How can you tell if a N64 is fried?

[orangeziggy84]

Is there a way to know if a board is fried? I think mine doesn't work because of a short in the cart slot.To fry a N64, where would the short have to be?

 

[samjc3]

As a general rule, if it is breaded and dripping grease, it's probably fried.

 

[Fluxedo]

I'd say to fry it, add some basil leaf, a expensive deep fryer (like the fancy kind) and keep it in for 5-10 minutes or until golden brown. Probably when it is #C58917 it'll be ready for serving.

 

[vskid3]

As a general rule, if it is breaded and dripping grease, it's probably fried.

Have you fixed the short? There's a chance the shorted pins were connected anyway (both grounds, 3.3v, etc).
I know feeding 7.2v to the 3.3v line killed an N64 for me.

 

[t1m1d]

As a general rule, if it is breaded and dripping grease, it's probably fried.

And unhealthy... But I do suppose most game consoles aren't party of a healthy diet, fried or not.

I've never had this issue myself, but check carefully for shorts if you haven't already. I don't believe a cart slot short would usually fry the console, but it also wouldn't play games until fixed. Hopefully you didn't cross the 3.3v and 6.2v like vskid3 said...

 

[Prog]

Get yourself a multimeter. Set it to continuity, and probe every hole that you soldered to make sure one is not touching the other by accident. How long are the wires on your relocation? Have you started to trim? Did this N64 work before? Do you have a jumper/expansion pack plugged in?

 

[orangeziggy84]

Thanks. I'll try all of those things.

 

[ToastBucket]

Two main tests I perform. The first is to check the power LED. If it turns on, that's likely a bad thing. That means that there is NOT a short on the 3.3v line. This is bad because most of the logic runs on this circuit, so if this circuit is getting the proper voltage (at an acceptable current - at least 1.5A, I believe) but nothing is happening, boom. Dead.

Second check is to turn it on and just put a hand on the RCP and CPU. If they heat up abnormally quickly and get rather hot, also dead.

 

[ShockSlayer]

As I recall, marshallh(or some other guru) said something like "if you put power into it with no cartridge and the CPU or RCP gets really hot, it's toast"

SS