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Finally, A Working NES!
vandel405 writes "We've seen the NES PC Conversion, and we've all lusted over the top-loading NES. But, top-loading NES's aren't something you're going to pick up at a garage sale. How can you resurrect your 8 bit console hero? Easy, with this news guide from ArsTechnica! Now you can make your 8Bit NES as reliable as your linux kernel. No more Blow and Pray!"
No more Blow and Pray!"
just like the girls at church
I've actually got a Top-loading NES. I'll sell it for $100 :P
I'd be there are some on ebay, but the problem would be finding 'em. I don't feel like searching through a few hundred listings though.
I did find this 72-pin connector for replacing the cartage edge.
The NES cleaning kit also helps a lot.
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
My friend has a top load NES and we've been playing it a lot this year. It's the shit! We don't really use the PS2 except for a DVD Player. The games seem just as addicting. Even though the graphics aren't the best, it's still very fun after all these years. Just goes to show how good graphics can't compensate for good game design.
Will this void the warranty?
--sex
Very popular slashdot journal for adul
Before you dig out your soldering iron, try this first. Clean all your cartriges with your favorite cartrige cleaner and some isopropol alcohol. Then take your Nintendo apart, and clean that motherboard connector the same way. Now clean all the pins in that big, strange looking black connector with something flat, slightly abrasive, lint-free, and some more isopropol alcohol. Use some really fine grit sandpaper if you have to.
Now put the whole thing back together and forget about solder. Usually the insides just need to be cleaned, as the copper oxidizes slowly over time.
I turned an almost useless Nintendo into one that worked perfectly in under an hour at no cost.
And you can still load from the front!
How To Repair Your NES
It lives up to it's name: http://www.sanspoint.com
The key to getting those old things to work a bit better isn't blowing.
To get cartridge playing the first time you insert them withut blowing is to open the NES and bend all the connectors out a bit.
Those things are a bit weak and tend to bend into the piece of plastic they're attached to, that's why after years of intensive use your NES doen't play games as well as it used to. Not all pins are conneced propperly.
Like someone said, all that effort isnt neccesary.
I took my motherboard out (of the nes), wrapped very fine grit sandpaper around a half popsicle stick and rubbed those connectors down. Blow it out good (canned air works well.)
Then i dipped the edge connector slot in some tinning solution so it wouldnt corrode again. Wash with some distilled water, let dry, put it back together and it has lasted untill so far. No problems with games booting or losing saved games.
It's easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them.
I cannot believe this story got linked. Look, the ars technica story is bullshit. It's half-assed and it's absolutely idiotic. Go to mcmelectronics.com, get part number 83-3785, the "NINTENDO TYPE 72 PIN CONNECTOR" and then just take apart your nintendo, pull out the old edge connector (it's a slide-on/slide-off procedure, no soldering or glue involved) and REPLACE IT WITH A NEW ONE. Then you're out like $6 + shipping and you didn't have to cut a hole in anything. Then again, if you like sticking it in from behind, this might be the mod for you.
Reinvent the wheel only at either a lower cost, greater effectiveness, or your own personal enrichment and satisfaction.
My favorite hobby is fixing semi-working game consoles because it's so damn easy.
First, find a console where, either the game just doesn't make the connection unless it's put in just right, or one of the connectors (controller, power, etc) has a similar problem.
This happens because a lot of (gradual) force is exerted on those connectors, and the designers were so stupid as to not insert something to take the punishment. In otherwords, everytime you plug in a cartridge, you are damaging the solder connection a little more.
Now that you know the problem, it should be easy to fix. Open up the system you bought for $5 at a pawn shop, and find the damaged connector. All you need to do is heat up a soldering iron, and add a little bit more solder to each one of the pins connecting to the board.
In some cases, the system was used in it's state for a good ammount of time, and the actual etchings on the board are damaged. In that case, you simply have to trace the etching te the next solder point, then connect a wire between the two.
With that info, you can now repair 90% of the consoles on the market. The other 10% were either dropped off of a building, or hooked up to the wrong AC adapter (``POP"!!!).
Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
I once had a NES that was thrown 40' over the edge of a deck of a house that sat on a steep hillside.
Crushed by this abuse of my baby, I picked her up and carried her inside, I had spent so many a hours with her and metroid, amungst other games.
Upon openening the case, I noticed that the PCB had cracked near the AV out panel, across only 3 traces. I found some blue wire wrap wire and began carefully soldering the 3 traces.
After slapping what was left of the case back together, I put in a cartridge and pressed the power button. Sucess as I turned up the volume to annoy my father with my victory over his rage on my defensless nintendo.
**Shudders**
Despite popular belief, it _is_ possible to clean the connector you already have. Just remove it and give it a good cleaning--use whatever electronics cleaning solvent you like (alcohol works)--I've even used plain soap and water and one of those little fingernail brush things. Then (and here is the tricky part) you have to bend the pins back into place. The problem with the nes is that after continuous use the pins on the connector get pushed down and the connection it makes with the cartridges becomes hella loose. You can use a very tiny flathead screw driver to stick in between the pins and then verrrry gently pry them back up. Then put everything back together and it should work like a charm.
I've done this to three NESs now so far, and all of them work fabulously. One was in pieces in a plastic bag in my dank nova scotia basement for 3 years. Previous to that I did buy a new connector for yet a 4th nes, and while it works fine as well, it just isn't worth the extra money when with about 15 minutes of extra work you can breathe life into an old one. Hell, I'm playing Blades of Steel as we speak.
--RMT
Can someone please take their time to explain to me why the words "linux" and "kernel" are contained in the above post?
/dev/null.
The only explanation I can think of is those words automagically alter the probability of acception and posting of ones` submission to slashdot, in much the same way the words FREE and ENLARGEMENT alter the probability of e-mail ending up at
But procmail does not get paid to do that.
???
my