So my friend cracked open his SNES and found this...

Armadillo

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There was a company who made a limited amount of an auto switching region mod that claimed to use a custom design (this was before the SuperCIC was around I think). If it's hooked to the pin that controls 50/60Hz, it could be that. Their name escapes me at the moment.
 

TeamScriptKiddies

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Perhaps it was some kind of rom dumper?

I'm with you on this. It would make sense that it would need its own power source to operate (hence the batteries). Some sort of region switching/region free mod would likely run off a power source on the consoles motherboard' like a traditional modchip would. My thoughts are perhaps, whatever this is, draws too much load for the SNES to operate properly, hence its own power source.

Are there any sort of external ports on this thing or the SNES itself for perhaps connecting a pc for a rom dump? Also those loose wires coming off, what are/were they connected to??
 

Coto

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well it has some dip-switches. and a few ram/rom circuits.

could be either a dumper or this guy really liked a game and put it in:

edit: nope:


http://www.mmmonkey.co.uk/snes-5060hz-switch-with-lockout-switch/

apparently there's a missing circuitry (lockout chip) there.
20zwinp.jpg


as the guy two posts below said
 
Last edited by Coto, , Reason: picture fixed

Chiramii

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Hello again. Please excuse me for being absent without leaving a note.

To answer the question of the console working or not. It doesn't. The console powers on, and on my TV I got what only looked like standard analog noise. While manually searching for the SNES on my TV i managed to get what looked like a solid blue screen when the console was powered on. Naturally, this solid blue screen disappears whenever I power off the console, so there's clearly a connection between these two things.

I'm starting to wonder if the RF component inside the SNES is busted, but I don't really know what the usual symptoms of such a component failure would look like on the television.

Suffice to say, my friend has now ordered an AV cable online to see if he's able to get it working then.

The soldered cables end up here on the main board of the SNES.

Edit: I should at that I cut the cables in the picture when I was troubleshooting on his SNES. The SNES didn't work in the first place, which is why we opened it. I suspect that whatever mod this might be, the console was in working order with this added mod way back when. My friend bought in on an online marketplace a few months ago.
 
Last edited by Chiramii,

Chiramii

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So the console could work with a properly seated lockout chip? I know someone that might still have a faulty SNES, so I'm wondering if it would be possible to use the lockout chip on that SNES to get this one working. Could be a nice little project.

Or is the lockout chip different with each motherboard revision?
 

loco365

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I know what it is, based on the images provided.

It's a lockout circumvention chip. The three wires coming out of where the lockout chip is connects to the weird board that's attached, however, the batteries are dead, so it can't function. If you re-attach the wires and replace the batteries, that board will act like a lockout chip, and the switch will allow you to change other things (I presume region? Perhaps it's like the NES in that the SNES had two EUR regions?).
 

WigWrm

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You need to know what the PCB revision is. After that, a quick google search will let ya know what revision of the chip you need for your model.

So the console could work with a properly seated lockout chip? I know someone that might still have a faulty SNES, so I'm wondering if it would be possible to use the lockout chip on that SNES to get this one working. Could be a nice little project.

Or is the lockout chip different with each motherboard revision?
 

Joe88

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guess the easiest way would to be try replacing that battery which for whatever reason was soldered and hotglued in
 

migles

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solder alkaline batteries. what an idiot (the dude who did it) :glare:
they don't last that long, eventually need to replace and it is a pain in the ass to remove them
 

BORTZ

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What a friggin strange thing to do to an SNES. I have heard of mods and stuff, but to solder in a battery? So, does it work if you just pull the board out?
 

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