PSA: Multicarts and Everdrives may be destroying our hardware

[madman]

also keep in mind finding a good Sega Genesis can be a little bit of a pain in the ass if you care about sound quality. Will kinda be a moot point once the mega amp kit comes out with a rgb circuit built in but you would need to install it.

Luckily for those who aren't autistic Genesis consoles are easy to find.

 

[ChuChu Flamingo]

 

[Neo Alec]

Nobody is telling you not to use flash carts, they're just informing you of a newly discovered risk.

Like how people say eating bacon can cause cancer. I have been eating bacon all my life and I don't have cancer. And I will continue to do so. But my own personal experience doesn't discredit the idea of a causal link between bacon and cancer.

I think most people will also continue to eat bacon understanding it may increase the risk of cancer. But it's still good to know about the risk and inform others.

I eat nitrate-free bacon. There's the point.

 

[RAZO]

also keep in mind finding a good Sega Genesis can be a little bit of a pain in the ass if you care about sound quality. Will kinda be a moot point once the mega amp kit comes out with a rgb circuit built in but you would need to install it.

Start Hoarding those V1 HDG models now while they are still affordable. Buy like 10 of them and every month switch them up so that way you are doing the same amount of damage to all of them because of Flash Cart use. But wait, chances are those consoles you are purchasing might have been through a good amount of flash cart use so the life expectancy of those consoles might be cut in half or more. So just buy another 10 consoles to be on the safe side. So 20 Consoles should have you covered for another 30 years.

 

[BlackaneseNiNjA]

Interesting read. Thanks for sharing OP. I don't use flash carts, but I know they've been around for a long time now.

Can't help but think that there would be more issues reported across a wide range of consoles related to this by now though. Time will tell, but the majority of retro console buyers may not care by then.

 

[ShootTheCore]

Luckily for those who aren't autistic Genesis consoles are easy to find.

Basic Genesis consoles are easy to find, but I use an Everdrive with both a Genesis CDX and a JVC X'Eye - both of those are harder to come by. I do know how to fix shit at least, so I can at least repair either one if it dies.

 

[SmaMan]

Start Hoarding those V1 HDG models now while they are still affordable. Buy like 10 of them and every month switch them up so that way you are doing the same amount of damage to all of them because of Flash Cart use. But wait, chances are those consoles you are purchasing might have been through a good amount of flash cart use so the life expectancy of those consoles might be cut in half or more. So just buy another 10 consoles to be on the safe side. So 20 Consoles should have you covered for another 30 years.

Well if it worked for the NES Classic Edition...

 

[Psygnosis8]

Yikes! Good thing I bought an SD2SNES. Is this more dangerous than simple overclocking? Original Galaga boards required a Z-80A CPU, but Namco/Midway used original Z-80s and overclocked them to save a buck. Mine still works.

 

[opt2not]

I wonder if this applies to the current Disc replacement boards for the Saturn, Dreamcast, 3DO, etc...

 

[Mr. Mort]

Eh, just another reason I use EDs and Multicarts sparingly. I'll use them for trying/playing games that are otherwise too expensive or out of my reach, and buy the physical cartridge if/when the opportunity presents itself.

It's a risk we all take (but begin to forget about) when we start using any kind of 3rd-party/aftermarket tech on our hardware.

Agreed. I have legit copies of all my favourite games by now. I just use the everdrives for games that are too expensive to get legit copies for now, or something I want to try out quick. I have everdrives for 6 different platforms by now, and 2 of them have the reported issue, my Genesis and PCE ones. I'm not too worried about the Genesis one, as I only use it once in a while, but I use the Turbo Everdrive exclusively. I'm not going to rush out in a panic and replace them. I understand the risk of using them over time, and I'm cool with it. I just want to play some video games.

Also, you can't expect Krikzz to admit fault, whether it's true or not. He'd be opening a pandora's box for people hitting him up for refunds, and all-around internet misery. One would think this is going to tarnish his reputation somewhat as it is.

 

[ShootTheCore]

Also, you can't expect Krikzz to admit fault, whether it's true or not. He'd be opening a pandora's box for people hitting him up for refunds, and all-around internet misery. One would think this is going to tarnish his reputation somewhat as it is.

I think Krikzz's admission that the voltage transformers are the proper solution in the last paragraph of his response is telling - as is his pictures of new board revisions that include the transformers. I expect over the next year he'll just quietly roll out new board revisions across the lineup that include the voltage transformers. No big announcements, no big recall - just new revisions that address the issue for people that care enough to pay to upgrade.

 

[NeoSneth]

. No big announcements, no big recall - just new revisions that address the issue for people that care enough to pay to upgrade.

Any why would he? Why the flying fuck would he do anything at all?!?

 

[Heinz]

lol at expecting the makers of these boards to give a fuck. meltdown!

 

[Wachenroder]

lol at expecting the makers of these boards to give a fuck. meltdown!

They are a producing a very particular enthusiast item for an already tiny niche.

I mean how many of us exist that actually give a shit about this or even knows it exists? I'd be very surprised if there is even a million of us.

They better give a fuck if they want to retain their tiny consumer base's trust. Especially if they dont want the Chinese to eat their lunch. I mean why not just get a Chinese knock off if both have the potential of damaging your console.

 

[NeoSneth]

ultimately china is gonna steal all this. let's not pretend this is a customer service issue.
How many documented cases have their been? 0.zero. zero...zero..zero.zero


I've seen poorly designed electronics with arcing issues. It would have happened. This is not slowly damaging your system, it either harms it or it doesnt. So far it doesn't.
SO WHAT DOES THAT MEAN????


I don't own any everdrives, because...roms. If this was a system damaging all games, then i might care, but it isn't.

 

[HeavyMachineGoob]

If anyone needs a better analogy, take the Super NES. A lot of people don't know this, but nearly every SNES motherboard revision has a serious deficit on power filtering capacitors. In theory, it's not a big deal, so long as the SNES is always getting clean power. We don't live in a perfect world though, dirty unstable power getting in your unprotected SNES is an inevitability. There's a lot of SNES consoles still going strong, but there's also a growing number being found with CPU and PPU failures of varying natures, from broken video modes to specific CPU crashes to complete unresponsiveness.

In both cases of the SNES and older Everdrives, they are both poorly designed but do work. For how long? It often comes down to the quality of the chips being affected. Some chips die sooner than others, some are more susceptible to failure.

 

[ChuChu Flamingo]

Is there a guide on how to fix that? I also think the power adapter is missing a crucial part to.

 

[wyo]

 

[madman]

Is there a guide on how to fix that? I also think the power adapter is missing a crucial part to.

 

[HeavyMachineGoob]

Is there a guide on how to fix that? I also think the power adapter is missing a crucial part to.

In Model 1 SNES systems, behind the cartridge slot under the RF shielding is an empty capacitor socket, put a 1000uF 16v capacitor there.

Capacitors can be added elsewhere, like right at the 7805 voltage regulator and smaller caps in a few crucial areas. I don't think I've seen guides on this.

 

[ChuChu Flamingo]

Sounds about right.

In Model 1 SNES systems, behind the cartridge slot under the RF shielding is an empty capacitor socket, put a 1000uF 16v capacitor there.

Capacitors can be added elsewhere, like right at the 7805 voltage regulator and smaller caps in a few crucial areas. I don't think I've seen guides on this.

Im surprised no one has done a guide on it. I've noticed a lot of what you said on other forums SNES behaving weirdly with certain carts and other stuff and just chalked it up to these things being old.

In any case I need to replace the voltage regulator on mine with a higher amperage one sometime to reduce the white line.

Does the capacitors not being there have anything to do with how easy it is to ESD the fuse? I killed the fuse when opening it up because I forgot to push the power button to drain the capacitance. It was an easy fix but still pretty funny.

 

[madman]

It was an easy fix but still pretty funny.

You being a grown manchild virgin is an easy fix but still pretty funny.

 

[ChuChu Flamingo]

You being a autistic grown manchild unstable virgin is an easy fix but still pretty funny.

Come on man you need to do it right, fixed it for you. You seem to be running out of aphorisms fortune cookie.