N64 corrupt memory cards. Any Fix?

[marcfrick2112]

Hey everyone, Well, for the 4th time, the memory cards in my N64 show up as corrupt.... I have 2 cards, one is a Nintendo card, one is Performance brand. I just can't keep saves on either card reliably. Roughly every 6 months, the card gets corrupted. Any ideas? I did clean/polish the contacts of the cards several times... using contact cleaner, iso. alcohol, etc. No Luck.

 

Thanks for any help!

 

[gdement]

Could it be caused by a particular game you use them with? A badly coded game could corrupt them. Not that I know which, if any, N64 games are known for doing that.

[fdurso224]

Hi guys,

 

I don't know if its possible to save those memory cards anymore. I had trouble years ago with the same issues and sadly, I had to do the games all over again with new cards!

 

Anthony....

[dendawg]

N64 Controller Paks (at least the first-party ones do) have batteries inside. Perhaps the battery is dead?

[fiddlepaddle]

N64 Controller Paks (at least the first-party ones do) have batteries inside. Perhaps the battery is dead?

Confirmed. CR2032, soldered in.

[shadow460]

N64 Controller Paks (at least the first-party ones do) have batteries inside. Perhaps the battery is dead?

 

I never would have guessed until I opened one up. Sure enough, they do. Those CR 2032 coin cells can withstand being charged, although I don't recommend trying. Perhaps the controller pak charges the cells while they're plugged into the system.

 

Three things I'd recommend:

Saving to the game cart whenever possible. Most have flash memory, but some still have batteries.

A Dex Drive.

Changing the batteries in your first party N64 controller paks. You could probably copy your game saves from pak to pak so that you never have to pull the battery from a pak that currently has anything saved on it.

 

I've never had one fail. Of course, not that I've jinxed myself, it is time for me to get that Dex Drive out and put it to use.

Edited May 31, 2010 by shadow460

[RARusk]

An interesting question.

 

Has anybody tried to make a Controller Pack that has a slot for something like an SD Card so you can save games to that instead? More and more of the Controller Packs, regardless of condition (even brand new) will become useless as the batteries die in them.

[marcfrick2112]

N64 Controller Paks (at least the first-party ones do) have batteries inside. Perhaps the battery is dead?

 

I never would have guessed until I opened one up. Sure enough, they do. Those CR 2032 coin cells can withstand being charged, although I don't recommend trying. Perhaps the controller pak charges the cells while they're plugged into the system.

 

Three things I'd recommend:

Saving to the game cart whenever possible. Most have flash memory, but some still have batteries.

A Dex Drive.

Changing the batteries in your first party N64 controller paks. You could probably copy your game saves from pak to pak so that you never have to pull the battery from a pak that currently has anything saved on it.

 

I've never had one fail. Of course, not that I've jinxed myself, it is time for me to get that Dex Drive out and put it to use.

 

 

Hey, Thanks much everyone! Well, it seems 2 of the 3 memory card batteries were dead. It's wierd tho, I really wouldn't think a badly-written game could corrupt a memory card.... But, the last time the card got corrupted was when I was playing SanFrancisco Rush 2049, just like this last time...

[kool kitty89]

Three things I'd recommend:

Saving to the game cart whenever possible. Most have flash memory, but some still have batteries.

A Dex Drive.

Changing the batteries in your first party N64 controller paks. You could probably copy your game saves from pak to pak so that you never have to pull the battery from a pak that currently has anything saved on it.

 

I've never had one fail. Of course, not that I've jinxed myself, it is time for me to get that Dex Drive out and put it to use.

 

Huh, didn't know any used flash, all thin info I've seen (at least for the official Nintendo Paks) listed 256 kB of battery backed SRAM. (not EEPROM or Flash, though both of those are listed for on-cart saving -as well as SRAM)