acidburn7683 Posted February 15, 2020 Share Posted February 15, 2020 (edited) Hey peeps, I'm in need of some help I purchased the following games recently from a local store and I'm having some problems getting Pitfall and River Raid to work (black screen) H.E.R.O however works flawlessly. I've cleaned the game contacts with isopropyl alcohol and the pins are now clean and shiny but the games still refuse to work. I've tried blowing the carts, wiggling the carts (sometimes I can get garbage to appear when wiggling), cleaning the console pins. I don't have this problem with any other cartridges that I own. Note I am in the UK and this is a PAL console. Edited February 15, 2020 by acidburn7683 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fluxit Posted February 15, 2020 Share Posted February 15, 2020 The boards on Activision carts are just very slightly thinner than those in carts from other companies. If the contacts in your Atari's slot are getting spread to the point where they just barely make usable contact with the carts that do work for you, carts that are dirtier, rougher, or thinner may not work. Are you sure that you've gotten those cart 'fingers' completely clean though? My method is 90% or better isopropyl alcohol on a cotton swab until the contacts on that side of the cart look shiny... then I switch to a new swab and clean again. If the swab is still completely white after using it to clean then I'm done with that side. If the carbon on the contacts is still able to turn the swab grey at all, I switch to a new swab and do it again. IOW, just because the contacts *look* clean and shiny doesn't mean that they are actually clean and it does make a difference. If all else fails, it's also usually possible to retension the contacts in the Atari's slot to give it a better grip, but it takes care not to cause damage because the slot contacts are easily over bent. A little goes a long way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acidburn7683 Posted February 15, 2020 Author Share Posted February 15, 2020 8 minutes ago, fluxit said: The boards on Activision carts are just very slightly thinner than those in carts from other companies. If the contacts in your Atari's slot are getting spread to the point where they just barely make usable contact with the carts that do work for you, carts that are dirtier, rougher, or thinner may not work. Are you sure that you've gotten those cart 'fingers' completely clean though? My method is 90% or better isopropyl alcohol on a cotton swab until the contacts on that side of the cart look shiny... then I switch to a new swab and clean again. If the swab is still completely white after using it to clean then I'm done with that side. If the carbon on the contacts is still able to turn the swab grey at all, I switch to a new swab and do it again. IOW, just because the contacts *look* clean and shiny doesn't mean that they are actually clean and it does make a difference. If all else fails, it's also usually possible to retension the contacts in the Atari's slot to give it a better grip, but it takes care not to cause damage because the slot contacts are easily over bent. A little goes a long way. They are definitely clean. I've used 99% isopropyl and brasso. I think you might be onto something with the thinner boards but I do have a couple of other activision carts that work fine the H.E.R.O. for example works flawlessly. I suppose I could remove the pcb from the cartridge and flow some solder onto the pins for a better connection if that is it but I'll probably just return the cartridges to the shop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prizrak Posted February 15, 2020 Share Posted February 15, 2020 I picked up a few Activision carts from my local retro shop and none worked right out the gate. I cleaned with running e alcohol and that seemed to do the trick but took a few times. They tend to be more finicky after 40 years than my other carts, probably due to the thinner pcb they mentioned.Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jstick Posted February 15, 2020 Share Posted February 15, 2020 5 hours ago, acidburn7683 said: They are definitely clean. I've used 99% isopropyl and brasso. I think you might be onto something with the thinner boards but I do have a couple of other activision carts that work fine the H.E.R.O. for example works flawlessly. I suppose I could remove the pcb from the cartridge and flow some solder onto the pins for a better connection if that is it but I'll probably just return the cartridges to the shop. Make sure that you clean your cartridge port as well. Swab some IPA on the contacts of a clean cart, and then while it is still wet, fully insert and remove from the system several times. Clean the contacts on the cart, and repeat. Allow time for the alcohol to dry before turning on the system and testing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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