2 Genesis games not working

[IceDrake]

I recently pulled my Genesis out of the attic (I know, horrible place to put it). Sonic 1, 2, 3, Knuckles, and Virtua Racer all work. However, my Sonic Spinball and Adventures of Batman & Robin do not. I've tried cleaning them using a cotton swab dipped in alcohol. Both before and after, it just showed "Produced by or license from Sega" and then went to black.

It's obviously not my Genesis as it works with my other games. Not really sure what else to do.

[Rickstilwell1]

Uh oh, those games may have been damaged by bit rot. It seems to happen when Sega Genesis games can no longer read the header that says "SEGA".

Hopefully they are just still too dirty. Maybe they would work on somebody else's Genesis, but I doubt they would if you did a good job cleaning them.

[Sonicwolf]

Could there have been moisture in said attic? Moisture can be pretty bad for cartridge games and systems.

[IceDrake]

Uh oh, those games may have been damaged by bit rot. It seems to happen when Sega Genesis games can no longer read the header that says "SEGA".

Hopefully they are just still too dirty. Maybe they would work on somebody else's Genesis, but I doubt they would if you did a good job cleaning them.

Some of my other games were having the same issues. After blowing into them, the Genesis, and just taking them out, putting them in and starting, they worked.

Not sure how well I cleaned them. I didn't want to do it too much since I've not done it before. What else could I use to clean them?


Could there have been moisture in said attic? Moisture can be pretty bad for cartridge games and systems.

Probably. My attic is brutally hot in the summer and freezing cold in the winter. My stuff was only in the Genesis' cardboard box. But my other games were there too and they worked.

[theChad]

Go ahead and try cleaning them a few more times - I always use Windex and Q-tips, wetting one end and scrubbing then using the dry end to go over it again. You might be surprised how many times it takes before there's no more black stuff coming off. Good luck.

[Sonicwolf]

Probably. My attic is brutally hot in the summer and freezing cold in the winter. My stuff was only in the Genesis' cardboard box. But my other games were there too and they worked.

Some games may have been sealed a little bit differently, made of different materials causing more succeptability towards enviromental damage, etc. There are so many things that could happen.

[jb143]

The Sonic 3 I just got at Goodwill had a black screen after cleaning. So I cleaned it again and just got the SEGA screen. After cleaning it again it would occasionally work if inserted just right. After cleaning it one last time it worked fine. Didn't even freeze up in my Nomad. If even 1 contact has corrosion it can keep the game from being read so just keep cleaning and it will probally work.

BTW...I just used Q-tips and alcohol as well.

Also, does anyone know if Genesis games might ever need the board cleaned as well? NES games sometimes do, right?

[megasdkirby]

It might be a bad capacitor or resistor on the board itself.

Try checking them with a multimeter. If they are defective, replace them to see if that fixes the problem.

[IceDrake]

I tried cleaning them again. More dirt came off Sonic Spinball but nothing off of Batman & Robin. Sonic Spinball doesn't even show "Produced by or licensed by Sega" anymore, it's just a black screen. Batman stayed the same. I think they're both done. I'm a bit upset that Spinball doesn't work since it came with my Genesis.

[IceDrake]

I tried cleaning them again (3rd or 4th time). I was a bit more rigoruous with the Q-Tips. I also let them dry longer. I got Sonic Spniball to work (a little more dirt came up with that one). Adv of Batman still doesn't work (no dirt was coming up with that one).

[jb143]

I havn't ever try it yet, but some people will swear by using a pencil eraser on the contacts.

[channelmaniac]

I havn't ever try it yet, but some people will swear by using a pencil eraser on the contacts.

It works well and isn't overly abrasive.

Best results come from disassembling the cartridge and cleaning the hell out of the contacts. ;)

[IceDrake]

How would one go about "cleaning the hell out of the contacts"?

[TheDomesticInstitution]

Use a metal cleaner on the contacts. Its how I clean all my cartridge based games. I have yet to come across a cartridge I can't get to work when using a metal cleaner. I would also invest in a gamebit, so you can take apart carts and clean them better.

It is slightly possible that something has come unsoldered in the carts, but I'll bet they're still not as clean as they should be.

[gokugohandave]

Which metal cleaner do you use domesticinstitusion?

[TheDomesticInstitution]

This one. I would guess any similar types would work.

http://www.sausagemaker.com/ProductImages/31451.jpg

[2Dskillz]

http://www.retrogoggles.com/?p=93

This was for cleaning an NES cart, but the process is the same. You will be amazed at what you can get to work by opening the cart and cleaning. It has saved many carts that I would have otherwise considered dead including the Deadly Towers game in the walkthrough (prior it had been cleaned on several occasions without working, but never opened and cleaned) Opening and cleaning solved the problem. If you would like a Genesis specific walkthrough just let me know.

[plasticMan]

eraser and alcohol works great too. getting past the screws on the cart is the tuff part tho without the right tool. i think the 4.5mm gamebit fits this cart. double check it to make sure. the 4.5mm is slightly bigger than the 3.8mm ones. newelectronx has some great ones that fit the carts with out drilling the holes in the cart bigger before use.

[izarate]

In the few months that I've been passively collecting Genesis games I've found that several of them had weak or broken solder joints and even missing solder pads: O_o

http://img528.imageshack.us/img528/3118/img1199.jpg

So a little bit of soldering is needed:

http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/6449/img1212zoe.jpg

If you want to test your carts this diagram might come in handy:

http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/3334/cartpinout.gif

[plasticMan]

izarate, great tip. thanks - so that explains why some of my carts weren't working haha