My Nintendo is being grumpy! Help!

[Scrambled Eggs]

My old Nintendo is giving me some trouble. Some games it plays just fine (Super Mario Bros / Duck Hunt), some games it will play only if I get the cartridge wriggled in just right (Crystalis, Double Dragon), and some games it just won't play period (Legend of Zelda, Tetris).

I apologize for asking a question that's already been asked about a million times, but I've already tried all the methods to fix it that I could find with no success. I've already tried (In this order) cleaning the 72-pin connector, bending the pins of it slightly, disabling the 10NES lockout chip, replacing the 72-pin connector with a new one, and no luck. Absolutely no luck, it just keeps doing the same thing over and over. And yes, I've cleaned the games thoroughly as well using 99% alcohol.

Anyone have any additional ideas? I'd be willing to put on a grass skirt and do a rain dance if there was any hope of it making my NES work again.

[JohnnyA]

Wow. You've tried everything I would think of to do. You may want to invest in that bit you can get to open the carts up in order to clean the contacts more thoroughly.

[BetaWolf47]

Yeah, get a 3.8mm gamebit to pop open the carts. That way, you can use a better cleaner than rubbing alcohol.

[exit]

Get a screwbit, q-tips, rubbing alcohol diluted with water and a white eraser. The most it will cost you is about $5 and your games will work better than ever.

[Jaruff]

For troublesome games that were not fixed with alcohol and swabs, I've always used sandpaper.

I can also recommend this, which I regularly use:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835154006

It's designed for removing thermal paste but in my experience, it works great for cleaning contacts. It's a small bottle, so if you decide to try it, fill out the rebate.

[Scrambled Eggs]

Thanks for all the info, guys. I'll try cleaning the cartridges and hopefully that will work.

[Scrambled Eggs]

I got my hands on one of those bits and thoroughly cleaned every single game, even the ones that worked fine. Exact same freaking problem, exact same games. I tried the non-functioning games at a friend's house just to confirm that the games themselves were working, and they worked fine on his console.

I'm thinking of replacing the old-school 72-pin connector altogether and converting my console to a top-loader. Can anyone tell me where to buy a replacement 72-pin connector for a NES 101? I tried searching Google and E-Bay, but no luck whatsoever.

[Fatalstar64]

I actually have the same problem which is a burden because I can't even try out the 69 games that it came with. I cleaned out like 12 games already however unless my NES is in perfect position nothing will work clean or not. I'm thinking of opening it up and cleaning up the 72 pin connector. Have you guys had the same issue and then solved it this way?

[Oldskool]

If you replace the 72 pin connector with a new one and do it properly and clean all of your games there shouldn't be any issue. I mean ONCE in a while you might have to pull the game out and try again, but it should work often. My original NES works like a charm and all I did was replace the 72 pin connector and got the driver bit to open up the games to clean the pins.

It's very rare that an NES game is actually broken. I've seen some NES games that looked like they've been through hell and back, and with a good cleaning still worked.

I did get the 72 pin connector with the gold pins for mine however, so not sure if there is a difference there but I wouldn't think so really.

If your NES is not working, first thing is replace the 72 pin connector. Make sure you do not insert ANY dirty games into it, otherwise you are defeating the purpose of the new connector. And do not blow on your games and put them in the new connector either.

If it still doesn't work get the bit, take the game cart apart, and use some deoxit, cooktop cleaner, toothpaste, or whatever to really scrub the pins down. Q-tips and alcohol are only good for preventive maintenance on a game for the most part.

I can almost guarantee you that if your NES has a healthy 72 pin connector and the games are truly clean that it should work fine 95% of the time.

[BooperGrandson]

Couldn't the Connector of the NES be dirty itself? Why don't you open up the console and clean the pin connector with rubbing alcohol and a q-tip, preferably 91%. Please tell me how this works. Thank you and have a nice day.

[Gameguy]

I actually have the same problem which is a burden because I can't even try out the 69 games that it came with. I cleaned out like 12 games already however unless my NES is in perfect position nothing will work clean or not. I'm thinking of opening it up and cleaning up the 72 pin connector. Have you guys had the same issue and then solved it this way?
Whenever I get an NES system I use an actual NES cleaning kit and they work fine. I haven't had to open up a system to clean them out. Both the system and games have to be clean for them to work well.

[Oldskool]

Couldn't the Connector of the NES be dirty itself? Why don't you open up the console and clean the pin connector with rubbing alcohol and a q-tip, preferably 91%. Please tell me how this works. Thank you and have a nice day.

He did mention that he had already tried a brand new connector, so unless he was putting dirty games into it, it should have been clean.

As far as cleaning it, a q-tip won't get down into the pins very well. If you have it apart already remove the 72-pin connector, scrub it with some mild soap and water and a brush, rinse and dry fully. When I get a used NES before I replace the 72-pin I usually scrub the hell out of it AND I put it in the dishwasher. ( I put it in the silverware section or the top rack and just make sure to turn the heat/dry cycle off). Works almost every time. And it gets it squeaky clean.

[Oldskool]

Whenever I get an NES system I use an actual NES cleaning kit and they work fine. I haven't had to open up a system to clean them out. Both the system and games have to be clean for them to work well.

It would be nice to have an actual NES cleaning kit. Would save a bit of time I would imagine. Does it seem to do a pretty good job?

[SuperGamecube64]

As has been stated, you should clean your games with a q-tip and alcohal, but i personally recomend diluting the alcohal first.

[Oldskool]

Why would you dilute the alcohol? That would make it have too much water which is not as effective. Go for the highest % alcohol you can find and don't dilute it.

Alcohol on a q-tip should only be used as preventive maintenance on an NES game. Sometimes you just have to take the cart about and using some sort of cleaning compound on the pins to really get it good.

[Gameguy]

It would be nice to have an actual NES cleaning kit. Would save a bit of time I would imagine. Does it seem to do a pretty good job?
I think it works well. I use a cleaning kit made by Gemini, I find it a bit better than the official cleaning kits though they're also not bad. Several systems I've cleaned start most games on the first try, and some of the worse ones just need to have the games pulled slightly back for them to work. It's not like I have to keep trying for 5 minutes to get games to start, they start in a few seconds.