2 out of 4 32x carts not working

[ussexplorer]

I hope it is just me and I need to clean the connectors more. I cleaned the cart connectors and get the following.

 

Doom = Some can't of data eng err that appears on the screen. Then the game loose portion of it and locks up. It was working just fine and I cleaned the contacts of the game up nice.

 

 

Knuckles Chaotica. (Just picked up MIB) 5.00

 

Copyright shows up then make a noise and turns to blank screen. The contacts and cart look brand new. I cleaned it anyway and find hardly any dirt.

 

 

The star wars 32x works fine. Shows the copyrigh screen. Then make a sound and loads up just fine. No problems. I think it might have locked up once can't remeber.

 

 

Cleaned the contacts on the 32x itself between the genesis to 32x. They was pretty dirty. I was suprised since I cleaned them like 3 months ago and got it looking all good.

 

 

The big problem is I can't really clean the contacts on the genesis cart slot or 32x cart slot. I'm going to try a few things today. But I don't expect much luck.

 

All 16 big games work fine through the 32x adaptor.

 

Thanks for any help,

 

ussexplorer

[ussexplorer]

The doom game was working just fine after I got it and played it several times. Then out of the blue it started acting up.

[Bratwurst]

It's clear that your 32X is working fine as a passthrough to the Genesis since 16-bit games will play without incident. A likely problem is that inside the 32X unit some of the ribbon cables have become unseated or are dirty on their contact edges. If you do decide to play around in there be careful with them, they're fragile.

[ussexplorer]

Well after posting the message I got it to work. I finally opened up my 32x unit thinking it was the ribbon cable and to see if I could clean the connectors some more. Everything looked brand new except for the dust where the cart slot it at. I pushed on the ribbon cables and nothing happened. They looked well seated. After pondering how to clean without a cleaning kit. This is what I did

 

1. Took a 720k floppy disk and ripped it apart

2. took one side and cut any lines out to make a smooth peice of plastic

3. took one coffee filter and wrapped it around the plastic

4. put some rubbing alcohol on the coffee filter. Just the part that was going to be inserted into the card connector.

5. Cleaned the 32x adaptor. Yes you could see the gunk. Not as much as I suspected.

6. Cleaned the 16 bit genesis II system. More gunk than the 32x but still not as much as expected after seeing the bottom card edge of the 32x.

7. left top off for test run. Ran great. Put top back on 32x.

8. Cleaned my Genesis I and Power base with each new filter or another portion of used one.

 

I guess a dirty connector is a sign of good playing. It seems to me the more games one plays. The faster it gets dirty. Yes I do clean all the carts I shove into it too.

 

Once again thanks for any help.

 

later,

 

ussexplorer

[SS]

I’ve always found the 32X to be extremely sensitive to dust and dirt issues.