Main Restorations Software Audio/Jukebox/MP3 Everything Else Buy/Sell/Trade
Project Announcements Monitor/Video GroovyMAME Merit/JVL Touchscreen Meet Up Retail Vendors
Driving & Racing Woodworking Software Support Forums Consoles Project Arcade Reviews
Automated Projects Artwork Frontend Support Forums Pinball Forum Discussion Old Boards
Raspberry Pi & Dev Board controls.dat Linux Miscellaneous Arcade Wiki Discussion Old Archives
Lightguns Arcade1Up Try the site in https mode Site News

Unread posts | New Replies | Recent posts | Rules | Chatroom | Wiki | File Repository | RSS | Submit news

  

Author Topic: my broken nes :(  (Read 3888 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

mo1e

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 284
  • Last login:May 28, 2013, 10:07:02 am
  • Do the happy dance
my broken nes :(
« on: August 21, 2012, 10:55:31 am »
Hello all i recently bought a nes console from ebay, its boxed and in excellent condition and it worked for 2 days. Then all of a sudden i get the blinking red light and flashing screen when i turn the console on. i have opened up the nes and cleaned the 72 pin connector and also bent the pins for a firmer connection. I closed her up but now it seems i have to hold the game cart down past the biting point for it to work and also the game starts in colour but then goes black and white after about 1 second.

Any help will be much appreciated.

EDIT: the nes works fine now even if i dont hold the  games down but the console still only displays in black and white?
« Last Edit: August 21, 2012, 11:03:00 am by mo1e »

ChadTower

  • Chief Kicker - Nobody's perfect, including me. Fantastic body.
  • Trade Count: (+12)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 38212
  • Last login:June 22, 2025, 04:57:38 pm
Re: my broken nes :(
« Reply #1 on: August 21, 2012, 11:42:10 am »


Blinking is a bad security chip on the motherboard.  A mod can be done to eliminate that.

Howard_Casto

  • Idiot Police
  • Trade Count: (+1)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 19427
  • Last login:Today at 12:58:28 pm
  • Your Post's Soul is MINE!!! .......Again??
    • The Dragon King
Re: my broken nes :(
« Reply #2 on: September 01, 2012, 05:05:08 pm »
Not necessarily.  I've seen that happen just from a poorly aligned connector/cart.  Basically the pins that go to the chip aren't lined up or are getting a poor connection. 

There should be some "wiggle room" from left to right.  Slide the cart slightly to the left and try it.  If that doesn't work, reset and slide slightly to the right.  If you see an improvement, then it's the connector. 

knohbody

  • Trade Count: (+1)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 106
  • Last login:January 31, 2019, 11:49:53 pm
my broken nes :(
« Reply #3 on: September 01, 2012, 10:34:19 pm »
Hello all i recently bought a nes console from ebay, its boxed and in excellent condition and it worked for 2 days. Then all of a sudden i get the blinking red light and flashing screen when i turn the console on. i have opened up the nes and cleaned the 72 pin connector and also bent the pins for a firmer connection. I closed her up but now it seems i have to hold the game cart down past the biting point for it to work and also the game starts in colour but then goes black and white after about 1 second.

Any help will be much appreciated.

EDIT: the nes works fine now even if i dont hold the  games down but the console still only displays in black and white?

How do you have it hooked to the tv? RF switch? A/V cable? Try both to see if it's a problem with the cabling/connection, or with the NES itself.

ChadTower

  • Chief Kicker - Nobody's perfect, including me. Fantastic body.
  • Trade Count: (+12)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 38212
  • Last login:June 22, 2025, 04:57:38 pm
Re: my broken nes :(
« Reply #4 on: September 02, 2012, 10:45:49 am »
Not necessarily.  I've seen that happen just from a poorly aligned connector/cart.  Basically the pins that go to the chip aren't lined up or are getting a poor connection. 




That's not the nes10 blinking, then.  The blinking is a reset of the system by design.

Howard_Casto

  • Idiot Police
  • Trade Count: (+1)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 19427
  • Last login:Today at 12:58:28 pm
  • Your Post's Soul is MINE!!! .......Again??
    • The Dragon King
Re: my broken nes :(
« Reply #5 on: September 02, 2012, 01:02:56 pm »
I'm really not sure what you are referring to but poor connection to the chip behaves the same as a faulty chip.  I can pop a cart in my nes right now and if it's too far to the right when I hit the power, the nes will reset and the screen will flash.  That's because I put the connector slightly out of alignment. 

Seeing as how there is absolutely no way for the user to tell which it is, it only makes sense to check your connections first.

ChadTower

  • Chief Kicker - Nobody's perfect, including me. Fantastic body.
  • Trade Count: (+12)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 38212
  • Last login:June 22, 2025, 04:57:38 pm
Re: my broken nes :(
« Reply #6 on: September 03, 2012, 12:49:07 pm »



Now that I think about it this might vary by the tolerances on the connector.  I have done quite a lot of NES over the years.  Some new connector batches are definitely better than others.  I have seen some that work really well and others that barely improve a thing.  I could see some other batches having narrower pins and being easier to misalign.


I just did two last week that actually got worse with thew new connectors.  I tried every connector in the batch on both systems and both got worse until I put the OEM connectors back.  That's $50 down the drain (the whole bag of new connectors is crap).

marioxb

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 250
  • Last login:May 27, 2025, 11:07:43 am
  • I want to build my own arcade controls!
Re: my broken nes :(
« Reply #7 on: November 03, 2012, 12:43:41 pm »
Well it seems the OP didn't replace the 72 pin, just cleaned it. I was under the impression that cleaning was no good and replacement was the only way to go on these bad boys. I mean the connectors are only like 8 bucks I think, so why not?

Slippyblade

  • Trade Count: (+2)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 3167
  • Last login:June 05, 2024, 10:30:57 am
  • And to the death god we say, "Not today!"
Re: my broken nes :(
« Reply #8 on: November 03, 2012, 05:59:03 pm »
I've also had luck with the blinky reset problem by clipping the pin off the security chip, thereby bypassing the whole thing.

matsadona

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 760
  • Last login:October 28, 2023, 06:00:12 am
Re: my broken nes :(
« Reply #9 on: November 08, 2012, 08:21:16 am »
I replaced the connector and disabled the security chip, which turned the situation from 10% working games to 90%. It's a 10 minute fix doing both and can't find any reason not to (assuming you find a good quality connector).
Still some games refuse to boot, but I assume that is because of eroded/dirty/worn connectors at the cartridge.
Building, collecting and playing arcade machines :)

ChadTower

  • Chief Kicker - Nobody's perfect, including me. Fantastic body.
  • Trade Count: (+12)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 38212
  • Last login:June 22, 2025, 04:57:38 pm
Re: my broken nes :(
« Reply #10 on: November 08, 2012, 09:51:04 am »
I replaced the connector and disabled the security chip, which turned the situation from 10% working games to 90%.


Nice.  I would say 90% is about the best I ever got an NES as refurb.  Never did get one back to 100%.

I do wish I had splurged on a top loader years ago.  I was super stubborn about the toasters.

DLinkOZ

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 125
  • Last login:March 22, 2017, 08:12:46 am
    • The DaveCade
Re: my broken nes :(
« Reply #11 on: November 08, 2012, 10:52:20 am »
Hitting the carts with some alcohol on a q-tip cleared up those of mine that still refused to play after the aforementioned repairs.

rCadeGaming

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1256
  • Last login:April 13, 2025, 12:14:40 pm
  • Just call me Rob!
Re: my broken nes :(
« Reply #12 on: November 08, 2012, 05:49:21 pm »
The security chip can have just as big an effect as the pin connector.  I got my console back to about 100% start-up by replacing the connector and disconnecting the chip.

Get your games clean with alcohol and a q-tip, and never put a dirty game into the system. 

NEVER EVER blow on the cartridges either, it just causes corrosion from your spit.  The reason it makes the games work sometimes is mostly because you've taken the game out and reseated in the pin connector.  If you think it's dusty, get a q-tip.

matsadona

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 760
  • Last login:October 28, 2023, 06:00:12 am
Re: my broken nes :(
« Reply #13 on: November 08, 2012, 05:53:52 pm »
What is this q-tip you are talking about? We probably have something similar over here but with another name...
Building, collecting and playing arcade machines :)

DLinkOZ

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 125
  • Last login:March 22, 2017, 08:12:46 am
    • The DaveCade
Re: my broken nes :(
« Reply #14 on: November 08, 2012, 05:55:12 pm »
Brand name for a cotton swab.

rCadeGaming

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1256
  • Last login:April 13, 2025, 12:14:40 pm
  • Just call me Rob!
Re: my broken nes :(
« Reply #15 on: November 08, 2012, 05:57:10 pm »
Yup.  Oh, and the higher the concentration of alcohol, the better it will evaporate without leaving anything behind.

dextercf

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 432
  • Last login:October 05, 2024, 06:30:51 pm
  • [thisispersonal]
my broken nes :(
« Reply #16 on: November 08, 2012, 05:59:30 pm »
Misalignment and security chip triggering is the same thing guys.
When cart is not aligned perfect, the nes10 goes off cos not verifying cart as authentic..

ChadTower

  • Chief Kicker - Nobody's perfect, including me. Fantastic body.
  • Trade Count: (+12)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 38212
  • Last login:June 22, 2025, 04:57:38 pm
Re: my broken nes :(
« Reply #17 on: November 08, 2012, 06:46:53 pm »
Misalignment and security chip triggering is the same thing guys.
When cart is not aligned perfect, the nes10 goes off cos not verifying cart as authentic..


IF the nes10 is perfectly functional.  Few of them are anymore.  They are varying degrees of crappy now and have been getting worse for the last ten years.  Take a crappy nes10 on the motherboard, and a crappy nes10 on the cartridge, and your odds of getting both to work on the same try are pretty bad.