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Thread: DP MYTHBUSTERS : Blowing in NES Cartridges

  1. #141
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    yeah, it is a dumb nomenclature. I have to imagine people started calling them toasters before the top-loader came out? Anyway, the grey box is called a toaster because you have to push the cart down with much the same action and feel as pushing the lever on a bread toaster. Or at least that's what I've always thought, and have read from others as well.

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    drowning in medals Ed Oscuro's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Frankie_Says_Relax View Post
    They're all yours man. PM me your details and I'll ship them out for testing when it's over.
    Alright then, I'll pay ya for shipping back, or however you want to do that...

    ALSO:

    Sorry everybody, I meant Toaster = first NES. I don't know what I was thinking there.

    Lol, my precise argument led to rather off-topic discussion because of a mistake...my bad.

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    Correct ;p the first one is a toaster ;p turn it on its side and it looks and acts just like one ;p the model 2 is the toploader

    toaster
    top loader

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    ServBot (Level 11) Rob2600's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by dao2 View Post
    the first one is a toaster ;p turn it on its side and it looks and acts just like one ;p the model 2 is the toploader
    Every toaster I've ever seen has slots on the top, not on the front. I'm just saying.

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    drowning in medals Ed Oscuro's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rob2600 View Post
    Every toaster I've ever seen has slots on the top, not on the front. I'm just saying.
    I've seen plenty of toasters with the reverse DeLorean style doors on the sides. Them's old-school toasters.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Ed Oscuro View Post
    I've seen plenty of toasters with the reverse DeLorean style doors on the sides. Them's old-school toasters.
    That's cool! It looks nothing like an NES though (front-loader or top-loader).

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    I just breathe on them, not blow. Only moisture from the lungs gets on the contacts, not spittle, etc.
    If it gets corroded, I take out the contact cleaner and go to town.

  8. #148
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    Sorry for the delay in getting Week 2 results pictures up.

    The first year of Windows Vista live updates all the way through SP1 had finally caught up with my PC and caused (I think) what I'm beginning to call "update minor-conflict pileup", after running live updates on the past 3 standard Windows OS'es, it always seems to happen a year or so in, and I gather it's a cascading effect from one or two updates that don't jive ... in any case it caused some type of fatal error requiring me to do a format and clean install.

    Everything looks okay now, so I should have my scanner back up and running for more pictures tonight.
    "And the book says: 'We may be through with the past, but the past ain't through with us.'"


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    Updated with week 2 results (sorry for the lateness, the computer re-format aside - it's been a hectic couple of weeks getting settled into my new administrative job and doing some awesome improvements to the already awesome apartment with my always awesome now live-in girlfriend).
    Last edited by Frankie_Says_Relax; 06-18-2008 at 06:06 PM.
    "And the book says: 'We may be through with the past, but the past ain't through with us.'"


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    Quote Originally Posted by Rob2600 View Post
    Every toaster I've ever seen has slots on the top, not on the front. I'm just saying.
    the action I mean.... if you put it on it's side...

    edit: and wow just checked the results, those things def look dirty as hell
    Last edited by dao2; 06-18-2008 at 06:17 PM.

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    Sorry about dragging my feet on weekly results.

    While I have been performing the blowing on a daily basis, I haven't had time to really sit and get the chips on the scanner. (See my various above excuses, and add producing a new commercial for this weekend's Starcade to the mix.)

    Rest assured, the results are interesting from what I can see, and I will post them when I find a moment of free time.
    "And the book says: 'We may be through with the past, but the past ain't through with us.'"


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    Quote Originally Posted by Frankie_Says_Relax View Post
    Sorry about dragging my feet on weekly results.

    While I have been performing the blowing on a daily basis, I haven't had time to really sit and get the chips on the scanner. (See my various above excuses, and add producing a new commercial for this weekend's Starcade to the mix.)

    Rest assured, the results are interesting from what I can see, and I will post them when I find a moment of free time.
    looking forward to them ;p

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    Interested to see the results thus far.

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    did this project die I was pretty interested in it :S

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    Not dead.

    In fact, I'll update it with results in a little bit. Promise!
    "And the book says: 'We may be through with the past, but the past ain't through with us.'"


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    Final Results are up!
    "And the book says: 'We may be through with the past, but the past ain't through with us.'"


  17. #157
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    Interesting results, and nice work!
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    Klingons Invented Saran Wrap

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    I have a few problems with your theory...

    You suggest that blowing on the cart adds moisture which increases conductivity. Sounds reasonable, yet why then does the game continue to keep working long after, even days and possibly weeks after the moisture has had to have evaporated completely?

    The moisture in human breath would leave very little, a barely measurable layer of moisture. Were talking microns here... This evaporates in very little time and is hardly thick enough to increase any connection or conductivity. Your theory hinges on the idea that a impossible connection is made and mysteriously remains for hours, days, probably weeks long after the fact. This doesn't add up. You are imo, creating more NES myths...

    Also you keep mentioning green mold... Have you ever considered this is most likely a patina?... This is after all a copper alloy right? You even brought up old coins somewhere...

    Im gonna go with placebo. The original NES simply had too many design flaws. It is most likely the act of removing and reinserting that solved the issue be it dust, a weak pin connection or comm between the lockouts.

    I do however agree, blowing on the carts isn't a good idea. But come on, Ive revived old carts that were Blockbuster rentals. Were not kids anymore and blowing on the carts is far less "abuse" than what we did to these things when we were kids. The fact that these things still work some 20 years later...

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    Quote Originally Posted by nate1001 View Post
    You suggest that blowing on the cart adds moisture which increases conductivity. Sounds reasonable, yet why then does the game continue to keep working long after, even days and possibly weeks after the moisture has had to have evaporated completely?

    The moisture in human breath would leave very little, a barely measurable layer of moisture. Were talking microns here... This evaporates in very little time and is hardly thick enough to increase any connection or conductivity. Your theory hinges on the idea that a impossible connection is made and mysteriously remains for hours, days, probably weeks long after the fact. This doesn't add up. You are imo, creating more NES myths...
    Back in my group, some carts needed to be blown into every time we tried to use them, so that'd lend some evidence to the 'moisture conductor' theory.. It's not like just one blow would keep Ghostbusters II working for days.

    In any case, it takes barely any moisture to create a contact, and barely detectable amounts can remain on an object for a decent amount of time, especially if it's not aired out.

    That said, I'm not saying that the breath moisture theory is correct, in fact I'm rather on the fence.. But it seems like it could be within the realm of possibility.

    I suppose one could say that my opinion is that it could be either cartridge blowing came about as an unlikely quick fix for bad connections(which in reality probably only actually worked rarely, with cart re-posistioning and luck as the main culprit helping spread the legend), or as an epically misunderstood urban legend with zero basis in reality. (It wouldn't be the first basis-less urban gaming legend if so, anyone remember holding up and B to catch Pokemon?)

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    Quote Originally Posted by nate1001 View Post
    I have a few problems with your theory...

    You suggest that blowing on the cart adds moisture which increases conductivity. Sounds reasonable, yet why then does the game continue to keep working long after, even days and possibly weeks after the moisture has had to have evaporated completely?

    The moisture in human breath would leave very little, a barely measurable layer of moisture. Were talking microns here... This evaporates in very little time and is hardly thick enough to increase any connection or conductivity. Your theory hinges on the idea that a impossible connection is made and mysteriously remains for hours, days, probably weeks long after the fact. This doesn't add up. You are imo, creating more NES myths...

    Also you keep mentioning green mold... Have you ever considered this is most likely a patina?... This is after all a copper alloy right? You even brought up old coins somewhere...

    Im gonna go with placebo. The original NES simply had too many design flaws. It is most likely the act of removing and reinserting that solved the issue be it dust, a weak pin connection or comm between the lockouts.

    I do however agree, blowing on the carts isn't a good idea. But come on, Ive revived old carts that were Blockbuster rentals. Were not kids anymore and blowing on the carts is far less "abuse" than what we did to these things when we were kids. The fact that these things still work some 20 years later...
    Heh, wow. A blast from the recent past.

    While the findings here were STRICTLY theoretical and not empirical by any stretch of the imagination, I think they also produced some visual evidence that could not be denied.

    There was a build up of CRAP on the cartridge that was blown on every day that was NOT on the cart that was left as-is.

    Pile that on top of the fact that there are hundreds of thousands of NES (and other system) carts in the wild that have visible corrosion type damage on the contacts. Moisture + oxygen + (most types of) metal = damage/corrosion, and it doesn't take a stress test like this to prove that.

    Have any pennies in your pocket that look like this?



    No. Most of them probably look like this.



    While blowing in NES cartridges may very well be a placebo effect, as a collector I see absolutely no value in perpetuating a a theory that it does no damage whatsoever. (And I've never ever heard the assessment that you can keep a cart working for days/weeks after a single blow.)
    "And the book says: 'We may be through with the past, but the past ain't through with us.'"


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