General NES Info?

[Flack]

I scrolled through this forum and couldn't really find what I was looking for (although I'm a notoriously bad searcher). Is there a thread or a link to general NES maintenance and repair?

I am in the process of hooking up all my old consoles once again. Both of my old two front loaders just blink or reset with all of my games. As a kid I saw people blow out the games quickly like a harmonica -- I tried that too but to no avail. I did read something about bending pins, but I'm not really sure what or how to do that.

The main reason I'm asking is I see quite a few top loaders on eBay right now. Would it be better to just buy one of those? They seem kind of high. If I could bend the pins and get mine working again I would do that, but I would probably buy a top loader before I tried installing a new set of pins.

Any help, links or advice from you guys would be appreciated.

[omnedon]

This thread should confuse you even more, and send you to what I consider the 'Dark Side'- Top Loader preference. RF out only Suck diddly ucks, therefore top loaders are overrated IMO.

http://www.digitpress.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=20849

FABombjoy's method is good (in that thread), and seems more reliable than new pins ( in the last 15 or so NES's I've done).

I wrote a tutorial here: http://www.cgcc.ca/articles/projects/nespin.php . Just ignore the first part where I say a "new" pin is always the best option. I'm not so sure anymore. @_@

[1bigmig]

I think this is where I got the 'bending pin to fix your NES' directions:

http://www.planetnintendo.com/thewarpzone/tech/fixnes.txt

If not, it's very similar. It works very good and you get the quality a/v output from the toaster. Im in the anti toploader camp. Also, you dont get the vice like grip of a new 72 pin.

[§ Gideon §]

This (http://classicgaming.com/features/articles/nesrepair/) is basically the same as 1bigmig's post, but it has pics, so you may find it more helpful. It deals with pin bending.

[omnedon]

FABombjoys method involves no bending, but sanding. I like it so far, and it's ZIF (unlike new pins which are HIF - HEAVY Insertion Force LOL ) after which is cool. After the sanding they all seem to pass with my NTF2 cart, which is more than I can say for the new pins :angry: .

[1bigmig]

The only thing I would worry about with sanding is that it will wear away contacts on the games even if a very fine grit is used. I won one lot of games a while back with sandpapered contacts and was not happy. While this is definitely worse for the games, I want to make sure everything lasts as long as possible.

[1bigmig]

@§ Gideon §:

That's the site I was looking for, thanks.

[omnedon]

How can sandpapered connector contacts effect the games? Do you mean the possibilty of a 'coarse' contact damaging the contact on the game?

I suppose that possible, but it seems less dangerous than a new connector with it's vise like grip. The contacts are meant to be rubbed.

Time will tell I imagine.

[1bigmig]

Do you mean the possibilty of a 'coarse' contact damaging the contact on the game?
Yes

I suppose that possible, but it seems less dangerous than a new connector with it's vise like grip.
Youre probably right about the new connector being more dangerous. I think sanding the 72 would only cause minimal damage to the contacts of the game, but it would bother me. One solution though, I do have a lot of extra game genies and I could insert that a hundred times or so and that would probably dull any sharp edges that may damage the contacts. Also, a game genie is good to use after bending the pins. After I bent them, the connector was fairly tight, so I inserted a game genie about twenty times or so and then it was perfect (since the board on a game genie is thicker to stretch the pins a little)

[omnedon]

Sounds like a good use for a clean SMB/DH - 'breaking in' the contacts.

I'm not convinced it's necessary, but that would be a good way to deal with it if you were concerned.