Hi!

Im new here (though ive visited this site numerous times over the past years). I just made this account because I just got my AVS in the mail. I tested it out to find that any NES games that look like the picture below would not work (just a black screen).



The two games that I tested that had short pins were Jaws and Tetris. So, I took the system apart and found that both games worked fine with the top shell off. The problem was that there is a raised plastic edge on the inside of the top shell near the pin connector that was preventing the games from being fully inserted, thus not making proper contact. I resolved this issue by simply breaking off and sanding down the raised parts, which were actually not even necessary for the structural integrity of the system. Here's a picture of the inside of the top shell after I removed the parts.



Put it back together, now all the games work, every time!

That's really fricking interesting dude. I haven't personally had the green strip problem but many others have. The workarounds have been to insert the cart a certain way..

That's awesome. Could you go into more detail about this mod? I am curious if it will compromise the loading dongle. That ridge of plastic provides support for the PCB connector when inserting games and I'm afraid sanding it down could fatigue the connector after multiple insertions.

Kosmic, I feared the same thing. But I think the two "c" shaped ridges on either side should be enough to support. When I put the games in now, the connector stays in place still and does not try to come out with the cart. But, I guess I will find out over time.

Yeah I tried inserting the cart many different ways ( left side first, right side, etc.) No luck with that. Interesting that some people have issues but not others.

I'm really tempted to do this.

I'm having the green strip cart problem with my new (received mine 3 days ago) AVS. I had assumed this problem was fixed in the second production. I sent a message to Retro USB support and now await a reply.

Yeah as far as I knew it was supposed to be. Seems a few people still have issues with the new run

Bummer. Until a permanent fix is available, feel free to use Game Genies and Famicom adapters as pass through devices for your green stripe games.  

I wonder why some people seem to have this issue and others do not?  Are different units from the same shipment manufactured differently?
 

Exactly....I have managed to get all of my green strip carts to work, but it usually takes me fiddling with it for about a half dozen tries.

On the other hand, my normal carts run and play beautifully.

You got it. For now, to avoid frustration that is exacly what I do. 😁

Update: Almost a year later and AVS is still going strong. I very much like mine. Undoubtedly, the best clone console I've played on.

Same here. I did the same mod and got every game to work.  

Mine's still running strong as well, and just got the "new" 72-pin connector installed a month or so ago. Didn't need to do any additional mods to mine to get it work, just insert a cart and it's off to the races!

^ ugh, i got the replacement 72 pin but am scared to crack my AVS open. was it hard to do? (I've modified toasters before but don't want to damage my $200 unit).

It's tricky, as there is a catch up front, but not hard.




I had the same concerns, but I've taken it apart twice and didn't damage it.

Pin connector just pops out and back in. Easy peasy.

to be fair, I've also replaced all the capacitors on a flat screen so I don't know why i'm such a baby about my avs. i love it, I guess. I LOVE MY AVS. there? Happy.

ty for the vid!

Even Kevtris had a bit of a bump in opening it when he was reviewing it. "It's like a puzzle!"

I concur.  It's a little tricky the first time or two you go to open it up, but once you learn how to start to angle the front and wiggle it a little to get it to pop loose, it comes straight apart.  The only thing I'm really afraid of at this point is the issue with the v1 USB port.  My system has gotten a significant upswing in usage of late, so I'm neither eager to mail it in for the fix nor doing the fix myself (paranoid about screwing something up, regardless of my years of experience doing stuff like that).

Yeah I saw that RetroUSB is recommending people to do this mod now. Also the new connector is on their site. Not sure whats different about the new connector. Longer pins maybe? Idk.

If I recall correctly, it was the depth of the connector.  The old one wouldn't allow carts to be inserted quite as deeply as the new one, causing issues with the group of games ("green strip") that didn't have pins all the way to the edge.  bunnyboy had already figured out this was an issue and simply made the mistake of submitting the wrong revision of the connector to the factory for mass production when giving the green light to the whole AVS.  Thankfully, with a little patience, it was an easy fix.

I just fixed mine last night. It seems like it is a little easier to put in the games with the new connector. For whatever reason Bad Dudes still won't play, but it does on the NES.

Does your Bad Dudes have a green strip? Did you clean it?

Did you remove the bar of plastic from the top of the AVS shell?

It is a green stripe game, and it is cleaned. I have not removed the plastic bar from the top shell. After the connector swap yesterday the other green stripe games worked fine, but I may have to end up and remove the plastic bar to get Bad Dudes to work.