Harry Hood

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I bought a Sony Trinitron to play my N64, Gamecube, PS2, and Xbox. The PS2 and the Xbox are hooked up Component to a switch, along with the Gamecube and N64 Hooked up with S-video. The audio and video of the PS and Xbox work fine, but on the N64 and Gamecube there are these scrolling lines going upward. I've tried full Composite White Red and Yellow. and S-video. Both do it.

Other posts came down to Ground Loop with a Coax cable. I'm not using Coax and it's only happening on the Composite/S-video side.

Seems to only happen when the console is turned on.
 
Solution
Sounds like your TV is receiving interference which is manifesting as those pesky lines. Change the routing of the cables and location of your switch box to prevent them running past or being near any devices that could be using power, especially electrical transformers, as they tend to be rather electrically noisy.

You might also connect any devices such as transformers to a separate outlet or circuit in the house, in case they are causing noise over the power circuits as well.

bigpinkdragon286

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Sounds like your TV is receiving interference which is manifesting as those pesky lines. Change the routing of the cables and location of your switch box to prevent them running past or being near any devices that could be using power, especially electrical transformers, as they tend to be rather electrically noisy.

You might also connect any devices such as transformers to a separate outlet or circuit in the house, in case they are causing noise over the power circuits as well.
 
Solution

Harry Hood

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"Researched it before posting? Posted your complete build in detail? Tell us if you aren't in the US!"

Tried my best to research that's why I'm here. I am in the US.
 

Harry Hood

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I'm not too sure what could be interfering. They're all hooked up to a surge protector, The TV and the 4 consoles.

 

Harry Hood

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I also tried swapping the cabled around, Moving the Gamecube (which is on) to Input three instead of 2, same problem.
 

bigpinkdragon286

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I've seen interference imposed on other devices that are using analog connections when the offending device was attached to the same power strip. My suggestion, starting with only the TV plugged in and power on, one by one, attach and test each device, with no others being either plugged into power or attached to the TV. If you have one or more problematic device and can figure out which they are, you can then isolate them on another strip, household outlet, or circuit.
 

Harry Hood

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Now component audio isn't working. I didnt have a chance to check each individual source before I found that the playstation and the xbox have no audio. they have video. everything is hooked up the same way. is the tv on its way out?
 

bigpinkdragon286

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Usually, when a CRT is dying, it screws up everything without prejudice. On the other hand, it is always possible to have individual sections of the TV go bad. Inputs are all soldered to a circuit board, and if they've been rough handled throughout it's life, it's always possible they are damaged or loose.
 

Harry Hood

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Okay so I found the culprit. The gamecube AV / Power adapter. When the N64 is on and the gamecube plugged in (but off) i get that noise on the screen. If I unplug the turned off gamecube, it goes away. I also changed to a LCD and the component audio works. So the gamecube is making this interference with the N64, could this be the switch?

Edit: Unplugging either the AV or The Power does the trick.
 

bigpinkdragon286

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Sounds like you found it. Now, get the GameCube's power adapter well away from the rest of the equipment and see if that helps. Whether the GameCube is on or not, the power adapter is still drawing power and running it through it's transformer. It's not unusual to see the noise, even when the target device, in your case the GameCube, is powered off.

Good job on tracking it down, by the way!