Supergrafx White Screen when trying to play certain games (bad card slot?)

I've recently picked up a Supergrafx along with Daimakaiura and 1941 and am having troubles getting it to play the two games (as well as a couple of certain PC Engine Hu Cards).

The games tested that don't work include 1941 and Daimakaimura for the Supergrafx and Shinobi and Street Fighter 2 for the PC Engine. Certain other PC Engine games like Splatterhouse (PC Engine) and Battle Ace (Supergrafx) do work.

All the non working games boot to a blank white screen. For the PC Engine games - I've tried them on my Duo R and they load instantly, so its not a case of the cards being bad. For the Supergrafx games - I have had the chance to try a second copy of Daimakaimura and that also did not work (same white screen) so it leads me to believe this is a problem with the console, and perhaps the card slot itself?

So what I have tried so far is as follows: I tried cleaning all affected games, this did not help. I've tried cleaning the card slot, however its not the easiest thing to clean, as such I've resorted to cleaning a hu card with rubbing alcohol, then reinserting the card into the slot several times to try and clean it that way. This hasn't helped, if there is any better, more in depth way to fix this please let me know.

I've taken the case off the console to have a look at the PCB itself, but I'm not really sure what I'm looking for, there isn't anything that jumps out as bad (I've put some pictures below so if anything springs out as obviously bad please let me know).

The console itself came with the original AV cables and original power supply, I'm from the UK so I'm using a step down adapter if that makes any difference.

So is there anything else I can try to get this console loading my games? Or is there anyone here on the forum that is experienced in repairing Supergrafx consoles? As I'd love if someone skilled could take a look at this, as I'm stumped at this stage.


Closeup of the back side of the PCB focused on the card slot:
Sgfx by gouki16uk, on Flickr

Close up of the front side of the card slot:
Sgfx by gouki16uk, on Flickr

A few extra shots:
Sgfx by gouki16uk, on Flickr

Sgfx by gouki16uk, on Flickr

Sgfx by gouki16uk, on Flickr

Have you tried flipping the compatibly switch on the back of the console? I know that had me stumped once.

schnuth said:

Have you tried flipping the compatibly switch on the back of the console? I know that had me stumped once.

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Sorry, forgot to mention that part in my original post. Yes once I discovered there was a switch on the console that was the first thing I'd tried, but unfortunately that had no effect. I know the games need to run in mode "1" which is what I have the console set to currently, but I still get the white screen for several games.

At first glance I can't see anything out of the ordinary in the pictures - mine also has that orange jumper wire going to the hu-card slot and the board had that sticky yellow piss style residue (cleaned it off with PCB cleaner), which your board also appears to have.

MtothaJ said:

At first glance I can't see anything out of the ordinary in the pictures - mine also has that orange jumper wire going to the hu-card slot and the board had that sticky yellow piss style residue (cleaned it off with PCB cleaner), which your board also appears to have.

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Thanks for confirming that, I was wondering about the wire and goo looking stuff, glad to hear that's nothing out of the ordinary.

rugal.b said:

Thanks for confirming that, I was wondering about the wire and goo looking stuff, glad to hear that's nothing out of the ordinary.

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Mine had this as well just to confirm again, I'm pretty sure this was done at the factory. I searched and have seen it on every single one so far. Man I hope you get it fixed though.

rugal.b said:

Thanks for confirming that, I was wondering about the wire and goo looking stuff, glad to hear that's nothing out of the ordinary.

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One thing I would suggest is to try a different PSU, instead of the OEM PSU with the step down adapter - at least from my experience these can be pretty dodgy.
Try ghetto rigging a 230V --> 9V DC universal PSU (e.g. Hama) with at least the amp rating of the OEM one to the solder pads of the power jack on the board and see if it changes anything.

Send me the games and I test on my SGX!