38 replies to this topic

[Midnight Synergy]

I just don't like the NES. I know I'm supposed to, but I don't. Help me.

I never had one in the day, so I have little nostalgia for it, but I've keep coming across them used and have picked up a number of games on it over the years. The cleaning/wiggling/cleaning/praying routine was really frustrating, so I got a new 72-pin connector put in. It improved things a little, but I still feel that I spend way more time cleaning cartridges than playing games.

Thing is, I've now come across a second cartridge (first one was Micro Machines, this one Excitebike) that I just can't get to run, no matter how much I clean the contacts. Dropped by a local store, and they couldn't get it to run either. I've never come across a single dead cartridge for older systems (Atari, Intellivision, Coleco) or newer systems (SNES, Genesis, N64), and I have a lot of those. Yet I have 2 apparent dead NES carts in a much smaller collection.

Are dead NES carts common? Or is there something else I should do other than cleaning the visible contacts (is there anything to clean if I open up the cartridge shell?).

I'd really like to give the NES a shot, but it's just sooo frustrating. Any suggestions?

[thegoldenband]

I'm having a similar problem with my old (ca. 1988) toaster, which I recently got back from my family. I replaced the 72-pin connector, and have tried several different things to get it to work 100%: 91% alcohol with a Q-tip, applied to the carts and to the board itself; 91% with a toothbrush on the 72-pin connector and board; lightly sanding the contacts on the board with fine-grade sandpaper. While some things have improved matters, I just can't seem to get rid of that last little bit of graphic glitchiness.

I can't think of any other piece of hardware that's given me this level of frustration -- I really loathe the shortcomings of the design, even though I absolutely love the platform. (And yes, I've done the 10NES lockout mod.)

That said, I've only ever run into one completely DOA NES cartridge, whereas I have run into multiple dead Intellivision and Genesis carts, so I think it's just the luck of the draw. I've always wanted to find out exactly what's wrong with the dead carts I encounter, though; some of them could perhaps be fixed by replacing a resistor...

[rmaerz]

My NES was on the blink and it was inconsistent across carts (e.g. BurgerTime would work and then it wouldn't).

After thoroughly cleaning the 72-pin connector to no avail, I purchased and installed a new one but had the same results. I got tired of this and was ready to get rid of the thing.

One day I decided to give it a go. The fact that some carts worked while others didn't meant it had to be the carts.

I took every NES cart I had, stuck it in the NES and fired it up. I separated the carts into two piles: Blinky and Stinky. I took all the Blinky carts to the garage, took the PCBs out, cleaned them with alcohol and a Q-tip, sprayed De-Oxit on them, let it sit, come back and clean one more time with alcohol and a Q-tip. I retested all the Blinky carts and every single one of them work!

When you remove the PCBs from the cart, you'll see how dirty those carts really are. And trying to clean them with the PCBs in does not give you the elbow grease that you get from opening up the shell.

Edited by rmaerz, Fri Nov 4, 2011 10:32 AM.

[jferio]

I use a Toploader myself, in part because of the pain, even after I did all sorts of refurbishing, of getting carts to work with the Toaster. I lucked out in finding one cheap. It still glitches out occasionally, so at some point I really do need to do the whole "take 'em apart and give 'em a good cleaning" process on my collection. But the Toploader was such a massive improvement I can put up with the video issues easily.

[chrisbid]

not nearly as common as dead NES units, but i have come across a couple over the years

[Animan]

I have a front-loader with a disabled 10NES chip (this helps tons, and it's such a simple mod. That, and it makes your system technically region-free), and while it works better than most front-loading units I've seen, it still takes a few love taps and q-tips for most of my games to work.

Normally, I'm against using clone hardware, but at this point I'm tempted to get one. They have a few of them at local Movie Trading Company. Are there any in particular that have good compatibility?

[rmaerz]

Animan, on Fri Nov 4, 2011 12:52 PM, said:

Normally, I'm against using clone hardware, but at this point I'm tempted to get one. They have a few of them at local Movie Trading Company. Are there any in particular that have good compatibility?

StoneAgeGamer has those console that'll play NES, SNES and Genesis all in one unit. I don't own one so I can't vouch for them.

[Reaperman]

Animan, on Fri Nov 4, 2011 12:52 PM, said:

I have a front-loader with a disabled 10NES chip (this helps tons, and it's such a simple mod. That, and it makes your system technically region-free)

While there are a good number of PAL games that do work after 10nes is disabled, there are enough that won't to suggest that it's not as region free as it could be. The game 'Elite' is extremely picky, for example. I've been debating picking up a euro system just for that game for years.

10NES mods still fall prey to dirt too. I have to give mine another cleaning, as it's giving me the 'yellow screen of dirty but modded' more than I'd like. I think I only have one NES game that's truly dead--a copy of 'Immortal'. I also find the stock connectors are better than the modern replacements, but I bend the pins for a tight fit without locking the carts in the down position.

Edited by Reaperman, Fri Nov 4, 2011 2:03 PM.

[AtariLeaf]

I have a Yobo FC Twin which I picked up used and it seems to work pretty good for both NES and SNES games. I haven't come across any compatibility problems but my NES library is pretty small anyway.

[AtariLeaf]

Reaperman, on Fri Nov 4, 2011 2:00 PM, said:

but I bend the pins for a tight fit without locking the carts in the down position.

I found that to work very well on an NES where every other common remedy failed.

[Hatta]

I think all three are required. Snip the 10NES. Clean the hell out of the PCBs. AND replace or rebend the 72 pin connector so that it makes contact without depressing the mechanism. Replacement connectors are usually tight enough by default that you don't need to depress the mechanism.

[DickNixonArisen]

I never have NES problems. For one thing, I stopped blowing in my carts (essentially spitting in them) once I turned 14, so that helps a lot. I also clipped my lockout and rebent the connectors, and I clean any game that comes in to my collection thoroughly, and any game that has been sitting in my collection very lightly before use. I have zero issues, using an original deck, a yobo, or a GEN NEX clone.

I have seen one truly dead NES cart in my game experience - Toki, incidentally. I have seen five dead SNES, Three dead GEN, plenty of dead older titles (atari here and there, CV more than a few times, INTV) but generally cartridge games are tough as nails. Come to think of it I have seen many, many broken nails out there and very few broken cartridge games.

[20ohm20]

I never had a NES back in the day either, but I picked one up with a couple third party controllers and three games last month for next to nothing. All of the games were intermittently working, so I replaced the 72-pin connector and cleaned the cart contacts and it seemed to fix the problem. I was thinking about getting it out tonight and playing with it, so we'll see if the problem returns.

[opeygon]

Midnight Synergy, on Fri Nov 4, 2011 10:13 AM, said:

I just don't like the NES. I know I'm supposed to, but I don't. Help me.

I never had one in the day, so I have little nostalgia for it, but I've keep coming across them used and have picked up a number of games on it over the years. The cleaning/wiggling/cleaning/praying routine was really frustrating, so I got a new 72-pin connector put in. It improved things a little, but I still feel that I spend way more time cleaning cartridges than playing games.

Thing is, I've now come across a second cartridge (first one was Micro Machines, this one Excitebike) that I just can't get to run, no matter how much I clean the contacts. Dropped by a local store, and they couldn't get it to run either. I've never come across a single dead cartridge for older systems (Atari, Intellivision, Coleco) or newer systems (SNES, Genesis, N64), and I have a lot of those. Yet I have 2 apparent dead NES carts in a much smaller collection.

Are dead NES carts common? Or is there something else I should do other than cleaning the visible contacts (is there anything to clean if I open up the cartridge shell?).

I'd really like to give the NES a shot, but it's just sooo frustrating. Any suggestions?

There should be a switch on the back of your Micro Machines cart. Flipping this may help, though I think some carts don't have it.

[opeygon]

Here is another thread about MIcro Machines http://www.atariage....machines switch

[Midnight Synergy]

Well, I'm glad (and sad) to hear that it's not just me... I thought the new 72 pin would be more effective. Maybe I'll have to invest into one of those security bits and start opening up some carts. For now though, I think, they'll go back in a box until I have more time.

rmaerz: any problems associated with using something like De-Oxit (ie can it ruin a cart?)

[fdurso224]

Hi guys,

I rarely had problems with my NES games so far in my life time. However the systems pins were the troublemakers on my front loader system! The top loader had very few issues!


Anthony....

[Armonigann]

Out of maybe at least 1500+ NES games I've been through, only 2 have not "fired" up. Maybe luck on my part or not, but NES games seem to be the more dependable of all my systems.

9:10 if the cart does'nt work, it's your system. In my experience, that goes for pretty much all cart based systems.

[DickNixonArisen]

True. Caveat, though: we are talking grey-case official carts here. Once you get to Tengen, color dreams, etc, then your working rate drops sharply. Must be the thickness or quality of the contacts? They don't BREAK more often, I don't think (not a large enough sample size to really tell) but are just harder to get working consistently.

[rmaerz]

Midnight Synergy, on Fri Nov 4, 2011 11:13 PM, said:

rmaerz: any problems associated with using something like De-Oxit (ie can it ruin a cart?)

No.

Here's their www for more info

http://store.caig.com/

[Itchy Koala]

AtariLeaf, on Fri Nov 4, 2011 3:02 PM, said:

I have a Yobo FC Twin which I picked up used and it seems to work pretty good for both NES and SNES games. I haven't come across any compatibility problems but my NES library is pretty small anyway.

I'm glad yours works out for you, but where I work we receive shipments of those and we've found 1 in 4 of them to be defective right out of the box. Their failure rate is insane, I'd take my chances with an NES over Yobo any day.

Plus I don't like the feel of the controllers

[Tr3vor]

Itchy Koala, on Sat Nov 5, 2011 1:26 PM, said:

AtariLeaf, on Fri Nov 4, 2011 3:02 PM, said:

I have a Yobo FC Twin which I picked up used and it seems to work pretty good for both NES and SNES games. I haven't come across any compatibility problems but my NES library is pretty small anyway.

I'm glad yours works out for you, but where I work we receive shipments of those and we've found 1 in 4 of them to be defective right out of the box. Their failure rate is insane, I'd take my chances with an NES over Yobo any day.

Plus I don't like the feel of the controllers

Thats why I stuck my regular old snes controllers into my cousin's when we used to play it (he was dumb one day, stuck the wrong PS in it and it toasted it...)

[Ace_1]

Famiclones are not the way to go when it comes to playing NES games. Not a single Famiclone will work right as the sound channel duties are reversed in the APU causing sound pitch issues(or in other instances, the sound channel duties are correct, but some square waves are still incorrect and the DPCM is COMPLETELY screwed up and barely audible), the color palette in the cloned 2C02 is different from the real one, the clone might not accept NES controllers without mods or controller converters(this is the case with the FC Twin, Gen-X, Tomee Dual Action, Tomee C2, RetroDuo, GN Twin, FC3 Plus and FC Mobile II. There may be others I haven't mentioned with this same issue), the clone might have problems with original controllers(RetroN3 - this thing has problems with the Zapper and is completely incompatible with the NES Advantage and NES Max), simply put: there's a HUGE list of problems with Famiclones. I don't get how the NES is such an old console, yet clone console manufacturers STILL can't clone it right when they can clone a Genesis and Super NES to near-perfection.

Just clean the crap out of your cartridges and if you have a Front-Loader NES, disable the lockout chip and tighten the cartridge slot.

As for dead NES carts, I've only come across 2 in my lifetime. Oddly enough, though, I've ONLY come across dead NES carts. I haven't come across dead carts for any other cartridge-based system I own(2600, Odyssey 2, Intellivision, Colecovision, 5200, 7800, Master System, Genesis, TurboGrafx 16, Super NES, Nintendo 64, GameBoy, GameBoy Color, GameBoy Advance).

Edited by Ace_1, Sat Nov 5, 2011 8:47 PM.

[Tr3vor]

Ace_1, on Sat Nov 5, 2011 8:44 PM, said:

Famiclones are not the way to go when it comes to playing NES games. Not a single Famiclone will work right as the sound channel duties are reversed in the APU causing sound pitch issues(or in other instances, the sound channel duties are correct, but some square waves are still incorrect and the DPCM is COMPLETELY screwed up and barely audible), the color palette in the cloned 2C02 is different from the real one, the clone might not accept NES controllers without mods or controller converters(this is the case with the FC Twin, Gen-X, Tomee Dual Action, Tomee C2, RetroDuo, GN Twin, FC3 Plus and FC Mobile II. There may be others I haven't mentioned with this same issue), the clone might have problems with original controllers(RetroN3 - this thing has problems with the Zapper and is completely incompatible with the NES Advantage and NES Max), simply put: there's a HUGE list of problems with Famiclones. I don't get how the NES is such an old console, yet clone console manufacturers STILL can't clone it right when they can clone a Genesis and Super NES to near-perfection.

I've seen WAY more sound problems with Genesis clones. I thought the genesis sounded wierd on its own, but a genesis clone is like ear rape (At least, most of them)
The FC-Twin had no problems with the sound. All my games from Kirby to Mario sounded spot on. The DPCM on Mike Tyson's Punchout was audible.
I don't know of the problems you speak of, you must have had a real shitty clone to have these problems.

[Jibbajaba]

Do this:

http://www.cgquarter...es/blinknes.htm

Then this:

http://www.cgquarter.../cleangames.htm

Then never blow in your carts again,and ever stick a new game in your system without cleaning it first. My NES has run very reliably for years now.

Chris