N64 Probs?

[j1e]

Last night, I hooked and fired up my N64 and started playing a new game of Paper Mario. Well, about 15 minutes deep into it (right before I could save of course) the game reset?!?! In fact, it reset like 2 or 3 more times after that. Now, I'd say it's been about 7 or 8 months since I've had it hooked up so I was thinking maybe it's just dusty or something. So I used a air can and blew air around the connectors. I tried another game and about 20-25 minutes later it reset too! So I disconnected everything and messed around with that reset button. I noticed it seems to get stuck about 1 out of every 20 times I pushed it??? Is this usual? Is there some kind of tool I need to buy to open my N64 up to maybe fix this? Or is it even that problem at all? Is it time to buy another one? Please let me know how I might go about correcting this because it is very irritating. One more note, I bought the system about 2 years ago from Gamestop and it had never done this before. Thanks in advance for your help - Mike

[YoshiM]

I haven't noticed any "sticking" of the reset button and I've had mine since '96. Even after the cat puked on it the button never stuck. Not sure where you are from but is it humid by you? Humidity with dust can sometimes cause problems like that or perhaps the machine is dirty when you bought it and the issue reared its head now.

I'm pretty sure you need a special screwdriver to open it. I know with my standard set of tools and the security bit I use to open most cartridges I couldn't open my N64 when I wanted to mod it to play Japanese carts.

[ProgrammingAce]

It's practically impossible to kill an N64 except for one part, the expansion pack. Especially the 3rd party ones. See if you can swap out the expansion pack for another and see if it still freezes.

[j1e]

Well, it's not really freezing; it's like resetting as if somebody was pushing the reset button. Also, I don't have an expansion pack in it. It's just the jumper pack.

[TheDomesticInstitution]

You need a special bit to open it, I've opened and cleaned 3 or 4. The bit is the same size needed to open a Genesis Cart. And yeah, it's super hard to kill the things. But, I've never heard of that problem before. You think maybe the unit is overheating and tripping some sort of breaker that resets after it cools? Next time see how hot the unit is when it resets. But if the reset button sticks there could be a faulty switch inside. If I were you I'd get a pair of those bits off ebay... With those you can open just about anything. They are about 12 bucks shipped (a little pricey), but they allow you to open and clean all your games properly. I promise I'm not a salesman. But the bits are a little cheap, so be careful when you open them, so as not to strip the little notches in the bit.

[Barbarianoutkast85]

If the button sticks once in a while, it could be the contacts inside the console. You need to open the console and find what the reset button pushs. Becuase inorder for a power switch or reset switch to work. The plastic button has to push a negative contact into a positive contact to complete the circuit and let the current flow threw it. So rip the sucker open and make sure the contacts are sticking, or loose.

[Jumpman Jr.]

It's practically impossible to kill an N64 except for one part, the expansion pack. Especially the 3rd party ones. See if you can swap out the expansion pack for another and see if it still freezes.

This happened to me. Well, I think my expansion pack is made by Nintendo (making it a non-third-party one), but the same thing was happening to me. I pulled out the expansion pack and made sure it was very firmly in place. It hasn't reset since I did that, and that was over a year ago... and I play it a lot.

[j1e]

I ended up buying one of those security bits and did exactly what TDI and Jumpman said/did and all is good. There was some gunk around the reset button but cleaned right off. Now 3 months later, it's still working like a charm.

Get one of those 3.8 and 4.5 bits to open and clean your games and systems. It's worth it.

[bacteria]

Indeed: i've opened up several consoles, it is amazing how dusty and mucky then can get inside with dust and debris! Worst one was a SNES I opened up - a thick layer of dirty dust over most of the board and cart slot!

[BetaWolf47]

Could overheating cause this? I remember my N64 freezing when I played it on a thick carpet.

[bacteria]

Dust is an insulator, ie keeps things hotter...

[A Black Falcon]

I have two N64s, each with problems...

For one, it's the reset button. It got stuck in years ago. It doesn't cause any problems, none of the reset issues the first post mentions, but it is stuck in and unusable. I don't have the bit to open the system, so there's not much I can do. Oh well, you can just turn it off and on.

For the other, it's a weirder problem... it messes up loading and saving files in certain titles. It seems to be games with battery-backed on-cart saving that have the biggest problems. Specifically, if you put Smash Bros. in the system and turn it on, it erases all data on the cartridge instantly. However, I haven't run into any problems with any games that save to controller pak on the system. With other on-cart-save games, Majora's Mask (which saves via Flash RAM, not battery), which I put into this system once years ago, showed no save files on the cart at boot (ACK!), and then when I tried to create one it appeared with corrupted text in the filename, etc. Turning off the game and putting it into my other system returned the game to normal -- my file was still there and loaded fine, and there was no sign of the corrupted-text one. Understandably I'm not too willing to try more games on it, who knows what will happen to others... I do remember putting Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire in, though (EEPROM game). No problems there, loading or saving or whatever.

Last I checked the system was still doing this, I erased my SSB cart again last year sometime in it. Weird stuff...

Oh, both systems have an expansion pak in them, obviously, but that shouldn't matter.

[RP2A03]

For the other, it's a weirder problem... it messes up loading and saving files in certain titles. It seems to be games with battery-backed on-cart saving that have the biggest problems. Specifically, if you put Smash Bros. in the system and turn it on, it erases all data on the cartridge instantly.

Sometimes dirty contacts can cause problems with save files. You might try cleaning those on both the game and the console. On the games Weiman glass cooktop cleaner works great. To clean the console slide a clean dry game in and out repeatedly, periodicly cleaning the game, until the conectors come up clean. If you have corrosion inside the console an emery board will take care of that.

[BetaWolf47]

Sometimes dirty contacts can cause problems with save files. You might try cleaning those on both the game and the console. On the games Weiman glass cooktop cleaner works great. To clean the console slide a clean dry game in and out repeatedly, periodicly cleaning the game, until the conectors come up clean. If you have corrosion inside the console an emery board will take care of that.

An emery board! What's the risk of damaging the connectors with that? It sounds like a pretty good solution, but scratching something like that makes me uneasy.

On most systems, a corrosion-free game will work fine, regardless of corrosion on the system's connectors.

[RP2A03]

An emery board! What's the risk of damaging the connectors with that? It sounds like a pretty good solution, but scratching something like that makes me uneasy.

On most systems, a corrosion-free game will work fine, regardless of corrosion on the system's connectors.

I have done the emery board thing twice with no problems, but it was only after thirty minutes of shoving a cartidge and still coming up with crud. A few quick swipes with an emery board did the trick.

You do make a good point though and one should definitely take it easy with such a brute force method.