Fixed a SMS

[RickR]

I bought a SMS on eBay, and the seller said it was broken.  It was described as "no up or right movement".  Sure enough, when I got it, that was the case.  It looked like someone had dropped something right on the left controller port.  I got a good deal on it.  I figured it would be worth the gamble.

 

I was able to fix the "Up" portion just by resoldering pin 1 on the P1 controller connector.  But resoldering pin 4 did not fix "right".  I ended up testing continuity with a volt-meter and figured there was a bad trace between Pin 4 and the weird buffer looking part on the board.  So I ended up putting in a wire between the two...and now it works!  I'm so excited. 

Please pardon the poor solder job.  I will clean it up.  For now, I just wanted to see if that would fix it, and it did. 

And for kamikaze -- this particular SMS has Hang-On built in.

 

 

[Justin]

One of my all-time favorite video game systems, rescued and brought back to life by The Don. 

[RickR]

It's so weird....I have one of those power-base converters for Genesis....but I wanted a "real" SMS just the same. 

[Justin]

It's so weird....I have one of those power-base converters for Genesis....but I wanted a "real" SMS just the same. 

 

 

I don't think that's weird at all. Back in the 16-Bit days I was fortunate enough to have a Super Famicom that had been brought over from Japan before SNES was released in the United States. In the beginning it wowed people. A year later I'd have snide clerks in game stores say to me "Why do you have a Super Famicom? They make converters, why don't you just use a converter on SNES?" Well because I don't want to lol. What's the fun in that? I want my hands on real hardware, real history. Particularly with something like Sega Master System. I want to play and feel exactly what we would have just bringing that sucker home from Toys R Us some Friday night in 1987 and hooking it up for the first time. It's nice to have that. And to keep that alive in some way.

 

[LeeJ07]

Man, I've wanted an SMS for years! Awesome fix job, man!

[RickR]

Here she is all cleaned up and put back together.  I also got a close-up of the damage above the controller port that probably broke the trace.

 

Both controllers work perfectly, but one is missing the plastic pad.  How the heck does that happen???  I need to keep my eye out for a donor controller.

 

 

[Justin]

I need to keep my eye out for a donor controller.

 

 

50/50 I have a donor controller I can send you. I'll need to unpack and see what I have left. If one's there it's yours.

[CrossBow]

That is an excellent and easy fix! Glad you got it working again. The SMS is left out of things too much and while I never owned one originally back in the day, that doesn't mean it doesn't have good games for it! 

 

Now you need to stick an FM board in that bad boy!

[Atari 5200 Guy]

Awesome job, RickR! And both games, too! Good to see another one saved. Power Base converter is good but nothing like a real SMS. It lacks the class the SMS is known for. It really is a unique system to have. Still tracking down original controllers but mine is on a shelf covered up. Its design is fun to look at.

[RickR]

And both games, too!

You mean both controllers?  Or do I have a game built-in that I don't know about?