Who would have thought that it would be so easy? This Super Nintendo, serial UP17548016, had been giving me absolutely no video or sound. I also knew the reset switch was damaged, which got me thinking about the old Sega Saturn consoles I’d worked on years ago.

Some of those Saturns had a habit of getting their reset buttons stuck down, preventing the console from booting properly. I wondered whether this Super Nintendo might be suffering from something similar, so I decided to have a closer look at the switch.

Inside there’s a very fine copper contact that wasn’t sitting where it should have been. While testing the console, I carefully moved the contact and suddenly John Madden’s Football appeared on the screen. Video and sound, loud and clear! That was a rather pleasant surprise.

I briefly considered removing the reset switch altogether, but then the button wouldn’t sit properly in the case. That would look a bit silly, so instead I repositioned the contact and kept the switch intact. With everything back together, the console was still working. One repaired SNES, and a much easier result than I’d expected!

I’ll replace the capacitors anyway after all these years, as a separate bit of maintenance rather than a cure for the reset-switch problem. I’m hoping the fresh capacitors will last a good long time, although that depends on the components and how they’re treated.

Update: I recorded the capacitor replacement in a later post on 11th July, after getting this console running again.

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