Got Snow Brothers NES.....cant get it working :(
So just as the title says. I cleaned the contacts well, so there is no crud come off onto the q-tip from the contacts. It has a slighly loose board inside, and Ive tried it on a couple consoles that normally play the games first or second try. Is this game dead? Any suggestions would be a big help. This game is returnable, but I want a working copy for the price I paid!!!
I would then proceed to open the cartridge, if you can still return it afterwards. Check for any major problems and clean all of the dust off the board and see if you can get it working
I know this is probably obvious, so I ask you forgive me in advance, but do you have the means to open the cartridge and post an image of the PCB so someone with the knowledge could form an opinion?
If the contacts are 100% clean then there should be no real problem getting it to work. If the contacts are scarred or marked and alcohol doesnt take them off, you can open it up and use a pencil eraser to gently rub them off. But this is generally a last resort for games in bad condition that wont work otherwise.
Just gave it to my brother to bring home, and he called and got it working on an FC Twin....but it wont work on any toaster NESs. I dont have the key to open carts, but was thinking of ordering one. Why would it only work on an FC Twin? Maybe the slighly loose board pushes in too much and doesnt make good enough contact on the toaster?
Maybe there's a problem with the lockout chip on the cartridge which would cause it to not boot on a real NES. I'm assuming the FC Twin and other clones don't have lockout chips so this wouldn't matter on them. You'd have to open the cartridge to check the board.Originally Posted by mailman187666
Looks like I'm going to have to find the means to open the cartridge up to see whats going on with the lockout chip. If it is that chip, could I replace it with one from a cheap donor cart such as mario/duck hunt or something?
I believe you could replace it with one that's compatible, I'm not sure if all of them are the same in all carts. Lots of Super Mario/Duck Hunt carts are just glob tops anyway, I'm pretty sure all chips including the lockout chip are glob tops on those and aren't replaceable. It would be easier to find some other crap game to use. It may not even be a problem with the chip itself, it could be a cracked solder joint that just needs to be reflowed, or it could be a problem with a trace on the circuit board that leads to that chip. If the board is the problem, you'd just need a compatible board from another game and then move the chips over.
There should be a link somewhere online to compatible boards for the game, usually when people make repros they need to know what board to use so there's lists of compatible donors. As this is a rare game I'm sure it's documented somewhere, I just haven't searched for it yet. It still would be helpful to open the cart first and inspect it, just to get an idea what's going on.
Side note, I remember having a game that wouldn't work right. I can't remember if it booted and had screwed up graphics or if it wouldn't boot at all. Anyway, when I opened it I noticed the inside of the case was melted right above one of the chips. It was a lousy cheap game so no big loss. These chips do sometimes burn out, though very rarely.
can you buy the screw driver needed to open the cart from any stores? (home depot, radio shack ect.) or would you have to order them online from ebay or amazon. I wanna try and figure it out soon and post pics on here.
As far as I know, you can only get specially made ones from Amazon and eBay, because they're proprietary screws. I believe the only games that you can get screwdrivers for at store like Home Depot are Tengen games, because most of those use Torx screws.
Here a cheap listing on eBay.
Well I ordered the screw driver for it. Ill post a pic when I get a chance. Praying its an easy fix.
Well I ordered the screw driver for it. Ill post a pic when I get a chance. Praying its an easy fix.
TarnX on a Q-tip, wipe contacts and let sit for 30 seconds, then wipe off. Clean with isopropyl after (make sure to get ALL the TarnX off). Try in toaster again.
Loose board is most likely causing the problem. I have bought a few NEs games over the years with loose boards, and they will not insert fully into the 72 pin connector to make proper contact. Usually, there was some anger-case brat who threw his games around and broke off one of the plastic board retainers. It is fixable. I take the cartridge casing apart and there are three 'extra' plastic nibs that protrude. Clip one of them off and use superglue to position it at the top edge of the board and the problem is solved. You might have tio clip off a thicker section of one of the retainer walls and glue in behind the top edge of the board, but it is fixable. All of mine that were broken work great now.
Here is the pics of the inside of the cart. I saw no reason for it to be loose on the inside other than it being designed that way. I also took a pic of the reverse side of where the lock out chip is, in a close up. I thought that may be a problem, so I snapped a pic. So before I took the pic, there were some corroded spots on the contacts that I had to scrape off lightly with the end of a thumb tack. I also wedged some small pieces of paper in between the board and inner part of the cartridge to stop the rattling.
Well guess what? it works in a regular NES now somehow.....on the second try. So looking at these pics, was it the loose board all along?
The connectors still look a bit dirty, it probably didn't boot up because it wasn't fully clean. You can use a white eraser on the contacts to really clean it well, then clean it with a qtip with alcohol/water before closing it up. I usually just use water and dry it thoroughly, most people seem to prefer alcohol.
You notice that white stripe across the connectors where the traces are starting to rust, that's where the board rests on a plastic edge in the case. Clean that off with a qtip with alcohol/water, and clean the plastic edges on the case before closing it up again. I'm pretty sure that's caused by dirt being trapped there and moisture being trapped against the board in that spot.
As for why a board rattles, usually it's just that the case screws are a bit loose. Just tightening them would make the board tight again, I wouldn't put paper in the cart or anything that would absorb or trap moisture, that could eventually cause more problems. You made it sound like the case had broken plastic inside it, but it now seems like it was just loose screws.
I'm glad it's working though.
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