I wouldn’t have believed it if you’d told me a week ago, but I guess it isn’t only birds that chirp! This particular power supply can almost sing as well as Mary Poppins!

I’ve got a few Nintendo 64 consoles here, including some Japanese machines and one that’s now set up for PAL. Unfortunately, one of them has a couple of annoying problems, and I was hoping to get to the bottom of them.

The first is the controller connection. Port 1 seems to have a mind of its own, which is probably not surprising considering how much use the first controller port gets. If I push the controller plug upwards it works, but moving it downwards can make the connection disappear. I’m hoping it’s something as simple as a dodgy solder joint.

Mario Tennis is rather useful for testing this because the game won’t proceed without a connected controller. Unfortunately, before I can demonstrate the controller problem properly, the power supply decides to join in.

Listen to that noise! This is an official Nintendo power supply and it’s chirping away like some sort of electronic bird. Even worse, the console occasionally loses power altogether. Perhaps buying the original Nintendo adapter wasn’t such a wonderful idea after all!

I swap the power supply between consoles to see whether the noise follows it. Sure enough, the chirping is still there. That rather narrows things down, doesn’t it?

What’s interesting is that after running for a while, it continues making the noise but doesn’t always switch off. Maybe something changes as the components warm up. My first thought is the capacitors, although a transformer or one of the voltage regulators could also be responsible.

Time to have a look inside. None of the capacitors show any obvious bulging or leaking, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re healthy. There are several components tucked away around the heatsinks, so working out which one is responsible might take a little more effort.

I’ll have to investigate the regulators and see what happens. Best case, it’s a relatively inexpensive component. Worst case, the troublesome part is that great big transformer sitting in the middle of the power supply.

For now, the power supply still chirps, the controller port still needs attention, and I haven’t repaired either problem. At least Nintendo made the power supply a separate unit, so replacing it is another possibility.

Mary Poppins would be proud. I’m considerably less impressed!