Post #2965555

Installed a much needed new 72 pin connector on the ole front loader NES yesterday. Naturally the connector is Chinesium crap, so I was not entirely shocked that it failed to work correctly right away. Testing a known working, clean pins game I got blank screen. Messing about with the tray, I got a response when it was about 3/4s of the way to the final locked position. Fine. Figuring it required a bit of "breaking in" so that games would properly load in the locked position, I then embarked on a project that took a good few hours: cracking open every game cart I have and cleaning the board pins to make sure they wouldn't foul the new connector, then testing each one. And yes, "breaking in" was in fact needed, as after about a dozen testing attempts with the first cleaned cart the game started launching properly with a little fiddling. By the time I got through cleaning my collection the games were launching properly first try nearly every time. I have a couple carts that seem to be misaligned a tad such that they fail to launch when fully seated in the tray, so I have to pull them slightly back so that they juuuust clear the NES chassis when the tray is locked down, and then they launch. Nice to finally have a properly working NES again. Also pleased with the 2007 Magnavox 15 inch display I got off eBay for $60. Fully functional and only one bad pixel in the upper right corner that is only notable on black screens. Much better than the little 9 inch I was using. Wish it was a CRT but they are damn pricey these days so it'll have to do. Next will be the SNES Jr. Needs a new 62 pin cart slot. That one will be more fun as it'll require soldering. Also I don't seem to be able to find anything but "normal" slots for sale so I guess I'll have to gamble it'll fit in the chassis? They seem the same other than the metal shield, shrug. Might look into acquiring an OG SNES parts console I can fix up. Never liked the Jr. #Gaming #ShareYourGames #NES #RetroGaming