Guh... my NES has fallen ill!

[PatMan33]

I powered up my NES this morning to do a few rounds of Dr. Mario before having to shove off into the real world but alas there was a problem. The controllers no longer worked! Try as I might, none of my controllers would work in my beloved console. Standard controller, light guns, power pads... nothing worked! It seems obvious that it is an internal problem... I've got no qualms about going into the machine (I've done it many times in the past) to fix things but does anyone have any idea what the problem could be?

I'm wagering that the connector has gone bad but could there be another cause to it? Some of my games had started acting up last week which made me think that the pin connector was going cross-eyed but the problem went away and I let it be.

Thanks for your help!

[NintendoKing]

I have replacement controller ports, for NES but I doubt thats the problem. Its most likely a fried motherboard, as original NES wasn't built to last.

[UglyJoe]

If the motherboard were fried, I don't think it would power on.

I would guess it's a cold solder joint, but this is really more of a 133mhz question 

[son_ov_hades]

The mother board on my NES went slowly. First the games blinked, then the controllers didn't work, then it stopped powering on at all. The old NES design is not very good to say the least.

[133MHz]

133mhz question

So now there's a whole genre of questions carrying my nickname Well, let's get at it

First things first, this is the area of the NES motherboard we'll be focusing on (clickie to see bigger):


First, to discard the possibility of a bad controller socket, swap the green controller connector plugs at the motherboard. This will swap the controller order at the front of your NES, so Player 1 will now be connected to Port 2. Since it's very unlikely that both controller ports would crap out at the same time, the controller should come back to life if the socket was indeed the culprit, and now Player 2 will be dead.

If it doesn't come back to life, check if 5V are reaching the controller sockets:

You should get 5V between pins 1 & 2.

If none of the former options give satisfactory results, then you have an electronic problem. Again, since it's very unlikely that both controllers would crap out at the same time, and since the controller interfacing circuit with the CPU is exactly the same for each individual controller, swapping components between the two is a good strategy. First, check the diode arrays marked DA1, DA2, DA3 and DA4 on the motherboard (the black horizontal thingies arranged in pairs on the picture). Try swapping them and see if controller 1 resuscitates. Lastly if that doesn't fix it, check the Controller I/O chips marked TC40H368P. A direct replacement for this chip is the 74HC368 and it's slightly over 50 US cents at my local electronics dealer.

Wish you good luck on resuscitating your NES!

[PatMan33]

Unfortunately nothing has worked and I am not equipped to go in and swap chips out. I'd almost say that considering what would have to be done to get the thing working again, it would be easier and less stressful to just buy a new (used) NES. It's not like they're all that expensive anyway...

Thank you for your help though! Plus, now I've got an extra NES chassis sitting around... maybe I can turn it into some kind of art thing and put it on display (or sell it to crazy people).

[133MHz]

Sure, glad to be able to help

And yeah, if you don't have the time/patience/skill/gear/etc to replace a chip or two, it's better to get another NES motherboard or another NES.

[son_ov_hades]

Get one of the top loaders. They are kind of expensive but it's worth it. The redesign is so much more dependable.

[133MHz]

Might be a good excuse to upgrade

[nurd]

Get one of the top loaders. They are kind of expensive but it's worth it. The redesign is so much more dependable.

But you can't stack things on top of it

[PatMan33]

It's a shame because I had that console working perfectly. I never had to blow into any of my games, they all started up right away. A top loader has been on my list for a while anyway but I still want a working NES.


**EDIT**
The madness has come over me... perhaps I'll turn it into some kind of handheld bastard child...

[NintendoKing]

Get one of the top loaders. They are kind of expensive but it's worth it. The redesign is so much more dependable.

I agree. I love my Official NES 101 Toploader. Its beautiful and always loads the game the first time even if its clean or not.

[zipzipi900]

Yeah get  a NES 2.They have a more sleeker design than the original NES
and they load games perfectly Even though you need a converter for the
game genie lol'