Nintendo 64 no video troubleshooting and repair - Part 2

[@SunChaserEUC]

For me, what fixed it was cleaning the spot under the removable cartridge slot. It was full of dust and other questionable debris. And I also put a little Isopropyl alcohol in the jumper pack slot and put it in and out a few times. Started right up after that. Thank you! I didn’t know that slot was removable!

[@danielwhiteside3610]

Thanks so much for the thorough part 1&2. I just got my old N64 working as a result of this detailed instruction. Super appreciated!

[@dingdongajay]

Loved your video mate thank you! Good to see the inside and what to look for 🎉❤

[@sergioabrahamp6211]

Nice work! I've a similar issue with my N64, maybe I can fix it now

[@petesapwell]

I have two of these with no video, haven’t been over the boards with the microscope yet (My eyes even with glasses are crap) will revisit in the morning,

[@petesapwell]

Also the area of corrosion would have been completely covered by the heatsink, maybe not liquids but a problem with board washing after manufacturer, maybe those via had corrosive cleaning product nit fully washed out?

[@TheRetroChannel]

Good point, totally forgot about the heatsink. No idea how or why the corrosion got there. Be sure to double check the cart slot and expansion/jumper pak connectors for broken joints, and give them a good scrub with IPA while you're there

[@petesapwell]

@@TheRetroChannel I’m an electronics veteran, been at it 42 years, currently repairing Arcade Boards and CRT monitors, Laptops are so flipping boring lol. Had a super Atari Tempest Colour XY vector board in last week :)

[@TheRetroChannel]

Awesome. I'd be curious to know what issues you find with the N64's

[@petesapwell]

@@TheRetroChannel Hi there, fixed both those N64, thanks for the inspiration :) one it turns out was supplied with an A/V lead with RGB configured in the scart, 180R resistor from +5V to select pin, of course it was a standard PAL device not RGB moded, The other was surprising NTSC model and the top RAM (nearest coprocessor) the back 4 pins had just lifted of the pads, fluxed and resoldered jobs a good un! Once again thanks :)

[@SianaGearz]

Yeah i think that's the expected behaviour from region lockout. There's a pair of CIC circuits, one of them on the cartridge in a separate chip and one of them integrated into the PIF on the console. If the two CICs don't agree, the processor is held in reset, and one of the things they want to agree on is the region, there are two regions. On prior consoles the lockout was easy to bypass, you can just prevent the CIC in the console from tugging on CPU reset, but they decided to thwart the efforts by integrating more functions into the same chip and calling it a PIF, so you can't disrupt it without also disrupting a lot of critical functionality like actually bringing up the CPU and firing interrupts.

[@TRONMAGNUM2099]

Good Job on the repair. You spotted it fairly easily. Luckily, it wasn't a situation where you had corrosion up under one of the chips. Some of those SMD chips can be a nightmare to solder properly.

[@TheRetroChannel]

Thanks, yeah could have been a lot worse. It's funny because I put together part one after I spotted it, and because I knew where the damage was, it's hard to unsee it when watching back part one

[@franciscomeza8905]

Thanks for the video as I need to learn to fix my Nintendo 64 system cheers.

[@ingodiekmann8321]

Hey, great job! Thanks for that Video. Troubleshooting well done.

[@arlingtontrains7]

Great job sir, lots of wisdom

[@jasonpluis3493]

OMG yes! My N64 stopped working (i.e. no video signal at all, good cables, red light). It turned out to be the expansion pack!

[@pathellak2688]

I've watched both these videos but as many others I believe it to be my expansion pack... could you do a video on the repair on those? No idea what I'm looking for but am trying to learn this new skill thanks and keep up the great videos

[@winggod2]

Hello 👋 what is that you used to clean the chip the Drill

[@TheRetroChannel]

You can find a link to it in the video description under the tools I use

[@silenthill4]

Invest in an ultrasonic. Fixes 90% of no video issues and cleans immaculately

[@hectordaniellemus-mesa4480]

I was watching this video to see if this would help me out but I have the same issue that the lights turn on but nothing goes on screen I have no image whatsoever and there's very few times that it does work but then all of a sudden it stops working

[@pccalcio]

I like your CRT, what is it ?

[@cocioabapetre6418]

Hello . I want a confirmation: so if there is a problem with the expansion package or the card there is no video signal? no logo anything? If one of the 2 is defective, is there no error message? Thank you

[@NickStringer-l6i]

Hi mate bit late to the party here but i've got an N64 that is also doing the same thing - no audio or video. I've done a VERY deep cleaning of the board, under the cart slot and the cart slot pins itself, resoldered a few things and still nothing. I'm in Australia, would you be interested in having another go at repairing another one?

[@williamehrhart3465]

Thought it was awesome do more game systems bud thank you

[@Walter_Hartwell_White356]

hey man, i know it is stupid, but i placed aluminum foil on the cartridge slot of my n64, i know i fckd up and shorted something, what do i need to replace? i really need help im so lost lmao

[@wimwiddershins]

Nice stuff. I was thinking a dead custom chip = parts machine.

[@CheshireNoir]

Man that controller was divisive. Many people still swear by it. (I still like it over Playstation DualShock) I think things peaked with the XBox 360 controller in terms of controller ergonomics.

[@TheRetroChannel]

Agreed. I think if I do dive back into N64 land, the brawler64 looks like a much more ergonomic and practical controller

[@waynegoodwin3217]

Well done buddy, can you please let me know the brand of that not dremmel or were you can buy it, looks like a great tool.

[@TheRetroChannel]

MaAnt D1. You can find them on AliExpress

[@waynegoodwin3217]

@@TheRetroChannel thankyou

[@waynegoodwin3217]

@@TheRetroChannel just bought one.

[@TheRetroChannel]

Nice. I think Northridge fix has a video on their channel showing one of these in action if you're interested

[@reminon]

What model crt?

[@TheRetroChannel]

It's a Commodore 1084

[@waynegoodwin3217]

P. S the tiny little dremmel

[@elguero117]

Are you trying to play a pal game on a ntsc system then yeah no action but. Japanese games play on ntsc u/c systems no problems

[@TheRetroChannel]

Other way around - NTSC cart on PAL system but yeah I looked it up afterwards and it can't be done without some heavy modification. Seems NTSC-J and NTSC-U is a much easier mod as it's just the physical difference between cart and slot

[@TheRetroChannel]

Ha, yep all that time, money, effort these big compaines spend building these protection schemes and in most cases all it does is punish and inconvenience legitimate users which then gives them the incentive to bypass the protection. Not to mention the moment someone tells us we can't do something with a product that we paid for and now own, we will find a way to circumvent it, even if it's just for the challenge. LOL

[@reiner0609]

What happened to your microphone? The sound is not as good as in your previous videos. Sounds very tin can...

[@TheRetroChannel]

Yeah sorry about that. I only realised how bad it was about half way through this video. So it gets better in the middle of the vid

[@ysmelinferreras7680]

Hola

[@YaowenChang]

I like your study. I have different problem. I did something for my N64 console 1. add RGBS mod with RGB+CS signal 2. firstly work normal but few minute. the SCART cables RGBS signal gone. 3. change back to S-Video cable output kzbin.infoh1HeG-EdkmQ?feature=share and change to cable output with composite-video kzbin.infor9hINrJVP4k?feature=share 4. Seems the sync function gone. even remove the RGBS mod small board. the issue still happened. Does any one know how to recover the Sync video signal back for N64, if the video sync for N64 is abnormal. and my N64 system version is "NUS-CPU-03"

[@TheRetroChannel]

I'm not familiar with this mod, but I'd go back and double check your soldering. I assume the RGB signals are picked up from the VDC-NUS chip? Even though you've removed the mod, there may still be a short somewhere. There's also schematics for this revision available on console5 which might help you track down the fault

[@YaowenChang]

@@TheRetroChannel the soldering is clean, the rework for RGB is get from VDC-NUS, that right. for sync (CSYNC) signal was get from the via between R15 and R16, same from VDC-NUS pin 14, but not directly there is a R16 1K ohm there, that maybe damage the VDC-NUS BU9801F or Q1, I do not know what is the Q1. If possible that is the problem root cause. Due to the R16 is 1K ohm. that is hard to damage the VDC-NUS from this path, What I guess is the location Q1. That may be some kind of pnp amp.

[@YaowenChang]

@@TheRetroChannel I think, I may be wrong, due to S video and Composite video do not using extra connector as sync, I guess you are right, the VDC-NUS may got something wrong after mod chip working and let the sync error with damage. But I do not have tool can proof that. Thank any way.

[@TheRetroChannel]

@@YaowenChang Yeah it looks like there is a buffer circuit and sync is available on the multi out on the CPU-03 versions, but you'd need an oscilloscope to see what it is doing. My guess is the VDC-NUS chip could be damaged, again it's hard to be certain without an oscilloscope. Perhaps the transistor at Q1 has shorted but it seems unlikely. You could try removing R16 but I doubt it will make a difference

[@YaowenChang]

@@TheRetroChannel My issue is fix now. I did added the sync into THS7374 to conn output into Sync pin out. but the main board already have Q1 working. the Q1 was damage at last week while the system boot up after 5 minute. Today I got a NPN, and rework on Q1 location and system sync working normally Thank you, it is nice have someone can talk with debug.