This NES cart board is pretty much toast, correct?

[Terminusvitae]

I apologize for the bad photos: the batteries in my camera don't have enough power to operate the flash, but you can make out the necessary details, at least.

This is a copy of Pin-Bot, so it's no big loss since I paid $2.50 for it in a lot with several other carts, and it appears someone may have left it out in the elements or in a heavy-moisture environment for some time. Here are the pics:






I've tried alcohol, erasers, polish, fiberglass electronics brushes, and so on, but that corrosion seems to have eaten entirely through the contacts right down to the board's base. The flipside looks much the same and my cleaning efforts met with similar results. Does anyone have any techniques for saving something that require such a high-level Resurrection spell?

[ApolloBoy]

Have you tried this stuff yet? My Guardian Legend cart had contacts like your Pin-Bot, but this stuff did a pretty good job of cutting through it.

[izarate]

Have you tried sandpaper? 240> grit should do the job fine.

[FABombjoy]

In lieu of sandpaper, I've started using buffing compound + a dremel buffing wheel on these first. It can diminish the gold plating, but certainly no more than sandpaper, and it's been successful for me.

Another possible technique, which I've never tried and would require a bit of skill, is to remove the corrosion & flow a very thin layer of solder on the contact. Thin being the key as you don't want to knock/bend the pins in the pin connector out of whack.

There are also trace repair kits, but I'm not sure how well they'd hold up when used on a card edge. If you have a ZIF pin connector, I'd imagine they could work quite well, albiet they're expensive.

[Bratwurst]

Another possible technique, which I've never tried and would require a bit of skill, is to remove the corrosion & flow a very thin layer of solder on the contact. Thin being the key as you don't want to knock/bend the pins in the pin connector out of whack.

I've done this before, and it's really easy. On a cartridge whose connectors I had to sand to get heavy corrosion off, I applied solder to the contacts afterwards and then cleaned it away with desoldering braid, leaves it tinned.

[FABombjoy]

You know, I spend so much time being angry at solder braid that I forget about it's good qualities.

[Bratwurst]

You know, I spend so much time being angry at solder braid that I forget about it's good qualities.

I hear you. If I didn't have to work with so much surface mount stuff at one point I would have never gotten good with it.

[2Dskillz]

Do you think this same method would work with a Hu-Card?

[ApolloBoy]

Do you think this same method would work with a Hu-Card?

I don't see why not.

[Bratwurst]

Do you think this same method would work with a Hu-Card?

I feel so, but you'd have to be a lot more gentle as the contact pads are much smaller and would be more prone to lifting off.

[Terminusvitae]

Well, even after using the techniques mentioned by all the fine folks here, the contacts are, unfortunately, shot. I don't have access to or operational knowledge of plating processes, and the corrosion is as bad as I'd feared. It's beyond my ability to repair, and honestly, I'm not sure if re-plating would particularly alleviate the troubles.

Thank you very much, everyone, and it was fun pulling out all the stops to try to bring the board back from the grave. Unfortunately, it needed True Resurrection instead of a simple Raise Dead.

[Gameguy]

Desolder the ROM chips and solder onto another board. It's probably not worth it for Pin-Bot, but if you want to practice anyway to see if it can be done, go for it.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

If the cart truly is "toast"

... then this would be the NES unit to play it in:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ig9-wX0aaFU

[Tupin]

If the cart truly is "toast"

... then this would be the NES unit to play it in:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ig9-wX0aaFU

*ba dum psh*