Greetings / should i slice 'n' dice my NES ?

[eviscerator]

First of all: hello there, i'm new. Second:

I have a question about my NES. I bought a NES from a guy I know, about a year ago. This is, of course, a great thing but I'm having problems. When I insert a cartridge I have to spend a long time getting my NES to work. All it does is come up with a purple screen. It also does this if i turn on the NES without inserting a game which suggest a bad connector. Actually, everything suggest a bad connector.

I've found out there was this Nes Top Loader (an official product) which had the games inserted like the SNES. Therefore I thought that the solution might be to make my own standard NES a top loader.
I've been thinking about trying to bend my connector upwards somehow but I'm not sure I can since the metal legs that go from the connector to the board a thick and i wouldn't be able to just solder them if they broke.

Does anyone have any ideas or wisdom to share ?

(ps: I've killed one of the buses on the mainboard that connects to the Lockout chip. Also note that I live in Europe so it's a european NES.)

[jgibson]

First of all: hello there, i'm new. Second:

I have a question about my NES. I bought a NES from a guy I know, about a year ago. This is, of course, a great thing but I'm having problems. When I insert a cartridge I have to spend a long time getting my NES to work. All it does is come up with a purple screen. It also does this if i turn on the NES without inserting a game which suggest a bad connector. Actually, everything suggest a bad connector.

I've found out there was this Nes Top Loader (an official product) which had the games inserted like the SNES. Therefore I thought that the solution might be to make my own standard NES a top loader.
I've been thinking about trying to bend my connector upwards somehow but I'm not sure I can since the metal legs that go from the connector to the board a thick and i wouldn't be able to just solder them if they broke.

Does anyone have any ideas or wisdom to share ?

(ps: I've killed one of the buses on the mainboard that connects to the Lockout chip. Also note that I live in Europe so it's a european NES.)

If you have an older system that is not a top loader, I would suggest either buying a top loader, or replacing the exixting cartridge connector. My experience with the older non-toploading systems is that the connector is very picky on which position it will work in. Bending the connector probably is not the answer because the thing that you push down to "click" the cart into place after loading positions the connector correctly so that it can load the game. Someone may know more about these systems than me, but from what I have experienced, this is true. You might be able to buy a connector for a top loader an mod your old system though. Look on eBay.

[Lucretius]

If it's not broke, don't fix it....

But yours is broken, so what the hell, have at it!

[eviscerator]

well, I've been wanting to buy a top loader for a long time, but I don't think they were sold here in Europe so buying is also a matter of making a transformer for electricity n stuff. Another factor is that they're practically impossible to find, I think.

About modding my own Nes; i don't think the click mechanism is a matter. It seems to me (after trying loads of stuff on it) that it reacts the same whether the cartidge is down or up, so a top loading should work in theory...

[jgibson]

Have you thought about getting a famiclone? I just got mine this weekend, and I tell ya, it is AWESOME!. No flicker whatsoever, and to beat it all, it is a top loader, it uses all of your existing NES accessories and controllers, and it is tiny in comparison to the NES. I plan on getting another one soon and making a portable out of it. Check it out http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... eName=WDVW.

[gamer2]

Have you thought about getting a famiclone? I just got mine this weekend, and I tell ya, it is AWESOME!. No flicker whatsoever, and to beat it all, it is a top loader, it uses all of your existing NES accessories and controllers, and it is tiny in comparison to the NES. I plan on getting another one soon and making a portable out of it. Check it out http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... eName=WDVW.

i agree i have a couple one riper apart and connected to a NES controller and one connected to the tv with out any mods

[eviscerator]

hmm, looks good and cheap, only problem is it's NTSC, I use Pal .. should be quite possible to make it Pal compatible though. I remember seeing sites that showed you how to mod a NTSC original Nes to switch between pal and ntsc by the flick of a button.. i'm too lazy right now though...

[goodie]

Just open up your NES, remove the cartridge connector, and replace it with one of these. Your NES will then work like its brand new.

[eviscerator]

oh ok...i'll have to get a bunch then, I remember a Nes i had as a kid that only lasted 2 years. I used a game genie back then though (i swear to not cheating now). Also, i'll have to get european versions as i dont think we use 72 pins over here..

[nos_slived]

Here, ready-to-go PAL model top-loader. Currently $5 w/ no bids. Shipping costs to Europe are $47.00 AUD(+$7.50 optional insurance), you figure out the cost for your self.

[eviscerator]

hey thanks....damn, it's not exactly a pretty console...the old one was prettyer... oh well

[nos_slived]

TL is ugly compared to FL. Shipping is expensive.

[eviscerator]

Yeah...of all the things i've ordered from abroad (mostly Nes games), i've never ordered something that big. I guess i could check some australian post offices' prices...

[bicostp]

A lot can happen in 5 days...

[Alchemist]

Yeah, it'll probably go up quite a bit. Also the Top loader has the worst video out of all the NES/Famicom models: it's RF only, and has ghosting problems with vertical lines. You'd be better off with a famiclone + 72-60 pin converter.