So for the past couple of days, I've been playing some games on my front-loading NES. I've been having difficulty getting them to function.
I know that you can clean them with rubbing alcohol and whatnot, but I think that's not the problem. It seems that the pins must be exactly aligned with the pin connector's pin readers. But once I've aligned them, it really only works when I put weight on the top of the cart. Oh, and by the way, I've taken out the black thing you push up and down along with the dust shield, and the plastic cover of the NES.
Why is it that the games must have something pushing them down? I just want to get to the bottom of what the heck is so hard about getting games to work in the front loader. Any ideas?
seems like you need a new cart connector don't you? New aftermarket ones can be gotten online as I am sure your aware.
edit: wait a moment your removed the black pushy down thingy?
front loaders need that because the type of connector needs something holding down the cartridge(I forget what that type of connector is called). Top loaders are just use tension and do not require this
I got one on ebay and now my NES works like my other consoles: just insert the cartridge and it works. You don't have to pusch the cart down or anything, it fits very tightly, like any other console with a decent cartridge system (SNES, Mega Drive, Master System...).
What peppers said. The whole idea of the pushy-down-clicky-thing, though only designed to cause problems apparently, is required for the console to function properly.
I purchased a new pin connector about a year ago. It worked really well at first, but now it doesn't work so well. Is there a way to tighten it?
About the black thing, I still have it, and I can put it back in. But it's really hard for me to position the cartridge perfectly with it in. It just seemed annoying, so I took it out.
I just don't understand WHY you need to push the cartridge down in order for it to work. Are the top and bottom pin readers not parallel inside the connector? If they are, I don't understand why you need to push it down.
If the connector is good enough, you don't need to push it down. Out of habit I still do it even after I purchased my new connector, but I now make sure to take my carts out after I get done playing. That way there is alot less wear on it.
You can actually take your connector out and use something like a paperclip to bend the pins back up a tad, but be very careful when you do that so you don't break any or something of the sort. Also, this is just a short term solution, as it won't last forever.
I dont think thats a good idea, people do that but it can damage your cartriges.
I have an original NES front-loading model and a NES-compatible top-loading model (Phantom System). Some carts have problems working with the NES, while there's no issues with the top-loading console. It worked after cleaning the connectors (both NES and cartridge) with dry cotton.
Celius wrote:
I purchased a new pin connector about a year ago. It worked really well at first, but now it doesn't work so well. Is there a way to tighten it?
About the black thing, I still have it, and I can put it back in. But it's really hard for me to position the cartridge perfectly with it in. It just seemed annoying, so I took it out.
I just don't understand WHY you need to push the cartridge down in order for it to work. Are the top and bottom pin readers not parallel inside the connector? If they are, I don't understand why you need to push it down.
because its not a tension connector, its designed to not make full contact without it being held down. The idea was so the games would be easy to slide in and out without anything holing it down but it was found that this type of connector wares out too quickley to they lost this idea
Oviousley the black thingy wont be much good without a case for the cartrige if you want to do without it hold it down with something else or leave a game genie inside.
dont put too much pressure on it or the connector with just wear out more quickley
You can also disable the lockout chip - that seems to cause less problems, seeing as that's what causes the blinking problems.
(But you may want to make sure you have an extra NES at hand; you never know when you may need to test for compatibility issues.)
Just FYI saw through pin 4 of 10NES. Internal pulldown takes care of everything, etc, something about a fish & a horse...
I actually own 3 front loaders, and 2 yobo famiclones. I think I'm good for having spare ones. However, they are in storage right now, which I can't access, since the only vehicle I have access to is broken, and storage is far away from here.
On my other two NESs, the lockout is disabled. One I tried to turn into a CopyNES, but for some reason, it didn't seem to work. It's not even really a blinking issue a lot of the time, it's just a gray screen.
Is there any way to tighten the connector? When I first bought it, it was a lot tighter than it is now. It actually worked perfectly when I bought it. It seems like if there's a way to make it loose, it's possible there's a way to make it tight again.
The NES have the crappiest connector in the world. No matter what you're doing, there is no way to make it work reliably. You can maybe increase or decrease the probability that a game will work, but you will never reach 100% probability.
I found that not putting the cart in all the way can get you some working results. I was actually able to play the game without any interruptions. Usually once I get a game working, there aren't any interruptions like the game freezes or anything like that.
But I have to agree that the front loading connector is a piece of crap. Is it possible at all to install a top-loading connector? Or would that just be a big shindig?
I have never delt with a real lop loader before but soldering on a connector from a clone or a famicom adapter should be simple enough if you wanted to
Yeah, I could maybe get a top loading 72-pin connector somewhere. I don't want to take apart my working top-loading yobo famiclone (It has a 72-pin connector), because it was a gift and I object to destroying gifts. But when I get the money, I could maybe buy a cheap famiclone, or a top loading pin connector.
the adaptors that are designed to plug NES games into a famicom are cheap and easy to come by
Just take Gyromite for example. Stack-up is rare so don't use it.
wrong connector type, its the outher way around.
game genie's have them though.
EDIT:
Okay, so I have my NES games working pretty much 100% of the time I first put them into the NES. If anyone's interested, here's how I did it:
Oh, disclaimer: I do not hold responsibility for any broken equipment! Do at your own risk.
This is how the connector usually looks from the side:
I took the connector out, and filed down the sides of the bottom part so it looked like this:
This allows me to stick a game into the bottom side of the connector. I put the connector back so from the side, it looks like this:
I found that the motherboard of the NES is much more thick than the boards of NES games, so the loose end makes consistent contact with the motherboard. And obviously, the tight end makes MUCH better contact with NES boards.
However, since the bottom end of the connector doesn't stick out as far as the top end, the game can't go in all the way. But I find that a game goes far enough in to make contact with the pins.
I swear, every time I stick a game in it works. Has anyone else done this?
I'm seriously considering doing this very soon*, and I'm just wondering — it looks like you filed a pair of slots into the connector; I'm guessing this is so that the thing that you slide the game into and slide down won't get hung up on the connector?
I'd also like to know, what kind of file do you recommend for using for this, and would something like
the rightmost file in this pic work? I think that's the kind of file I have available to use — it's been a while since I've looked at it; never actually used it before, either. ^^;
Also, how wide/deep should the slots be?
P.S.: sorry for the necro-bump. xD
*A.S.A.P., in fact, since the gold-plated connector that I got last Christmas (Christmas before last?) has started giving me the old 'gray'/'gray and blinking' screen, and frequently refuses to work with the games I put in, despite whether they're clean or not, or whether I'm using one (or two or three) Game Genies.
Hey! Haha, I was beginning to think no one had interest in this. No worries about the bump; it's better than starting a new thread.
Anyways, the reason we file it down in those spots is so you can stick the game with the case into the bottom end of the connector. If you try and do this without filing it down, you'll be in for an annoying surprise. Remember, we're flipping the connector over so we can stick games in the nice and tight side of the connector. The connector isn't designed for this, so we file those slots down so the plastic casing will have somewhere to go.
Also, for this project, I'd recommend the leftmost file for that, as the rightmost seems like what you'd use for really large furniture or something.
The slots that you make should be as deep as it needs to be so that when you stick a game in, the pins slide into the connector. If you refer to my image with the white background, about where the slot ends, there's a line of some sort. I think your connector will have this. You want to file down to about there. And make sure they're wide enough. You'll probably have to do lots of tedious fine-tuning with the sanding. And if it doesn't work, it's probably because you need to file them deeper.
Actually, you're better off filing them down as far as you can stick a NES cartridge into the bottom end.
EDIT: Also, when you do this, you're probably not going to want to put the cover back on and everything, as there's nothing holding the bottom end of the connector in securely. You're going to have to hold it in position when inserting a game, so it's best to leave the cover/dust sheild off/unscrewed.
Please don't hesitate to ask questions too! I'm happy I discovered this method, and I want everyone else to know about it too.
Oh, right! xD Hehe, yeah, I totally see the sense in the slots now. Definitely would not work without filing it.
And nuts — I was hoping I could just do a simple pin-mod. D: Didn't know I'd have to leave the pushy-downy thing out, or the shielding.
I've been toying around with the mobo and connector, though (haven't filed the latter of the two yet), and I was just thinking: if you were to screw the motherboard in over on the connector's side, wouldn't that push the connector up/forwardish enough so that it was in constant contact with the motherboard? o.O Doesn't seem like I'd have to hold the game down if I did that. Though, I guess since it isn't screwed in, it WOULD be liable to getting pushed off the motherboard's pins.
And I really WOULD like to use the pushy-thing — what he heck do you call it, anyway? <.<? — too, but I think I'd have to make a separate set of slots for it. Come to think of it, I could technically just file/hack-saw off each end of the connector that's supposed to screw into the motherboard, as there isn't any way I can get the thing to screw in with it upside-down. Unless I had really long screws… o.O But I can't find any that are the proper thickness to fit.
Maybe if I hack-sawed them off and then melted them back on, lower down, at a corresponding point where they would be if it'd been made upside-down all along… hrm… :o
I really like this idea, but I want to be able to still use everything that goes into the NES — no 'spare parts', as it were. I think that the last thing that I mentioned would be about the best thing to do — carefully saw the bits off at their seams, flip them upside-down, then melt them (or
maybe glue — but I think that'd wear out too fast) back onto the connector on the opposite side they were sawed from, in a way that makes them fit best on it.
Would that work? o.O? Or am I just rambling on and on and not making (much) sense? >.>
If you want to screw it to the mother board, what you're saying makes sense. I think it'd work. But if you flip the connector over, there'll be no need for the pushy thing, and using it with this method would probably damage things.
So unfortunately, that you'll have to not use. The sheilding and everything, you can leave it on if you do what you were talking about. To work, instead of relying on the pushy thing, it relies on tension now, which is much more efficient. But I, too, like the pushy thing for some reason. I don't know what to call it either =). But I think it's worth sacrificing to get your NES games working.
Well, thanks.
I think that I'll get a second 72-pin connector, though, just to be on the safe side — I want to have a backup in case I end up mutilating the first one. ^^;
I'm sorry I don't understand of what is said above because you guys use complex english.
You can just open the NES, flip the connector vertically and place it backs, and you say everything works better like that ? That would sound really simple to do. Is there any side effect with that or anything ? Should you insert the games in the other direction (with the label on the bottom) ? I feel like I missed something and I don't feel like trying this right now.
Okay, here's how it works:
Take the pin connector out of the NES. The bottom side is tight while the top is loose. The top end is the one you usually stick NES games in. The bottom end usually connects to the motherboard. But you want to flip it over so you stick the motherboard in the loose part, and games in the tight part. The motherboard is thicker than most NES game boards, so it makes better contact with the loose end. The tight end is better for NES games, as it pretty much always makes contact with them.
But if you do this, you'll notice something. The tight end has things sticking out that allow you to screw it to the motherboard. These things don't allow you to stick a NES cartridge in that end. So you have to take a file, or a saw, and cut peices out of that end so that you can stick a NES game in. If you don't do this, you'll have to take a NES game out of it's case in order to play it. But you don't want this, so you must cut out pieces on both sides of the connector that don't allow you to stick a game in.
Does that make sense?
And no, you stick games in the same way that you always do. You don't put them in upside down. It is really simple. I think you had the right idea pretty much except sticking NES games in upside down.
Okay thanks for clarifying that, so you just have to flip the connector and cut two plastic things ? That sound really simple, I'll give it a try on my less good state NES and let people know if it worked well.
Yeah, that's all you have to do. Kizul Emeraldfire was just saying that he wanted to still be able to screw the connector in. If you flip the connector over, you won't be able to unless you do modifications. Remember, you have to cut deep enough so you can stick a NES game in as far as it can go. If you don't, it'll be not so likely to work.
Oh, and glad you like my new avatar =).