TheRealAnubis Posted June 13, 2014 Share Posted June 13, 2014 (edited) Hi, I'm new in the TI hobby, but I've had 4 consoles apart in the last few weeks, and EVERY one has a problem with the cartridge port. The little 'felt' piece inside of the port is deteriorating and turning into some type of sticky oily substance. I even have one that looks white and new, but on closer inspection, it's soaked with this oily substance! Once the deterioration gets advanced, the 'felt' turns brown and starts breaking off and getting inside the cartridge and the cartridge port. I would highly recommend taking your TI apart and popping off the right angle connector, then remove the black cover piece (snaps off), then I've been taking a small straight tip screwdriver and scraping that gunk out of there, followed by a wash and dry with alcohol. If everyone already knows about this, I apologize, but just in case, I wanted to help! Update - Well, I guess it isn't a secret - here's some good pictures: http://mainbyte.com/ti99/minimem/cart_fix.html Edited June 13, 2014 by TheRealAnubis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted June 13, 2014 Share Posted June 13, 2014 The oily gunk on the felt really is a light, non-conductive oil. That's why the new one looked like it has oil in it. You are right that the stuff causes problems. I used to take them out and spray them with contact cleaner to get rid of the gunk and put them back, but they are getting to the disintegration point now, so the only real option is to remove them. The oil was to collect the dust and little bits of metal dust from the cartridge contacts, but it was a really bad idea. Once the gunk had too much metal dust in it, it bean to short out the various contacts and the machine became erratic or didn't work at all. Your advice is good too--I generally remove the felt from any console I get now, even the more-or-less pristine ones. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRealAnubis Posted June 14, 2014 Author Share Posted June 14, 2014 Ksarul - Good to know! I was wondering why the cartridges, cartridge port, etc. were all so oily! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted June 23, 2014 Share Posted June 23, 2014 Ksarul - Good to know! I was wondering why the cartridges, cartridge port, etc. were all so oily! I remember that oily felt was problematic way back in 1985 even. Damn near everyone in the user group removed that stuff! I can only imagine how bad it had gotten in 30 years! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRealAnubis Posted June 24, 2014 Author Share Posted June 24, 2014 I remember that oily felt was problematic way back in 1985 even. Damn near everyone in the user group removed that stuff! I can only imagine how bad it had gotten in 30 years! One of them totally turned into a brown goo that was all sticky.. Yikes! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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