Is it possible to open a M Network carts?

[Sega Dude]

My copy of Burgertime is giving be trouble again. I want to open it up and to clean it more thoroughly. But I don't think it can be opened because the case appears to be one piece. Is there a way to open it? I don't want to distory the cart as its a rareish game.

[solidcorp]

Before trying to open it, I'd just try cleaning the pins of the cartridge. Most if not all cartridge problems I've had were dirty or oxidized pins.

 

Accessing the cartridge printed circuit board pins

 

I looked online for the 2600 Burgertime cartridge, but can't find any pictures of the mouth of the cartridge. Forgive me if I am stating the obvious here: Either the printed circuit board (PCB) pins are exposed like in Activision carts, or there is a protective door that slides up to reveal the pins like Atari cartridges. If there is a door, it can be slid up to reveal the pins on the edge of the PCB by gently pressing in the slots in the door. If you look at the cartridge port on the Atari 2600 you will see it has two slots to receive pins and two pins that go into slots in Atari cartridges. Each set of pins pressing into each set of slots mechanically moves a protective door away to allow the edge of the cartridge PCB to be inserted into the card edge connector inside the Atari 2600 cartridge slot. To clean the pins of a cartridge with a door, you simply trigger the latch and gently push and hold the door up out of the way while cleaning.

 

Cleaning

 

To clean the pins, I have two favorite methods:

 

1. Use a pencil eraser. Pencil erasers on pencils, or "Pink Pearl" type erasers are slightly abrasive and slightly gummy and will shine up PCB cartridge pins if you patiently keep rubbing them with clean parts of the eraser. Be sure to clean ALL the pins - both sides and all the way into the corners. More rubbing is generally better than more pressure, but you will see what is working and will get the hang of it. Be sure not to damage the PCB traces by scraping the with the metal eraser holder on the back of a pencil for example. Make sure you allow all the eraser dust to fall out of the cartridge and not in. For heavily oxidized connectors I have used typing or ink erasers - If you were around when the 2600 was new you probably know what I'm talking about, if not... anyway, they tend to be white or grey, harder, more brittle and more abrasive. I DO NOT RECOMMEND ANY SANDPAPER, STEEL WOOL, EMMERY BOARDS, ETC. they are too abrasive and will probably do more harm than good - steel wool is also conductive and stray fibers can short out your cartridge or console.

 

2. Rubbing alcohol. Rub the pins clean with clean cotton swabs dipped in rubbing alcohol. You know you are on the right track if the cotton swab looks dirty after the first rubbing. Once again, angle the cartridge slightly mouth down so that any alcohol and dirt run out of and not into the cartridge body. Clean both top and bottom well into the corners. Since it is not abrasive you can scrub pretty hard if it is giving you results... well as hard as the swab will allow. Try not to leave cotton fibers all over in the cartridge. When done, wipe out with a clean swab or paper towel end to absorb any left over alcohol and mop up any stray cotton.

 

I've used both on the same pins, usually the alcohol first then the eraser.

 

Good luck and share your results here - successful or not.

[iwan-iwanowitsch-goratschin]

http://www.atariage.com/forums/topic/47829-m-network-carts/#entry578814

[Sega Dude]

Good luck and share your results here - successful or not.

 

I wanted to open the cart so I could use the eraser method. I can clean the top part ok with a pencil eraser but there's not enough space the get the eraser in on the underside. I have to jam it in and I can barley move it. No luck, I either get a black screen or different colored bars with some sort of tone playing.

[solidcorp]

It is tighter under the cart than above; .215" as opposed to .35" but you should be able to find some way to get an eraser in there.

 

 

Can you cut a wedge style "Pink Pearl", or arrow/cap style eraser to be thin enough to get in there?

 

These are also long-shots but just to be sure, are you sure your cartridge is seating fully and the doors aren't jamming or something. Also, do all other cartridges work fine in your console?

 

Good luck.

[shadow460]

Yep, just peel up the plastic tabs a bit and the guts slide out the front. Everything's supposed to be mounted to the adapter. I used cyanoacrylate super glue to hold a Dark Cavern board in place. That runs a risk of damaging the board. Epoxy is your best bet for holding the board in.

 

I say that because I've seen the boards slip deeper into M Network carts and it will cause them to act all kinds of weird.

[toymailman]

I've had good luck with cleaning by carefully scraping the contacts with an exacto knife. It can usually reach into most carts as well.

[solidcorp]

I would be very careful using cyanoacrylate (super glue) on electronic parts because it can be conductive. I used to use it to place surface mount chips before soldering them but I stopped once I got it on the pins of the micro-controller and spent a ton of time debugging it. Cyanoacrylate has fantastic tensile strength, good compressive strength but is very weak laterally, so depending on how the joint is stressed it may not be adequate. If the issue is mechanical - i.e. the board can be pushed back into the housing; I agree that something stronger like Epoxy or JB Weld has a better chance of working.

 

Another idea would be to back fill the cartridge shell with hot glue - just enough to stop the PCB from being pushed back into the shell, it doesn't even need to adhere to the board, though it could. It's unlikely to damage electronics and can usually be removed. If you really want it to be removable, spray the inside of the shell and PCB with a little mold release like WD-40 or Pam cooking spray. BE SURE NOT TO GET EITHER OF THEM ON THE LABEL. Then later, usually the hot glue casting can be removed if the shape of the cartridge permits it to be (and if not, needle nose pliers and dental tools are very, shall we say, persuasive with hot glue, especially if it has not bonded to surfaces). Also be sure not to melt any of the housing when depositing the glue - keep the metal hot glue gun nozzle out of the shell.

 

All that being said, if shadow460 found anything that worked, I defer to his experience - he has way more first hand knowledge about M Network cartridges than I do.

[shadow460]

Yeah, cyanoacrylate isn't the best for electronics, but I had another Dark Cavern in stock so I wasn't worried much.

 

And when it comes to Atari stuff, I don't consider myself a very smart guy. I just do what I gotta do to fix 'em.

[Sega Dude]

Yep, just peel up the plastic tabs a bit and the guts slide out the front.

 

What exactly do you mean by this?

[CPUWIZ]

What exactly do you mean by this?

 

Look at the picture that iwan linked to, I posted that ages ago.