Hey guys,
I found my old N64 Gameshark Pro 3.3, and it doesn't seem to turn on! My N64 works well with all the different games, but when I put them in the GameShark, I just get a black screen. I thought I had the wrong keycode set, so I tried a game for each keycode in, but that doesn't seem to work either. The contacts are clean and don't seem to be damaged either. The PCB inside looks fine too, so no physical damage as far as I can tell. Has this happened to anyone else before?
Thanks!

N64 gamesharks are prone to failure for no reason. You could take perfect care of it and it will still just fail. Time to try and find another one.

i have about 5 and they all work but randomly fail during gameplay which sucks but it happens, but i did see a guy selling like 30 broken ones so it is common that they just wear out

They can lock up if you put the wrong codes in for the wrong game (or so I've read) I've had 2 do this. If it has the port on the back supposedly you can buy a cord to hook to your computer, I guess you can fix it that way but I've never tried

Does the gameshark turn on at all? Such as the LED display/counter? I know you said the contacts are clean, but have you tried cleaning the pins just in case? Also, isn't there a little on/off button you can push? If so, might wanna try that.

I had like 6 of these at one time and they all worked great and sold like hotcakes on Ebay...

Not many people in here know much about N64 Gamesharks I guess...

Your 3.3 Gameshark has probably corrupted. This tends to happen when you use it a lot, or use keycode games. You can easily reflash the GS ROM by putting the bad cartridge on top of a working GS Pro with a functional parallel port, then using a PC to reflash. Here's a detailed article on the procedure:

http://micro-64.com/features/gsre...

I can reflash Gameshark carts for the cost of shipping too. Only problem is I'm in Canada.

Also, boosted, the button on the Gameshark is the "GS Button", it's typically used to activate cheat codes in-game. It's not an on/off button.

Thanks for the info! That's really useful. I'm friends with the guys running a small game store nearby, so I'll ask them if I can borrow one. I'd mail it to you, but it's probably cheaper to buy another haha. Thanks for the offer though.

My gameshark never had an LED, which is strange.

Good to know

Yeah it's usually easier to get another Gameshark, but you'll be stuck buying replacement ones pretty often.

Your Gameshark Pro is one of the last, they lack the LED display and parallel port functionality.

I'm having an issue with Banjo Kazooie.  Any code that I add to the gameshark does not work.  However the codes that were already on it when I received it work fine.  It's very annoying.  I have a pro version 3.2

I believe they need to be "turned on" in a special way, but I rarely use my own Gameshark (mostly I use it to reset saved data that otherwise can't be cleared), so off the top of my head I couldn't clarify the activation method to make sure codes are enabled.

I actually got myself an old laptop JUST so I had a parallel port and the right ancient OS to properly flash a 3.2 Gameshark to version 3.3 (and also manage code lists far more quickly, aside from having to boot up an ancient laptop).

ok I figured out that only the first 7 codes work that are on the list for a particular game.  But the Return to Witch's Lair Beta code does not work and makes my game load slow

Does anyone have the gs pro 3.2 firmware?

i doubt its corrupt. who ever had it last put in one of those key codes and didn't use the game that required the key code. thus it will appear corrupted or broken if you put a game in that doesnt require a key code. if i remember correctly zelda 1080 and banjo kazooie and diddy kong racing and mario 64? require these codes.

also the game shark is notorious for bad connection between the console and cart connectors. try cleaning the connection up on the game shark with some fine steel wool and use a cut box with alcohol on the end to clean the game connectors on the game shark. and clean your game and console too.

also version 3.3 was a budget cut model  there are no leds

Definitely agree that reflashing Gamesharks is the way to go. I've had to do the ol' Gameshark stack 'n' flash before and I've managed to repair almost every one that has come through my shop! It's crazy how many of them need this, but I guess they are very old and were heavily used.

Ive tried doing the stack reflashing method but it didnt fix them.