Dead:The Legend Of Zelda NES Cart.

[Videogamerdaryll]

Trying to get a The Legend Of Zelda NES Gold cart version working..
I've opened it/cleaned it and tried it on several NES systems..All I get is a grey screen..(other carts work in NES systems-first shot)
I find nothing wrong with the cart pcb and the game is mint..

What goes wrong with these?

[Enixis]

I can only think of the contacts. I have this problem with my NES games but always got them to work by moving the cart either a bit to the left or the right and pressing reset :P

[InsaneDavid]

Time for the HEAVY CLEANING. Go buy a cheap toothbrush (I usually go to the local dollar store and pick them up 5 for $1.00), submerge it in alcohol, and scrub the hell out of the connectors of the open cartridge.

[Videogamerdaryll]

Thanks..


Done a ton of cleaning to it..It's glistening but no luck. :/

[InsaneDavid]

Thanks..


Done a ton of cleaning to it..It's glistening but no luck. :/

Perhaps a Zelda NES cart will not start with a bad battery? Crazy I know, but maybe the ROM checks to see if there's a base command in the backup RAM? Aside from that, carts do die, look for cracked traces, broken pins, etc.

I admire you though for just not tossing it since it's a common game, I'm the same way. "LIVE DAMNIT, LIVE!!!"

[Videogamerdaryll]

Thanks..


Done a ton of cleaning to it..It's glistening but no luck. :/

Perhaps a Zelda NES cart will not start with a bad battery? Crazy I know, but maybe the ROM checks to see if there's a base command in the backup RAM? Aside from that, carts do die, look for cracked traces, broken pins, etc.

I admire you though for just not tossing it since it's a common game, I'm the same way. "LIVE DAMNIT, LIVE!!!"

Yes.. "LIVE DAMNIT, LIVE!!!" ...Thanks

I wonder if I could do a voltage/reading on the battery to see if it's dead..

[SkiDragon]

I doubt its the battery. I agree that you should look for defects on the board. Also look for worn down contacts. If you see none of these, I have no idea. Save it for a project or something.

[phreak97]

it's not the battery.
if you have a soldering iron, try remelting and adding a little more solder to each joint on the bottom, theres not so many once you get into it. also look for darkened patches in the traces, often if the traces have dark patches, those patches are no longer conductive, and youll have to scrape off the green and solder a bit of wire over the dark bit to bypass it.

in the end, the rom ic actually can die, i've got two carts, one nes, and one genesis, which dont work, and they have been thoroughly tested to the point where the only possible answer is a dead rom.

if you cant fix it, you could always send it to me for christmas :P

[§ Gideon §]

What exactly is a dead ROM, and how do ROMs usually die? It sounds pretty extreme...

Anyway, there's gotta be a process to test each individual pin for continuity to some other spot on the board. There's gotta be. Every pin goes somewhere, right? I know very little about the topic, though, but that's my initial thought.

I'm picturing a diagram with all the pins numbered. There's a corresponding number somewhere else on the board, such that the maximum feasible distance is achieved between the two points. So, you just go through each pin, checking continuity.

Again, I've gotta stress I know so little about carts. My experience is limited to battery-replacing and cleaning. I didn't know these things died!

[SkiDragon]

I had a Sonic 3 once that I cleaned and cleaned and it looked pristine and my Genesi worked fine. I could not get the game to work. It must have been a "dead ROM". Luckily it had a return policy. I hate it when people throw things away though. Think of some other use for the PCB/cart if you cant repair it.

[Videogamerdaryll]

I tried it again today,looked it over...(no luck

I took some close up pics of the PCB..will post them tomorrow.

[InsaneDavid]

What exactly is a dead ROM, and how do ROMs usually die? It sounds pretty extreme...

Via a short, overload in power, just being poorly manufactured, etc.

[Videogamerdaryll]

[gcl1984]

try replacing the cap.take it from a known working game if you have to.If cleaning and the cap change doesn't fix it I would look for another cart.

[Hammy]

since it's a mask rom, the chances are fairly high that the rom is ok, but failiure does happen with them. if you can get me the chip codes, it may be possible to burn the game on an eeprom for the game (or convert the cart)