reason to. They're simple enough to change out, and shouldn't be an issue for another 20-30 years, if there's even a working SNES by then.

[@Tell_It_Right]

Q: Can you just use a circuit writer pen to repair those small lines instead of soldering? I did that on my car's dashboard touchscreen board to repair some broken board connections and it worked.

[@HerrenbachStyle]

i really would love to see how your workbench looks like and where your cam is positioned :)

[@alejandroloera3745]

You ever use brightboy to clean the pins

[@MidoriMonorail]

I have a game that gets stuck on the Nintendo title screen, do you have any idea why? I have clean the console and other games work. Just not this one game and it does it on two different systems I’m thinking it might be a capacitor but I’m not sure

[@ioangabriel8200]

Great fix, learned a lot!