I have had a couple of the earlier pulse line carts being dead. Such as Baseball and Donkey Kong.
These carts are light weight, I think they are all glob top carts. (?)
Duck Hunt is also often dead, I don't know why this one in particular.
Basically the game shows a grey screen when starting. And the pins are all very clean. :) I think these carts don't last as long as other carts.
Usually 99%+ of carts work of course.
Quick question - but have you cleaned your Fami pins as well? I get issues with dirty carts that then seem to transfer to the fami - so I have to clean them both... Worth checking :)
Quote from: L___E___T on February 18, 2016, 04:42:03 am
Quick question - but have you cleaned your Fami pins as well? I get issues with dirty carts that then seem to transfer to the fami - so I have to clean them both... Worth checking :)
Yes -- I have cleaned several thousands games.... I sell Japanese video games as a profession.
Then this is somewhat worrying... :(
Have you tried using sandpaper to clean the carts as a result? I've heard of some people using sandpaper as a last resort for defective NES cartridges. I'm not sure how well it works.
I'd avoid sandpaper. Try using brasso on the cart connectors carefully before actually using anything super abrasive. I wouldn't be surprised if it is bit rot finally rearing it's ugly head either, but there is no harm in trying.
http://www.amazon.com/Brasso-Multipurpose-Metal-Polish-8-oz/dp/B00BILDIU4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1456336408&sr=8-1&keywords=brasso
This is very concerning. Any way to prevent this?
Brasso picks up a ton of gunk that rubbing alcohol doesn't. Hopefully residual grime is still the issue here. (I have not had any NES or Fami cart die permanently)
Quote from: fredJ on February 18, 2016, 02:59:01 am
I have had a couple of the earlier pulse line carts being dead. Such as Baseball and Donkey Kong.
These carts are light weight, I think they are all glob top carts. (?)
Duck Hunt is also often dead, I don't know why this one in particular.
Basically the game shows a grey screen when starting. And the pins are all very clean. :) I think these carts don't last as long as other carts.
Usually 99%+ of carts work of course.
could you vouch the all earlier carts are glob top carts?
i believe that glob tops are just re-spins. Earlier carts are always with chips. http://bootgod.dyndns.org:7777/profile.php?id=3545 http://bootgod.dyndns.org:7777/profile.php?id=2185 http://bootgod.dyndns.org:7777/profile.php?id=3709
but, yes, indeed, glob tops silently suddenly goes to death sometimes.
Post Merge: February 25, 2016, 08:41:05 am
Quote from: fredJ on February 20, 2016, 02:41:19 am
Yes -- I have cleaned several thousands games.... I sell Japanese video games as a profession.
ah, that explains everything.
glob tops are more sensitive to temperature shocks and storing conditions. Nobody knows under what conditions used carts were stored and where.
how about an quick experiment?
1) grab junky sport game (glob top inside)
2) get it frozen
3) unfreeze it.
4) check it.
5) go to 1)
it's pretty much interesting how much freeze cycles glop tops cart could experience without harm :)
Quote from: famifan on February 25, 2016, 08:29:52 am
Quote from: fredJ on February 18, 2016, 02:59:01 am
I have had a couple of the earlier pulse line carts being dead. Such as Baseball and Donkey Kong.
These carts are light weight, I think they are all glob top carts. (?)
Duck Hunt is also often dead, I don't know why this one in particular.
Basically the game shows a grey screen when starting. And the pins are all very clean. :) I think these carts don't last as long as other carts.
Usually 99%+ of carts work of course.
could you vouch the all earlier carts are glob top carts?
i believe that glob tops are just re-spins. Earlier carts are always with chips. http://bootgod.dyndns.org:7777/profile.php?id=3545 http://bootgod.dyndns.org:7777/profile.php?id=2185 http://bootgod.dyndns.org:7777/profile.php?id=3709
but, yes, indeed, glob tops silently suddenly goes to death sometimes.
Post Merge: February 25, 2016, 08:41:05 am
Quote from: fredJ on February 20, 2016, 02:41:19 am
Yes -- I have cleaned several thousands games.... I sell Japanese video games as a profession.
ah, that explains everything.
glob tops are more sensitive to temperature shocks and storing conditions. Nobody knows under what conditions used carts were stored and where.
how about an quick experiment?
1) grab junky sport game (glob top inside)
2) get it frozen
3) unfreeze it.
4) check it.
5) go to 1)
it's pretty much interesting how much freeze cycles glop tops cart could experience without harm :)
I haven't had Donkey Kong die, sorry.
It was Donkey Kong 3 that died.
http://bootgod.dyndns.org:7777/profile.php?id=3397
and baseball
http://bootgod.dyndns.org:7777/profile.php?id=1449
(although I had pulse line cart)
But Duck Hunt seems to be with chips, I don't know why this is more sensitive to dying.
I opened up the DK 3 cart and it has a lot of marks right above the pins. Maybe the games are more sensitive to being pushed around in the connector? I can't test all the connections because they are hidden under the globs. :) But this could be a reason.
Some games do seem more sensitive to being damaged this way. I think I've had two rockman 2 carts that were broken this way.
I opened Duck Hunt now and it had a "bubbly" back side. The previous dead Duck Hunt I couldn't find.
Could be manufacturing problems with some carts.
Oh, to add.
Out of the thousands of games I've tested, only 15 or so didn't work.
3 of them were rockman games, and at least 5 were Nintendo games. So I thought that was suspicious.
I remember I also had a Popeye English that didn't work.
http://bootgod.dyndns.org:7777/profile.php?id=3867
It doesn't have glob tops either.
Maybe some trace was cracked/cut off the board of the cartridge?
fredJ, glad to know, thanks.
so, the pattern of death is not so predictable and probably not strongly related to the age.
what if those 15 carts were electrically damaged say by static discharge intentionally or accidentally?
Yeesh. That's unfortunate. None of my Fami carts are dead, though one does have an issue with lines. The only dead carts I've ever come across were Sim City for SNES, and Columns for Genesis.
Quote from: zmaster18 on March 15, 2016, 09:32:51 am
Maybe some trace was cracked/cut off the board of the cartridge?
Yes that is likely. :)
Quote from: famifan on March 15, 2016, 09:38:30 am
fredJ, glad to know, thanks.
so, the pattern of death is not so predictable and probably not strongly related to the age.
what if those 15 carts were electrically damaged say by static discharge intentionally or accidentally?
Yes you are right.
I don't think it is so much static discharge actually, if this was a problem then a lot of carts would have suffered.
Usually the board traces are damaged. Or other physical damage.
But I will keep investigating and keep you updated. Now that I know how to open carts it will be possible....
Sorry if I have shocked you all! It wasn't as bad as I thought! You can go back to collecting now!
This kind of reminds me of an issue with the Roland Juno 106 synth where the filter/amplifier chips go bad because of the epoxy covering them: http://www.echrepairs.com/2014/03/juno-106-80017a-chip-repair.html (http://www.echrepairs.com/2014/03/juno-106-80017a-chip-repair.html)