Pal Snes saves question

[timgorden11]

I recently started playing my snes (pal) again (been about 7 years since it's been used) and my saves have been disappearing whenever I take the game cartridge out.

I bought (well my parents bought) all the games brand new in the 90's so at first I thought that the battery's in the games have finally given out however before I change them all I have a question about it.

I can play a game (for example donkey kong country 3) fine and then save fine.

The question i have is this, if the battery was flat in the dkc3 cartridge then as soon as I turn off the power (first at the snes console and then at the wall) shouldn't the save file disappear? But this isn't what happens, I can turn off the power (console + wall) then turn them both back on and the save file is still there and it loads and plays fine. However if i turn the power off (console + wall or even just console) take out the cartridge then put it back in then the save file is gone.

Is this what should be happening if the battery is flat or is there something wrong with the console?

Thanks

 

[thaddius]

The battery still has a very weak charge. What's happening is that the battery is capable of storing the save for a brief period and somehow taking the cartridge out seems to expend the battery more.

When not drawing power, some batteries can 'recharge' a little. A very little. This seems to be just enough to save the game for a minute or so before the battery dies/goes flat again.

I had a similar problem with an early GBA flash cart (an XG-Flash 128M. Don't buy one of these

). It was a cheap Chinese product so it used a substandard battery that failed after a year. As a result I ended up with the same kind of save problems as you: it would save fine, but if I waited too long or took the cartridge out of the GBA, the save would be gone. I bought a replacement battery and, once installed properly, it functioned fine and is still working today, seven years later.

 

[timgorden11]

Thanks for the reply, and for putting my mind at ease.

Now I've just gotta change the batteries for 17 snes games lol