Can someone please tell me what the hell you guys mean exactly when you're talking about bending pins? I replaced every NES I've given away or sold with new pins, just to be nice. I'm finally going back and cleaning the old connectors I took out. Really unsure what you guys are fixing though. I think mine may just have been nice and not needed replacin.

With a precision driver you bend the contact pins (the pins that touch the cartridge) toward the opening, effectively tightening the contact of the 72 pin ZIF (it will no longer be "zero insertion force"... it will be TIGHT)

Okay, so I did the OP's method and was sliding a cart into them in between boils. Almost all of them felt like there was no contact and it was like throwing a hot dog down a hallway. Only one was tight butthole. I assume this is the contact we're talking about? I want it to be tough as opposed to easy to get it in and out?

Any chance someone could take some pics? I mean, I think I know what pins you guys are talking about, but how and where you are "straightening them" is beyond me at the moment.

You aren't "straightening" them so much as you are bending them toward the slot to increase contact/friction.

Caveat emptor: when you do this, the slot will be tight enough to actually scratch the contacts on the games (though they will all work)

Sorry that made me crack up.  I am doing this to 2 connectors right now.

1 question. Will your pan/pot be ruined? Can i cook food in it after words? Or will it be destroyed like when i cleaned some glass objects ;-)

It will be fine. I just made sure to wash it right away.

Decided to try this as a last resort... Before buying a new 72-pin connector... I couldn't believe that somehow someone meant this worked. NES doesn't work? Boil it!

Well sure enough, it worked for me. I thank you so much for the steps and tips! But still, I can't believe it got fixed like this. Amazing.

Thanks a lot! Now my brother has his own working NES.

So I've given this a try on a couple connectors.  Seems to improve the garbled video immediately.  Still blinks a little, but I believe this to be 100% a result of bent connectors.  I didn't bend them back because I feared I would break them.  Great solution though, cheap and difficult to screw up! 

A question to the early adopters, have any needed to do this again to the same console after a year or two?

Yum, I'm hungry for a second helping! My Craigslist NES 72 pin is also messed up after 6 months of rest. Thanks for the recipe!

The new pins seem like they are pretty crappy compared to originals, I would do this any day over buying a new replacement.

Last week, I put a connector in a pot of boiling water and forgot about it for a while. All of the water evaporated and the plastic melted to the bottom of the pot! Whoops.

^ Sure that smelled great.

Glad this thread got bumped , haven't seen it in a while

I have always just used a jewelers flat head screw driver and raised all the pins 1 by one and it fixes the connection problem, hence I have never bought a replacement connector before. What exactly is the Boiling water supposed to do? Extract the Metal pins?

Never heard of this...I do have some toasters that need a good cleaning...might try this when I open them up to blow out the dust and dead bugs.

its for cleaning, you till need to bend the pins for good fix. 

Wanted to drop in and report success with this method. What started as a non-working NES that would only display a glitched, scrambled version of a game 1 outta 20 times was brought to life in-part to this method. A good boiling, a little pin straightening and a light scrub on the board brought it back to life.

Thanks!

Just acquired a toaster NES last night via an exchange, and it definitely needs some boiling. I just read this entire thread, and I'm getting excited by everyone's success rates. I'll be doing so later on this morning, and reporting my results here

Double-post, but worth it:

It absolutely worked!

I boiled the connector for 3 minutes, then took it out and did the cartridge insert trick (old SMB/DH cart #2,345), then reboiled it for another four minutes. Took it out of the water, dried it off (didn't even use a hairdryer or anything; just a paper towel), reinstalled it, and presto! Super Mario Bros 3, Ninja Gaiden, Friday the 13th, and plenty of others loaded up first try

Awesome trick, awesome thread, pure awesome.

Bought an NES off ebay for my sister and her husband, to give to their young children.
I opened the controllers and systems, gave them a good cleaning..

Disabled the lockout chip..

Then I took a chance on the boil.... and boy does it work great!
Wish I knew the boil trick from the start back when I was messing with my NES.. Broke a pin trying to bend them back into place and got a replacement connector, which has a death grip.
Really prefer the smooth original feel.

Anyway.. the boil is a winning method!!

I never understood the hype of the boil method. "What makes it so much better than just buying a new pin?" To me the fear of the death grip is kinda over exaggerated :/ every once in a while you get a really stupid tight pin (I've heard of having to take apart a console to remove a cartridge :/) but not very often. Well I tried the boil method and I have to admit it's a pretty cool trick. I didn't bend any pins afterwords and it gave new life to a pin that had been rode hard and put away wet. Not a fires up on the first time type fix (for this particular pin anyway) but def a nice solid (not death) grip, that works very good. If you fear the death grip, want to save $6 and don't want to part with your original pin (that most likely has your DNA all over it 😗💨) then the boil method is the way to go. I would also like to say I will most likely never buy another aftermarket pin. I have been converted to a boiler.

So upon cleaning my 72 pin sucessfully with the boiling method, my new problem is now dirty game carts that I acquire in lots.

I did some research before going out, and yesterday I picked up some Brasso, DeOxit, and isopropyl rubbing alcohol.

I'm avoiding the use of Brasso and alcohol unless absolutely necessary, as I do know that Brasso just polishes, and excess alcohol can exacerbate the corrosion process.

Is there a tried-and-true way to use these products alone/in combination to clean my dirty NES carts? I tried just using DeOxit on a couple, gave them a good cleaning until the contacts were shining, dried them with a dry Q-tip, and still had no luck after I tried them out about 15 minutes later.

Suggestions?

Open the carts and use an eraser on the boards (yes like a pencil eraser) then wipe them down with 90% rubbing alcohol. alcohol will not exacerbate the corrosion process. Just using qtips on the edge connector without taking it apart does not get it clean enough.

I've also read about the eraser method; I'd need to acquire a security bit to open my carts, though. 

Where can I get said security bit most reliably? Is there a preferred online source?

Just tried this for the first time. Picked up a "broken" NES from a Half Price Books store for $10, including 2 controllers and all hookups. Tried traditional cleaners and still kept getting a blinking gray screen. At that point I figured it was the perfect opportunity to finally try out the boil method. After boiling, and a lot more cleaning, I finally got it to work 90% of the time. It was good enough to take to my local retro store for $25 store credit, and I even kept the connections and controllers for myself.