troubleshooting console carts - why do they break?

[arcnl]

This week i pulled a stack of megadrive carts from the attic, and i was surprised to see some of them refused to work. Some of them apperantly had some dirt on the edge connector (those things seem to be more sensitive than it seems, a clean with some alcohol and they worked flawlessly again). However, 2 carts still give me problems: one of them refuses to work (black screen) and the other one, which shamefully happens to be my castle of illusion, sometimes boots and sometimes doesnt. When it doesnt boot the sega does show the "produced by or under license from" TMSS thingie but after that black screen. The times when it does boot it has no sound, and sometimes crashes at the end of the intro and sometimes doesnt. Gameplay level 1 seems to work fine, but again no sound anywhere.

I find it strange that these carts apperantly seem to just break after lying in storage. They havent been exposed to extreme temperatures since they were stored in the house. What can i do to troubleshoot this? Or is this normal for game carts to just start to fail over the years?

[fagin]

Clean MD pins as well as cartridge edge connector. Push and pull cartridge in MD several times.

Alcohol isn't always enough. Use an ink eraser on the cartridge edge connector. Run a flat edge screwdriver up and down the MD pin slot.

[mpoilu]

As above 99.999999% of the time it's the edge connector. I've got hundreds of carts across virtually all the 80's and 90's consoles and not one has ever broken or failed.

[arcnl]

Right, better get that gamebit ordered then :/ Apart from more cleaning, i dont think there is much you can do for these things?

[fagin]

Right, better get that gamebit ordered then :/ Apart from more cleaning, i dont think there is much you can do for these things?

What do you need a gamebit for?

All required access is right there already.

[arcnl]

I find it a bit hard to properly reach the carts edge, especially with an eraser. figured you could clean it better with proper access to the contacts

[fagin]

The trick is to use a pencil with an ink eraser on the end - old skool tech for an old skool console.

[cools]

I use Brasso wadding to clean edge connectors. Never had much luck with the pencil eraser method.

[arcnl]

Time for the brasso method tomorrow then. Tried alcohol (2 different kinds, a 70% and 90% kind) multiple times, found a pencil eraser and used that, cleaned with alcohol afterwards. Tried cleaning the console slot too. I still get no sound from castle of illusion, although it boots and works great now. No sound through the monitor, no sound through the headphone jack on the console itself. Weird.

[fagin]

Be VERY careful with brasso wadding! I know at least two people who have destroyed edge connectors - I suspect they thought they were rubbing their **** though.

[fagin]

BTW it needs to be an ink eraser, not pencil eraser.

[Rossyra]

Brasso lifts the plating off as well as the dirt/oxidisation, but it usually does the trick.

[gargoyle67]

I would imagine that a Fibre Glass Scratch Pencil would be good for this used liberally of course.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Fibre-Glass-S ... 4177880f23"

[Paulie]

Whenever I get a new cart I like take it apart to clean it.

I've tried pretty much every method that I've ever read about over the years, and to be fair most of what I've tried has worked to some degree. My main concern is some methods seem a bit harsh or some are a bit mild.

My preferred method is:
*Take the screws out of the said cart, I like to be able to have proper access to the edge connector
*I use a MARS plastic eraser to gently remove all the oxidisation and general crap from the edge connector. If it's very stubborn just keep at it. That's why I like this method as it's so gentle, but doesn't take an age to do.
90% of the time it will get the cart working, but if it still doesn't work I then very carefully clean the edge connector with some metal polish I like the stellar stainless steel cleaner and then I clean that off with lighter fluid or alcohol

After that treatment I've only had a couple of carts that still won't work and I literately must have cleaned 1000's over the years

For dirty console game PCB's I just give them a quick blast with some of the air in a can stuff that I get from maplins, If particularly stubborn then I use a small anti static brush to flick off the **** which seems to work well.

[cools]

Be VERY careful with brasso wadding! I know at least two people who have destroyed edge connectors - I suspect they thought they were rubbing their **** though.

Clearly. If brasso goes through an edge connector you're pressing ten thousand times too hard

[amplibax]

Generally when I have a really stubborn game that won't work after multiple cleanings, I'll open it up and visually check for corrosion on any of the traces. If you find a sketchy looking trace you can do a continuity test with a multimeter and then just jump a wire from the component to whenever it is supposed to be connected.

[neogeomvs]

after cleaning the edge connector of the cart and console; if the cart still doesn't work, lift the cart up slightly from the console. Sometimes the edge connectors are worn and need to be raised slightly. I find that some MVS carts are like this