CARTRIDGE STEALER Posted August 2, 2006 Share Posted August 2, 2006 ok, I have the classic problem with my NES. Put the cartridge in, get the blinking red light on the NES and the tv screen flashes different colors. I have opened 3 of my 5 NES's and I did the surgery that was recomended (72 pin connector, spreading the pins so it makes a better contact) So far, none have worked. what else shall I do? I heard I could clean my games with alchol but i have over 100 games. is that the only solution? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Psionic Posted August 2, 2006 Share Posted August 2, 2006 ok, I have the classic problem with my NES. Put the cartridge in, get the blinking red light on the NES and the tv screen flashes different colors. I have opened 3 of my 5 NES's and I did the surgery that was recomended (72 pin connector, spreading the pins so it makes a better contact) So far, none have worked. what else shall I do? I heard I could clean my games with alchol but i have over 100 games. is that the only solution? Um, in a word...YES. Cleaning your game cartridges regularly is the most basic requirement of maintaining a game collection. If you don't clean your games, a new 72-pin won't do a thing and you are only contaminating your system connectors with dirty cartridges. Over 100 games? I have over 500 cartridges and I clean my whole collection at least once every year or two. Games that are used regularly should be cleaned more regularly (probably once every month or two or three). Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prodos8 Posted August 2, 2006 Share Posted August 2, 2006 If you didn't first clean the internal connector and at least one game with alcohol or other cleaning solution then all your pin bending may very well been in vain. Also, if your stuff hasn't been used in a while, you probably have to clean the cart and connector several times before you get it working. Even new connectors won't work with dirty games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CARTRIDGE STEALER Posted August 2, 2006 Author Share Posted August 2, 2006 dam! I have alot of cleaning to do! I was told that cleaning them with alchol may actually do more harm than good. Im afraid to do so but I will try it. I never had to do this with my coleco cartridges or atari but I guess the NES has more to clean. Ill let you know how it goes! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Psionic Posted August 3, 2006 Share Posted August 3, 2006 I was told that cleaning them with alchol may actually do more harm than good. Im afraid to do so but I will try it. Years back, a FuncoLand employee told me that using alcohol to clean game cartridges will eat away at the circuit board and eventually cause the metal connector pins to peel away from the board. He thus advised me to clean my games only with a special cleaning solution that I could puchase at FuncoLand (the cleaning solution contained isopropyl alcohol!). All I know is, I've been cleaning my cartridges with alcohol for 15 years and I haven't had a problem yet. Use alcohol, but use it sparingly, don't over do it. Nintendo used to tell you to clean cartridges with just water and there were warnings on the back of the cartridges saying not to clean with alcohol, benzene, thinner, etc., but I think that was more because those liquids are flammable than they will damage the game. In my experience, water does not work as well in removing dirt and tarnish from the contacts and takes far longer to dry, which makes it more likely to cause rust/corrosion on the metal contacts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjchamp3 Posted August 3, 2006 Share Posted August 3, 2006 The alcohol theroy is a myth you can use it all you want I soaked games in it no problem 10 years later Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shadow460 Posted August 3, 2006 Share Posted August 3, 2006 Did you disable the lockout chip? The only cart I know of that needs it in order to work is the World Championship cart. Since that one won't work anymore, if you have one, you can send it to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Farquhar Posted August 3, 2006 Share Posted August 3, 2006 People have used all sorts of nasty solvents to clean PCBs for years; the only danger most solvents have is against the plastic case itself; the PCB will be fine. If you sat there for 15 minutes rubbing the case with alcohol you might discolor it some (the first sign of damage), but it only takes a few swipes with a cotton swab to get the majority of the dirt off the contacts. Clean a couple of games and see what you think of the results. I bought a "broken" NES recently with the blinky-light problem. The NES was fine; the games it came with were dirty. I went ahead and disassembled the unit and cleaned the cartridge connector just because it only takes me 10-15 minutes to do it. The NES's connector is touchier than top-load units. It's a good idea to clean Atari, Genesis, and other carts, but it's a must with the NES. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjchamp3 Posted August 3, 2006 Share Posted August 3, 2006 IT WAS A SCAM so we would buy cleaners I would never soak a nes championsip cart common and its worth an unlimited amount of money so is entity for 2600 The rarest cart goes for six bucks i see alot of amatur collectors on this site Ill stick to CGE 2007 And get money for what my stuff is worth If you want my nes championsip cart it's 36,000 and going up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shadow460 Posted August 3, 2006 Share Posted August 3, 2006 So you're not going to send me your gold World Championship cart, then? Bummer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JB Posted August 3, 2006 Share Posted August 3, 2006 dam! I have alot of cleaning to do! I was told that cleaning them with alchol may actually do more harm than good. Im afraid to do so but I will try it. I never had to do this with my coleco cartridges or atari but I guess the NES has more to clean. Ill let you know how it goes! Yeah... The NES cartridge connector was a bad idea. The ZIF socket they use is completely ill-suited for a video game machine. Making things worse is the fact that the lockout chip is VERY finicky about decent connections(hence why you can see flashing game screens a lot of the time, since the ROMs are working fine, but not the lockout). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bones Posted August 3, 2006 Share Posted August 3, 2006 Yeah... The NES cartridge connector was a bad idea. The ZIF socket they use is completely ill-suited for a video game machine. Making things worse is the fact that the lockout chip is VERY finicky about decent connections(hence why you can see flashing game screens a lot of the time, since the ROMs are working fine, but not the lockout). How does one disable the lockout chip? Wouldn't mind trying that out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CARTRIDGE STEALER Posted August 3, 2006 Author Share Posted August 3, 2006 Yeah... The NES cartridge connector was a bad idea. The ZIF socket they use is completely ill-suited for a video game machine. Making things worse is the fact that the lockout chip is VERY finicky about decent connections(hence why you can see flashing game screens a lot of the time, since the ROMs are working fine, but not the lockout). How does one disable the lockout chip? Wouldn't mind trying that out. yes, what is a lock out chip? is it in the system? of the game? i never heard of this. does it come "activated" and what is it for? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JB Posted August 3, 2006 Share Posted August 3, 2006 (edited) Yeah... The NES cartridge connector was a bad idea. The ZIF socket they use is completely ill-suited for a video game machine. Making things worse is the fact that the lockout chip is VERY finicky about decent connections(hence why you can see flashing game screens a lot of the time, since the ROMs are working fine, but not the lockout). How does one disable the lockout chip? Wouldn't mind trying that out. yes, what is a lock out chip? is it in the system? of the game? i never heard of this. does it come "activated" and what is it for? Nintendo wanted to control game releases outside of Japan. Make sure all games were published by them. I gather the main reason was software piracy. So they added a lockout scheme to prevent 3rd-party publishers from existing. As a side benefit, this prevented japanese games from working in other regions, and by changing the lockout chip between regions you could lock each game to a specific area. The console has a chip tied to the reset line and the cart slot. It talks to a chip in the cartridge. If the 2 chips sync up, everything's good. If they don't sync up, the console chip resets the system once a second until they DO sync up, essentially making any cartridge without a lockout chip unusable, and causing the flashing screen of death. Tengen got around it by cloning the chip(as I understand it, they sorta stole the patent to do it, and Nintendo sued them over it later). A few other companies did it by wreaking electrical havoc on the lockout chip. If you blast it right, it gets confused and shuts down. As far as killing it... http://www.neshq.com/hardmods/lockout.txt Top-loading NESes, FamiClones, and FamiComs lack a lockout chip, and have better connectors. The AV FamiCom(NES2, Japanese-style) and a NES->FC adapter is probably the best possible combination. As was previously noted, no functional lockout chip will cause odd behavior on the Nintendo World Championship cartridge. But it has no other ill effects. Edited August 3, 2006 by JB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jferio Posted August 4, 2006 Share Posted August 4, 2006 My recommendation when you go to disable that lockout chip is to go to your local electronics parts store and pick up a sixteen pin chip socket. I've heard of a lot of people breaking that vital pin off the chip trying to bend it up, so instead of doing that, I removed the chip completely, bent the relevant pin on the socket, soldered the socket into place, then installed the chip in the socket. While I don't intend to, I have the utmost confidence that I can remove the mod at any time, without sacrificing a cart for another lockout chip. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shadow460 Posted August 4, 2006 Share Posted August 4, 2006 I just cut pin 4 completely off. It's probably easier to get another NES if I ever come up with the money for a NWC cart. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Famicoman Posted August 4, 2006 Share Posted August 4, 2006 Just soak your carts in armor all Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bones Posted August 4, 2006 Share Posted August 4, 2006 As far as killing it... http://www.neshq.com/hardmods/lockout.txt Top-loading NESes, FamiClones, and FamiComs lack a lockout chip, and have better connectors. The AV FamiCom(NES2, Japanese-style) and a NES->FC adapter is probably the best possible combination. As was previously noted, no functional lockout chip will cause odd behavior on the Nintendo World Championship cartridge. But it has no other ill effects. Cool, thanks for the link, will try this out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CARTRIDGE STEALER Posted August 4, 2006 Author Share Posted August 4, 2006 As far as killing it... http://www.neshq.com/hardmods/lockout.txt Top-loading NESes, FamiClones, and FamiComs lack a lockout chip, and have better connectors. The AV FamiCom(NES2, Japanese-style) and a NES->FC adapter is probably the best possible combination. As was previously noted, no functional lockout chip will cause odd behavior on the Nintendo World Championship cartridge. But it has no other ill effects. Cool, thanks for the link, will try this out. dam, I didnt know this. I didnt even know that Nintendo had bootleg games! hey, this brings up another question.......... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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