Cleaning old hardware

[derFunkenstein]

What's your go-to method for cleaning old consoles? I bought an HD Graphics Genesis model 1 tonight that works great but needs a bath. I'm thinking warm water and Dawn dish soap. Is that a bad idea for some reason?

[Krip316]

For the case itself(plastic only) if it’s really dirty I give it a bath in Dawn and then use an old electric toothbrush to gently scrub the grime off.

[derFunkenstein]

For the case itself(plastic only) if its really dirty I give it a bath in Dawn and then use an old electric toothbrush to gently scrub the grime off.

Cool. That was basically my plan, but with a soft-bristle manual toothbrush. Thanks for confirming.

[+KylJoy]

Yup. Good ol' soap and warm water. I remove the case parts first. Just don't scrub on any painted areas or decals too much.

[DragonGrafx-16]

I was lucky and none of my consoles really needed much cleaning. My garage sale PS2 needed some cleaning but that was about it.

[derFunkenstein]

I remove the case parts first.

 

By this I figure you mean disassembly, which, yeah, I should have said that.

[spacecadet]

I immediately wipe down literally everything I buy secondhand with either a disinfecting wipe or some alcohol. You never know what touched anything before you got it, you never know what the "dirt" you're seeing really is, and a lot of bacteria can live for a long time on plastic. For any little nooks and crannies, I use either a toothpick to press in the wipe or an alcohol swab, or an alcohol-soaked q-tip. I do this right away because I don't really even want to be handling something with someone else's bacteria on it at all, including while otherwise cleaning it.

 

Then I usually use some vinegar based window cleaner. Sometimes that's all that's really necessary.

 

If something is just all gunked up and heavily soiled, I'll go back and forth between alcohol and window cleaner a few times until it's really clean. Very bad cases sometimes need disassembly, vacuuming out of internal parts and putting the shell and sometimes other plastic parts in the dishwasher. Obviously you have to be careful with the latter, because that'll potentially cause stickers and things like that to come unglued, and will obviously damage any paper labels that might be stuck on plastic. You also need to make sure to turn OFF heated drying, and you might want to use a gentle cycle (my dishwasher has a cycle for "fine china" that I usually use.) But it can make anything like new again as long as you check first to make sure there's nothing that could potentially get ruined by spraying it with hot water and aggressive cleaning solutions for up to an hour.

 

Warm water and dish soap should work too, but at that point I'd probably just use the dishwasher if you have one. If something's going to be safe to submerge under soap and water, it's usually safe to put it in the dishwasher and it'll be easier and more effective.

 

For any really stubborn marks, magic eraser sponges really do work. Though be gentle with those too, because they are abrasive so you can theoretically wear plastic down with one. I never have, though; everything I've used one on came out great, but then I do try to use a light pressure. Let the sponge do the work. The sharp fibers are going to rub off whatever mark is on the plastic almost regardless of how hard you press.

Edited November 10, 2018 by spacecadet

[+GoldenWheels]

Yeah, same advice here. I disassemble every system I get and dust/vacuum the board. Then the shell gets a wash in the sink with Dawn or Palmolive with the yellow side of the sponge, toothbrush for the cracks.

 

Sometimes I do use bleach wipes or alcohol on things, but they (alcohol especially) can leave black plastic looking "dry" or white-ish. When that happens I hit it with 50/50 water/white vinegar, which is very kind to plastic and leaves it looking as it should.

 

I've done ok so far as buying potentially gross stuff online, dodging any real (alive) bullets, but did buy a Genesis at a tag sale which had more cat hair in it than most cats have on them at one time, and a recent 7800 mini I bought (for the case) had bugs in it, maybe cockroaches. Barf. That thing got the triple scrub, sink, alcohol, water/white vinegar.

[Flojomojo]

I need to remember to look for "from a smoke-free home" when I buy stuff.

[+KylJoy]

I recently bought a Wii. It would not read a disc so I opened it up and was horrified to find that it was clogged up with many dead roaches (whole, legs, body chunks). It was SO GROSS I almost tossed it. But I cleaned it out instead. It works fine now. But it was the worst I have ever seen. I think someone had spilled a bit of something in it at one point, too. That might have attracted the roaches. Ick.

[derFunkenstein]

I need to remember to look for "from a smoke-free home" when I buy stuff.

It might have come from a smoke-free home as in the person you got it from, but who knows about before that. They had some really disgusting Genesis 2 units that I looked at last night. Just totally gross.

 

Also some CIB systems that looked interesting. The SNES + Zelda Link to the Past one was marked $330, though. Also NES Action Set (SMB/Duck Hunt) and NES Sports Set (Super Spike V'Ball / World Cup), both for north of $200. Yeesh. The lone Genesis was a Core system (no pack-in) for $100. I passed on all that.

[spacecadet]

I recently bought a Wii. It would not read a disc so I opened it up and was horrified to find that it was clogged up with many dead roaches (whole, legs, body chunks). It was SO GROSS I almost tossed it. But I cleaned it out instead. It works fine now. But it was the worst I have ever seen. I think someone had spilled a bit of something in it at one point, too. That might have attracted the roaches. Ick.

 

That's horrifying that it was literally clogged with roaches to the point that it wouldn't read discs. I've heard of consoles infested with roaches but not to that point.

 

I've read that it's actually the warmth of the system that they're attracted to, so if you live somewhere that has roaches to begin with, they're very likely to try to take up residence in your game console. Probably especially true if it's on a lot.

 

Luckily I have never had this experience, but I've definitely bought some things that I kind of *expected* would be infested with something. But thankfully, they were all just very dirty, none actually have had bugs.

[John Stamos Mullet]

Armor All

[derFunkenstein]

Didnt have any Goo Gone or Armor All but I bathed it in Dawn and warm water, and used a toothbrush to gently scrub the vents and other crevices. That did a world of good. And 90% isopropyl alcohol removed the sticker residue.

 

No roaches (gross!) just some dust bunnies and oxidation on the shielding. I took that off and cleaned it best I could without pulling the main board. Im much happier with the appearance and it works great. Capacitors dont look too shabby either, especially for being so old. Its got VA2 stamped on the board which is the oldest US release. Confirmed no TMSS with an old CRT. Quite a find. Not even any scratchy sounds when moving the volume fader.

 

Reset button doesnt work but the rubber dome looks intact and the button bounces back when pressed. Any ideas?

Edited November 11, 2018 by derFunkenstein

[derFunkenstein]

Heh, I broke the power LED. System works but theres no light now. Oh well.

[Tanooki]

What you did there in post #14 is what i would have recommended. A light hand with the magic eraser with the alcohol does wonders as well.

 

That image with the fuzzies near the slider, I had a mattel 70s handheld game that wouldn't play nice in the ON locked space, but part between due to that. I'd take whatever you can to get the thing to pass through entirely clean. The old toy could take a small qtip up the inside off the hollow slider and it repaired it nicely. The LED is probably a popped wire on either end.

[Trinity]

For Atari 2600, Just take out the motherboard and put the top shell in your dish washing machine, on low heat. Then Armor All.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

Its got VA2 stamped on the board which is the oldest US release. Confirmed no TMSS with an old CRT. Quite a find. Not even any scratchy sounds when moving the volume fader.

 

Reset button doesnt work but the rubber dome looks intact and the button bounces back when pressed. Any ideas?

 

Pretty much the second to best version of the US Genesis you can get. The va3 I considered to be the cream of the crop but the va2 is no slouch! Its main issue is that the amplification isn't turned quite right so it will distort on loud sounds in game. Gunstar Heroes is particularly bad about showing this flaw in the va2. But there are mods that can be done that are reversible and wouldn't require modifying the case shell if you are interested?

 

The reset switch is a common failure on pretty much all model Genesis systems. You can actually use the same exact monotary switch used in the 7800 front panel switches as it is the same height and type. I actually use a higher grade switch in my Genesis systems that I've been getting from console5 lately though I think I found the same ones cheaper on mouser or digi if purchased in larger bulks.

 

https://console5.com/store/replacement-sega-genesis-master-system-reset-pause-button.html

 

You just going to use the composite out on it or are you planning to go RGB...etc?

 

Yeah, you found out that the LED isn't actually a plug on header pins and is actually soldered to the main board..hehe. You have to remove it by bending the LED leads straight on the top shell and then pulling the connection loose from that. I actually change it around by desoldering the connector from the main board, and then installing pin for header connections. I then use a fine point pin to loosen the original connector off and retrofit the whole thing to plug onto the main board from then on.

Edited November 11, 2018 by -^Cro§Bow^-

[TheCoolDave]

I found on some consoles there are marks that even soap and water cant get out. I keep a few of those magic erasers around. It will even get paint marks off just be careful on really old consoles. The Odyssey 2 had some bad stains on it that soap and water would not take out, so I tried it in a spot. I guess the front cover is actually painted and it started to take off the paint a little.

 

Sega, Atari, Nintendo systems, no problems at all with a magic eraser and they come out like new.

[derFunkenstein]

 

Pretty much the second to best version of the US Genesis you can get. The va3 I considered to be the cream of the crop but the va2 is no slouch! Its main issue is that the amplification isn't turned quite right so it will distort on loud sounds in game. Gunstar Heroes is particularly bad about showing this flaw in the va2. But there are mods that can be done that are reversible and wouldn't require modifying the case shell if you are interested?

 

The reset switch is a common failure on pretty much all model Genesis systems. You can actually use the same exact monotary switch used in the 7800 front panel switches as it is the same height and type. I actually use a higher grade switch in my Genesis systems that I've been getting from console5 lately though I think I found the same ones cheaper on mouser or digi if purchased in larger bulks.

 

https://console5.com/store/replacement-sega-genesis-master-system-reset-pause-button.html

 

You just going to use the composite out on it or are you planning to go RGB...etc?

 

Yeah, you found out that the LED isn't actually a plug on header pins and is actually soldered to the main board..hehe. You have to remove it by bending the LED leads straight on the top shell and then pulling the connection loose from that. I actually change it around by desoldering the connector from the main board, and then installing pin for header connections. I then use a fine point pin to loosen the original connector off and retrofit the whole thing to plug onto the main board from then on.

Thanks for the reset switch link. I'll probably look into doing it but most of the time I'll be playing from an Everdrive and the Master System pause button also functions as a Genesis reset switch. The LED is what bummed me out. I removed it by doing what you said, unbending the lead and using pliers to remove it. Putting it back together was very difficult, because it was a tight fit. I'm sure I just did something to a lead, or the wire. At this point I'm not even sure how to get the red light out of the top. On pictures I've seen online, the red portion is a plastic piece of its own that lifts out, but on mine I think it's just red paint. The whole thing is one piece, and the LED is pretty captive. I don't want to make it worse by just yanking it out and accidentally breaking the shell. The way you described changing it out may work for me, though.

 

For actually playing the system, the TLDR is, I don't have a CRT so I'm going to have to do SOMETHING. Right now I'm just using composite and my TCL TV tries to "deinterlace" the progressive 240p signal which looks disgusting. I don't have an OSSC anymore (you bought mine during my last hardware purge, IIRC).

 

I'm thinking about preordering a Retrotink 2x and HD Retrovision component cables from Castlemania, all of which have an expected ship date of December 7. I've got a 3.5mm to 3.5mm cable to run stereo audio (which I'm using with an RCA converter right now). That's like $180 with the adapter, the cable, and the Retrotink. The OSSC with shipping and remote is like $230 plus $40 for a high-quality SCART cable, so pushing up towards $100 extra. It's a much better signal but with Christmas coming up I'm not so sure. So that would be component, and then anything else I might add down the road would need to be S-Video. That's way better than composite with way less investment, especially since I have a 4-way S-Video/Composite/Component switch from Philips already.

 

Already thinking about picking up a Dreamcast again. Amazon has GDEMU clones for $107. I already have a 64GB card and an S-Video cable that I foundin a drawer when I was digging for cables Friday night. For $160 or so (systems run $35 used at Mega Replay, plus a memory card) I could have a fully-functional Dreamcast setup with an SD card.

 

It's a sickness, man.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

I've sent you a PM...

[atarilovesyou]

Spray some Pledge on the console to give it a nice sheen without the slippery side effects of Armour All. Only side effect is a bit of lemon scent!