Bad memory or bad PS1?

[Nostalgic]

My PS1 has been occasionally erratic in reading memory cards, but it seemed to be only with one game (Super Puzzle Figher II Turbo), and was not very often, so I thought nothing of it. I attributed it to possibly the use of an off-brand memory card.

 

Today I fired up my PS1 to continue a game of FF1, only to find that FF1 insisted that I didn't have a game saved.

 

After several tries, I started up the PS1 with no CD so that I could use the memory card maintenance screen. It showed my memory card to be blank!

 

I took the card out and put it back in several times. It recognized the fact that I had use blocks on it only once or twice - among them, a saved FF1 game.

 

I pulled out another card - an actual Sony-brand card - and put it in. It took several attempts to have the PS1 recognize there were blocks on it.

 

Thinking the off-brand card might have gone bad, I copied its data to the Sony card.

 

Now neither FF1 nor Namco Museum 2 recognize the saved games on either card.

 

Do you think this is a case of two bad memory cards? (What's the life expectancy of those things anyway?) Could it be that my PS1 has gone bad and won't read anything?

[Mr.FoodMonster]

So, did the PS recognize that the 3rd party had 2 saves on it? If not, I think its either because the card sucks being 3rd party, or you messed up the card saves by turning the PS off during a loading/saving time. You know how it tells you not to reset/turn off your ps when reading the memory card? Thats because it will erase or currupt the saves. You may have done it right at an autosave point or something similar, and got it deleted.

[Nostalgic]

The third-party card (made by Nuby) worked very well for a long time. It was only one game in which it seemed to have trouble. The Sony card seemed to work consistently.

 

I'm also extremely careful about not pulling out the card during a save. In fact, up until yesterday, I never even pulled a card out while the power was on.

[sabeen557]

probably a bad card

[IronMongeR]

I'd put money on bad card or dirty connections. Give everything a good clean.

[Nostalgic]

I gave the card a little shot with some canned air, in hopes of eliminating some dust. It didn't seem to help.

 

What do you recommend that I use for cleaning? Do I clean just the cards, or do I shoot a little something through the memory card door into the PS1 itself?

[JB]

The third-party card (made by Nuby) worked very well for a long time.  It was only one game in which it seemed to have trouble.  The Sony card seemed to work consistently.

 

I'm also extremely careful about not pulling out the card during a save.  In fact, up until yesterday, I never even pulled a card out while the power was on.

I had a Nuby flake out. Had to reformat it to make it work right again.

 

And since for some reason Sony doesn't believe you should be able to reformat memory cards, you need a GameShark or Ation Replay to do that.

 

 

I've also got one that only reads in memcard slot 2.

[vb_master]

I use Zippo lighter fluid to clean contacts. A nice Q-Tip full of Zippo lighter fluid and a few swipes will clean it, then get the lighter fluid off with some water on a Q-Tip, then dry it with a dry Q-Tip.

[Nostalgic]

I didn't have any Zippo fluid handy, so I tried some Goo Gone instead. (If it's a bad card, what harm can this do? ) It had no effect.

 

I'm thinking that the card may have been corrupted. The game directory seems to be off. My Next Tetris and Puzzle Fighter blocks are missing and Namco Museum 2 takes up two blocks when it needs only one. There might also be the equivalent of lost clusters within some of the games. That could be why the PS1 with no game can get a directory of the card, but none of the games I tried can actually read the data.

 

If I can find some Zippo fluid, I'll give that a try, but I fear that my card's data has been corrupted, and my scores and FF1 game lost.

[JB]

I didn't have any Zippo fluid handy, so I tried some Goo Gone instead.  (If it's a bad card, what harm can this do? )  It had no effect.

 

I'm thinking that the card may have been corrupted.  The game directory seems to be off.  My Next Tetris and Puzzle Fighter blocks are missing and Namco Museum 2 takes up two blocks when it needs only one.  There might also be the equivalent of lost clusters within some of the games.  That could be why the PS1 with no game can get a directory of the card, but none of the games I tried can actually read the data.

 

If I can find some Zippo fluid, I'll give that a try, but I fear that my card's data has been corrupted, and my scores and FF1 game lost.  

 

Very likely. A format should restore it to working order.

But it's too late for the data.

[Nostalgic]

*sigh* Well, considering the Playstation is probably the least-played console that I have, and my saves (except FF1) were just high scores and configuration settings, I guess it's not too much lost. At least the PS itself doesn't appear to be fried.

 

Though losing a 50-60% complete game of FF1 doesn't make me happy...

 

Oh well. Thanks for the suggestions, everyone!