NES issues.

[TheShend]

Ok, the wifes' dad has found her old NES while gutting the house for Xmas and give it to me 8)

It's boxed and had Mario Bros and Blades of Steel all in excellent cndition.

I plugged it in and put a game in and i got a black grey screen.

I blew any dust i could see from the cartridge slot and cartidges, the cartridges copper tracks from the PCB are faultless and the cartidge slot seems very clean.

I plugge it in again and it worked and have manged to play original Mario Bros for a couple of days. BUT, when i put in Blades of Steel the grey screen appeared again. I put Mario back in and again the same screen. I did what i did last time and tried blowing away dust in there but the problem persists.

Should i open her up and clean it? Or what?

Thanks

[Sketcz]

As an obsessive Famicom/NES collector, and arguably one of many masters in this area, let me field this question.


The problem you describe is a problem of bent pins, and utilising a VERy simple procedue, you will soon be not only be enjoying NES gaming, but will have an entirely multiregion, lockout free system.

You will need:
a fine wire cutter or sharp cutting blade.
a phillips screwdriver
A tiny scredriver, the kind used for spectacle screws, OR a thick needle

You need to unscrew your nes, and remove the cover.
Now, inside you will want to unscrew the metal casing and remove.
This should expose the 72 pin adapter.
Unscrew this too, and gently lift motherboard until you can pull it.

You "might" want to clean it, but I dont think it will be neccessary.
to clean, make a mixture of ethanol and water, or special non abrasive cleaning alcohol. Take a cleanish tooth brush and clean the whole adapter, scrupping the pins inside. Then leave to thouraghly dry.

PIN BENDING:
Mostly, games stop working because the loose pins have been bent out of shape.
So take that small screwdriver or thick needle, and very gently bend "up" ever so slightly the pin connections that the cartridge goes into.

at first it should look like this: (not typed to scale)
uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu
uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu

with each "u" being a pin. Now, slip the needle underneath it, and VERY gently bend up slightly.
It should look like this now.

uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu
UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

well sort of, the typing scale here is a bit off.

For a detailed explanation with pics, check out

https://www.nesworld.com

Now the fun MODDING section:

http://www.nesworld.com/unines2.htm

this has a detailed step by step guide to cutting a single security chip in your nes.

By locating and disabling the NES security chip, it will not only allow import gaming, BUT, and this is important:
It will force games to run, even if they are slightly dirty or the pins are not touching it precisely.

I dont know what a "diagnal cutter" is, but I used a general cutting blade, the ultra sharp kind where you snap off the end peice once it gets blunt.
Just saw through the little guy.

The chip you see, causes the game not to boot, if it thinks its another region, sadly, it also does this if the carts are dirty, or the pins are out of shape.

BEFORE bending pins or cleaning, try this region disable trick, it worked for me, and I only needed to bend the pins on a much older NES that I had gotten in worse condition.

Anyway, best to do the region lockout thing, since not only is it probably the easiest console mod to do ever, there is no reason not to, since import NES gaming can be fun.

Anyway, try out the above methods and let us know how it goes.

Goodluck and welcome to the world of NES and Famicom.

Did you know the Famicom only officially stopped production last September?

EDIT:
famicom games, not being 72 pin, will still need a "bridge" adapter.

[TheShend]

Thank you very much, i did a little electronic & electrical course a college and what you describe should be painless. (no soldering )

I shall attempt the procedure tonight, if however i royal **** up there a perfectly good working NES at the shop to replace it.

A mint Mario Bros 3 is in there as well for a fiver

I'd like to say that Mario Bros is rock.

I shall post here with results.

[Shadow_Zero]

When disabling the region lockout, how do games perform on the NES?
So, when playing PAL games on a NTSC NES is this 50 or 60hz?
And vice versa?

[Sketcz]

My USA zelda runs at 50hz with borders on my PAL Nes

also, check gamefaqs for a detailed cleaning and pin bending guide.

I must add this again, be gentle with the pins, your are only meant to ensure "snug" contact between pins and copper connectors.

[TheShend]

It is done.

I haven't done the region chip thing yet mind, but it's back up and running.

Though Mario Bros works fine, Blades of Stell only seems to run when the cart is inserted but not pushed down sod it, it works.

Thanks otaku84

[Sketcz]

hmm, wonder whats up with blades of steel?

anyway, you really should do the mod, its easy, and region free gaming is at your fingertips.

Also, it means youll be more likely to run even dirty games in the future.

glad to have been of service.
happy gaming everyone.