Getting a "broken" NES to work?

[the dude]

hi there,

i purchased a cheap PAL NES 3 days ago...only thing that bothers me, it doesn't work properly. ;)

after putting the catridge in and pressing the power switch, the red led starts blinking and i'm seeing a white screen on my tv for about 2 seconds, right before the led goes out. then it's all starting over again.

however, i managed to get it working 2 times until now, by not pushing the ac adapter as far as it could be pushed into the NES. so my guess is that the power unit of the nes has a loose contact (tried it with more than 3 fine working ac adapters, so it must be the NES itself).

is there any chance to get this fixed? and if yes, how?


thank you very much in advance.

[Phinn]

Might be an idea just to open it up and have a look to see if there's anything obviously come loose. I think you'll need a special 'gamebit' screwdriver to get the NES case open, I know you do for the SNES. I got mine from Lik-sang, but now they've gone bellow-up, I'm not sure where you'd get one from at a reasonable price.

[TheDeathcoaster]

Sounds like your power is buggered for sure.

The blinking LED and White screen are symptoms of the system having difficulty reading a cartridge, but the system cutting out would be a power issue.

To fix? Well, that could be a number of things. I had a similar issue with one of my NES systems, and it turned out the power supply had a damaged connection in the cable, so if it was sitting certain ways, the system got no power.

Equally, it could be a damaged connection inside the system, which would involve opening up and poking around with a multimeter.

[TheDeathcoaster]

Might be an idea just to open it up and have a look to see if there's anything obviously come loose. I think you'll need a special 'gamebit' screwdriver to get the NES case open, I know you do for the SNES. I got mine from Lik-sang, but now they've gone bellow-up, I'm not sure where you'd get one from at a reasonable price.

The NES has phillips screw heads :)

[Phinn]

The NES has phillips screw heads :)

How handy :nod:

[the dude]

ok guys, thank you so far. :)

i'll open it up and let a friend of mine, who is special kind of electrician, see if he can find out anything.

[Calpis]

You don't have a power problem at all, you simply must clean the cartridge connector. The reason behind the blinking is because the security IC can't communicate with the cartridge.

[Mark30001]

You don't have a power problem at all, you simply must clean the cartridge connector. The reason behind the blinking is because the security IC can't communicate with the cartridge.

I agree; that's the same problem I used to have on my dirtier NES systems. You might also want to check eBay for a new NES 72-Pin connector, although I am not sure how good they are.

[sabre470]

I agree; that's the same problem I used to have on my dirtier NES systems. You might also want to check eBay for a new NES 72-Pin connector, although I am not sure how good they are.

Same here, new connector solved all my NES problems, it's cheap, easy to use and easy to find on ebay.

Sabre

[the dude]

fine...so how to clean the catridge connector the best way, any tips? :)

and thanks for your support.

edit: ah, and i'll look for such a connector as well...thanks.

[MottZilla]

Another thing you could try though it wouldn't nessisarily get your games to run (though it would stop the blinking) is to cut the right pin on the console's lockout chip to get them both in key mode. Look up any NES lockout chip disabling guide. Also afterwards some NTSC cartridges will would on that PAL system, though not all will work properly due to NTSC/PAL timing differences.

But you games still might not run because important pins (non-lockout chip pins) could not be making good contact. Replacing the connector is always a good idea and is easy to do. Also make sure all your cartridges are clean before using them.

[z_killemall]

I used to have that problem on my NES, the only thing i did was cleaning the contacts with a piece of cotton and alcohol and waited until it dried. That was 5 years ago and it's still working perfectly.

[Taucias]

hi there,

i purchased a cheap PAL NES 3 days ago...only thing that bothers me, it doesn't work properly. ;)

after putting the catridge in and pressing the power switch, the red led starts blinking and i'm seeing a white screen on my tv for about 2 seconds, right before the led goes out. then it's all starting over again.

however, i managed to get it working 2 times until now, by not pushing the ac adapter as far as it could be pushed into the NES. so my guess is that the power unit of the nes has a loose contact (tried it with more than 3 fine working ac adapters, so it must be the NES itself).

is there any chance to get this fixed? and if yes, how?


thank you very much in advance.

This is a common issue with the cartidge connector and I have had the same problem before. Possible solutions could be to clean the cartridge port contacts, bend them slightly outward towards each other with a screwdriver or tweasers (only very slightly and VERY carefully) e.g.:


IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII \/ Push pins towards other pins

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII /\ Push pins towards other pins

to improve the connection with the "game pak" and also not pushing the pak all the way in before you push it down into the locking position.

The symptons you describe are quite commonly connected to this issue rather than the AC power, so try it! Usually you will need to adjust the pins rather than just cleaning the connector.

[retro]

Yup, clean game carts with IsoPropyl Alcohol. Check contacts for corrosion. You can bend them slightly (remember there are two sets!), or just buy a replacement connector.

I think MCM used to sell them, I know they sold the gamebit bits as I got mine from them, but that's irrelevant, unless you're having difficulty cleaning a particularly corroded cart and need to open it! They are in the US, though, and when I ordered they required a US address.