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

gamer2 · Post by **gamer2** » Tue Apr 05, 2005 10:42 am

the famicom thing is great aint complaining

TheTooth · Post by **TheTooth** » Tue Apr 05, 2005 12:50 pm

I would suggest just refurbishing the existing connector. The metal prongs just got bend so they aren't making good contact with the connector anymore. Bend em back into place and you're good to go. Cheap, easy, and quicker than waiting for an ebay item to arrive.

goodie · Post by **goodie** » Tue Apr 05, 2005 11:25 pm

eviscerator wrote: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..

Actually, the ones sold on eBay are of higher quality than the original one. So it should last a lot longer. And I'm pretty sure the Europe NES used the same 72-pin connector.

TheTooth wrote:I would suggest just refurbishing the existing connector. The metal prongs just got bend so they aren't making good contact with the connector anymore. Bend em back into place and you're good to go. Cheap, easy, and quicker than waiting for an ebay item to arrive.

Actually, bending the prongs is not a good idea. It will make the pins on the cartridges wear out.

TheTooth · Post by **TheTooth** » Wed Apr 06, 2005 12:07 am

goodie wrote:Actually, bending the prongs is not a good idea. It will make the pins on the cartridges wear out.

How do they wear out? What exactly do you mean by that? Do you mean that by bending it so much the copper loses it's abilty to transfer energy? Or do you mean the pins will break? If you bend the pins with moderation they will not break (wear out).

Normally when someone has a "blinker," a nes that seems broken, it's because the pins being bent out of their normal place do to years of use. Bending them back with a small eyeglasses screwdriver or something makes the NES work like new.

Beleive me it works, have you ever heard of a "refurbished" connector? That's how they refurbish them. Good as new. Try it and see.

eviscerator · Post by **eviscerator** » Wed Apr 06, 2005 12:09 am

it's been a while since i looked inside my nes, but i think i remember its metal prongs being cobber colored. Problem is, they look worn and underneath there's a silvery color. This might suggest it being worn. If the silvery colored metal is some regular metal, that's probably why it won't work properly. Cobber leads electricity much better than any silver colored metal i know of (afaik cobber and gold lead electricity the best)..

TheTooth · Post by **TheTooth** » Wed Apr 06, 2005 12:21 am

the bottom pins on my connector are "a silver metal" too, don't worry about it. The problem is that they're not making contact with the cart. I was flipping through ben's book and he tells you how to bend the pins back into place. Buy the book and it will help you with making this NES cart work and much more.

All metals contduct energy very well, copper is just one of the best. Gold works better than copper. You can conect two points with a pair of twezzers and it electricity will flow through them. It's just plain old chemistry and a little physics. The chemistry I know, the physics not so much.

If you're not sure about bending the pins then buy ben's book and it'll guide you through it.

goodie · Post by **goodie** » Wed Apr 06, 2005 2:17 pm

http://www.classicgaming.com/nestable wrote:What a lot of people donâ€™t realize is that sometimes it is not the NES, but the cartridge that is worn out. Look here of an example What you will notice is that the pinball cartridgeâ€™s pins are very worn out, this is because of the side-loading NES design. The pins on the back of the cartridge wear out in the hinging slot. You would be safer using a top-loading NES if you want to preserve your games. What ever you do -- DO NOT -- do this , it will only wear you cartridges faster!

eviscerator · Post by **eviscerator** » Thu Apr 07, 2005 12:12 am

I'm pretty sure it's not the cartridges. I (only) have about 13, and they all stopped working at the same time. Another thing is the pins go all the way out, like on the right pictures in the first link. In addition, i have to do the same thing with every game for it to work (that is, press it so it's so close to the lower left corner as possible)...

nos_slived · Post by **nos_slived** » Thu Apr 07, 2005 12:15 am

Have you tried cleaning the cart slot?

eviscerator · Post by **eviscerator** » Thu Apr 07, 2005 12:26 am

yeah, i have...not very thoroughly though. I should try and disassemble my nes and then take out the slot and do it properly..

Post by **bicostp** » Thu Apr 07, 2005 6:03 am

I understand how the pins would get bent back after 20 years of use, but if you just bent them back a little bit, wouldn't that bring them back to where they were out of the factory?

TheTooth · Post by **TheTooth** » Thu Apr 07, 2005 1:27 pm

bicostp wrote:I understand how the pins would get bent back after 20 years of use, but if you just bent them back a little bit, wouldn't that bring them back to where they were out of the factory?

That's all I was saying. That's how they "wear out" they get bent out of where they should be. I suggest looking at pages 118 - 119 of "Hacking Video Game Consoles" Written by Benjamin Heckendorn if anyone has any disputes with bending the cartridge pins back. This is the forum on HIS site after all, so wouldn't he be the expert?