Repairing The Power Glove - Part 1

The Power Glove. Everything else is child's play.

Mattel's NES accessory, the Power Glove, probably needs no introduction, but I'm going to give you one, anyway.

The Power Glove, originally released in 1989, was the first attempt at motion control available to the average consumer.  Sporting bands of plastic with carbon ink in each finger, The Power Glove would track finger movements by measuring the amount of resistance in each band.  In addition, two small speakers in the front would send ultrasonic pulses, and the receivers, positioned around the television, would determine the glove's position based on these sounds.

In theory, it was a great idea. In practice, well... the Power Glove is nearly universally panned for having imprecise and confusing control.

But, that's enough history, let's get down to it. This Power Glove was purchased from someone on Craigslist. He said that the glove was registering random button presses, and I bought it for $30.

The victim... err, patient.

This Power Glove is in awful shape. First, the fabric is frayed almost everywhere.

Yikes.

Second, some of the finger sensors are disconnected from both the fabric and plastic top portion of the glove.

That shouldn't be visible.

So, of course, when you make a fist, the top part of the glove stays put, and the finger sensors flap about, explaining the odd button presses.

I'm not flipping you the bird, I swear. It's just stuck that way.

So, immediate course of action? Fix those finger sensors.

To do this, I straightened out the sensors and made sure they were seated correctly, then applied super glue around the edge of the plastic piece. I aligned the cloth portion - a faux leather bit - with the plastic top and held it together until it bonded.

Next, using a pair of scissors, I trimmed as much of the frayed cloth as I was comfortable doing, in order to make it look less like I stole it from a homeless man.

That's a bit better.

And with that, I went to test it. Now, the finger triggers work exactly as they should. Great! But what about the motion tracking?

Well, not so much. Control drifts off to the right and rarely recognizes any moves to the left. But, the pulses can be heard coming from both of the speakers, so it isn't the glove.

I love the Power Glove. It's so... no, no, I'm not going to say it.

I guess next time, we'll tear into the receivers!

How To Repair A Sega Master System - Assuming You Did The Obvious

So, your Sega Master System won't turn on. It worked last time you tried it, but now it just stares blankly when you press the power button.

I know what you did. You know what you did.

You plugged in a Nintendo AC adapter, didn't you? Don't worry about it. Everyone has done it - not necessarily with this system, but with something.


But the important thing is, yes, you've fried your SMS. And now, we're going to fix it.

First things first though, a bit of boring technical info. The reason it's broken is pretty simple, really. AC adapters are appropriately named - they're meant to convert AC power into DC power that your device can use. In most cases, such as Sega's adapters, that's exactly what they do.

Not so, in Nintendo's case. Nintendo's wall warts actually feed the system AC power which wreaks havoc on your poor DC device. Generally, the first and last thing to get fried in the Master System is the voltage regulator.

So, in order to fix it, you're going to need a soldering iron, solder, a desoldering braid, and a phillips screwdriver.  Also, you'll need to buy a new voltage regulator, a +5V Fixed-Voltage Regulator 7805, which is available at Radio Shack. Who knew Radio Shack still sells components? I thought they only sold cellular phones these days.

Six easy screws.

Remove the six screws holding the case together, highlighted above. No hidden screws, these are all you'll need.

More screws on the RF shielding.

Now the RF shielding - six more screws here.  Three in front, one on top, and two in the back. Again, they're all pretty easy to find.

Now to get that board off.

Here's some more. Two around the power switch, one dead in the middle of the board, and two around each cartridge slot. The board should now lift away from the bottom of the case.

This screw is the bane of my existence.

This photograph was almost as hard to get as that screw was to get out. As you can see, there's a piece of metal screwed to the board - this is the heat sink for the voltage regulator. See that screw? You'll need to squeeze your screwdriver around the components on the board to take that screw out from inside the heat sink. Go ahead, I'll wait.

Now that you're thoroughly irritated, remove the heat sink by taking out the two screws under the board.

Finally. Ugh.

Now, your voltage regulator is free!

Fuzzy, but you get the idea.

As you can see, the original voltage regulator is bent slightly so it can be attached to the heat sink.  Bend yours in the same way. It doesn't have to be perfect, but it should bend easily.

Sorry, I have no pictures of the next steps as I don't have enough hands to hold the camera while holding a soldering iron.  There are a million soldering tutorials on YouTube and across the internet, so if you need assistance, please refer to one of them.

Using the desoldering wick and iron, remove the existing solder from the voltage regulator and pop it out.  You can now slide the new one in - but wait! It is much, much easier to screw the voltage regulator to the heat sink now.  Screw the new one in to the heat sink and slide the pins through the holes. Now solder it in.

You don't want to do it the other way.  Think of what a pain it was getting it out - imagine that in reverse.

So, get the heat sink back on and hook it up.

Green light! Green light!

The power LED should light up, and you're back in business!

Poor city. But at least my Master System is working!

Follow the steps in reverse, as always, to reassemble the system.  This may not work on every system, so if you're still having trouble, use a multimeter to check where the issue might be.  If it did work, have fun! I know I will.

How to Clean A Super Nintendo SNES Controller

Looks all right on the outside, but trust me, it's nasty.

So, your Super Nintendo controllers have been sitting in the basement.  They've been gathering dust and something might or might not be living on or inside them.  Time to break out another how-to!

This controller, purchased with an SNES lot at Goodwill, had a left shoulder button that was near impossible to press.  Something spilled on and inside it had fused the button in place.  It'll make a fine candidate for the oft-searched SNES controller cleaning guide.

Remove the five screws holding the controller together.

First, flip the controller over and remove the five screws.  They're easy to find, and none are hidden or obscured, so have at it.  You'll need a 1/8" precision screwdriver for this, but most tool sets have one.

Back removed, but the shoulder button is still stuck in there.  Is that honey?

Pull the back off and set it aside.  Be careful when removing the shoulder buttons, as there are two metal rods holding them in place and allowing them to swivel.  Set these aside.

The aforementioned metal rods, above.

Unsnake the cable and pull the board out of the controller.

Button pads.

Pull out the button pads and set them aside.  Remove the plastic buttons.

Sudsy Buttons - hey, that could be the title of a Shirley Temple movie.  Ask your parents.

Allow the buttons to soak in a bowl of soapy water while you get started on the button pads.  The button pads can be cleaned with rubbing alcohol and cotton swabs, but do so carefully - if the pads come loose from the plastic, you'll need a new controller.

Clean this, too.

If the controller was a spill victim, make sure that there is nothing sticky on the circuit board.  If there is, clean it up with rubbing alcohol.  If not, see all of the little black pads where the buttons and D-pad should be?  Clean those up with rubbing alcohol and a cotton swab.  Don't forget the angled pads where the shoulder buttons connect.

And the case - eww.

Now, on to the case.  The case doesn't usually need a lot of cleaning, but if it does, do so with soap and water, not rubbing alcohol.  Rubbing alcohol can make the plastic cloudy, and occasionally makes the ink run.

This particular controller was so nasty I had to soak it in soapy water, too - it's safe to do so if you need to.

A clean controller.

Now that your case and buttons have been scrubbed clean, set them on a paper towel to drain and dry.  Be sure that they are fully dried before reassembling; water in a plugged-in controller can fry it.

Button, button, who's got the button?

Dry yet?  Good.  Now put the buttons back where they go.  You can see the locations identified with "Lavender" and "Purple" as well as the button colors for other regions, green, yellow, red, and blue.  For a US controller, you only need the two.  Even the R and L locations are labeled.  Insert the rods into the holes and slide the shoulder buttons over them.

Put the pads back in, lining them up with the guides provided.  Make sure that the black pads are facing up.

Almost there.

Put the board back in, lining it up with the guides - if you need a refresher on how the cord is wrapped, see the above image.

Done!  Look how clean!

Put the back of the case in place, screw it back together, and you're done!  Enjoy your nice, like new, hopefully not sticky Super Nintendo controller!

How to Repair a Nintendo NES - Part 2

Since writing the the original NES restoration guide, I've now done about 5 of them, and I've learned something in the process - the success of the previous guide depends entirely upon how well-kept your NES was.  Every one that I'd worked on thus far has been fairly clean, probably kept in a closet or under someone's bed until I got them.  In these cases, bending the pins and applying a bit of alcohol does wonders for your system.

But this won't always be the case.

Recently, I discovered an NES with a cartridge connector that had something jammed in it.  Cardboard?  Orange peel?  I don't know, but it's in there pretty solidly, and soaking didn't help break it up.  Also, my 1.4mm screwdriver snapped trying to get it out.

So, one quick retraction - if your cartridge connector has food jammed in it, just buy the new connector and get on with your life.

...seriously, though, how in the hell did they manage that?  The connector is inside a case, below shielding, and inside a cartridge tray.  You'd really have to want to jam something in there.

Anyway, let's move on.

More on the most important bit - cleaning the connectors.  Alcohol is great for cleaning electronics, but 20+ years of dirt, grime and corrosion may not be cleared with just a toothbrush and some alcohol.  I'd had a particularly stubborn connector, no matter how many times I scrubbed it, Mario just wouldn't come out to play.

But today, it's running like brand new.

Fine-grit sandpaper was the missing key.  Take a piece of sandpaper, fold it over, and insert it into the cartridge connector between the pins.  If the sandpaper is too thin, wrap it around a credit card or something similar.  If you have an emery board, that'll work even better, as the thickness is just about perfect and has sandpaper built right in.  Do this gently, because it may pull back the pins when you pull it out, which could damage them.

After doing this for a while, blast the connector with compressed air to remove any sand that may have come loose, then do the alcohol scrub mentioned in the last article, to clear out anything that may still be there.

The sandpaper or emery board does what it does best - the abrasive surface removes all unwanted crap from the metal pins, leaving the pins bare and ready for clean contact.  Having transformed this connector, I now recommend this for all NES restorations as a "just in case" measure.  As always, be careful not to break the pins.  Have fun!

How To Repair A Nintendo NES, or "Don't Buy A 72-Pin Connector!"

You know it, you love it, your parents help you hook it up.

As a child, the Nintendo Entertainment System was a magical box of joy.  We could never take a screwdriver to this sacred temple, for fear that the magic would leak out and we'd never see our friends Mario and Link again.

Problem was, over time the magic simply stopped coming.  We'd see the famous grey screen flashes or bizarre corrupted sprites.  Well before any of us even knew the definition of the word 'meme', the idea took hold that somehow blowing into the cartridge would make it work.  As if the magic inside were powered by human breath and saliva particles, sometimes it even worked!

Everyone had their own trick, from putting the cartridge on the edge and shotgun slamming it down (like I did, ugh) to putting another cartridge on top before hitting the power button.

Well, we're no longer children, and as such, we now understand two things - one, that there is no magic hidden inside, and two, that blowing on your cartridges does nothing but potentially shorten the life of your console if you accidentally get spit in there.

So why doesn't it work?  It's the cartridge connector, and the problem is twofold.  First, with the action of pushing in and down on the cartridge to align with the pins inside, the pins become worn and flatten against the inside of the connector.  Second, due to environmental dust and nastiness building up on the contacts of your cartridges, it also builds up on your cartridge connector, blocking the contact between the pins of your connector and the pins of your cartridge.

Many cartridge-based consoles have problems similar to these, but on the NES it's likely exaggerated due to the loading mechanism.

A simple search will not only tell you that the connector is the problem, but in most cases they'll tell you "You need to buy a new 72-Pin connector right now!"  No, you really don't.  Take note, anyone who tells you that you need a new connector is trying to sell you a new connector.  I'll repeat that, since many of us, myself included, have been told for years that this is the only way.  You don't need a new 72-pin connector.  Don't buy one, and certainly don't throw yours away.

Why?  Generally speaking, these cheap knockoff connectors coming out of China are of lower quality than an original, and will fail much, much faster.  In addition, in some cases the stock connector fails when using the official Nintendo Service Center test cartridges, meaning some pins are defective.

Not all are cheap, though - some connectors are manufactured with higher-quality gold pins which are said to make better contact.  I have no personal experience with these, but if you can get the thing working without spending a dime, why bother?

With that said, let's get to the repair.

The Nintendo pictured was purchased just yesterday at a yard sale.  When I got it, it would not load a single game I stuck in it, even with multiple attempts, making it a fine example.

Six screws here, none hidden.

Turn the system over and remove the case screws.  They're easy to find, and none are hidden - one in each corner, one at the top, and one at the bottom.

Ick.

Now you're likely to find out how well it's been cared for.  This particular system has piles of dust that would probably carbon date back to 1986.  Grab a can of compressed air and blast the crap out of them.

Remove the shielding.

Next, we remove the RF shielding.  There are seven screws in all - three on the right, two on the left and top. Once the screws are out, pull it up to slide it off.

Dear Nintendo, why oh why didn't you keep the top-loading design?

Now, our cartridge assembly is exposed.  This is where the cartridge slides into the connector and is pushed down to align with the pins.  There are six screws - two of which are slightly gold-toned and just a bit longer than the others.  Pay attention to where these came from - they'll need to go back there.  There's one of the regular-sized screws in each corner, and the slightly longer screws go a bit down from the top corners, going through the motherboard to attach all three pieces together.  Pull up and forward to remove the assembly from the connector.

There you are.

Now our culprit is exposed.  Just pull up and slide the connector back to remove it.

You've been a very naughty connector.

All right, we've got the problematic connector out, so let's get to fixing it.  If you have a dental pick, this will go much more smoothly.  With a dental pick, wrap the pick around the pin and simply pull it forward so the pin comes straight up.

I don't have a pick on hand, so I've used a tiny screwdriver.  A flat head 1.4, if you have it available.  Using the screwdriver, push the pin to the side so you can get under it, and gently pull the pin up.  Do this slowly and very carefully.  If any pin gets broken, you will need a new connector.  Keep in mind, also, that these pins should not be bent outside of their grooves, they should be pulled straight up.  If they bend to the side, simply stick the screwdriver in the other side and gently pry in the other direction until it's centered again.

Once you've completed the dental surgery, it's time for the dental cleaning.  An old toothbrush is actually the quickest and easiest way to clean these connectors, but if you don't have one on hand, a scrub brush for dishes works just as well.

Contact cleaner spray is the best option for cleaning contacts, but if you don't have any on hand, use rubbing alcohol.  Dip your brush in the alcohol and scrub away.  Don't skimp on the scrubbing, the accumulated nastiness will keep your cartridges from making contact.  Allow the connector to dry - if you used alcohol, and it still smells like alcohol, it isn't dry yet.  While it's drying, go ahead and clean up your games with a cotton swab and either contact cleaner or rubbing alcohol.  Dirty games most likely won't work, and will probably add their own grime to the cart connector, meaning you might have to clean the thing up again next week.  If you'd like, invest in an NES cleaning kit.  It will be very, very worth it.

Now that it's all cleaned up, we can follow the instructions in reverse to put it back together.  Pull up on the motherboard and slide the connector back into place.  Don't be afraid when pushing it back on, these things are built like a tank.

Slide the cartridge assembly back in place and screw it down - remember, the long gold screws go in the middle.

Push in a game to alleviate the death grip.

Now that the connector and assembly are back in place, slide in a game cartridge (pre-cleaned, please).  Push the cartridge back until the connector slides inside.  It'll be hard, especially the first time, which is why I recommend doing it before assembly.  The death grip is perfectly normal - it'll take a few uses before it loosens up.  Use a third party cartridge, especially Tengen, if you have one, as the boards tend to be a bit thicker.  I don't have any on hand, so you get Super Mario Bros. 2.

Put the shielding and case back on, and you're done!

I'll tell you again, because I cannot stress this enough - make sure your cartridges are clean before inserting them into your NES.  Clean them regularly and your games will start up the first time, every time - well, until the connector becomes worn again.  In that case, I'll see you again in 10-20 years.

7/3/2011 - A Part 2 has been added with more information.

How To Clean A Sega Saturn Controller

The picture doesn't do it justice - this is nasty.

So, you've bought a new Saturn controller and the original owner seems to have dunked it in a pitcher of Kool-aid.  Or, you kept a controller in your attic and it looks like a tiny animal lived and died in it.

Or, in this case, it seems to have been rolled around through mud.  Or dog crap.  Or both.

The controller in question is a Model 2 Sega Saturn pad, purchased at Goodwill for about $2.50.  Before the tag sale, it was $4.99 - I can't imagine why no one wanted to take it home with this thick layer of god-knows-what encrusted on and inside of it.

Let's get to it, shall we?

Remove the sticker while you're at it.

First, there are five screws, all easily accessible.  No stickers or rubber plugs to remove.  Easy stuff.

Looks much cleaner on the inside.

Next, pull off the back case of the controller and remove the circuit board.  If you're cleaning this controller because the buttons don't work, now would be an excellent time to verify that the cable shown above is firmly seated and the internal shoulder buttons are clicky.

The little black spots are what make electrical contact with the circuit board.  Clean 'em.

Remove the rubber pads from the buttons and D-pad.  If these are covered in, say, fruit juice, you'll want to clean them extensively.  If they're just a little used, like these, all that needs to be cleaned are the black pads.  Use something non-abrasive and be gentle.  The older these controllers get, the more likely the piece is to break or the black pads to separate from the plastic.  If this happens, you'll either need a new pad or a whole new controller, so be careful.

Buttons!

Turn the controller over and the plastic buttons will fall right out.  Don't lose them.  You'll want them all.

Removing the D-pad.

To remove the D-pad, gently pry the white plastic cross inside away from the main assembly.  It'll come out easily, and the D-pad should drop right out.

God, what IS that?

Now you can see just exactly how disgusting this controller was.  So, now that it's disassembled, let's get cleaning.

Soap: not just for cleaning out your mouth.

The buttons and D-pad can be placed in a bowl of soapy water and left to soak.  They're just plastic, so dish soap is just fine for removing just about anything that ails them.  Once they've soaked, or if they don't need to be soaked, take a toothbrush or scrubbing brush and give them a once-over in order to get into the cracks and embossed letters on the face.

Cleaning the guts.

This part's especially important if something has been spilled inside the controller - clean up the circuit board with rubbing alcohol and a cotton swab.  If your controller is not a spill victim, simply rub the contacts clean, as shown above.  Mine weren't all that dirty - seems all the dirt collected in the contact pads.

The outer shell can be treated the same way as the buttons - soap and water will do the trick just fine.  Take your toothbrush or scrub brush to get in all the cracks, button holes, and anywhere else that's nasty.

Let it dry.  Seriously, do it.

Before reassembling the controller, be sure to let the parts dry.  A drop of water in the wrong place can cause a short or completely destroy your controller, so ignore this warning at your own peril.  If you aren't able to let it dry completely before reassembling it, at least be sure to let it dry completely before using it.

Great, now that it has all dried, let's do what we did above... but backwards.

D-pad first.

Put the white plastic cross piece back where it belongs, and use your finger to hold it in place.  Line the D-pad assembly up with the hole in the cross piece and press them back together.

You can't screw this up, trust me.

Put the plastic buttons back in place.  It's impossible to put the buttons in the wrong place due to tabs in each one that will only fit in their designated spot.  Ever played Roogoo?  Yeah, it's easier than that.

Pads: check.

Place the pads back where they belong.  As shown, there are small guide holes at the bottom of each to ensure they're attached properly.  Be sure to put the side with the black tabs up, as these will make contact with the circuit board.

Last chance to check if that cable is tight.

Lastly, place the circuit board back in, face down, lining up with the plastic tabs protruding from the case.  Line up the cord in the slot and reattach the back.  Screw it all back together, and you're done!

SO much better.

That's all.  Now that you've got a clean, working controller, enjoy some arcade fighting games with the best D-pad of the 32-bit era.

Feel free to leave a comment with any questions or concerns.  Have fun!