Help with Yoshi's Island

[Megatron]

Hey guys,

So I found a copy of Yoshi's Island at a thrift store in TERRIBLE condition.  But for 2 bucks I figured why not.
The game doesn't work, surprise surprise.
But when I went to clean it, I noticed something - metal tabs near the board.





So I opened it up and realized one of the metal tabs is missing.  I have never noticed these before in a SNES game.  The tabs look like they would touch the circuit board and provide an additional contact point.  Hence I assume this game doesn't work because of said contact.  The actual board of the game looks really clean with no obvious signs of damage of heavy dirt.

Any info would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks!

One quick update, I do realize that these have something to do with the FX chip inside.  Do ALL FX games have these, or does it depend on the specific chip inside the game?  (hoping to find a cheap replacement shell at this point) And if it's not the shell, what else could potentially cause a pure black screen?

[Arseen]

Yeah I think it's ground for the special chip (SA1 and FX games have these).

Some games have 1 some 0.

Could not find my Yoshi, but Winter Gold and Street Fighter Alpha 2 had 1 (on the same side as yours), but Mega Man X 2 did not have.
Check the board as the tab leaves some markings to the contact spot.

[TDIRunner]

I really don't know, but I can post a picture of the inside of my cart if that would help.  I can't do it until tonight, so somone else might beat me to it.

[BPip]

Sorry to say but my copy only has one as well on the same side and it works just fine. Has to be something else wrong other than the metal tab

[BadChad]

Pretty sure all copies only have the tab. Their not necessary for the game to work, so unfortunately it must be something with the board itself.

[Megatron]

Thanks for the heads up about the solo metal tab.  That makes me feel better knowing it is not missing anything.  That said, I looked at some pics online and my tab looks a little misshapen and discolored.

When I get home in a few hours I will check the contact point on  the board.

Can anyone else confirm in the following have 1 tab?

Star Fox
Mario RPG
Stunt Race FX

These are the only other FX games I have (aside from the Megaman X games, which Arseen has already said don't use the contacts).  What I will try to do is open one of them and see if the board will work in these cases, as I know these games work.  This may at least steer me in the right direction.

[Megatron]

Pretty sure all copies only have the tab. Their not necessary for the game to work, so unfortunately it must be something with the board itself.

Hmm.  Well that blows.  I'll take a closer look at the board when I get home to see if there is anything I missed.  What do these tabs do, then?

[Lashek]

For Star Fox, there is only one tab. Opening it up shows that it makes contact with a spot of copper on the cart itself that has a T with a circle around it.

I'm not familiar with the symbol as it's not a standard schematic style symbol that I've seen in my years as an electrician, but I would assume it's just a grounding point.

Looks like Yoshi's Island has two points on the circuit board for the tab, but only one of them in the cart is used. Can you give us some good shots of the pins on the board or overall board condition? Given the condition of the shell, I can only assume it had some nasty corrosion on it.

[Megatron]

I will post some pics of the board later when I get home. I remember it looking a lot better than the case, but I didn't thoroughly inspect it

[Megatron]

OK, here are some pics of the board.  Sorry about the lighting, if it's too bad to see, I will take pics tomorrow when there is natural light.

[Lashek]

The board looks like it's still extremely dirty around that center chip.

I would take some 91% rubbing alcohol and a lint-free cloth or q-tip and clean both sides of the board (not just the contacts which it looks like you already have).

[Kriegspire]

judging by the crack in the back of the cartridge it wasn't handled with care, that's probably why it's not working

the center looks really dirty though, but I don't think cleaning up that part would fix the problem you're having

[Lashek]

It looks like at some point it got wet with something. If that grime can conduct, it's possible it could short the board (hard to say without cleaning and testing).

It's also possible that damage is already done that can't visibly be seen. At a minimum, I would give the entire board a good cleaning and checking around all traces/solder joints to see if there is any grime or corrosion. Hard to say with current pictures, but I don't see anything else that could cause the problem.

[irvgotti452]

To answer a few things:

Only 1 metal tab is all you need as it is a grounding tab.

The "dirtiness" on the center of the cart seems to be excess flux (from what i can gather from the pics). You can clean this off with alcohol/pcb cleaner and a few qtips. Use some compressed air to blow off any alcohol that may hide under the chip as well (it happens). Wouldnt hurt to go over all of the chips onboard also.

Also not many games other than games that came with an add on chip came with this specific case.

Hope that helps.

EDIT: Looking closer at the pic shows it might be water damaged.

[Megatron]

So water damage seems likeliest at this point.  The lighting in the pics is bad.  The center chip needed some more cleaning, but was no where near as dirty as it looks in the pic.  My guess is what little grime was on there is reflected in the orange light - either that or this stuff is resistant to 91%.

Out of curiosity, is there any indication that this might be water damage?  Does the chip look washed or any other giveaways I should look for?

Thanks again, guys, for all your input!   I have never worked so hard for a $2 item in my life.  lol