RGB modded French N64 - yellow tint to picture

[mashers]

I bought a French N64 from eBay some time ago which had been modded to display RGB. I bought this one because apparently only one of the French models (NUS-001 (FRA), not NUS-001 (EUR)) contains the required circuitry to carry out the RGB mod. It worked fine for a while, but now the picture has a yellow tint. I don't know the details of the mod which was carried out but could send photos if needed (though the N64 is a bit of a pain to disassemble). I'm just wondering whether anyone knows what could be causing this and whether it can be fixed. I've tried another cable but the same thing happened.

Thanks in advance for any help!

 

[mashers]

@Armadillo
I hope you don't mind me tagging you here, but I saw in another thread that you seem to know about N64 RGB modding, so wondered if you would know the answer to this. Thanks in advance

 

[migles]

apparently only the French model contains the required circuitry to carry out the RGB mod.

how does the french model differentiates with the rest of europe?

 

[mashers]

how does the french model differentiates with the rest of europe?

If I understand correctly, the motherboard in the French N64 contains the DAC outputs RGB. The PAL models in the rest of Europe used a different DAC, meaning that in order to get RGB out of it you would have to replace the DAC. I opted to get a pre-modded French model since it's PAL, has the DAC with RGB, and in this particular case already had the required modifications carried out.

 

[vb_encryption_vb]

It would be a soldering issue or possibly a bad resistor.

If you can solder it's an easy fix. I'll check the soldering for cold joints.

 

[mashers]

It would be a soldering issue or possibly a bad resistor.

If you can solder it's an easy fix. I'll check the soldering for cold joints.

I suspected as much. I could possibly check the board myself as I could recognise a cold joint, but no way would I take an iron to my N64. @gamesquest1 is this something you would be able to take a look at?

 

[gamesquest1]

yeah sure i could take a look for you, always hoping to pick up a french console to rgb mod but for some bizarre reason everyone i come across is a UK model.....cant imagine why

 

[mashers]

yeah sure i could take a look for you, always hoping to pick up a french console to rgb mod but for some bizarre reason everyone i come across is a UK model.....cant imagine why

Thanks bud, I'll PM you.

 

[Armadillo]

It's specifically only the early French models "nus-001 (FRA)", later French models are just the standard nus-001 (EUR) variant.

It's not just the vdc-nus (the one that puts out RGB), that they have, the French models are unique and also have the amp built in (S-RGB chip). They are pretty much rgb ready, except they are missing some resistors, caps and something else (transistors I think, can't remember). The pcb has the markings and and pads for them, it's just a case of adding them back in. It's likely rgb capablity was pulled at the last second for no reason as clearly that variation was designed with it in mind.

It doesn't really change anything though, just if you open it, you are unlikely to see anything that sticks out as a "mod" unless the person who done it followed the same method used on ntsc consoles (rgb from vdc-nus + seperate amp), rather than just repopulating the board with the missing components.

Doesn't really change anything in terms of fault though, as others already said, it's likely to be a bad joint, resistor, bridge or missing component. If it's using the mod unique to the French model (repopulating the board), they are tiny little smd components, so can easily be dislodged if the work was bad in the first place.

 

[vb_encryption_vb]

yeah sure i could take a look for you, always hoping to pick up a french console to rgb mod but for some bizarre reason everyone i come across is a UK model.....cant imagine why

lol, oddly I'm in the U.S.A and found one on a complete fluke lol.

 

[Deleted User]

If I understand correctly, the motherboard in the French N64 contains the DAC outputs RGB. The PAL models in the rest of Europe used a different DAC, meaning that in order to get RGB out of it you would have to replace the DAC. I opted to get a pre-modded French model since it's PAL, has the DAC with RGB, and in this particular case already had the required modifications carried out.

That's interesting, I wonder if there's any specific reason as to why they made the French models differently...

 

[vb_encryption_vb]

That's interesting, I wonder if there's any specific reason as to why they made the French models differently...

Plenty of useful information can be found here.

http://retrorgb.com/

 

[gamesquest1]

lol, oddly I'm in the U.S.A and found one on a complete fluke lol.

yeah i am hoping one day it will turn up, every time i get one i check for an expansion pak, then if its a FRA console, but no luck so far

weirdly i did once get a NTSC console in a pal case, so i thought it was broken at first, guess someone swapped the case for some reason but forgot to swap the cart slot bit so only pal carts would fit in the case......i wonder what people get upto sometimes XD

 

[mashers]

@Armadillo
It is a NUS-001 FRA, for sure. I checked it on the motherboard. I think the changes are made to the bottom of the board so I can't actually see what was done (without taking it out). I'm currently in communication with @gamesquest1 to get it checked out as I don't have the confidence with a soldering iron to do it myself.

 

[vb_encryption_vb]

yeah i am hoping one day it will turn up, every time i get one i check for an expansion pak, then if its a FRA console, but no luck so far

weirdly i did once get a NTSC console in a pal case, so i thought it was broken at first, guess someone swapped the case for some reason but forgot to swap the cart slot bit so only pal carts would fit in the case......i wonder what people get upto sometimes XD

From what I've read all consoles can be done, it's a matter of buying a chip I guess. Goto the site I linked earlier, has all the details on it.

 

[gamesquest1]

From what I've read all consoles can be done, it's a matter of buying a chip I guess. Goto the site I linked earlier, has all the details on it.

yeah, i always plan to get around to it, but i do like the idea of it being as close to stock as possible but i guess i can give it a go, might give me extra motivation to do it when i see mashers console in person as i haven't seen a rgb console in person yet to see the difference

 

[migles]

That's interesting, I wonder if there's any specific reason as to why they made the French models differently...

thats the question that popped out when hearing about a unique french model

 

[vb_encryption_vb]

yeah, i always plan to get around to it, but i do like the idea of it being as close to stock as possible but i guess i can give it a go, might give me extra motivation to do it when i see mashers console in person as i haven't seen a rgb console in person yet to see the difference

There is pictures to compare them too, they are pretty evident that the picture quality is better, that and you can hook it up to a modern TV. That's what I'm trying to accomplish as I don't want an old box tv lol.

 

[Armadillo]

@Armadillo
It is a NUS-001 FRA, for sure. I checked it on the motherboard. I think the changes are made to the bottom of the board so I can't actually see what was done (without taking it out). I'm currently in communication with @gamesquest1 to get it checked out as I don't have the confidence with a soldering iron to do it myself.

Sorry, should have been clearer. Didn't mean you didn't have a NUS-001 (FRA), was just making it clear, it's that specific model that can easily be done, and the French later switched to the standard EUR model, just so people don't jump on ebay.fr and think it's all good .

If it's all on the bottom, I would assume it's been done the right way for the French one (repopulated board). VDC-NUS and S-RGB are on the top, so if it was done the meh way like so http://retroconsolecomputer.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/the-n64-from-france-nus-001fra-was-in.html, you would see wires. The nice way for French models and keeping it all stock looking is like this youtube.com/watch?v=o2PthLvwavU (Sorry, it's in French). All nice and stock looking .

thats the question that popped out when hearing about a unique french model

I would guess, as it was unique to the French n64, it was likely to deal with SECAM. Having the console output RGB and selling it with an RGB scart cable is an easy way to get around colour encoding issues. Unlike the early NTSC consoles that just happen to have a place to grab RGB from, the French model was clearly designed with outputting it in mind (amp + board layout). Similar thing was done with the NES, there is a French NES that can output RGB. It's not true RGB, as it's made from the same internal composite, but it did get around the pesky colour encoding issues for tvs.

 

[mashers]

@Armadillo
Ahh I see. I'll update the OP in case it causes confusion for others. I didn't actually know that N switched to the EUR model in France at some point.