N64 Expansion Pak Repair

In this one, I repair a non-working official memory expansion pak for the N64. I bought it cheap; knowing it was not working. It seemed worth the gamble because there's not much to go wrong with them. Just one RAM chip with a few passive components on the opposite side. Turned out I was right, but the issue wasn't what i expected...

[@GraemeGordonFlash]

Immense thanks for posting this video! I also had a defective Expansion Pak, and it turned out to be a bad resistor just like with yours. I ordered a new resistor for a couple cents from Digi-Key, and managed to make the fix as you showed. Definitely tested my soldering skills to their limit, but the fix worked and I am now also able to play DK64 😂
Thanks again, and great video!

[@71dembonesTV]

Glad to hear it! the best kind of feedback i can get is that the information was useful. up until i posted this video; i could find zero information on repairing them. since then i have found one video from a spanish-speaking youtuber doing a similar repair but, that's it. So i'm glad to have found a niche!

[@segamatthews5023]

Well it looks like I have to do the same thing

[@CarlsteinJoga]

Hello friend, I have an old frustration since 2010 I bought an expansion pak on ebay to play perfect dark and zelda majoras mask, but the expansion pak never worked, just for a few minutes, and then it would freeze and turn off. Could you receive my expansion pak and fix it?

[@71dembonesTV]

hi! thanks for watching. if you can find a way to ship it to me with prepaid return shipping label; i would be happy to try and fix it for you. ^_^
let me know what you can find out on your end

[@shademan6070]

i cant tell if its my expension pak or n64 that doesnt like to work here n there it will randomly jsut reset its self after random time how can i tell which is the problem its not the game cause if it was the battery wouldnt save so ya

[@RobertoGarcia-wp9uq]

Sounds like a bad power cable

[@71dembonesTV]

bad expansion pak could cause this issue. swap in a jumper pak and a non expansion pack game if you can. that will tell you for sure

[@matthoward9509]

What size resistor does it take?

[@matthoward9509]

I have a crazy idea what if you took the chip off the expansion pak and put it on a regular jumper would that work.

[@71dembonesTV]

@@matthoward9509 no reason to do that and i dont think it would work. the jumper pack might have those resistors soldered on there if you wanted to swiped them off of there.

[@71dembonesTV]

51 ohm resistor. 0603 size SMD package. there's probably enough room to stab a standard thru-hole resistor in there if you bend the legs right. I have the sample book so its easy to just find the right one most of the time

[@lazereth45]

When testing mine that was defective I was getting 51 between some legs and some where bouncing all over the place, ordered some more resistor arrays for like $2 on eBay

[@71dembonesTV]

Thanks for watching! Hope it works out. If i didn't have those SMD resistors in stock already; i would have replaced the whole array even for just the one that was showing bad. I'm currently running that one in my console and it has held up for a full DK64 playthru with no signs of trouble :)

[@lazereth45]

@@71dembonesTVyou rock, this repair fixed my expansion pak

[@71dembonesTV]

@@lazereth45 best response i could ever get on one of my repair videos! glad i could help! Thanks for watching!

[@JohnSmith-bq8vm]

@@lazereth45 hey man could you shoot me in the right direction towards getting that particular array? That’d be much appreciated, thanks dude

[@rickyruscillo4762]

If not, can you send me a link for the ones you used please