Turbo Express screen issues READ THIS.

[shadowlife25]

OK Everyone, here's the scoop: I have a Turbo Express that I purchased knowing that it needed the sound fix applied.

Turns out that the previous owner had taken to powering it with an unapproved power supply    

Hence the problem that I have come across. I have searched and searched both here and on other forums, and I haven't been able to find a reason for the LCD needing extra power.

The answer I have come up with after a FULL tear-down and rebuild of the Turbo Express is this:

Symptoms:

Unit powers on, sound works as normal, but screen is just a "fuzzy" purplish-black color! No amount of adjustment of the contrast control will
affect the screen brightness/contrast at all.
Which brings me back to a previously mentioned point:
The previous owner had taken to powering it with an UNAPPROVED POWER SUPPLY!!

Now the unit works perfectly fine on battery power and the standard APPROVED power supply, BUT___only AFTER powering up with 12V.

I am presently trying to track down the culprit of this issue with my magical multi-meter ;)
I'm fairly sure that there is some sort of rectifier circuit that probably needs a bit of attention. I will be devoting that attention to it as soon as time permits.  If anyone has any more insight that they would  like to share, please do!

Until then, I hope that this was at least somewhat useful.
M.

[Superfamifreak]

If you can't fix it and want to sell it as scrap, let me know. I've always wanted to add video outputs to one so I could play it on my tv.

[rolins]

Symptoms:

Unit powers on, sound works as normal, but screen is just a "fuzzy" purplish-black color! No amount of adjustment of the contrast control will
affect the screen brightness/contrast at all.
Which brings me back to a previously mentioned point:
The previous owner had taken to powering it with an UNAPPROVED POWER SUPPLY!!

You're not the only one who has experienced this. I used to own a GT and had the same symptoms your TE is suffering from. Eventually mine died, I even tried to apply D-Lite's sound fix thinking it might be resurrected. It didn't work and I end up selling for parts on ebay.

From experience it's not the lcd screen for sure, you can still salvaged that and save it especially if it doesn't have dead pixels.

Chances are your TE is on it's last legs.

[Keranu]

I ordered a Turbo Express from Mind Rec recently and it should arrive very soon, sometime within 1-3 days now. That sounds like a nasty, terrible problem you guys had and I hope I don't get it. I plan on playing my Turbo Express in the mean time using this universal AC adapter I have which lets you change the plug type and the voltage. Could someone give me specs for which settings I would need to use to assure safe playing for my Turbo Express? Thanks.

[rolins]

I ordered a Turbo Express from Mind Rec recently and it should arrive very soon, sometime within 1-3 days now. That sounds like a nasty, terrible problem you guys had and I hope I don't get it. I plan on playing my Turbo Express in the mean time using this universal AC adapter I have which lets you change the plug type and the voltage. Could someone give me specs for which settings I would need to use to assure safe playing for my Turbo Express? Thanks.

If you're going for an universal AC adpator make sure they're close to 7volts and DC 700mA.

It's better to have an offical AC and you can still buy them from TZD. They're $20.

If your going to get an external rechargeable battery pack, the only requirements here is the voltage has to be at 7.2volts and must be NiMH. The mAh rating can be whatever, but the higher the better. A 2800 mAh should give around 3hours on the TE. If you need a recharageable battery pack this one's good. Has given me no troubles for almost 6 months now. Drawback is it's bulky and the cord is short, but otherwise works.

http://www.powerstream.com/bp-1388.htm

[Keranu]

Thanks a lot for the info and thanks a lot for the battery pack link, I was meaning to look for that again because I remember you posting about it! The universal AC adapter I have can up from 1-12 volts I think, and I plan on getting an official TE AC adapter in the future just to be safer and to add in the collection. I think I might have to pick up one of those battery packs in the future too, that's nice.

[shadowlife25]

The company with that link no longer makes that battery-pack, unfortunately.
I'll try to find another viable alternative. Thanks for the replies everyone!

[Keranu]

I just bought that rare PC Engine GT battery pack off eBay recently, it was $40 complete with shipping included.

[shadowlife25]

Great find! Congrats. Price isn't too horrible either considering that an RC car battery pack that is comparable runs about $50.

[Keranu]

Thanks, it should come in handy ;) .