Khaag's N64p worklog

khaag · Post by **khaag** » Sun Dec 31, 2006 4:29 pm

I looked in the sticky, but couldn't decipher my question from the guide...

What I wanna know is, when relocating the cart slot on the N64, can I remove the EXT port, then hook up the cart slot by soldering directly to the mobo? In other words, will the N64 still work without the EXT slot?

EDIT: Oh and another question, on the N64 controller, can I remove the memory card port and still have it work?

Turbo Tax 1.0 · Post by **Turbo Tax 1.0** » Sun Dec 31, 2006 4:40 pm

yes. you need to solder to where the expansion port used to be though

yes again

khaag · Post by **khaag** » Sun Dec 31, 2006 5:21 pm

thanks!

ShockSlayer · Post by **ShockSlayer** » Sun Dec 31, 2006 6:30 pm

The current sticky's info kinda sucks, I plan to make an FAQ here soon.

I'll call it

N64 modding for newbs, The easy way.
SS

khaag · Post by **khaag** » Mon Jan 01, 2007 4:54 pm

Alright, I relocated my cartridge slot, and no contacts are touching or anything, and I've hot glued everything to protect it, but when I plug it into my TV, with Zelda OT in the N64, the TV does a little flashy thing like it normally does when you turn on a game system, but the game doesn't come up, and the screen just stays black. I've checked and rechecked contacts, and the Expansion Pak is in the N64, so I don't know what could be wrong. Does anybody have any ideas?

EDIT: Does anybody have a closeup pic of a successfully wired cart relocation?

Turbo Tax 1.0 · Post by **Turbo Tax 1.0** » Mon Jan 01, 2007 5:16 pm

yeah i've got one, i'll p[ost it in a second

some advice, dont use the hotglue until you are sure it works. it can be a hassle to get off

edit
http://img241.imageshack.us/img241/1197/backgutslb2.jpg
here is one from my n64p i have another one somewhere
http://img134.imageshack.us/img134/6239/cartslot1en.jpg
http://img115.imageshack.us/my.php?imag ... ot29wz.jpg
here they all are

khaag · Post by **khaag** » Mon Jan 01, 2007 5:39 pm

Alright, I think I'll post some pics. Maybe you can spot something wrong:

Back of the N64 board:

Front full view:

Closeup of the cartridge slot:

The points I soldered to on the N64 board. (The blue dots are the soldered points):

Turbo Tax 1.0 · Post by **Turbo Tax 1.0** » Mon Jan 01, 2007 6:17 pm

looks like you did a good job, maybe get rid of that hot glue and put some flux on the cart slot and go over it again real quick

does the red led come on?

khaag · Post by **khaag** » Mon Jan 01, 2007 6:46 pm

Turbo Tax 1.0 wrote:looks like you did a good job, maybe get rid of that hot glue and put some flux on the cart slot and go over it again real quick

does the red led come on?

Yes, the led comes on. And by go over it again, do you mean resolder?
And I noticed on your pictures, you didn't connect all the pins, is there a specific reason for this?

EDIT: I just tested it again, and now the thing won't even turn on... do you think it is "sleeping"?

timmeh87 · Post by **timmeh87** » Mon Jan 01, 2007 7:25 pm

you can put a multimeter to the power supply to check if you are seeing any voltage across it (yes = not sleeping)

even if it was "sleeping" when you posted that, it might have flipped by now, i dont think it takes more than like half an hour.

what 'sleeping' means is that you have a short circuit on your board. if you do, it will put the power supply back to sleep every time you try to start it. put a multimeter across the main power input pins to make sure none of them are shorted.

try a different game, or blow that one out? your connections look fine, assuming all the wires go to the right places (checked a few and they looked ok)

turbo might be right about redoing all the connections, its really hard to tell form the picture cause of reflections, but maybe some of your solder joints are cold.

there are something like 8 ground wires, six +3.3v wires and four +5v wires. you only need to run one wire for each, but you still (techincally, since no one has tried otherwise) need to make that one wire connect to all the points on the cart slot.

there are pictures in the wiki which highlight the different power pins.

ShockSlayer · Post by **ShockSlayer** » Mon Jan 01, 2007 7:40 pm

The more times you run an n64 w/o good heatsinking, the more times it shall sleep. I reccomend new heatsinks, a fan, and if the expansion pack(not jumper) has no heatsinks, then by god put some on!

Then take an hour and multimeter test. Then, finally, test with a different power supply and different game. Use rubbing alcohol to clean off the game's contacts, and without power running to it, hold your n64 w/ relocated slot upside down and pour some rubbing alcohol through it's slot. Then wait a day for it to completely dry(help it dry by using a blow dryer on cold setting), and try it again. And again. and again. And do that untill it works. Around 20 trys you should give up.

SS

joevennix · Post by **joevennix** » Mon Jan 01, 2007 8:08 pm

ShockSlayer wrote:The more times you run an n64 w/o good heatsinking, the more times it shall sleep. I reccomend new heatsinks, a fan, and if the expansion pack(not jumper) has no heatsinks, then by god put some on!

Yeah, but it's not enclosed anything right now, so it doesn't make a difference, especially if he's not can't run any games.

One thing you should do is use the continuity tester of you multimeter across the + and - inputs on the N64 board, just make sure there are no shorts. Then clean up the flux, and make sure all you connections are secure by pulling them. If everything looks good, make sure each wire goes to its proper place (should take a little while).

If the N64 is 'sleeping', i.e. the LED doesn't come on, this is better than the LED coming on and no picture coming out. Now all you can do is wait. One time I had to wait 2 days until it finally started working again (although I didn't test it much until the second day). So just test out your system like I told you, and if it still doesn't work, then wait.

toby dawg · Post by **toby dawg** » Tue Jan 02, 2007 3:05 pm

Try turning on the n64.. then plug it in. it worked for me. Isn't it the power supply that sleeps?

khaag · Post by **khaag** » Tue Jan 02, 2007 4:46 pm

So I think it's still sleeping. (I havn't tested it yet, because I don't own a multimeter) I'm hoping it either wakes up today or before the weeks out because I'm heading off to Hawaii on Monday...

But on a more positive note, just minutes ago my DC-DC converter from TI arrived. Wow this thing is tiny! I didn't expect it to be so small. And it came really quickly! Props to TI on the ultra-fast shipping!

Well I'm off to the Thrift shop to see if I can find a backup N64...

EDIT: Does anybody know where I can find Moose's Cart Relocation guide? I can't remember where I found it last time...

demonofaj · Post by **demonofaj** » Tue Jan 02, 2007 6:49 pm

OMG, the absolute same thing happened to me. My solder points were all clean and nice, and I go to test it...but yea, the screen flickers and blah...then I restart it, but the PSU was out, like sleeping. I'm scared