NES not working...

[krypton]

I recently bought an NES from eBay only to have it flash white in my face when I tested it. Sometimes it would flash, and other times when I really jammed the cartridge in there, it would give a solid white. I've read that the solution is a new 72-pin connector, but I don't want to go wasting any more money. Are there any other common NES defects that would cause a white screen?

Thanks

[17daysolderthannes]

it's the 72-pin.

You can try taking it out and cleaning it and bending the pins back, but that takes a good hour or two (there's 72 of them after all). A new one is only like $6.

Additionally, you can clean your games with rubbing alcohol on a q-tip if you haven't already.

The long and short of it is that Nintendo used god awful metal for their contacts and it oxidizes/corrodes VERY easily and so they need to be cleaned regularly.

[krypton]

Thanks man I just ordered the 72 pin connector after cleaning EVERYTHING to no avail... I used steel wool and sandpaper on all the connections, then used rubbing alcohol, and rebent all the pins upward. Still, flashing white screen, except this time no matter what I do I can't return to the solid white screen. Just flashing... hopefully this new pin connector does the trick!

Thanks again for your reply.

[com64]

I had that problem with my NES, but I bent the pins back into place, didn't insert the cartridge all the way, kept it out an extra millimeter or two and didn't press the cartridge down. Everything runs well now.

[krypton]

I ordered a new pin-connector, still didn't work. I just gave up and got a new NES Thanks for the help though, I must have put about 6-7 hours into trying to salvage the thing...

[com64]

I ordered a new pin-connector, still didn't work. I just gave up and got a new NES Thanks for the help though, I must have put about 6-7 hours into trying to salvage the thing...

Oh, there's one thing that I didn't mention; I disabled the lockout chip by clipping off pin 4 of the integrated circuit labeled "3193A".