SFC Image problems with cart extender

I just got my hands on a SFC, and it seems to work fine with SFC carts without an adapter.

However, if I try to use the Tototek extension adapter:
http://www.tototek.com/store/bmz_cache/ ... 39x550.jpg

Here's a video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iChgXLSeQLI

So it seems to only be a problem on the SFC, my SNES works fine with the adapter.

Any ideas?

Update:
I took apart my Game Genie and tried it in the SFC, works fine. PAR works fine as well.

A good first guess would be those long antenna-like traces extending upward from the 8-pin side connectors.

Wherever you're located, you're just unlucky that those traces are picking up a strong signal and causing what the FCC euphemistically calls "unintended operation".

Without seeing the other side of the board, those traces don't appear to be connected to anything... is the photo you posted actually your unit, or is it just a photo you found online? Post some photos of your board, both sides. There might be something physically wrong with the board, and it *might* be visible in photos. Unlikely, but it's worth a shot...

I'll take a picture of it...

But if there was something wrong with it, wouldn't it make my SNES have the same problem?

It's just weird how it only seems to affect the SFC. I've tried 2 other SNES's and they both world fine with the adapter...

At this point, it's a mystery I'd like to solve. I'm tempted to take apart the SFC and see if there's anything weird inside.

How about a mechanical problem? The second cartridge is probably supposed to rest on the case of the console. If the console is shaped a bit differently, then you might get bad contacts some way.
The supply line on the left side of the photo looks as if it would connect to only one of the two supply pins, which would be strange, but I guess that the second pin is connected on the other of the PCB.
The switch allows to select which of the to cartridges to use as ROM and as CIC? Does that work both ways, ie. when you swap the cartridges, and toggle the switch, then the game works with the same glitches?
The PAR and Game Genie do also have two slots, and do work when using them instead of the adapter? Then the problem should be related to the adapter (not the console, and not the cartridge).

The color shifting after it boots implies it's causing some load on the 21.5MHz clock that's changing its timing. Not clear why it would only affect one or the other; maybe the SFC doesn't buffer the clock but the SNES does?

And that doesn't explain the bizarre "white instead of black" on bootup.

I am not exactly sure what problem(s) the video is showing...

There are some random graphics before the title screen... is the game supposed to do that?
White bars at left and right side... is that a normal effect for wide-screen TVs?
Blinking sky... is that happening for real, or is it caused by the camera?
And lidnariq has spotted "white instead of black", which, I seem to have missed that problem.

Are all those four problems caused by the adaptor?


Might be so, but probably only if the adaptor or of the two games does actually put some load on it. I suspect that the adaptor doesn't hide any special electronics on the rear side... which would leave the two game cartridges, is one of them containing special coprocessors?
That could be actually a huge problem since the sockets have only the middle pins passed on to the cartridges :-) so many coprocessor games definetly can't work with it.

Ok, this is interesting....

I tried flipping the adapter 180 degrees and... it works perfectly in the SFC now.

Go figure. I'm totally stumped by this.

I'm tempted to start cutting traces to the pins on the side connectors that most games don't ever use.
Does someone have a list of the pins on the outer edges that games with extra chips use?

You mean you've now turned the side with the "Front" text marking to front side? That would be... ;-)

Why do you want to cut the extra lines? I wouldn't think that they do pick-up or produce too much noise. And if you leave them intact then you could someday upgrade the thing by adding the missing sockets, if you should ever want to do that.

21MHz is used by many coprocessor carts, REFRESH appears to be somehow used by SGB, /WRAMSEL might be used by some memory mappers though I can't grasp the purpose of pin, SOUND-L/R is also used by SGB, EXPAND is used by Satellaview, and PA0-7,/PARD,/PAWR are used mainly on expansion port, not on cartridges port (except, Nintendo's diagnostics cartridge might use them, some copiers might use them, not that there is much chance to mount a copier on the adaptor, and some S-DD1 carts have a capacitor on PA1 for whatever sinister tuning/workaround purpose).

Could it be that the pin connector in your SFC is slightly looser than in the SNES and that the PCB of the adaptor is slightly thinner than a standard SNES/SFC cart?

Here's the official webpage: http://www.tototek.com/store/index.php? ... ucts_id=40
There are a lot of things that could go wrong with that adaptor. And probably at least 1-2 of them did get wrong.

The PCB does really have no plastic shell, so you could insert it the wrong way around.
There is some SRAM issue (either it's incompatible with SRAM in the "cic" cartridge, or it does just destroy its SRAM content).
And the socket does have 2.54mm pitch instead of SNES 2.50mm (that's actually visible on the photo: the socket pins are wider apart than the PCB contacts), as workaround they do want the cartridge to "lean on the right", ie. align it by pushing it against the hot glue on the right side of socket.

To me, it appears that they simply cut a >46 pin connector in half for the top slot, hence the hot glue. Just look at how far the connector "overlaps" the regular 46 pins on the right side as compared to the left, where there's a small tab at the lower end of the black plastic (which is missing on the right side).

In other words, that "Super T Connector" is utter garbage.

Garbage, or just Drakon Power?

I took arccos(125/127) and it turns out a connector tilted 10 degrees would produce the correct pitch. However, sin(10 degrees) = 0.17365, meaning a 46 pin connector would have to be about as deep as 4 pins.

The chip select pin from the "CIC" cart is probably left floating and that causes it to fetch random reads and writes from the bus, both causing corruption on the screen (during GFX DMA transfers ?) and causing it to catch spurious writes, corrupting it's backup SRAM.

I don't like Tototek stuff at all.

Just for further clarification an SFC motherboard is identical to an SNES motherboard with simply a different power plate and RF modulator soldered in.

Just be a monster and do what I did!