NES acting up =/

CCCP^

Hey, my NES is starting to act up on me. Up until recently it was still playing with a fairly high success rate. Just tried playing some new games and it seems to have a hard time reading the cartridges. I either get a grey/white screen flashing screen with the power button blinking on and off, or I get the main menu of the game but it's also flashing and no good.

I know it's almost 20 years or more old but it was doing well until recently. I tried cleaning the games, using a cotton bud at first, and then applying an alcohol swab to the bud and cleaning the cartridges. At first that seemed to improve but then everything went wrong again. Does anybody know anything to get it going again?

Dr Bob

Possibly it might just be a bit of dust , and using an air duster inside the NES might help.
Failing that a replaceing teh 72 pin connector will probably fix it
http://www.jandar.net/nes72pin/
Usually you can get them off ebay for a couple of quid , and its pretty easy to do.(I had to replace mine a few years ago)

CiDeRmAn

Did that to mine, brother fitted new connector, bugger still won't work, that blasted falshing grey screen and the blinking red light, ahhhhh!!!!!!

No more Wild Gunman or Kirby for me!

The trouble is the crap design of the NES, in trying to make it like a VCR for the US market they created a design flaw where the pressure on the connectors makes them bend and not make proper contact, hence the flashin screen and light on my feckin' NES!

CCCP^

Is there any kind of adapter to play NES games on the SNES? I think I read somewhere that the NES came in two different types, a top-loader and bottom-loader [VCR type]. If I could I'll just try get the other type because those machines will always be problematic. Thanks for the link Luas!

o1s1n

CCCP^ wrote: »

Is there any kind of adapter to play NES games on the SNES? I think I read somewhere that the NES came in two different types, a top-loader and bottom-loader [VCR type]. If I could I'll just try get the other type because those machines will always be problematic. Thanks for the link Luas!

No snes adapter but there's a top loader alright. Wouldn't mind one myself. You won't find it in Ireland but it should be easy enough to get online.

CCCP^

I'm abroad right now and can get pretty much anything. I really liked the NES I had, it even had it's original box. I saw there's an FC twin system, I'd like to get my hands on one of those, pretty cool.

tk123

CCCP^ wrote: »

Is there any kind of adapter to play NES games on the SNES? I think I read somewhere that the NES came in two different types, a top-loader and bottom-loader [VCR type]. If I could I'll just try get the other type because those machines will always be problematic. Thanks for the link Luas!

I take it you tried the old blow on the cartridge trick:D Anyhoos they had a top-loader one that was the Famicom - I knew somebody who had one with loads of games built in - this was in the NES days so it was high-tech

Rhyme

Have been getting that (and similar) from my NES for years with no success with any cleaning method.

The only way i can get it to work is by pressing the reset button repeatedly for a few seconds then letting it load, rinse and repeat until it works.

zilog_jones

The pins on the slot get bent in and get quite dirty/corroded from my experience. The only way to get to them is by taking it apart - I did this with mine, used a lot of isopropyl alcohol and tried bending the pins back outward with limited success and only some functional improvement.

I hear leaving cartridges in the console while not in use is the major culprit of bending the pins in, though I dunno for sure.

Yes there is a top-loading NES, but it was only sold in North America so your PAL cartridges won't work in it. Famicoms use different cartridges, and there's no way of playing any NES games on them due to their added copy protection (Famicom games/systems have no copy protection, so FC games can be played on a NES with an adaptor).

SligoBrewer

I love my NES.

It's older than me by some considerable years! hehe

CCCP^

I think I'll just stop playing it for awhile and put it back in the box. It was fine when I had like 4 games, but I bought Castlevania II, Metal Gear and Robocop recently and the machine just about calved. I think Metal Gear was the culprit. The game cartridge seems to be thicker than the other ones.