fordy

Hi there, I have two old Super Nintendo systems (PAL). My first system ran from 1993 until 2000, when some kind of power surge fried a few devices in my entertainment setup. After that, I picked up a cheap SNES and have been using that since. Only recently, I've pulled the broken SNES out of it's box and tried further diagnosis. I'm a bit of an electronics hobbyist, so I figured I'd have a better chance of finding the problem out now. The reason why is because I want a 2nd working SNES to experiment with for modding. I have ruled out external peripheral issues. Swapping the broken console out with the working console using the same peripherals produces different outcomes, so the problem lies in the system itself. Each game has a unique method on the broken system, but it ultimately comes down to the same outcome: the game freezes within the first several seconds of the game starting. It seems to happen around the times where the game is expected to poll the sound processor for it's status. For example, Super Mario All-stars works until the lights go on in the title screen, then it just freezes, but the sound effects are also missing up to that point. Secret of Mana freezes on the Squaresoft title screen, seemingly just before the sound effect kicks in. Has anyone experienced similar, or have any ideas on this? I'm very concerned that it might be the SPC700 or the DSP ICs playing up, but I want to rule out all other possibilities.