Jaguar red screened, then sometimes could turn on, now not at all

[s0s]

I tried the MK-1602-1 Genesis power adapter on my Jaguar, which worked at first. My Jaguar turned on, even though it red screened, but when I kept trying different games in it to see if it would work, it started not turning on sometimes. I had to try turning it on a few times before it came on, and now it doesn't turn on at all, no matter what game is in it.

 

What could cause that? I'll take it apart and look at it, but I wanted to ask experienced Jaguar hackers here first, what I should look for.

 

If it's relevenant: One thing I noticed during the red screens was that when I pressed buttons on the controller, it caused interference on the tv. I was using a SNES/Genesis RF adapter.

 

I just now thought of this seconds before posting the topic, but I checked the voltage of the power adapter, and although it says it's 10V, my multimeter is showing 13.5V! This seems WAY out of any sensible tolerance range, unless their tolerance is +/- 35% LOL! Anyway, I just found a topic saying that a good cartridge connection is required for the system to power on, so I'll try that, but like I said, it worked, then sometimes worked, now doesn't work.

 

Edit: Great news, it was just a case of dirty cartridges!

Edited July 9, 2017 by s0s

[phoenixdownita]

DO THIS AT YOUR RISK

 

Sometimes when my Jag red screens I wiggle the cart (back to forth) and that resets the Jag and sometimes allow it to boot, few of my games require that. How many carts did you try?

[s0s]

All four of my games. I keep my games in the basement where it's cool and dry, so I didn't clean them before I tried them, which was my mistake. I didn't think they could have gotten dirty, since I take good care of all my game stuff. But when I cleaned Cybermorph, it worked. Now that it works however, I can barely play, because every time I move around, it causes bad interference on the tv.

[Zerosquare]

I checked the voltage of the power adapter, and although it says it's 10V, my multimeter is showing 13.5V! This seems WAY out of any sensible tolerance range, unless their tolerance is +/- 35% LOL!

The voltage specified for those power adapter is at the rated current. When they're unloaded (like when you're measuring with a multimeter), the voltage is significantly higher. I don't recall the tolerances, but while high, 35% doesn't seem implausible.