Toejam & Earl cart hangs out of the blue

[thom_m]

After almost an year looking for a good price, I finally bought myself a copy of Toejam & Earl. I managed to score an original brazilian boxed copy (no manual), and was happy as shit, since every damn copy I found on Mercado Livre (our eBay) was a bootleg.

So the cart came by mail yesterday. It was kinda beat up (the label is held with tape, and there is SG carved with heat behind it...you could only see the front of the cart in the ad), but that's normal 'round here and as long as the game works, fine with me. So I clean it thoroughly (Q-tips and Windex), pop it in...and voilá! Works on the first try!!

Satisfied, I start playing....and the game freezes out of the blue after some 15 min. Turn it off, try it again...hangs after 20 min. Pissed, I turn off the Megavision to chill a little. I put in my Sonic 3 and play for a good while to see if it might be a problem with the system...nothing happens.

So I take the TJ&E cart off, put it in again, and start playing. And it goes fine for more than an hour. Relieved, and with a smile on my face, I keep on playing...until the game hangs again on level 8, while I was pounding some chickens with tomatoes.

What can it be? I never had a cart do that to me before - play fine for a while, and than freeze out of nowhere. Most of the time, either it works, or not - and If I manage to get it working after a good clean, it generally won't fail again. I did that to an old Famicom multicart I had, and it's now working great (as long as I don't hit the system or something like that - and that was NOT the case the Mega Drive cart.

Please, help me, fellas. I already called the seller and he can replace the game, but he only has the bootleg version now. Should I clean it again? Should I clean the system? DEAR LORD, WHAT SHOULD I DO?!?!?

Thanks in advance for your feedback, guys and gals!

[Cryomancer]

My guess would be maybe something is happening in the game that your particular cart's manufacturing run didn't test properly or something. Hard to say though.

Does the Brazilian version happen to have different box/cart artwork, by the way?

[PC-ENGINE HELL]

Its possible the cap inside the cart is going bad.
http://home.comcast.net/~amakusa666/PC-ENGINE-HELL-CARTREPAIR.htm

[thom_m]

My guess would be maybe something is happening in the game that your particular cart's manufacturing run didn't test properly or something. Hard to say though.

Does the Brazilian version happen to have different box/cart artwork, by the way?

The art itself is the same, but the standard box layout for Mega Drive carts is a little different here. Take a look:

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y155/the_gentlemen/tje.jpg

We don't have the cool lettering. Bummer.


Its possible the cap inside the cart is going bad.
http://home.comcast.net/~amakusa666/PC-ENGINE-HELL-CARTREPAIR.htm

Geez, I hope it's not that (or a manufacturing run problem, either). I suck with soldering, and there's no such thing as Radio Shacks 'round here...only small stores with much less variety. I'll try to clean it again today, and see what happens...if the problem persists, I guess I'll just have to accept the bootleg cart...:(

[otoko]

Or send it to someone that does know. Bootleg is unacceptable.

[ooXxXoo]

Which Sega System are you playing this cart in?....MegaDrive II, MegaDrive III or a clone?....
...

[thom_m]

Or send it to someone that does know. Bootleg is unacceptable.

Actually, it's pretty much all you can get here in Brazil nowadays, specially when it comes to cd/dvd-based systems. Bootlegs have always been commonplace 'round here. For example, all the carts I had for my (clone) Famicom were fake, except for Super Mario Bros 2.

Although I don't care that much if the game actually works, I don't like the idea of trading the cart...you can blame these forums for that!


Which Sega System are you playing this cart in?....MegaDrive II, MegaDrive III or a clone?....
...

Clone system. A Megavision, made by Dynacom. But I never had an issue with it before, ever. Even Virtua Racing works. As far as I know, I think they copied the Mega Drive board completely...even the a/v out looks the same.

[otoko]

Well, do you know anybody with official stuff or even another clone system? If you do ask if you can test it out on theirs. You just never know when you find that odd cart that just won't work on it for that odd reason. Maybe that'll give some idea where to go.

[thom_m]

Some news on the case - seemingly, good news: I cleaned the game again yesterday, using alcohol instead of windex this time, and was surprised with the amount of dirt I still managed to get out of it - specially form the very edge of the pcb/connectors.

After letting it dry, I played for a little more than an hour, with no hanging. Found a little island for Toejam to sleep unharmed, let the system on and the game unpaused, turned off the TV and went to bed. That was 3 am.

Woke up 7h20 am today, and went straight to the living room to check the game out. It was working just fine. Woke up Toejam, turned the Megavision off and went to work. And here I am.

So, should I be happy or not? Can I say "phew, it working"? Or I can only evaluate it if I actually play the game through that time, instead of just letting it sit there? Is there any difference?

Thanks again for all the good advice, fellas.

P.S.: otoko, I don't know anyone who owns an official MD here; in fact, I might be the only one playing mega drive games on an actual system in this hellhole of a city. I do have one, actually (my belove model 2 from the 90's), but sadly it's lacking the power supply. I wish I could have it working again, in case it's a system issue...

[thom_m]

Just for the record:the cart is working fine now; seems it just needed some heavier cleaning. I beat the game yesterday with no issues. Thanks, everyone! :)

[Gercman_]

at least in brazil you have tectoy stuff, here in argentina NOTHING is original, it's almost impossible to find a ps1 that it's not chipped :(

good work there, thats a very good game :)

[klausien]

Yeah, I was going to say open it up, go to town with a pencil eraser on the contacts, blow it off, then hit it with an alcohol swab, but you got it going. Nice! Enjoy the game! TJ&E is one of my absolute favorites. It is considered overrated by many, and it does help to have played it a bit back when it was released, but most just don't get what makes it awesome.

[thom_m]

at least in brazil you have tectoy stuff, here in argentina NOTHING is original, it's almost impossible to find a ps1 that it's not chipped :(

good work there, thats a very good game :)

Actually, all the original stuff we get is what's left from Tec Toy (Sega) and Playtronic (Nintendo). It's almost impossible to find unchipped (?) Ps1 around here too, or even ps2.


Enjoy the game! TJ&E is one of my absolute favorites. It is considered overrated by many, and it does help to have played it a bit back when it was released, but most just don't get what makes it awesome.

I agree. It's sort of an unique game, and that's what makes it great, actually: you can have that kind of fun with any other one.

But I'm starting to get off-topic, so I'll jhust thank all you guys again for the help! I really appreciate it! :)