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I'm encountering some weird issues with my SG-1000 II's pause button; a few times it'll pause the game as intended but most of the time the game either resets, glitches up and freezes, or glitches up after being paused. What exactly's going on here?

ApolloBoy wrote

I'm encountering some weird issues with my SG-1000 II's pause button; a few times it'll pause the game as intended but most of the time the game either resets, glitches up and freezes, or glitches up after being paused. What exactly's going on here?

It's hard to say, the SC-3000 has some conditioning for the NMI input from the pause button but maybe it's less reliable on the SG-1000 II, and you are getting way too many NMIs per press which could cause problems.

I'd look at the leaf spring button (marked HOLD SW on the PCB) and see if the contacts look dirty, a bit of abrasion with a pencil eraser and/or rubbing with an isopropyl alcohol dipped q-tip might help loosen up and remove dirt.

If that still doesn't help, maybe we can look further into how the pause switch connects to the rest of the circuitry to find a potential cause to the problem.

I went over the reed switch with some rubbing alcohol and stove top cleaner (which works wonders for cleaning carts I might add), and it seems to have fixed it for the most part. I'm still getting some minor glitches every now and then but I'm thinking it might be surface corrosion or something.

While preparing my system for a component video mod, I decided to remedy the pause button issue once and for all by replacing the reed switch with a small tact switch. It works perfectly now and has a much better feel than before.

You probably could have cleaned it up with a little red scotch brite and some electrical contact cleaner for automobiles. That's how I clean a lot of that stuff up and it works rather well.

I actually tried cleaning it up more before I did this and it was still having issues. This system was in semi-rough shape internally when I got it so I think the reed switch was just about on its last legs. At least now I won't have to worry about my game resetting when I try to pause it!

Author	Message
ApolloBoy Joined: 30 Jan 2007 Posts: 318 Location: San Jose, CA	SG-1000 II pause button issues Posted: Sun Oct 20, 2013 4:26 am
	I'm encountering some weird issues with my SG-1000 II's pause button; a few times it'll pause the game as intended but most of the time the game either resets, glitches up and freezes, or glitches up after being paused. What exactly's going on here?

Charles MacDonald Joined: 28 Sep 1999 Posts: 1197	Posted: Mon Oct 21, 2013 6:12 am
Charles MacDonald Joined: 28 Sep 1999 Posts: 1197	ApolloBoy wrote I'm encountering some weird issues with my SG-1000 II's pause button; a few times it'll pause the game as intended but most of the time the game either resets, glitches up and freezes, or glitches up after being paused. What exactly's going on here? It's hard to say, the SC-3000 has some conditioning for the NMI input from the pause button but maybe it's less reliable on the SG-1000 II, and you are getting way too many NMIs per press which could cause problems. I'd look at the leaf spring button (marked HOLD SW on the PCB) and see if the contacts look dirty, a bit of abrasion with a pencil eraser and/or rubbing with an isopropyl alcohol dipped q-tip might help loosen up and remove dirt. If that still doesn't help, maybe we can look further into how the pause switch connects to the rest of the circuitry to find a potential cause to the problem.

ApolloBoy Joined: 30 Jan 2007 Posts: 318 Location: San Jose, CA	Posted: Wed Oct 23, 2013 7:34 pm
	I went over the reed switch with some rubbing alcohol and stove top cleaner (which works wonders for cleaning carts I might add), and it seems to have fixed it for the most part. I'm still getting some minor glitches every now and then but I'm thinking it might be surface corrosion or something.

ApolloBoy Joined: 30 Jan 2007 Posts: 318 Location: San Jose, CA	Posted: Tue Oct 29, 2013 8:29 am
	While preparing my system for a component video mod, I decided to remedy the pause button issue once and for all by replacing the reed switch with a small tact switch. It works perfectly now and has a much better feel than before.

Maraakate Joined: 05 Jun 2010 Posts: 757 Location: Pennsylvania, USA	Posted: Tue Oct 29, 2013 11:30 am
	You probably could have cleaned it up with a little red scotch brite and some electrical contact cleaner for automobiles. That's how I clean a lot of that stuff up and it works rather well.

ApolloBoy Joined: 30 Jan 2007 Posts: 318 Location: San Jose, CA	Posted: Tue Oct 29, 2013 3:54 pm
	I actually tried cleaning it up more before I did this and it was still having issues. This system was in semi-rough shape internally when I got it so I think the reed switch was just about on its last legs. At least now I won't have to worry about my game resetting when I try to pause it!

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