SNES artifact mess - Help me troubleshoot

[korpse413]

Picked up a SNES on the cheap, only to find an artifacting mess. Afraid the PPU and/or WRAM is shot? I have a multimeter to check continuity but everything seems in order. I do not have a hot air gun on me to reflow the chips, but I do have a spare toaster oven to toss the board into if need be (somewhere around ~200 or > degrees?). Anyone have any tips/tricks I can try for troubleshooting?
P.S. the pin connector has been cleaned with 91% alcohol, brasso, alcohol again and again, so we should be able to rule this out..

http://imgur.com/a/MlQQP

[mvsfan]

Those chips that say MOSEL are your video Ram chips. Ive fixed a couple, also heard of other people successfully fixing snes's with Garbled Graphics that still play the game otherwise by replacing one or both of those.

But it might also be bad traces on the motherboard and not the chip itself.

Im not good enough at diagnosing at circuit level If it isnt one of the chips I usually just toss em up on the parts shelf.

I have slowly been filling the shelf.

[korpse413]

Interesting, did not know those were the vram thanks. Taking that info I found out apparently people have successfully replaced them with chips found in one of two games: Vortex and SMW2: Yoshi's Island. Granted SMW2 for a loose cart is about the same cost of a SNES, if I can find a Vortex cart for cheap it seems like an awesome test. This is assuming my vram is shot...

Getting back to what I was asking in the picture post, as for taking chips off/reflowing and I am very new to the game, simply using a soldering iron head is a big no-no right? Its hot air gun and a long pair of tweezers or something? Sorry for my lack of 'the basics 101' sadly I never took the course (but I'd love to now)

thanks

[kamiboy]

If it is the two S-Ram chips that you are looking to replace I have them for sale. They came off of my Super Famicom.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/161697032206?ss ... 1555.l2649

[mvsfan]

yeah, i just use a craftsman industrial heat gun i got a good deal on. Whatever you use though make sure it has a temperature control so you dont make things too hot.

I usually set mine at about 540-600 degrees F and have at it.

Also - you Can use a soldering Iron to do it but you need a Pencil Tip on it or a Chisel tip and you have to use a lot of FLUX. the flux keeps the solder from sticking between the pins. then you Drag the soldering iron across the pins. Rosin core solder wont work because it doesnt have enough flux to accomplish that. You also need real thin solder. On surface mount chips a little bit of solder goes a long way.