My megadrives are busted :(

katharinewheel

I have two megadrives a MK1 and MK2 and they both appear to have the same problem. They power on and then nothing, no sound, no picture, nothing. Now I've heard that these are fairly robust creatures and pretty difficult to kill, so two dead ones with the cause of death must be a bit of a rarity.

I have taken a apart the Megadrive 1 and cleaned it from the inside but still no luck with powering on. I haven't done anything with the megadrive 2 yet but was planning a similar sort of attack plan on her. But I won't have time to attempt it til next week.

I'm not the most techie person in the world and was planning to fix these two as part of kind of summer-megadrive-lazerus-project with my dad but he's been too busy lately and well, the megadrives and feeling a little neglected. So I may solder on, on my own and try to see where that gets me. At the very least it's a cheap way to learn how to get things done should my beloved SNES or (newly acquired) NES decide to bite it.

I was wondering if anyone could shed a little light on the best way to proceed with them?

Atavan-Halen

Maybe it's the AV/RF cables you're using or something?

Dr Bob

are you even getting a power light on either?
if you are my guess would be its not tuning in on the tv?
(guessing you're using an RF connector here)
might be worth trying an older portable if you have one

katharinewheel

Well, its not the RF cable as its been tested on other consoles (my brother's Mega drive 2) and works fine.

And its not the TV either, as I double checked and it is tuned to the right channel.

The power LED comes on (on both) but beyond that nothing. I tried cleaning the MK1 from the inside with a can of compressed air. I also tried cleaning the pin connector which had bits of lint and dust inside it. After which I got some very fuzzy lines for perhaps a second when turning the console on and again when turning it off.

Dr Bob

katharinewheel wrote: »

Well, its not the RF cable as its been tested on other consoles (my brother's Mega drive 2) and works fine.

And its not the TV either, as I double checked and it is tuned to the right channel.

The power LED comes on (on both) but beyond that nothing. I tried cleaning the MK1 from the inside with a can of compressed air. I also tried cleaning the pin connector which had bits of lint and dust inside it. After which I got some very fuzzy lines for perhaps a second when turning the console on and again when turning it off.

have you specifically tried a working meg with that tv on that channel?
I just ask as sometimes even though they should be tuned in at a specific channel they come in somewhere else?

katharinewheel

luas_dublin wrote: »

have you specifically tried a working meg with that tv on that channel?
I just ask as sometimes even though they should be tuned in at a specific channel they come in somewhere else?

Yup. I borrowed my brother's and have it here to test the power cables, RF cable and the game carts. All of which work on his megadrive and not on the other two.

CiDeRmAn

Perhaps its some sort of gypsy curse?
You didn't trounce a fortune teller in a game of MicroMachines did you?
Those games can get kinda intense, you might have missed it!

So, the cure, a fresh rooster sacrificed over the machines may work, just try not to get blood on the circuit board, it may be region free but cause the console to co-exist in hell and Satan is an even poorer loser at Micromachines.....

katharinewheel

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

Perhaps its some sort of gypsy curse?
You didn't trounce a fortune teller in a game of MicroMachines did you?
Those games can get kinda intense, you might have missed it!

So, the cure, a fresh rooster sacrificed over the machines may work, just try not to get blood on the circuit board, it may be region free but cause the console to co-exist in hell and Satan is an even poorer loser at Micromachines.....

Dammit, all out of Roosters. :mad:

Will a pigeon do instead?

CiDeRmAn

katharinewheel wrote: »

Dammit, all out of Roosters. :mad:

Will a pigeon do instead?

Sorry, rooster or nothing...
Have to play a Snes instead!

polyfusion

Don't know much about Megadrives, other than they were virtually bomb-proof.

Did you try cleaning the cart slot? (Do MDs come on without a cartridge in?)

After that, have a look inside and compare with pictures online, see if you can see anything obviously blown.

I did a quick google, and can see similar issues, but the screen is black. Are you getting any response through the AV connector when you power on?

Any sound through the headphone socket?

7sr2z3fely84g5

Thats what you get for using 50hz!.

All seriously,i would open the MD's again,look for any leaky caps or anything burst or damaged.

http://www.sega-16.com/forum/showthread.php?17312-How-long-Mega-Drive-will-lasts

i would also check contacts on your carts/md slots,giving them a gentle wipe,using electrical contact cleaner spray then wiping it,leaving it to dry out of course before powering it back on!.

Or maybe someone stuck an unofficial psu into the MD's and blew them.

CathalDublin

polyfusion wrote: »

Any sound through the headphone socket?

Suggest this 1st too

o1s1n

No matter how hard you try, you cannot troubleshoot consoles with RF cables. I've bought several consoles which were 'broken' and they weren't. It's just damn RF!

If the power light is coming on, chances are the consoles are fine. Get yourself an RGB scart cable for the Megadrive II and try it out. If the console works, picture and sound will appear on your RGB scart channel immediately.

The cable won't work with your MD 1 as it needs a slightly bigger connection, but at least if it works with the MD 2 you'll know it's that stupid RF cable.

MontgomeryClift

It might be that the cartridge is not making good contact with the pins, and they need tightening. Wiggle the cartridge SLIGHTLY with power on. Or it might be that the MD is just gone wrong. I have two MD2s that do little or nothing, but turn on.

Dr Bob

If that works theres a guide for "tightening" the cartridge slot out there (as thats a problem with the SMS), I'll see if I can dig it up.
Just to do a slight hijack , I've a MDII where the sounds gone.Cable is ok (I'm using it now on my other MD) so I'm guessing its something internal .I'll have to pop it open and have a look .

Kimbot

Sounds to me like the pin connecters for the cartridge. I have a link at home with how to fix all issues on all sega consoles ill try pop it up later