46 replies to this topic

[King Atari]

I'm going to clean only my favorite carts. Super Mario 64, Duke Nukem Zero Hour, and Madden 2002 are going to be like the only N64 carts I clean.

As for NES carts, I've got a full night ahead of me...

[King Atari]

Okay, cleaned two N64 carts as a test, Blast Corps and Turok 2. I used 70% alcohol, cleaned both sides, used the dry end of the q-tip to dry, repeated the process with warm water instead of alcohol. I'll give 'em a day, try them tomorrow, and if they work okay, I'll clean my good carts.

Does it sound like I did everything right?

[AtariYoungin]

im not sure if it matters, but what kind of alchohal

[King Atari]

70% Isopropyl, just as you stated above.

[surfnmadness]

Could always purchase the canned air under presure too.

[MegaManFan]

You don't have to wait a day for them to dry. I test carts right after I clean them; then again I clean pretty vigorously so when wet they're really wet and when dry they're pretty dry. Even so I give them a little "extra dry" by holding the pin side up to a fan for a couple of seconds afterwards. The only reason you'd have to wait for them to dry is with the warm water step you inserted, which is totally unnecessary. The alcohol is better than the water; if you had to leave anything on the pins you'd rather the former than the latter. I can't give you all the chemical reasons, but search google if you want to know why - it boils down to rust though, basically.

And yes, if you don't care if you wear down your carts by blowing in them, that's fine. The thing of it is though, if you don't clean your carts, you'll have to blow in them EVERY TIME. You improve the contacts for a very short period of time, but you don't remove any grime. Clean your cart the right way and remove the grime, and you won't have to blow in it next time. Now isn't that worth the effort?

[King Atari]

Tried the carts, both worked perfect first time with no blowing.

So basically do everything the same, but skip the water part?

Quote

Clean your cart the right way and remove the grime, and you won't have to blow in it next time. Now isn't that worth the effort?

Yes, yes it is.

[MegaManFan]

Yup, skip the water. Glad to see you're happy with the results. I had a few flaky ColecoVision carts I took a good cleaning to this afternoon and they all work great now, including Miner 2049er.

[King Atari]

Went ahead and cleaned all of my N64 carts, didn't have time to test any, but they could only work better now, right? Discovered why some carts were notorious for giving me trouble, and I got more gunk out of Duke Nukem Zero Hour cart than I'm comfortable with, but everything is clean now. Thanks everyone for the tips and all.

Mission 2: getting the DN: Zero Hour Rom for my emulator .

[MegaManFan]

I had the same revelation the other day when I put Mega Man 4 in my Never Fail Nintendo and it didn't work right. I thought damn this stupid cart should work right now, it never worked in the unmodified Nintendo. Then the thought crossed my mind that in all the time I had owned MM4 I had never cleaned it. I put a q-tip in and when I was done it came out BLACK. I cleaned it a second time and it came out DARK BROWN. I cleaned it a third time and when it came back brown and black flecks and streaks I figured I had got it clean enough - I put it back in and it worked right away. Amazing how much crap can build up isn't it? And I almost never put in NES carts from pawn shops and thrifts without cleaning them first any more. Some of the q-tips have been disgusting shades of YELLOW AND GREEN after I cleaned them from thrifts - I don't even WANT to know what caused that.

[King Atari]

Yeah, that's one of the things that stopped me from buying a Mega Man 3 cart. Looked like a dead bug was melted to the connectors or something. The guys at Funco look at me weird when they see me studying the connectors on NES carts, but better safe than sorry.

[King Atari]

Okay, now that the N64 crisis has been averted, time to head to the NES. The sticker on the back of the carts says do not clean with alcohol. Is that just Nintendo's way of saying "Buy our cleaner instead"?

[MegaManFan]

Yeah, their cleaning solution was just diluted rubbing alcohol. I'm sure if you tested it chemically, you'd find proof.

[King Atari]

So just repeat the N64 process with these, then?

[JB]

MegaManFan said:

 I had the same revelation the other day when I put Mega Man 4 in my Never Fail Nintendo and it didn't work right.  I thought damn this stupid cart should work right now, it never worked in the unmodified Nintendo.  Then the thought crossed my mind that in all the time I had owned MM4 I had never cleaned it.  I put a q-tip in and when I was done it came out BLACK.  I cleaned it a second time and it came out DARK BROWN.  I cleaned it a third time and when it came back brown and black flecks and streaks I figured I had got it clean enough - I put it back in and it worked right away.  Amazing how much crap can build up isn't it?  And I almost never put in NES carts from pawn shops and thrifts without cleaning them first any more.  Some of the q-tips have been disgusting shades of YELLOW AND GREEN after I cleaned them from thrifts - I don't even WANT to know what caused that.

Green is copper oxide. The dreaded rust. That was a REAL bad cart, if you were stripping visible quantities off.

[MegaManFan]

If that's the case, it just proves that degrading contacts is not a myth. Probably the used cart of some junior assclown who thought blowing in them to make them work over and over again was a good idea.

[King Atari]

So, what do you suggest for cleaning an actual N64? My NES cleaning kit (with some alcohol) will take care of the that system, but I need some something for my N64, I probably blew in that thing, too.

[MegaManFan]

If you can reach down enough to clean the internal contacts with a swab, do it the same way. If you're nervous about fluid running into it, clamp it upside down and clean from underneath; otherwise just make sure the tips are only lightly wet when you do it.

[King Atari]

I always dab the swab to keep it from being really wet before I clean anyways, so I may be able to pull this off .

Seriously, thanks for all the help, MMF. Please know I really do appreciate it. I'm probably annoying the crap out of you, sorry about that.

[MegaManFan]

Not at all. I may not be a technical wonk when it comes to the inner workings of consoles yet (what chips do what, what to fix or replace them with, and so on) but collecting has at least taught me a few things about cleaning carts and games. I often think the reason carts and systems I'm looking for show up at thrifts is that people gave up trying to get them to work without realizing a simple cleaning would have salvaged them from being tossed.

[King Atari]

Hmm, can't get a swab to fit. A napkin might work, but I think it would too loose to do any serious cleaning. I'll have to test.

[KaineMaxwell]

Eppes! I use my NES cleaning kit on most my carts soon as I buy them or when they start acting funny.

Now if I can just get my NES to work for GOOD even w/ a new pin connector I'll be a happy Kaine.