PC Engine video problems

[dritske]

Hey guys,

I have a PC Engine with composite AV mod. I haven't been playing for a while but today my fingers were itching again so I connected it again.
Unfortunately the picture is pretty distorted with horizontal distorted lines scrolling up all the time. It seems to be less but not gone while there's no audio, like after the title screen music.

I really don't know what's happening because it used to work. I'm using the same TV as before, tried other cables already.
I'd really appreciate it if someone could help me out here..

Thanks!

drits

[SNKNostalgia]

Sounds like a bad/loose connection, most likely with the ground connection. Open it up and see if a wire is disconnected to the video jack or where it is connected to on the pc board. The ground is the outer part of the RCA jack, which is the ( ) of this (o) .

[Platinumfungi]

I'd agree with SNK. Sounds like a bad connection.

Did you do the AV mod / or are you familiar with the premise of how the jacks are hooked up? If so just open it up and double check all the connections. Look for bad solder joints or anything that looks loose.

It would probably be a good idea to go ahead and reflow all the solder spots.

[dritske]

Sorry for bringing up my old topic again, but I still haven't figured out what's going wrong.

I checked for loose connections and bad soldering joints but haven't found any. I rechecked again today (after many years) because after moving to my new place I opened my boxes with retro gaming systems again.

Here's the result when I power on my PC Engine with the great Jackie Chan:

Here's a picture of the inside of this little broken marvel:

/29549au.jpg

Hoping I can still fix it...

Thanks!

PS I didn't do this mod myself. I bought the console this way at gamedoctorHK.

[SNKNostalgia]

Corrosion everywhere on those solder connections and traces. Might as well de-solder everything on the PCB, cleanup those areas and check for eaten through traces. Also, might be a good idea to get your video and audio from the source instead of the expansion pin-out. You can always send your system off to someone here in the tech/mod discussion forum and it should be no more than a $10-15 mod plus shipping since the jacks are already in place.

I would go ahead and S-video mod it while you are at it. Ends up looking 3x better with the newer S-video mod, but it will cost you maybe $30 more.

Edit: It looks like some repairs where done with that mess on the bottom left. I would just send it off to someone to take a look at it right away.

[thesteve]

make sure your using the right power supply
that looks like AC on the power line

[dritske]

I'm gonna look for someone in Europe (I'm from Belgium) who can fix it, but I think it's going to be hard to find someone. Anyone here who can make me an offer?

@thesteve: I'm using a 9V DC power suppply (actually it's the one from my Roland SPD-S which also works on my SMS & SMD). Do you mean the previous owner toasted it with using the wrong power supply?

[NightWolve]

I believe he means he doesn't trust the power supply that you're using. Looking up the power needs, yeah, the original supply for a PC Engine is 9 V and needs to be able to handle at least 650 mA. If steve thinks that AC is coming through, then his troubleshooting advice is to try another 9 V power supply. It sounds like it's not doing a good job of converting your AC to DC, and smoothing it (old diodes or old smoothing capacitor or perhaps with your 220 VAC situation in Europe, the step down converter to 120 VAC could be another factor).

[dritske]

I'm using this power supply (the EU version):
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/PSB120

i just tested with another power supply, something like this:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Power-supply-adaptor-Master-System-black/dp/B005POHXO2

Unfortunately still giving the same result.

[wildfruit]

The polarity on a mega drive adapter is the opposite of a turbo one. I don't know if pce is reversed also?

[NightWolve]

Oh OK, both of these have stepping down ability from 240 VAC, you don't have a separate adapter inbetween. Looks like the problem is likely more with the unit then. :/ (It wouldn't power on at all if the polarity was wrong, and I think that would've permanently damaged it too).

[thesteve]

are you using RF or the composite mod?

[dritske]

I'm using the composite mod.

[thesteve]

Try RF, see if it's different

[dritske]

With RF still the same problem (or even worse actually probably due to NTSC-J signal?).

[tggodfrey]

when soldering you need to clean the flux off the board afterwards.  That too can add to your issues.

[dritske]

when soldering you need to clean the flux off the board afterwards.  That too can add to your issues.

I'll try to clean the flux off first and let you guys know if it helped. If that doesn't work out I'm gonna remove all the soldering and try to get the signal from the source. Should I leave that mess at the bottom left like it is? I really don't have a clue what the modder tried to accomplish there.

[Fidde_se]

In the picture, down at the controller input with the "fixes" the wires aren't insulated (except for one). So the question is (maybe unrelated to your other problem) are the wires touching each other or is that just how it looks?