Wow ... is it just me, or is this all wrong ... NES cleaning

[SlowCoder]

Yeah, I was browsing Wired.com and ran on this article. I'd have thought the info here would have been so much better. *raised eyebrow *

 

http://howto.wired.com/wiki/Fix_Your_Broken_NES

 

Specifically, I'm talking about the sections on cleaning the cartridges ...

 

Now, fire up the NES. If the power light flashes on and off, try turning it off and back on again (the first try warms up the connectors which improves the flow of electricity for the second or third attempt). In addition to this technique, I often put the cart under my shirt and blow a slow breath of air onto the contacts. The humidity and warmth help the initial flow of electricity. I'm so used to this method, that I don't even think about it. Unlike many voodoo methods (hard fast blows which might clear dust off a hardly used game but nothing else), this one actually works extremely consistently. None of my friends can get my NES to work, but I get it every time.

 

...

 

Don't forget to clean off the contacts on your games if they look filthy. A paper towel folded over a few times, dampened and wrapped around a butter knife simulates the original NES cleaning kit quite well. You can use a rubbing alcohol cleaner or water. Just don't stick such a contraption in the NES console itself or you'll probably hook and bend some of the pins on your 72-pin connector.

 

So much wrong ...

[Drixxel]

A damp (with water!) paper towel? Wrapped around a butter knife? Jabbed against the cart contacts? Good lord, way to encourage corrosion and gunk shit up with residual fibers.

[Reaperman]

So he gets it to 'work every time?' Except the times it doesn't work, and then he's just 'warming up the connectors' for his second or third attempt.

 

If I recall some unlicensed games wanted a little of the old rapid power cycles to trick the 10nes chip. I seriously doubt that's what's going on here, though. This is some kind of voodoo rain dance.

 

Keep your games properly cleaned, recondition/replace the cart connector, disable 10nes--life is too easy to bother with the blinky light dance with every game.

Edited September 14, 2012 by Reaperman

[Game-Tech.US]

Just don't stick such a contraption in the NES console itself or you'll probably hook and bend some of the pins on your 72-pin connector.

He does get this part right, sorta, i've hooked and bent pins with 'certain' official nes black cleaner carts.

The ones that are a hard felt are fine, but become useless (on the top loader at least) if soaked in just about anything, they loose their rigidity and get crushed when inserted.

Some have a silk like sleeve over plastic that will grab pins and bend them as you yank it out, but are perfect for repeatedly cleaning the nes-101 connectors.

All the other ones i've seen have a plastic like almost fine sand paper material covering a rigid plastic card, i.e. the pink eliminator and the grey one from Docs(?).

[HatefulGravey]

Just imagine, now when grandma finds her sons old NES in the attic she can look on the net, find that it is worth 13k and then find bad information on how clean it as well. I just love this stuff.

[keilbaca]

I really need to get around to making my tutorial videos on how to clean these things, and cartridges. This is just a quick and easy way to destroy a Nintendo.

[Arkhan]

I use an eraser and or silly putty to clean the contacts off. Works every time.

 

 

Anyone who wraps a paper towel around a butterknife is a jackass.

[godslabrat]

Reminds me of all the "helpful" advice you'll read on the internet, saying the best way to get out a certain stain is to mix ammonia and bleach together.

 

Hint: Don't do this.

[Cebus Capucinis]

Reminds me of all the "helpful" advice you'll read on the internet, saying the best way to get out a certain stain is to mix ammonia and bleach together.

 

Hint: Don't do this.

 

I did that completely by accident once when I was 16, working at a Dollar store. It was a stupid move -- I needed to clean the bathrooms, and we had just barely enough of 1 cleaner w/ bleach, so I grabbed the first thing off the shelf I could find. In my defense, I checked the packaging, but nowhere on it did it say it contained ammonia; nonetheless, mixing cleaners in general is just stupid! I went into the bathroom with the mop bucket, closed the door, and poured in the new cleaner.....there was no ventilation since I closed the door, got a small lungful of the mixture.

 

It is singlehandedly the most painful, horrific, and traumatizing experience anyone could ever have. You're conscious, you KNOW you're in deep sh%&, and you're trying SO hard to breathe but you can't......literally the only thing that goes through your mind is "I AM GOING TO DIE. THIS IS IT. I AM GOING TO DIE.".......you consciously know that if someone calls 911, they won't even remotely arrive on time to keep you alive, and your chest hurts like no tomorrow and all you can go is gag non-stop. All it took was one glancing half-breath of the mixture, nothing more; I staggered out the door and fell down in an aisle, and got lucky in that I managed to hack it up literally milliseconds before losing consciousness. Less than a second more and I likely would have ended up in a coffin, since I wouldn't have been able to continue coughing.

 

So yes, don't do this!

[Reaperman]

Am I the only one now thinking of starting a rumor along the lines of "1 part ammonia, 1 part bleach is the only way to get NES carts to really work 100%?"

 

If it didn't work for you, try it in a tighter space while blowing on the connector. It's really the fumes that do the cleaning, you don't even have to put the liquid on the cart. It does this by pulling the oxygen out of the air and totally deoxidizes the cart contacts in as little as a few seconds without causing label damage.

 

Nintendo was planning on releasing an official kit for doing this, but they did the math and replacement cart sales earned them more money. Those evil jerks.

Edited September 20, 2012 by Reaperman

[Arkhan]

i had a friend who cleaned his NES games by putting them completely underwater and shaking them til they stopped dripping

 

 

His nes died.

[DeusExMachina]

I did that completely by accident once when I was 16, working at a Dollar store. It was a stupid move -- I needed to clean the bathrooms, and we had just barely enough of 1 cleaner w/ bleach, so I grabbed the first thing off the shelf I could find. In my defense, I checked the packaging, but nowhere on it did it say it contained ammonia; nonetheless, mixing cleaners in general is just stupid! I went into the bathroom with the mop bucket, closed the door, and poured in the new cleaner.....there was no ventilation since I closed the door, got a small lungful of the mixture.

 

It is singlehandedly the most painful, horrific, and traumatizing experience anyone could ever have. You're conscious, you KNOW you're in deep sh%&, and you're trying SO hard to breathe but you can't......literally the only thing that goes through your mind is "I AM GOING TO DIE. THIS IS IT. I AM GOING TO DIE.".......you consciously know that if someone calls 911, they won't even remotely arrive on time to keep you alive, and your chest hurts like no tomorrow and all you can go is gag non-stop. All it took was one glancing half-breath of the mixture, nothing more; I staggered out the door and fell down in an aisle, and got lucky in that I managed to hack it up literally milliseconds before losing consciousness. Less than a second more and I likely would have ended up in a coffin, since I wouldn't have been able to continue coughing.

 

So yes, don't do this!

 

As a child, the mad scientist in me took over one day when I was told to clean the garage. In the garage I found motor oil, ammonia and chlorine crystals for a swiming pool (we didn't have a pool). I mixed them together and the oil started to bubble with a white smoke. The next thing I knew, the garage was filled with smoke. My father came out and asked what I was doing and told me that I could kill myself if I inhaled that gas. He opened the garage door and let the gas out. I learned my lesson that day...the next time I tried it was in a big hole that I dug in the backyard....fun times!

[Pixelboy]

Someone call Jeff Foxworthy. We found an actual redneck.

[SlowCoder]

Someone call Jeff Foxworthy. We found an actual redneck.

That was an actual LOL. I really did laugh out loud! *wipes tears from cheeks*