How do I check if my n64 is fried

[Elemental]

Lastnight I was (stupidly) trying to just touch the wires of a video cable that was cut to the video contact on the board to see if I could get video working or whatever(just shutup im stupid) and I may have touched something together or something I have no *Can'tSayThisOnTV*ing clue... But then the LED went off and wouldn't come back on. But thismorning I plugged it in again and now the LED is working again. Is it fried? How do i check.

I'm really stupid sorry

 

[vskid3]

Have you tried it with a game and video (or at least audio) hooked up? Seeing/hearing a game boot up is the only surefire way of knowing its alive. A dead one can still get hot and have the LED turn on.

 

[Elemental]

Have you tried it with a game and video (or at least audio) hooked up? Seeing/hearing a game boot up is the only surefire way of knowing its alive. A dead one can still get hot and have the LED turn on.

Well I'm fairly sure the audio video cable wasn't working at all... I tried it with my N64 even before I took it apart and did anything with it, and it didn't work. It also didn't work on my gamecube when I am fairly sure it was working too... Not the video or audio. So I don't know what to do... I'm currently trying to solder some sort of composite video cable that i found on to it but I have no idea what I'm doing. I tried looking at the diagram in the sticky but that wasn't helpful, there are two wires when I strip the end of the yellow composite video(for example, its also for the red and white too.) Which one is ground? or are they both just whatever? where do i solder them too. im getting very frsutdjkaterd.

 

[brentphx]

If you see two wires inside the yellow cable when you strip it, I would guess that one set of wires is bundled around an inner set of wires. The outside wires would be the shielding for the composite wires at the center of the cable. Shielding goes to ground, inner wires to composite out on the mobo. Of course, a picture would help to confirm this...

 

[Elemental]

If you see two wires inside the yellow cable when you strip it, I would guess that one set of wires is bundled around an inner set of wires. The outside wires would be the shielding for the composite wires at the center of the cable. Shielding goes to ground, inner wires to composite out on the mobo. Of course, a picture would help to confirm this...

I kind of understand, but not really. I don't have a picture, but I made something in paint...

The black thing is the shrinktubing for the whole thing, the blue is more shrinktubing that i had to strip, the greenish(im colorblind) or orange or brown is just copper wire...

 

[brentphx]

yep, that'd be shielded cable... the bare copper that was inside the insulation is the shielding for the composite... that goes to ground. The insulated wire in the center is the composite that you drew in blue. If you don't run the bare copper to ground on both ends you can get interference in your video... that means ground it to your board AND to your monitors ground if you have exposed wire on both ends.

 

[Elemental]

yep, that'd be shielded cable... the bare copper that was inside the insulation is the shielding for the composite... that goes to ground. The insulated wire in the center is the composite that you drew in blue. If you don't run the bare copper to ground on both ends you can get interference in your video... that means ground it to your board AND to your monitors ground if you have exposed wire on both ends.

Thank you! I just have one more question that's more or less unrelated... How would I solder that copper wire(the stuff in strands, like the 35 little wires *wrapped* together) to just one copper wire? It's giving me a really hard time...

 

[brentphx]

twist the tiny wires together into one bundle, apply a dab of flux to the bundle, lots of solder on your iron, apply the side of the iron to the fluxed & twisted bundle and you should be able to watch it flow into the wires and create one solid piece.

 

[Elemental]

twist the tiny wires together into one bundle, apply a dab of flux to the bundle, lots of solder on your iron, apply the side of the iron to the fluxed & twisted bundle and you should be able to watch it flow into the wires and create one solid piece.

My solder has flux inside of it.
The problem is that I can't twist it together because the strands of copper wire keep coming 'untwisted' and they're all over the place and they slide off easily and it's just not working...

 

[brentphx]

tin sections off them, then use your iron to melt the sections into one mass? or worst case, remove some more insulation so you have a bit more copper to work with?

 

[laingsoft]

My solder has flux inside of it.

Flux cored solder is not enough for anything other than small repairs. You do need a real, liquid or paste flux. Flux in that solder burns off at the wrong point in the soldering "reaction".

 

[brentphx]

My solder has flux inside of it.

Flux cored solder is not enough for anything other than small repairs. You do need a real, liquid or paste flux. Flux in that solder burns off at the wrong point in the soldering "reaction".

^^That^^

Once you see what adding solder to a joint does, you'll use it everytime!