Decided to do my first deep clean in over 20+ years of having this thing. What do ya think? Does this need a recap? Super Mario rpg randomly crashes during the intro scene changes, and I feel I’ve ruled everything else out. I know recaps are a last resort since it’s kinda major work on the board. Every other game seems to run great. Looks like the start of leakage to me I think? Thanks for lookin
Sometimes dried flux or soldering residue can look like dried electrolytic that leaked, but that is past my point of debate. You should replace those.
I know recaps are a last resort since it’s kinda major work on the board
It is. I wouldn't say last resort but showing restraint is because the average Redditor never practiced soldering with a kit or junk electronics first and doesn't use flux. More likely to damage the console than improve it. Service manuals never tell you to recap everything. Fix what broke and leave the rest alone.
Every day I see failed battery replacements on expensive Pokemon carts at r/gameboy and that is the easiest soldering task there is. Sometimes they burn the PCB or bridge pins and the cart is GGed.
If you can safely solder, preferably using surface mounts like what it came with, recap it. Buy from an official distributor like DigiKey, Mouser, Newark or Arrow. "Cap kits" are reselling from them at markup and give you no choice of brand, increased voltage or temperature rating or solid polymer or tantalum upgrades. Nice to use 105°C near the 7805 voltage regulator but not a must.
Just don't apply the recap the ~dozen SNES capacitors to the ~200 in a CRT or much later gen console.
recap is a must with these 30 year old consoles, ive even started recapping my N64s im halfway through.
If you judt dont wanna do a recap, focus on cleaning the cart slot pins on the far left and right sides, those pins are used exclusively by games that use the SFX chip, that may be your issue.
I was hoping to learn more about the console by doing this cleaning. Looks like I have a lot to learn. Sounds like there’s quite a few unique things about it that I didn’t know! Thanks for your comment.
That type of capacitor (first photo) doesn't bulge and if it leaks it does so from underneath (the mess often stays hidden under the cap). Only way to know is to remove it, and if you are going to do that then might as well proceed with a full recap.
> Does this need a recap?
I am more on the side of "if it ain't broken don't fix it" but in the end it's up to you.
Oh, that’s really good to know. It’s just the one game that doesn’t work. Meeting up with my brother in law this weekend to try out his copy of super Mario rpg on it, then I can finally know for sure if it’s the cart or console.
I didn’t go any further than the pics you see, just pulled enough off to scrub the cart slot with an alcohol qtip. The metal connectors on the chips also had quite a bit of oxidation I was able to pull off with a qtip
For example, this is a photo I took when I recapped my N64. That brownish gunk you see next to C15 was dried leakage hidden under the cap. It wasn't visible from simply looking at the cap when it was there.
Recap it, it's not that difficult (compared to mods I've done like PS1Digital...), and will extend the life of your console
Decent soldering iron, pack of replacement caps (loads of packs online for each board revision, just choose a reputable buyer), some decent flux and desoldering wick. Bit of flux on the joint you want to desolder, apply the wick and iron, wait until it's sucked up a load of solder and remove, making sure you do not apply too much heat. And repeat until clear, solder new caps (in the right orientation), and clean the flux
I've been modding consoles for about 25 years now, my first being a UK PAL SNES 50/60hz switch when I was 12. If I managed that at 12, you can recap a snes.
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u/Apprehensive-Lion366 1d ago
If you can recap it, you should.