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Since I'm always rapping about people cleaning their cart connectors, I thought I'd make this guide on how to do it properly It's amazing how many supposed issues can be fixed by clean connectors. Things you will need: A Jaguar and a cartridge (preferably dirty): Some isopropyl alcohol swabs and 2 pieces of plastic card. One roughly the same width as the swabs (like the one pictured) and one small enough to fit in the little end of the connector (which I can't find...) : If you want to go ghetto instead, you will need a clean t-shirt and some isopropyl or lighter fluid: Wrap your swab over the edge of your plastic card and insert into one end of the cartridge slot, pull it straight up, move along a bit, then down and up again. Repeat, repeat. Do NOT move the card sideways while it's inside the slot as you could bend the connectors. You'll need your small card to get your swab into the small end of the connector. Keep doing this until the swabs are coming out gleaming white: Or do the same, ghetto style, with your (preferably white) t-shirt. Keep the shirt tight over the card so no baggy parts will snag the connector pins, keep wetting it with isopropyl or lighter fluid, move onto a clean patch of shirt, up and down and up and down: That's your console done! Now onto the cart! Things you will need: Isopropyl or lighter fluid and cotton buds (q-tips) : Grasp your cartridge by the bottom as shown. I try to keep my fingers off the label so I don't leave any impressions (though the cart shown is a ratty second hand one) : Dip your cotton bud in your IPA or lighter fluid and scrub those connectors real good! Keep doing both sides of the connector with fresh buds and fresh liquid until they are coming away gleaming white: You will likely find that some cotton threads get stuck in there. Just get some tweezers and pull them out. You're pretty much done at this point, but I like to give my carts the GOLD treatment! If you want to do the GOLD treatment, you will need another cotton bud and some DeOxit contact enhancer. The correct use of DeOxit not only protects the contacts and enhances the electrical connection, but it also lubricates the connector so that insertion and removal of the carts is smoother. This can only be good for the cartridge slot. Similar procedure to before, but use the DeOxit sparingly! Just one drop on one side of the cotton bud will do for both sides of the connector. Make sure you also wet the beveled edge of the connector: Now use the clean end of the cotton bud to clean any DeOxit from the plastic parts, then wipe any excess from the connectors, while leaving a nice, light sheen on the pins and the beveled edge: And that's it! Every cart I get for every system goes through this, even if it's brand new (my OCD demands it...) As long as you clean your carts and make sure they stay clean, you should only have to do your console once.
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The number of disks that I'll be trying to recover may be getting smaller. A fair number of disks have become corrupted by something. I found it when I put a disk in the drive and it made a sound something like a fine grain sandpaper. There's a blotchy pattern that seems to be from the floppy disk liner. Some sort of mildew or mould, perhaps. Attached is a picture of one of the disks. I opened one to see how bad this was an it's spread pretty well across the disk except where the holes for the heads. Has anyone had any luck cleaning this sort of contamination from a floppy?
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- old floppies
- cleaning
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Hi all. First time here, hope to find help - i'm pretty new to cleaning retro electronics, so help would be most welcome :-) I've just bought a Ti99/4A from 1981 (silver) and it works fine, but is in dire need of a good cleaning. Do you have any good advice before undertaking this task (related to the Ti99/4A)? And on a more specific note, does anyove know if there is a CMOS battery to be aware of? Thanks!
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So recently I purchased an Atari XE game and cleaned it the best I could with 100% rubbing alcohol and a white artist's eraser. I could not get the game to boot, so after looking around, I noticed some folks saying they soak the game contacts in vinegar to help remove corrosion. I'm currently soaking my cart's contacts in vinegar as I type this up, and will wait about 15 minutes overall before I remove it and dry it. So, when using vinegar, should I use regular distilled vinegar, or get industrial strength, non-diluted vinegar? The regular stuff from the store contains water, so I assume that would negate the helpful effects of the vinegar? I' not what you call a chemist, so I wouldn't have the faintest idea if this even will work in the long run lol
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- game cartridge
- cleaning
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8bit Datalife Cleaning Disks & Head Cleaning Kit
silentshadow56 posted a topic in Buy, Sell, and Trade
Looking to sell a brand new/sealed pack of 10 Datalife cleaning disks as well as an opened package of Datalife Head cleaning kit Brand New/Sealed Datalife Cleaning Disks $50 OBO Datalife Head Cleaning Kit $20 OBO -
From the album: Darth Duke's Atari Corner
Here's all that's inside the console. Compared to todays consoles, it hardly looks like anything, but I consider it a masterpiece of console design. Considering that this old girl was made around 1977, the components are in remarkable shape for all the abuse they've gotten from us kids. Not a broken solder or component on it anywhere. After learning how to take it apart and clean it back when the Internet first got the ability to let you post pictures with text pages, I've been doing so at least once a year. Before that, it sat in its box in the attic for a few years after it started showing weird colors and wavy lines on the screen if you played it for an hour or so. Thank goodness we didn't throw it away! We'd played it almost daily from the day we got it for Christmas from my Grandma up until it started doing that. Now, I once again play it a lot, at least weekly. Amazing considering how many other toys and gadgets from my youth have gone to the landfills long ago.© DarthDuke 2016
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What is it that you would most like to have but you hadn't seen any for sale yet? One item I think should be made is big specific storage and display cases for each system. Many of us have large collections but need a better way to show off our favorite games. I would love to have large slotted cases designed for certain size cartridges. Nice wooden or plastic racks holding about 100 games would be just great. Another product I would buy in a heartbeat is something designed to clean the contacts on your old school gaming cartridges. They already make those to insert into your Nintendo with cleaning solutions for the consoles & game cartridges. Why the heck hasn't anyone designed one for the Atari, Intellivision, Colecovision etc? What about a cleaning tool, pad, or device that would work on all the smaller hand held gaming units as well? Let's hear your thoughts & ideas on something which you think is needed within the gaming community but you just can't find it in stores or online anywhere.
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I bought a working Lynx 2 quite cheap. After a while, I recognised that button B is stuck (not physically, but electronically). Since I wanted to mod a Lynx 2 with McWill's screen, I chose this one, because I had to open it anyway. I cleaned the flexcircuit and the rubber pads of the buttons with alcohol and installed the new screen. Everything worked fine after reassembly for 2 months. Now, the right key on the steering cross is stuck (electronically) .... Any suggestions whats wrong?
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Who offers the a/v mod/cleaning/refurbing services?
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- cleaning
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I've been retrogaming for five or so years, and here's one question that seems to get about as many different answers as there are blades of grass in a field. Some swear by windex which is a terrible idea as most can see, still others use steel wool or something similar to rub away the dirty part of the contacts. Which isn't so much "cleaning" as it is gaming sacrilege and slow contact murder. Some claim to have a "magic bullet" super secret formula that they sell, probably along with deeds to various bridges. But when it comes to alcohol I had always heard that you should use the highest concentration you can find, but recently saw a suggestion of no more than 70% purity. So what has worked the best for you? Also do you open up the cartridges for cleaning? If so on what systems? EDIT: Should this have gone in the hardware section? Sorry if so, though there are other slightly technical topics here so not sure.