The non-working Turbografx-16 i've just bought

[BatsBenny]

Hi pcenginefx!

I'm new to the world of Turbografx/PC Engine and new to this forum so I think i'll introduce myself first.

First of all i'm a french-canadian so if my english is not perfect, it's totally normal. I'll do my best. I've started a little consoles/games collection last summer so far i've got a NES, SNES, Genesis, N64 and i've always wanted to own a TG16. Before last week i never saw one of my own eye. So when i saw that a turbo shows up in a local game store i've decided to buy it.

It was a little dusty and came with a loose Davis Tennis Hucard, the original AC adapter and a controler (and the back cover that goes over the expension bus) The clerk tell me that any NES ou SNES RF switch would work. I also bought 2 CIB games at another game store; Keith Courage and Ninja Sword.

My first TG-16! I was excited to try it..

And of course.... it didn't work.

I've posted a youtube video of what the symptoms are:

All i see on my TV is a grey (white) screen, sometimes it is green, blue ou purple and on Davis Tennis sometime a hear a sound (2nd video)

What a I've done:
Check the AC adapter on my NES it works.
Check the NES RF switch (3 of them) they work.
Switch from channel 3 to 4 and same thing
Clean the Hu cards with rubbing alcohol (99%) and a cotton swab, not better.
Clean slot and Hu cards with contact cleaner (in and out about a hundred times) again same thing.
I have also tried the eraser trick on the Hu cards

What should i do more? I've read somes posts in here and nothing seems to help me.

Next step was to try with sandpaper on a creditcard.

I can't open it yet because i don't have the screwdriver for it.

My first experience with a turbografx is not very good so please help me fix my problem.

Thanks a lot.

-Ben

[Bernie]

hmm.  It appears the system is powering up, so that is good.  Have you tried another game?  It is possible, altho not likely, that the HuCARDS you have just arent operational.  Your RF output could be wacky as well.  One thing is for sure tho, someone here can get it going for you.    I would be leery of using the sandpaper trick....  Dont give up just yet.  You came to the right place. 

[BatsBenny]

I've tried the 3 games i own. The slot cleaning was done with the tennis game (looks beated up). The 2 other games looks brand new.

[thesteve]

do the games say turbo grafx on them?
if not its a region issue.
your power and rf unit are working

[esteban]

Welcome, BatsBenny.

Hopefully, your problem will be solved with minimal frustration.

[Necromancer]

Aww, sorry to hear of your Turbob teathing troubles.  I hope you get it fixed soon. 

[nat]

Dirty cart slot or cart. Random solid colors indicate the system is powering up, but can't read the game for whatever reason.

The fact that it's happening with all your games indicates to me the issue is probably the cart slot and not the carts themselves.

[andrew23]

If you are in or near Montreal, I might be able to help you figure out what's up. I do have a working power supply and an external av setup we could try to see if it works. From what I hear and have experienced the RF jack can be very finicky. Just PM me if we do decide to see what's up with the system.  I bet it probably still works

[thesteve]

power and RF are confirmed working
make sure the expansion port pins are not bent shorting together
clean slot
games are US version.
if still nothing you have a connection problem likely on the board at the slot

[Arkhan]

For some reason, I seem to recall NES RF switches never working on my Turbo Grafx, but Sega Genesis ones did.

Makes no sense though. 

Try Sega Genesis power brick and RF unit, if you've got em. 

[thesteve]

use the geni1 not 2 rf and power

[BatsBenny]

Hi! Thanks to all of you for the answers. I did not had time last weeks to test it more. But today i bought an official turbografx-16 RF switch and its still not working.

Dirty cart slot or cart. Random solid colors indicate the system is powering up, but can't read the game for whatever reason.

The fact that it's happening with all your games indicates to me the issue is probably the cart slot and not the carts themselves.

I hope it's only the slot.

If you are in or near Montreal, I might be able to help you figure out what's up. I do have a working power supply and an external av setup we could try to see if it works. From what I hear and have experienced the RF jack can be very finicky. Just PM me if we do decide to see what's up with the system.  I bet it probably still works

Thanks, I live in Trois-Rivières it's not that far from Montreal but i don't go there very often.

power and RF are confirmed working
make sure the expansion port pins are not bent shorting together
clean slot
games are US version.
if still nothing you have a connection problem likely on the board at the slot

My games looks like this one so i bet it's US http://www.rarityguide.com/museum/images/video_game_consoles/turbo_grafx_16__1989_/turbo_grafx_16_alpha_zones_front.JPG
I cleaned the slot the best i could, any tricks to suggest?
Expension port pins looks OK to me.

[thesteve]

to clean the slot i use a piece of printer paper cut the width of the HU card.
wrap the paper around the card pins.
get it slightly damp (preferably water, slightly soapy OK)
work it in and out of the slot.
now use a dry paper over the pins and do the same

[BatsBenny]

UPDATE ON THIS TG16:

It's been a long time since my last update but here I am now.

Bought a official TG16 RF adapter to test it out.

I made a quick solderless AV mod kinda like this one here :
To test out if the RF output was the problem. Still not working.



I opened this thing up to see if I can detect anything wrong but was quickly stop by that stupid shielding.. which is soldered from everywhere.

That's where i'm at right now with this one. But it's not over yet.

[BatsBenny]

AND ANOTHER UPDATE:

So, last week i bought of eBay another turbografx-16 (console only, no wire, nothing) Says "Working console". Got it for a reasonable price.

Drum roll.... test it out with my AV mod / RCA thingy and games and power suply i already own. It f*cking works! I was so happy. And by the way i LOVE the system so far.

Now i can tell for sure that the problem was the console ..