My First Portable - The N65

[Snipeye]

ANY WAY...

If somebody would be willing to do a test for me, that'd be great - I need to know what happens when you plug an unmodified n64 into a screen, and turn on the n64 (the screen should already be on) without a cartridge in it. Does the screen flash white, or does something else happen?

[gamax92]

I think it does nothing. it just locks up.

[Snipeye]

If somebody would be willing to do a test for me, that'd be great

I need to know exactly what happens, not what you think happens.

[gamax92]

i don't have one but marshallh said it freezes up.

[marshallh]

Nothing happens

If you're using a CRT you may see a very brief flash. The screen may also turn a very dark green.

If you take out the jumper pak/exp pak you should see a bright green screen.

It's hard to see these things on a LCD.

[gamax92]

Thank you.

[Snipeye]

And that's what will happen if the board IS fried, or if it ISN'T fried? I'm going to try reseating the RAM soon, I'll post results here.

[Snipeye]

Took thejumper pack out, hooked it to a CRT, and got the white flash - no green screen. Left it on for a minute, and the most centered CPU heated up quite a bit. I think it's fried... Cheap sources for another n64?

[Hrduncan]

thats the rcp so it probably is fried

[Snipeye]

Alright, continuing work - I had an idea, I'm working on making a Ps1/Ps2 joystick work with an n64 controller. It has the 'press down for another button' ability, and I was thinking I would use the joystick button as z - should I include alternate z buttons as well, or do you think just that 1 is good enough? If you ever try to move the joystick while holding it down for the button, the button is released.

[hailrazer]

As mentioned elsewhere having the joystick button as the z button is a bad idea. When using the z button in a lot of games you still need to have joystick control. That is very difficult when trying to push down the joystick and use it. Also despite what you may think it is VERY easy to push the stick down accidentally. I have done this in a portable and it happened all the time. Wound up disconnecting it.

[Snipeye]

Alright, started taking a look at that regulator with my brand new multimeter - I measured 3.09V coming off it, which I'm hoping isn't enough and that's why my n64 isn't working. Is that the case, and is 3.09V sufficient to drive an n64?

[iHackedit]

Disabling Thread Hijacking Mode....... Done.

Disabling gamaxs posts?

[Snipeye]

Evidently. Update: I think I fried my board, I've been working on testing everything, but my hopes aren't particularly high.

[Snipeye]

Well, I had my friend come over today so I could test my potentially working yet potentially broken stuff with his for-sure working stuff, and as it turns out, my mobo IS fried. I ordered a new one, and I also noticed an issue with the screen (posted in the screen section). Once the board gets here, which should be in a couple to a few days, I can really kick this in to high gear.

Positive note: I finally got around to soldering my ps2 joystick to my madcatz controller, and it worked flawlessly. So my portable will definitely have a PS2 joystick, which I find much more comfortable. Still need to a find a use for the press-joystick-in-button.