The Blog

Super Nintendo Serial UP17548016 Capacitor Replacement

Nix McRetro // 11th July 2013 // Nintendo, Repairs, YouTube

We are recapping a 1CHIP SNES today and here’s the process I follow and, as a general rule, follow whenever I do some recapping. I personally prefer radial electrolytics to SMD electrolytics. It doesn’t look as pretty, but at the time I expected them to last a little longer than... Continue reading

Tips on Removing SMD Electrolytic Capacitors

Nix McRetro // 11th July 2013 // Repairs, YouTube

Here’s what I do when removing SMD capacitors from boards. So far I’ve had two lifted pads. One was the very first I removed (whoops!) and the latest was on a SNES where corrosion had weakened the trace and pad. You can’t win them all, just hope you have a... Continue reading

Super Nintendo Serial UP17388130 - No Sound Update

Nix McRetro // 11th July 2013 // Nintendo, Repairs, YouTube

Found that the S-MIX chip at U10 has a little bit of a problem: visible physical damage. Might explain why there is no sound. It’s amazing what you can find when you really focus on the problem. Even still, it’s good to have new capacitors on there. I expected the... Continue reading

Original Xbox Hitachi-LG GDR-8050L DVD Tray Repair

Nix McRetro // 11th July 2013 // Hacks, Microsoft, Repairs

Here we have a quick and dirty fix for a misbehaving Hitachi-LG GDR-8050L DVD-ROM in console serial 206315452705. The tray does not want to eject. I’ve had success on three drives so far, on 1.6A and 1.6B revisions and across two different DVD-ROM models. That records what worked in these... Continue reading

Super Nintendo Dual Capacitor Replacement High-Speed

Nix McRetro // 11th July 2013 // Nintendo, Repairs, YouTube

Decided to swap some caps over on all three of the SNES units. Here’s two of them being done at the same time. 1CHIP is on the right. We eventually got them done, I ran out of “film” while recording because my camera needs a new, bigger SD card. Continue reading