No light, no fan, nothing at all

94MER / Repair Guides / Power

Power · Symptom guide

No power light, no fan, no sound. Before you assume the console is dead, know this: the brick fails far more often than the hardware it powers.

These supplies are as old as the consoles and they are the part left plugged into a wall for decades. They are also the easiest thing in retro gaming to get catastrophically wrong, because different consoles use opposite polarity through identical-looking plugs.

Do these first. They cost nothing.

Check this before you buy anything

  1. Try the console on a different outlet

    Sounds obvious. Rules out a dead socket or a tripped strip in ten seconds.

  2. Feel the brick after a few minutes

    A supply that stays stone cold while plugged in is usually doing nothing at all.

  3. Check the polarity printed on the brick BEFORE you substitute one

    This is the step that saves consoles. Sega Model 1 is centre-negative. Model 2, the 32X and the Game Gear are centre-positive. The NES brick is AC and the SNES brick is DC, and they fit each other's jacks perfectly. Plugging the wrong one in can destroy a working console.

  4. Borrow a known-good supply if you have one

    If the console wakes up on a different brick, you have your answer.

If every one of those comes back clean, now it is worth buying a part.

If that did not fix it, here is the part

NES / SNES / Genesis Power Adapter (3-in-1)NES / SNES / Genesis Power Adapter (3-in-1)$8.99N64 Power AdapterN64 Power Adapter$18.99GameCube Power AdapterGameCube Power Adapter$19.99Wii Power AdapterWii Power Adapter$17.99Sega Genesis 2/3 Power AdapterSega Genesis 2/3 Power Adapter (also fits Game Gear)$9.992-Prong Power Cable, Non-Polarized2-Prong Power Cable, Non-Polarized$5.992-Prong Power Cable, Polarized2-Prong Power Cable, Polarized$5.99

Before you order

Match the console exactly. A supply that physically fits is not the same as a supply that is safe.

What this is not

If you get a power light but no picture, this is not your fault. That is a video problem.

Related faults

The console powers on but the TV shows nothingYour NES blinks and won't load the game

The whole reference, free

This page is one entry from the 94MER Bench Sheets. Nineteen pages of fastener charts, symptom tables, polarity traps and a printable job log. No email needed.

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