'Ave it you damn Blinker! - How to fix your NES

[Atarinvader]

Okay, I finally got round to having a look at my blinking NES I bought Sunday and it seems that it's damn easy to fix, no need to worry about buying new connectors or whatever, you can pretty much recondition what you have. Here's what to do:

 

1) Remove the outer casing of your NES by unscrewing the 6 screws underneath the thing. Once open you should see a big RF shielding covering the system and holding the circuit board in place. Remove the screws surrounding it and the modulator.

 

2) Remove the 6 screws surrounding the cartridge 'craddle' and pull away. The circuit board should be able to be lifted out partly now to give you access to the cartridge connector.

 

3) You'll need something like a Stanely or hobby / craft knife, use this to get underneath the connectors and leaver them upwards so as when a cart is pushed in it makes better connection.

 

4) Use either some alchol and / or washing-up liquid and water mixture, and spray it into the cartridge connector, be careful not to over do it, and wipe along the connectors with a bit of clothe.

 

5) Take a cartridge and stick it in to the machine and out repeatedly, make sure the connectors are clean on this cartidge aswell by using the same cleaning method as above.

 

6) Put the craddle back in and load a game, make sure that it works and doesn't blink, try it a few times to make sure everything is okay. Remeber that the aim of the game is to make the cartridge connect to the machine as best as possible.

 

7) If the machine continues to blink then make sure you've properly bent up the connectors, otherwise replace the cover and enjoy some gaming.

 

I can ensure you that this method works fine and whatever crap you've heard about cutting legs on chips or just cleaning is utter balls, you need to get the best connection between the game and the system as possible and this method really works.

[Raijin Z]

...or just replace the connector...

[jsoper]

What's funny is that replacing the contactor involves just as much work in terms of taking things apart. I did my fix by bending the tip of a paperclip to the shortest right angle I could, then bent up the pins (didn't think of using cleaner).

Now my NES works but it's kinda hard to get a cartidge out, so I leave one in full time to loosen it up (heh-- I want my connector to wear out a bit

[Raijin Z]

My way.... well, not MY way because I refuse to buy parts for my 6 NES systems, but that way is more of a permanent solution. The BEST way is to take the entire system apart, and replace EVERYTHING with a more modern or stable equivalent.... but there IS an NES-on-a-chip floating around....

[Atarinvader]

...or just replace the connector...

 

But that's expensive, time consuming and unnessacry. This way will have the NES as good as new.

 

And I can't see the point of replacing EVERYTHING...