The peril of collecting handhelds ...

[Lord Of Swede]

So this weekend I thought that I'd get my retro collection out, and have a sort through, before putting some stuff on Ebay. Things were going well, all of my TV consoles and games worked a treat, then I started on the handhelds ...

Tried the Japanese Game Gear with brand new batteries and an AC adaptor ... nothing.

Tried the US Turbo Express, and got a blank white screen, no game image or sound.

All of my original style Gameboys had multiple dead vertical lines on their LCDs.

A real shame

[wheelaa]

Thats harsh. Can you think of any reason at all? Stored in a damp area maybe? Just seems odd that so many handhelds are dead or screwed.

[importaku]

try cleaning the battery & cart contacts.

The white screen is probably a dirty cart connector i have had that one before.

[Lord Of Swede]

wheela: The environment is fine I think, fairly dry, not too hot/cold.

I think the Game Gear was a bit suspect to start with to be honest, even though it's boxed, etc. I'm more annoyed with the Turbo Express, as it was boxed as new. I'd only tried it once before and it worked fine.

importaku: I'll try to clesn the connectors and see what happens.

Cheers

[nem]

Yep, definitely clean the cartridge connector first. I took out my Super Fami from storage some time ago and I must have tried a dozen carts to no result. Then I got a helpful tip from a forum friend on cleaning the connectors. I used some iso alcohol on the cartridge contacts, then reinserted the cartridge into the connector a few times (oo-er), and what do you know, the SFC has worked like a charm to this day.

[Jay]

I've had four Game Gears die on me and I've yet to see a Gameboy that hasn't lost at least a few lines near the edges of the screen.

Game Gears just seem to be poorly made. If the speakers don't go, the screen does.

As for the GB issue - is this going to happen to all our handhelds eventually?

Hopefully cleaning up the Turbo Express will sort at least one of your problems out.

Jay

[1P_King]

Had two Game Gears that died on me as well after a few years in storage, they were stored in logic cases which had about 3 inchs of form to protect them as well.

[NeoStuey]

All of my original style Gameboys had multiple dead vertical lines on their LCDs.

A real shame

This topics made me check on my original Gameboy, I can't remember the last time I used it but it's been several years.

It did take several re-insertions of the Super Mario World cart before I got the contacts to register properly, before that I was getting corrupted graphics on the display. As far as I can see the Dot Matrix appears to be fine, just a tiny bit annoyed to see I've got a small scratch on the screen. Oh well.

Tried the US Turbo Express, and got a blank white screen, no game image or sound.

That definitley sounds like dirty contacts on either the HuCARD or the Express itself, I know that I have had two HuCARDs arrive that needed cleaning before they would work in my PC-Engine otherwise it was just a white screen.

I really do hope that you get one or more of your handhelds up and running and that is nothing more than them being a bit tempramental.

I got my fingers crossed for you.

[charlesr]

My old gameboy seems to have the corrupted screen too. And looks really dull.

[Lord Of Swede]

I reckon the old monochrome LCD's that Nintendo used weren't up to much, but age obviously comes in to play with these handhelds.

I tried my two GB pockets, and my GB Light and they were perfect, no corruption at all.

I'll have a go at cleaning the Turbo Express this week, but I'd be surprised if it were the contacts as the unit was as close to new as you get, and so was the game I tried (Bonks Adventure).

Anyway, thanks to everyone for the advice

[Lord Of Swede]

Oh yeah, I meant to ask, what does everyone reccommend as a cleaning fluid?

[importaku]

Isopropyl alcohol

but if you doing the cart connectors just insert & remove tha cart about 20 times, the rubbing should clean the contacts of oxidization.

[Astra]

as importaku said isopropyl. worked a treat on few of my consoles

maplins sell it

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=28994&source=2001&doy=12m2