I just bought a test station off ebay for a good price. It was listed as broken but I thought I would pick it up anyway cause the other stuff that came with it were worth the price of the auction. Anyway, I got the NES test station and hooked it up to my TV. The screen is all garbled looking and can't really be read. I can tell the the unit is performing the tests and stuff cause on certain tests it shows a Green box for Pass and a Red box for Fail. You can't read the boxes but you can see it switching between them as you perform the tests. So I know it is physically working, just the video on it seems to be messed up. I assume that one componet has went bad and needs to be repaired. I don't know crap about stuff like this and am greatful for any suggestions or help. I assume that a local electrical engineer could probably fix it, but they would probably charge a LOT to do so if I had to guess.

Here is a pic of what the main screen looks like (all the screens are messed up like this though):
Link

Here is a pic of what the screen is supposed to look like:
Link

Here is a general pic of the insides of the broken testers:
Link

This is my 3rd tester that I have in my house right now, the other 2 work great, just this one is giving me trouble. Please help!!
~~NGD

Have you tried cleaning the NTF2 cart and connector inside yet? Looks like its just a bad connection to graphics mem...

That was the 2nd thing I tried. First I made sure the connections were all plugged in, which they were. Then I cleaned the cart. I even tried the cart in my other testers and on a converter in a top loader, it worked perfect with both. So I know the test cart is working, has to be something else....
~~NGD

I think there is a short in a chip, probably the PPU. SO you could steal one from a working NES if they are the same, so you would have to have some good soldering skills. But your best bet is to just sell it to me , cause I would love to have but sure as heck can't aford a good one.

For the right offer I might just do that. Shoot me a PM. I don't have a clue how to fix it myself. I should maybe post over at NESdev.com and see if anyone can help me there.
~~NGD

Try running the test station for about an hour or two solid and see if the screen clears up, there might be moisture retention in some of those capacitors that needs to dry out. Or they might have to be replaced entirely. Caps don't like it when they're kept in storage for long periods of time.

Thanks Bratwurst, I will try that tonight and see if it helps or not.

I may just end up selling the NTF2 System cart to recoup my money. Afaik there has NEVER been one of them fro sale on ebay ever. Most people didn't even know they existed till I documented them over at nesworld about 2 years ago.
~~NGD

Well that didn't work. I have had it on straight for about 4 hours now and it still looks the same. Does anyone else have any ideas or suggestions?
~~NGD

The only other thing I can think of is you would have to take the boards out of it and look at them. Look for dark spots on the board or capacitors that have a bubbled top. If you don't find anything just leave it on for a while again then shut it off then touch every IC, the little chips that have multiple leads, to see if there is one that is extremely hot. Then if that doen't work I would teat the output on the power supply.

I may give that a go later tonight and see if I can find anything. I just fear that if I get it apart I won't get it back together
~~NGD

Just blow in it and wiggle stuff from side to side!

I already tried that That is the kind of technical skills I have. I opened it up, it looks good, nothing is on fire, I jiggled some wires, it should work...nothing.
~~NGD

I usally find a large hammer useful when i cant get things working.

I still don't have it working I have tired all my normal methods with zero luck. Kicking, elbows and duct tape aren't doing the trick.
~~NGD

So are you gonna sell this?

yeah at some point. I was hoping to repair it and then sale it though. Not sure how much I could get for it broken. It does have a test cart inside that does work, so it is worth at least 200 for that alone.
~~NGD

Did you ever try posting at nesdev?

nah, I haven't yet but have been planning too. I would prob have to send it to someone cause I really don't know jack about this kind of stuff. I have one friend locally I was going to try to get to fix it but haven't talked to him in ages.
~~NGD