Is my NES broken?

[Kris Snyder]

Not one of the top-loaders, unfortunately - no, this is one of the old school models...

 

I push the power button, and the machine keeps turning itself on and off. Could it be the power supply? Something wrong inside of the NES itself?

 

Tried about a dozen different games - some recently cleaned - and always got the same result...

 

Also, does Virtua Racer not work on a Genesis 3? Mine doesn't seem to want to...

[Eltigro]

Time to replace the pin connector?

[GregadetH]

Not one of the top-loaders, unfortunately - no, this is one of the old school models...

 

I push the power button, and the machine keeps turning itself on and off. Could it be the power supply? Something wrong inside of the NES itself?

 

Tried about a dozen different games - some recently cleaned - and always got the same result...

 

Also, does Virtua Racer not work on a Genesis 3? Mine doesn't seem to want to...

 

Sounds like your 72 pin connector's going bad finally. Mine did this last year. You can open it up and bend the pins upward with a small screwdriver, then clean them real good. That's just a temp fix until you buy a new pin connector off of ebay or somewhere, but it works.

[MagitekAngel]

Oh geez, you've got the blinkies.

 

Disabling the 10NES chip circumvents part of the problem, but you still need to make a solid connection to get a game working.

 

Stitch666 has told several AA'ers to run the pin connector through the dishwasher. I haven't tried it, because the NES I have hooked up works fine and I don't have a dishwasher. But he says it works.

[tz101]

Take the unit apart and look for the 10NES lockout chip. Clipping pin number 4 (see picture) will disable it and stop the blinking screen at startup.

 

 

Be aware, this will not automatically make the game cartridge be recognized by the NES console. If the contact pins are dirty, you will now get a solid pink colored screen. So, next in order, is to thoroughly clean the 72 pin connector inside the console along with the contacts in the game cart. I recommend very fine grit sandpaper used with light force followed by 91% isopropyl alcohol, both sides of PCB. Voila, blinkies will be forever gone and the game should play fine.

[tz101]

Also, does Virtua Racer not work on a Genesis 3? Mine doesn't seem to want to...

 

Things that will not work with a Genesis model 3 system:

 

Virtua Racing game cart

Gargoyles game cart

Sega CD add-on

32X add-on

 

Also, no stereo sound on the Genesis model 3

 

FYI...

[CGQuarterly]

http://www.cgquarterly.com/articles/blinknes.htm

 

Chris

[GregadetH]

Take the unit apart and look for the 10NES lockout chip. Clipping pin number 4 (see picture) will disable it and stop the blinking screen at startup.

 

 

Be aware, this will not automatically make the game cartridge be recognized by the NES console. If the contact pins are dirty, you will now get a solid pink colored screen. So, next in order, is to thoroughly clean the 72 pin connector inside the console along with the contacts in the game cart. I recommend very fine grit sandpaper used with light force followed by 91% isopropyl alcohol, both sides of PCB. Voila, blinkies will be forever gone and the game should play fine.

 

I completely forgot that I had to do this as well.

[Tr3vor]

other symptoms of dirty connectors, is vertical lines, garbled backrounds and sprites, the pink screen, freezes, one time before i replaced mine, i was playing smb, in the middle of the game, i felt that i wanted to switch controllers, so i paused the game and replaced the controller. it unpaused and frose. there are a whole bunch of other glitchyness, but thats the most of it.

 

 

[shadow460]

Time to replace the connector. You can clip the lockout chip if you want to. I did in mine.

 

with a new connector, my NES fires up on the first or second try every single time, and I don't have to be anal about cleaning my games.

[Pyromaniac605]

Pink screen? never happened to me before any screenshots. (of a pink screen )

[Tr3vor]

Pink screen? never happened to me before any screenshots. (of a pink screen )

 

 

one time, i left my nes on for about an hour while flickering, it changed colors every time it turned on. so it game me a rainbow.

[Kris Snyder]

Well, the good news is that it will work as-is now with certain games - mainly the oldest ones for the system, it seems (ex. Rush'n Attack, Wizards & Warriors)...

 

Still, I had to give Rush'n Attack a good cleaning before even it would run correctly - I still need to break out the q-tips and clean the other games that I want to play first...

[CGQuarterly]

If you really want to clean your games properly, buy a security bit and clean them with a plastic eraser. The Q-tip method doesn't work that well. A plastic eraser will make the game's contacts look like new. (Still working on writing an article about this for CGQ...)

 

Chris

[tz101]

Pink screen? never happened to me before any screenshots. (of a pink screen )

 

Yes, pink screen is what normally flashes when you get the dreaded blinkies. Disabling 10NES only makes it quit blinking, but the screen is still solid pink if the games/72-pin connector are dirty from years of use. This is where isopropyl and q-tips come into the equation. Despite all the warning labels on the back of the game carts, alcohol will not damage them in the slightest. Clean away...