This has probably been gone over many times, and I've found some inconclusive threads on it. But, I figured I'd bring it up again and see what's currently available.
As we all know, the cartridge connector in the NES sucks. The thing is really sensitive to dirt and dust, the pins tend to fatigue, and it seems like the plating on the original connectors wears off. There are a lot of hacks I've seen, such as flipping the connector around, soldering a Game Genie connector in, and all that - and then the alternatives of a toploader or one of those *gag* clones. But that's not what I'm asking about here.
What I am curious to know is : of the currently available replacement connectors for the NES, are any of them of superior quality? I recently bought some on eBay and fitted them into a couple machines. They worked perfectly, and continue to work, but they seem to wear out quickly. One in my 'daily use' NES has only lasted a month. I now frequently have to wiggle cartridges to get it to play - I tend to get green screens and garbled graphics though, not the blinking of a lockout chip problem. And yes, I do thoroughly clean cartridges before playing them the first time, and I don't use the Game Genie.
I've yet to see gold-plated versions, you'd think that this would be available. And the replacements don't seem to be made any better - just tighter.
And, further investigating the problem, what is the best way to clean cartridge edge fingers? I've been taking the carts apart, and carefully cleaning the fingers with isopropyl alcohol on a q-tip. This gets them clean, but on many carts, the fingers appear worn or scratched, and some of the black marks just won't come off - perhaps this is dirt embedded in the scratches? Using an abrasive to clean them would probably clean it off, but it would also leave the plating that much thinner. The gold plating is the only thing keeping those fingers from corroding.
And to further complicate things, some cartridge circuit boards seem to be thicker than others! I've got one copy of Super Mario Bros/Duck Hunt that always works - and looking at it in comparison to, say, Contra, the circuit board looks to be thicker - and it also feels tighter when inserting. I don't have a micrometer to measure it, but I would say with certainty that it is thicker.
Anyone have any ideas? Anyone have a good source of better NES connectors? Do there exist gold plated replacements?
-Ian
Well, all I can say is that the connector suck and it's really a pain to have to deal with that.
I also have a SMB/Tetris/Nintendo World cup which always works, the boards that have epoxy blobs in them are probably slightly thickier than all ther other for some reason. Aside of that I guess none of my games "always works", in fact most never works before the 10th try even tough I've modified the connector so that the pins grip the game more.
I don't have any problems if I clean the game cartridges. Curious, do you ever leave games inserted in the system when not in use? I kind of think that doing so is part of the problem people have. They'll finish playing and leave the game in the system.
By the way, do you mean the cartridge contacts are scratched? Because yes that is pretty normal. I'm pretty sure alot of my catridges have those line type scratches/indents on them.
MottZilla wrote:
Curious, do you ever leave games inserted in the system when not in use? I kind of think that doing so is part of the problem people have.
The Nintendo DS manual actually recommends leaving a DS game in SLOT-1 and a GBA game in SLOT-2.
From my experience, dirt has very little to do with it. It's the complete looseness of the connector, and I'm pretty sure it gets worse over time. If I look at my GB games and my SNES games, they would work any time I put my game in the system. They seem to be as dirty as my NES games. Though dirt doesn't help, so it's good to keep them clean anyways.
I did purchase a pin connector off of eBay. I don't remember which kind it was, but I'm pretty sure it was sold a lot for about $10. When I bought it, it worked great. Then after playing like 6 games, it started to loosen up. It still worked better than my original connector, but I figure the original connector was designed with more durability.
I'm sure some are better than others, perhaps more expensive ones. I know it's not what you're asking, but it's why I highly recommend the flip-upside-down trick. The tight end seems to be an appropriate tightness for NES game boards, while the loose end seems to be an appropriate tightness for the thick NES motherboard.
The bottom up thing doesn't work. The only NES I've tried it doesn't work at all now so I don't really know, but you have to saw down the connector and keep your NES taken apart constantly which is not good as not only this is ugly but it will get a lot of dust in it.
As Celius said, the problems you can have running games on a NES probably have little to do with dirt, dust or whathever. Most of my games are prefectly clean (you can see the pics in bootgod's database if you don't trust me), yet refuse to run until the 16th try whathever I try. Altough I remember purchasing at least 2 times an used game that were really dirty, and after plugging them in the system graphic glitches appeared on *all* games (probably a CHR-Dx line was always disconnected from the cartridge), and I had to clean the connector inside the NES very seriously to fix that. I think it's annoying people sell dirty games, just like when you buy a used CD that is very scratched.
I have sometimes seen GB games that doesn't boot, and you see glitches on the "Nintendo" logo when it boots, then it freeues. This happen quite rarely tough. I don't remember having any problem with other Nintendo systems.
I never let my home console system turned off with a game system, but I never les my handled systems without a game in them. Probably because home in the console systems the connector is inside the case and will not get dust, but for handleds the connecor is direcly available so it is important that it does not get any dust.
The bottom up thing does work if you do it correctly. You have to first of all, have a connector that's not shot to hell or missing pins. Then your NES motherboard has to have all of it's pins (edge fingers?) in decent shape. Then you have to make sure you saw or file all the way down where you stick the game in. Otherwise some games will not make good enough contact. If you place a game in without it's case, it will make perfect contact and pretty much be guaranteed to work.
And yes, you have to leave your NES mostly taken apart, but I leave the plastic cover on mine, I just got rid of the dust shields and pushy thing (which I hear people don't like, because it's nostalgic, I think). If one looks at my NES from the outside, there's nothing odd looking about it. That's because the plastic cover is still on, just without the screws, which protects from dust a lot better than leaving it off.
Oh, and when I bought my second NES, someone had sold it to FuncoLand or something with a bunch of COTTON shoved inside the connector! I had to pull it out, and it was so loose from that point on...
I leave games inside of my NES. Especially when they're RPGs that I'm going through. This is so I can turn the system on without risking some huge glitch happening where my saves get erased. When I leave them in their exact position they were at when they were working, it's likely they will still work when I turn the system on again.
Well my thought was, just like a spring, if you leave it compressed all the time, it will weaken the spring potential I think.
Celius wrote:
The bottom up thing does work if you do it correctly. You have to first of all, have a connector that's not shot to hell or missing pins. Then your NES motherboard has to have all of it's pins (edge fingers?) in decent shape. Then you have to make sure you saw or file all the way down where you stick the game in. Otherwise some games will not make good enough contact. If you place a game in without it's case, it will make perfect contact and pretty much be guaranteed to work.
Honneslty if you have to keep your NES taken apart *and* your games taken apart too, then it should really be quite annoying to deal with. Eventually everything will take a lot of dust and won't work.
Altough currently I have my NES taken apart because it's needed for my SX-FLash PCB which is way too thick to be inserted normally. Also I'm afraid using it will ruin my connector and I'd be unable to play any other games.
Quote:
I leave games inside of my NES. Especially when they're RPGs that I'm going through. This is so I can turn the system on without risking some huge glitch happening where my saves get erased. When I leave them in their exact position they were at when they were working, it's likely they will still work when I turn the system on again.
Wow, this is clever ! I never trough about that. But if you're playing a long RPG and wants suddently to play Mario or Mega Man you're quite forced to remove it or to play the games emulated.
And yes, if there is always a game insterted in the connector it's quite possible that its spring effects wear off over time. In fact I wonder how different games and the conosle looked when they were brand new, something I've never seen.
Well I've modded my connector so I don't have to take games apart to play them. I meant to say if you do nothing but flip the connector over with no modification, you can take your games apart and play them 100% perfectly, if you want to see that the modification -should- work.
And if stuff collects dust, just wipe it off. Though honestly my stuff doesn't collect lots of dust because even though it's apart, I put a cover over it.
And you're right, if you want to play another game, you'll have to take the game that's in there out. And I suppose the springs lose their quality after awhile if you leave it like that, but I guess I don't have to worry about this with my mod. I just say leave the game in there in case you want to play it again.
It's true that my modification is slightly inconvenient, though. For this reason I've been wanting to perhaps make another connector that relies on tension instead of the stupid spring thing. But I think this might be pretty hard to do, and easy to screw up.
Regarding leaving games in the system - I generally try to never leave games in the NES when I'm not using it. The NES connector relies solely on spring tension, so leaving the cart in the connector can't be good for it in the long run. Other machines, I don't worry about. The industry standard board mount card edge connectors are a very robust, proven design. You don't worry about the cards in your PC damaging the slots - because it just isn't an issue. I've got plenty of old computers, for example, the Apple II, where the disk controller has been in the same slot for 20 years. That slot still works just perfectly, as do all the others.
For portable machines, I can definitely see it being a good idea to leave a cart plugged in. Especially since the Gameboy uses single sided contacts. The cart will keep dust and pocket lint out of the connector.
The NES is just much more sensitive to wear and dirt - and it needs to be properly maintained. I'm amazed at just how filthy some used carts I get are. I take them apart and scrub them clean, and it's frightning just how much black crud you can clean off the contacts.
But, I'm still looking for a gold-plated or higher quality replacement conncctor for the original NES. I have heard mention of them, but I've never seen them for sale. Has anyone bought replacement connectors lately? How have they worked for you?
-Ian
My upside-down connector has worked perfectly for over a decade.
-Rob
rbudrick wrote:
My upside-down connector has worked perfectly for over a decade.
-Rob
Ah! Isn't it just wonderful? I didn't think I was the first to come up with this idea; it was just too good. Just kidding... Well... Sorta.
rbudrick wrote:
My upside-down connector has worked perfectly for over a decade.
-Rob
How do you do that?
http://nesdev.com/bbs/viewtopi ... 27&start=0
The first page doesn't talk about it much, but the second page has the info about flipping it upside down. Lots of people for some reason couldn't get this to work, but really, if you do it right it works perfectly. And in doing the mod all you're doing is sawing/filing down plastic, so nothing should be at risk for getting ruined.
~J-@D!~ wrote:
rbudrick wrote:
My upside-down connector has worked perfectly for over a decade.
-Rob
How do you do that?
You cut off the excess plastic and flip it around. The problem after this is that you have no screw holes any more to tie it down, but it's not really a big deal because you will notice there are two screw posts just behind the connector where the bottom metal shield comes out a bit. This is the perfect spot to put two screws sticking out halfway to prevent the connector from sliding off toward the back when you insert a cart. I leave my top RF shield off, BTW, though I don't think this even matters...I think you can put it back on after the mod if you really wanted to. Anyway, since when the connector is right-side up you must push the cart down to make contact, the top pins are springy. You will notice this springyness makes it stubborn to stay on when the connector is upside down. My solution to this was to simply put two pennies (one each to the left and right) halfway underneath the back of connector to prop it up a bit (you wedge the halfway underneath the back and resting on the little piece of shield that sticks out next to the screws/screwholes...it's a lot more obvious when you see it. I'll get a pic if anybody reeeeally wants me to). It's worked perfectly for a long time this way. Carts rarely need to be inserted more than twice. And yes, I did the pin 4 mod, so I'm sure that helps too, but whatever.
-Rob
Mine works just fine on my non-CIC disabled NES.
The main advantage you have is that the NES motherboard is really thick compared to NES game boards, so the loose part of the connector doesn't have much trouble making contact with the motherboard. And like rbudrick said, it's really reliable and you can basically insert a game once and it'll work.
I'll have to try this too. My lab here is like an NES dead-zone, 3 CopyNES units spanning both generations (building one for a friend), 1 new and maybe 4 old connectors, and none of them work worth a crap. The new connector worked great at first. Only my toploader works, and it's seen a lot of abuse.
So far, I've actually had pretty good luck with the replacement cartridge connectors I got on eBay - it just tends to get dirty easily. I came up with a simpler cleaning method though...
The official NES cleaning kit is this "cart" with a handle, and a funny cardboard thing inside, instead of a circuit board. It sorta works, but not as well as I'd like, and once the cardboard gets dirty, then you're kinda stuck.
So, I took a junk cartridge board, and stuck a standard white paper mailing label over the fingers. It's just almost long enough to cover them all, and it's wide enough to fold it around the edge of the board and back over to cover the fingers on both sides.
With this clean white paper stuck over the contacts, I put the board back into a cart case, and stuck it into the NES and pulled it out. I only did it once, but it did get off some dirt from a couple pins. I did not try clicking the cart down.
The NES has worked perfectly ever since.
Peel the label off the fingers of your junk board and throw it away - use a new label the next time, and try not to leave it on there too long, or it'll be a pain to get off. And don't put more than one label on, one thickness is about perfect to clean the contacts. I didn't add any solvent, the slight roughness of the paper is all you need.
The key with these replacement connectors is CLEAN YOUR GAMES, AND CLEAN THEM GOOD! One dirty game can leave enough crud on the connector in the console to cause failures. In my case, I had a game I cleaned only quickly, and that gunked it up.
You really need game bits. Take all newly acquired games apart and scrub the edge connector clean with alcohol on a Q-tip. It's amazing how gunky these games get, and it's amazing how much scrubbing it can take to get it clean. No matter how hard you scrub, if you are using a q-tip and alcohol, you won't hurt the contacts. But don't EVER use any kind of abrasives to clean the cartridge contacts! NEVER! I have heard of people trying to use abrasive cleaners to clean them and this IS A BAD THING.
I tried it on another junk board - a glop top Mario/Duck Hunt that I had raided for the casing. I used Brasso (a brass polish), and put a tiny bit on a q-tip and scrubbed the contacts. The q-tip came out VERY black. It took several clean q-tips to finish cleaning up the Brasso, and each one came out black. But the contacts looked... odd. They were very, very shiny, but they weren't gold anymore. I had only done about half on one side, so I could compare. The tiny drop Brasso has completely removed the gold plating from the contacts! The black gunk I was seeing on the q-tip was the plating getting scrubbed off. The nickel plating underneath is what I was seeing shiny! Around the edges of a couple, the bare copper was starting to show through. So, yeah, squeaky clean yes - good, no. These contacts were completely DESTROYED by just a tiny amount of Brasso. I'm sure this cart would work for at least a bit, but as soon as the naked contacts start to oxidize, it's going to stop working - and it's going to leave oxide deposits on the contacts in the Nintendo. And then that's going to stop working.
Bottom line. DON'T clean carts with anything abrasive!
-Ian
My favorite method for cleaning the edge connector is to find a bowl with a flat bottom...maybe one that margarine comes in or something (cleaned out thoroughly, of course). Then, fill the bowl with a bout 3/8 of an inch of rubbing alcohol. Using a soft-bristled toothbrush, place the dirty edge connector in the bowl and scrub away all the grime. Let it dry thoroughly and you should be golden.
-Rob
I do have here a very funny method to clean those game connectors: take a little bit of vinegar and put salt in it until it begins to saturate. Then use a Q-Tip and you'll notice that it will clean out quite fast these connectors. BTW you can use that solution for pennies as well
I remember doing something in Chemistry where I had to line a bowl with tin foil, and pour boiling baking soda water in it. If you drop a silver coin in it, a chemical reaction similar to what happens in a battery occurs, and all of the crud on the coin will be removed, adhering to the tin foil. But I don't know if you'd want to put your NES games in boiling baking soda water
. And I don't know how much this would work with NES contacts (it's probably to clean silver only).
Coin collectors will often say this cleaning method, while effective to a point, is actually bad for the coins. Not totally sure why, just what I've heard.
-Rob
RetroHacker wrote:
So far, I've actually had pretty good luck with the replacement cartridge connectors I got on eBay - it just tends to get dirty easily. I came up with a simpler cleaning method though...
The official NES cleaning kit is this "cart" with a handle, and a funny cardboard thing inside, instead of a circuit board. It sorta works, but not as well as I'd like, and once the cardboard gets dirty, then you're kinda stuck.
So, I took a junk cartridge board, and stuck a standard white paper mailing label over the fingers. It's just almost long enough to cover them all, and it's wide enough to fold it around the edge of the board and back over to cover the fingers on both sides.
With this clean white paper stuck over the contacts, I put the board back into a cart case, and stuck it into the NES and pulled it out. I only did it once, but it did get off some dirt from a couple pins. I did not try clicking the cart down.
The NES has worked perfectly ever since.
Peel the label off the fingers of your junk board and throw it away - use a new label the next time, and try not to leave it on there too long, or it'll be a pain to get off. And don't put more than one label on, one thickness is about perfect to clean the contacts. I didn't add any solvent, the slight roughness of the paper is all you need.
The key with these replacement connectors is CLEAN YOUR GAMES, AND CLEAN THEM GOOD! One dirty game can leave enough crud on the connector in the console to cause failures. In my case, I had a game I cleaned only quickly, and that gunked it up.
You really need game bits. Take all newly acquired games apart and scrub the edge connector clean with alcohol on a Q-tip. It's amazing how gunky these games get, and it's amazing how much scrubbing it can take to get it clean. No matter how hard you scrub, if you are using a q-tip and alcohol, you won't hurt the contacts. But don't EVER use any kind of abrasives to clean the cartridge contacts! NEVER! I have heard of people trying to use abrasive cleaners to clean them and this IS A BAD THING.
I tried it on another junk board - a glop top Mario/Duck Hunt that I had raided for the casing. I used Brasso (a brass polish), and put a tiny bit on a q-tip and scrubbed the contacts. The q-tip came out VERY black. It took several clean q-tips to finish cleaning up the Brasso, and each one came out black. But the contacts looked... odd. They were very, very shiny, but they weren't gold anymore. I had only done about half on one side, so I could compare. The tiny drop Brasso has completely removed the gold plating from the contacts! The black gunk I was seeing on the q-tip was the plating getting scrubbed off. The nickel plating underneath is what I was seeing shiny! Around the edges of a couple, the bare copper was starting to show through. So, yeah, squeaky clean yes - good, no. These contacts were completely DESTROYED by just a tiny amount of Brasso. I'm sure this cart would work for at least a bit, but as soon as the naked contacts start to oxidize, it's going to stop working - and it's going to leave oxide deposits on the contacts in the Nintendo. And then that's going to stop working.
Bottom line. DON'T clean carts with anything abrasive!
-Ian
Yikes! That's probably why my R.C. Pro Am cart isn't working anymore then. I've cleaned it to the point of being shiny and non gold colored as you've said. Ok, I ruined an R.C. Pro Am cart...oh well. haha
I've been able to use the brasso / rubbing alcohol technique on the rest of my games with no problems, and it didn't rub off the gold color. The reason is I realized that brasso ALWAYS TURNS BLACK no matter what you rub it on! I used to think, as most people do, that it means more and more and more dirt was coming off, but no, its just the brasso itself turning black.
However, after reading this post I think I will cease using brasso and use only the milder rubbing alcohol solution. This makes me wonder what the white paste is that nintendorepairshop sells....maybe diluted brasso?
Weirdly enough, the replacement cart connector I got only works 100% if you don't push the cartridge down. I don't get it either.