NES Help and Advice Please :(

[Eternal Champion]

Hi all,
I have had a refurbished NES since 2002 - bought on Ebay with new 72-pin connector. It's always been very tight. Just last night I fired it up for the first time since having our basement re-wired. All of my games give the same effect: the power button blinks, and the games' title screens blink on and off.
I will say that since I got, it would load this way occasionally. Re-inserting the cart would be fine. No longer - I tried cleaning the pins, and my games are very clean. Just again and again, title screen blink.
This to me says there is something wrong with the 72-pin connector, yes? I opened up the NES and to me, it seems to look fine. What should I be looking for? Should the 72-pin connector be replaced? Is that something I can attempt myself? Are decent connectors out there anymore?

Can you all recommend good repair people?
Is this place good? http://www.nintendorepairhut.com/Frame-2-nintendorepairpage2.html?refresh=1186725119066

Thanks and sorry for so many questions.

[Niku-Sama]

considering the menu screen is blinking like its a bad connection but your able to see some sort of game releatedness other than just a grey/green blink on and off then I would think it'd be the lockout chip being funky

i'd just disable it, a quickie search should come up with it, clip one pin is all it takes

[Eternal Champion]

considering the menu screen is blinking like its a bad connection but your able to see some sort of game releatedness other than just a grey/green blink on and off then I would think it'd be the lockout chip being funky

i'd just disable it, a quickie search should come up with it, clip one pin is all it takes
Huh! That's interesting. Yeah, the game comes on, music and everything, but the effect is like I'm constantly turning it off and on. The power button, once I push it, doesn't immediately turn red, then starts going on and off.
I'll look into it, thanks!

(I also want to say that I've gotten a lot from this forum over the years, so thanks to all!!)

[Eternal Champion]

By the way, regarding the lockout chip, is it necessary to ground the disconnected pin? (no soldering skills..)

[goodtofufriday]

I had the same issue with an NES I once had where games would fully load, but would restart as though it were getting a bad connection. I took a thick paper towel and doused it in rubbing alcohol. Then used a credit card to fit it into the connector on the NES. Afterwards I used a small pin to pluck on all 72 pins until games fit nice and tight. Followed by cleaning the connector once more. And presto it worked fine.

[Eternal Champion]

I had the same issue with an NES I once had where games would fully load, but would restart as though it were getting a bad connection. I took a thick paper towel and doused it in rubbing alcohol. Then used a credit card to fit it into the connector on the NES. Afterwards I used a small pin to pluck on all 72 pins until games fit nice and tight. Followed by cleaning the connector once more. And presto it worked fine.
Hmm, well, my connector is very tight, and my games are clean - granted, it's been a while, but cleaned them rigorously with a kit and even a toothbrush, clean the 72-pin connector occasionally with a kit - it's a stiff paddle with some plastic on it that you stick into the connector. Similar to your credit card method, but no paper. It usually comes out slightly dirty with the pin shapes on it. I usually add some of the cleaning fluid.
I'm scared to try disabling the lockout but it might be what I'm left with.

[goodtofufriday]

The one I had didn't work until I pushed out the pins that are on top (non-visable ones) even when it was tight. I'd suggest try giving that another go before doing any major work.

[Niku-Sama]

no you don't HAVE to ground it but in falls under "a good idea" if you can, I have done a bunch where I just clipped it and it was fine

[Niku-Sama]

for some reason it says some one else was the last person to post in this thread so i'll re post to make sure every one else can see what the post was supposed to be...

no you don't HAVE to ground it but in falls under "a good idea" if you can, I have done a bunch where I just clipped it and it was fine

[Eternal Champion]

no you don't HAVE to ground it but in falls under "a good idea" if you can, I have done a bunch where I just clipped it and it was fine
OK, thanks for the advice. I don't know how to solder but I might be able to have a friend do it.
Edit: on the other hand, I've come across this:

"I would never ground it because you do not know what signal goes to it. Suppose there's a +5V signal coming to a grounded pin: you get a short circuit which can have no incidence on very fast signals, but which can easily destroy a chip when they stay up too long. This is why in many cases we use a pull-down resistor to limit the current and avoid problems."

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/82506-disabling-nes-lock-out-chip-question/?p=1358561

Thanks everybody, I clipped the 4th pin and it was exactly what the problem was. Games are working great. However, my 2nd edition Metroid still doesn't boot up right away. I've cleaned and cleaned that thing. The Ebay dumbass who sold it to me 10+ years ago mailed it in an unpadded document envelope..

I was able to really get a look at my ca. 2002 aftermarket 72-pin connector. Looks to have been put in rather hastily - the long silver screws were not in the correct hole so it wasn't screwed into the console itself. Also, it appears to be made of rather frail plastic - the little end bits that screw into the motherboard broke off immediately when I unscrewed it. What a stupid design - a lot to go through, just to not look like a top-loading Atari... :rolleyes:
On the plus side, the ol' NES really was built like a tank!

Oh, and of course, I seem to have lost a screw!

[Niku-Sama]

I had one NES that wouldn't work unless I stripped all the un needed stuff for it to run out of it.

it was held in with I think maybe 3 or 4 screws, no shielding, at all and I had to take out the clicky thing the carts slid into and to get them to work I had to wedge paper into the top edge of the console to get it to stay down far enough to make contact with the pins.

this was before I had mass quantities of NES systems but it was so annoying. I did just have an idea about something now so I am going to go try it out