NES refuses to play games

[Neverzinho]

Hello DP,

Well i have a PAL NES that has been working flawlessly, i bought it almost new with little use.
Because i have been collection SNES and Genesis for the past months, the NES was at the "corner of the room" for like 2 or 3 months.

Last week i bought a USA NES game (The Karate Kid) and arrived today. All i got was a gray screen.
I eventually got it to work with some reinserts, but the textures are all glitchy. Even the games that used to work flawlessly before, take some reinserts to work now, but for the most part all i get is a gray screen.

This console had little to no use before i bought it, it was on the original box, in some basement since the 90's so i doubt the console pins are already worn out.
All i did to the console was the unlock of the 10NES chip the easy way, so i just popped the chip leg out, didn't ground or put some resistance there. I'm afraid that this maybe has some influence in the behavior that the console is showing.

Any advice?

[Apollo]

Did you try cleaning the games? Grab some isopropyl alcohol and a cotton swab, and scrub the hell out of both sides of the board.

[Neverzinho]

Yeah that is what i do first when i receive a game.

Anyway the same gray screen also appears when no game is on the slot and i try to turn the console ON. So we can conclude that the NES thinks that no game is inside, even when there is one.

I've started to think if the Karate Kid ruined something for being USA, but i have some other USA games that used to run fine (Metroid). As of now, all games get a gray screen, and take several reinserts to play something (most of the times glitch versions of the game).

[Apollo]

So we can conclude that the NES thinks that no game is inside, even when there is one.

Actually, we can deduce the exact opposite. There's no default anything for when a game is inside the console other than for the game to play. If you're not getting anything but a solid color either way, then I think it's safe to assume that that's due to the console not reading the game. It's definitely possible that the pins are dead, even though you claim the console hadn't received much use.

Also, although I'm not sure on the compatibility between PAL and NTSC NES games and consoles and so on, do NTSC games work on PAL consoles? I've come across many Famicom carts, but I don't think I've ever come across a PAL NES cart, so I'm not sure if it works on an NTSC console and vice versa. Do you have other NTSC games that work on your PAL console?

[Neverzinho]

I've managed to play Karate Kid once, although the game was very glitchy.

Yes I've Metroid for a while and played flawlessly as all my PAL games did. As i said now all game are glitchy, random lines, messed up colors and for the most time they don't even boot, all i get is the gray screen.

Maybe it's the pins, it's the most obvious thing, but why all the sudden? I didn't touch this NES for a few months and it was working.

I'll try open the NES up and clean the pin contacts to see if it improves something.

Anyway thanks for your help mate.

[FABombjoy]

Dirty games make for dirty pins. When I'm cleaning / testing NES games this happens to me on a regular basis.

Do you have a cleaning cartridge? I believe that they are an absolute prerequisite to owning the system.

[APE992]

The entire graphical bus runs through the cartridge connector and what you're seeing are classic symptoms of the cartridge not making proper contact with the pins and communication being interrupted.

Like FABombjoy said, cleaning everything will probably fix it. Or a retensioning of the pins if necessary.

[Neverzinho]

I disassemble my NES and it seems that the connector's pins are all messed up. Weird because it was working fine.

I cleaned the best i could, reinsert some carts, clean them, reinsert, clean, etc etc. At least i don't get a gray screen anymore but some games are still glitchy.

I ordered a new 72 pins connector it should arrive next week, hopefully it will fix it.

[APE992]

I swear if Nintendo tried to pull the toaster NES crap on us today it'd be lawsuit city Sony style.

My personal NES refuses to boot any game without the cartridge being pressed down and that is after I replaced the 72 pin connector. If it didn't look ugly I might just cut a hole in the top of the case and modify the connector to be vertical but at that point I might as well buy a toploader NES.

[theclaw]

I've thought about something like that. One hard part is finding a source of reliable vertical connectors without sacrificing stuff like Game Genies or Famiclones. Done right it'd cut the form factor by potentially a whole inch.

Then again having NES controller ports mounted in the original Famicom has crossed my mind also.

[Gameguy]

I have a cleaning kit made by Gemini and I use that to clean every NES console I get, I don't have many problems with these systems not working. I find it strange how so few people bother with using cleaning kits then wonder why their systems don't work well when all that's cleaned are the games themselves. I use cleaning kits on SNES, Genesis, SMS, and Gameboy systems too.

Of course I've had a NES system with a great connector that worked near perfect, just about every game started up the first time without problems. One day I tried using it and the screen looked screwed up, no matter what I did I couldn't get it to work. As best as I could tell it seemed like the graphics encoder chip died, I just sold it for parts. Sometimes these systems just die, it's not that they're just dirty.

[APE992]

Sometimes these systems just die, it's not that they're just dirty.

Short of a fire, sledgehammer or power surge very few systems simply up and die. There is almost always a part that goes bad that can be replaced but the questions are:

1)Is it cost effective to replace the part or use the system for parts?
2)If it is cost effective how much time/energy will it take to source the part and install it?

Sadly #2 is the problem more often than #1 is.

[MrJacu]

I've thought about something like that. One hard part is finding a source of reliable vertical connectors without sacrificing stuff like Game Genies or Famiclones. Done right it'd cut the form factor by potentially a whole inch.

Then again having NES controller ports mounted in the original Famicom has crossed my mind also.

dont worry about the game genie, you can buy a generic card edge connector (72 pins) and it works great, i just did that with my NTSC-NES, just see the description for the pitch, the cartridge have 0.1" or 2.54mm, and they are pretty cheap

http://www.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?WT.z_header=search_go&lang=en&keywords=A31721-ND&x=9&y=10&cur=USD

and as far as i know theres no problem with the cartridge ntsc on a pal console, but each version have diferent process speed, some games wont operate properly because of this and end up with glitches, you need to mod your nes to make it fully compatible

[theclaw]

Well there's a several problems with my idea.

I don't have a replacement top shell. The NES would not be smaller as I intended, I'd have to get a hole cut in its original top.
No suitable soldering ability to implement anything.
How to get a vertical connector set in place correctly so cartridge insertion force won't cause damage. NES has its internal cart slot as pins on the main board's edge, similar to the never used SMS expansion port.

[Gameguy]

Short of a fire, sledgehammer or power surge very few systems simply up and die. There is almost always a part that goes bad that can be replaced but the questions are:

1)Is it cost effective to replace the part or use the system for parts?
2)If it is cost effective how much time/energy will it take to source the part and install it?

Sadly #2 is the problem more often than #1 is.
Well maybe not die beyond repair, but die to the point that you need to start replacing parts. Even with a power surge a system might still be repairable depending on what got damaged. It wasn't worth it for me to get repaired so I sold it to someone looking for broken systems for parts, he'll try to repair it or use it to fix other consoles. I've had at least a dozen or two NES consoles over the years and really I can only think of maybe 2 that I couldn't get working including the one I mentioned that died on me. I still don't like outright throwing broken parts away if they could potentially be used for parts or something else.

I've never needed to replace the pin connector to get a system working reliably, when I spend 10 minutes cleaning the existing connector removing the oxidation it works pretty well afterwards until a dirty game gets put into it. I've never needed to bend the pins or boil them in water, or replace them with cheap generic ones that place a death grip on the carts. I'm just surprised that I'm pretty much the only person who ever mentions using cleaning kits when they really work well for me, at least the Gemini ones do.

[Neverzinho]

My new connector arrived today, all games works flawlessly now, first try.

Problem solved.