Posted by Devin de Gruyl on Jul 24th, 2008
Chances are, it’s happened to all of us at one time or another. You pop in your favorite NES game, only to be greeted by a flashing power LED and a blinking purple/green/white/whatever color screen.
In frustration, you pop out and reinsert the cartridge several times, to little if no avail – you might get the actual startup screen to appear, but it’s still flashing on and off while the power light blinks at you like an enraged cyclops.
So you take the cartridge out and blow on the contacts until you’re dizzy. Or, if you’re lucky, you have a bottle of isopropyl alcohol and a few brand-name cotton swabs that you can use to clean the contacts properly. That, finally, seems to work – until you start playing the game, at which time the graphics start to become glitchy and garbled, usually a prelude to a complete lockup.
In the immortal words of “Nature Boy” Ric Flair, “What’s causin’ all this?!”
It actually has nothing to do with dust or corrosion on the cartridge contacts (though make no mistake, that could certainly be a factor as well). It’s all thanks to what was arguably the most unique design feature of the original NES-001 Control Deck – the Zero-Insertion Force (ZIF) cartridge slot. Designed as part of the attempt to make the NES resemble a traditional game system as little as possible (remember, one of Nintendo’s original goals was to conquer retailer bias against video games in the wake of the Crash), the “slide in and press down” carriage mechanism was certainly different, and pretty neat besides, cleverly keeping the cartridge out of view when in use like a videocassette. Unfortunately, its very cleverness is now working against it, as aging NESs become more and more prone to mechanical breakdowns such as those described in the opening sentences of this article. And while there may be many causes for the NES equivalent of the dreaded “red ring” of Xbox360 infamy, by far and away the most common is this:
The contact pins inside the console itself may be bent out of shape, the result of about two decades of use. The cartridge may be inserted properly, but because the internal pins may have been pushed down, the circuit board may not actually be in contact with the main unit.
This design flaw is partially why Nintendo themselves released the top-loading “NES 2” towards the end of the 8-bit lifespan. With that console, cartridges could simply be inserted as they would on any other cart-based system, making direct contact with the motherboard and greatly reducing the chances of the “flashing” syndrome. However, the NES 2 is an exceptionally rare bird today, and expensive when it does come up (it’s not at all uncommon for NES 2 consoles to fetch $75-100 on eBay bare bones). Furthermore, virtually all of the recently-legalized NES clones (such as the Yobo, the FC Twin, or other systems of this nature) utilize “NES-on-a-chip” technology, that is really just an emulation of the actual hardware; not every game mapper is supported, and there are quite a few sound inaccuracies when playing on one of these systems.
Fortunately, there is a way you can whip your old-school toaster NES back into shape – and we here at Way of the Geek World Headquarters will be more than happy to step you through the process.
WARNING: The following procedure, while not difficult, still involves the opening of the NES system itself and the partial disassembly of essential internal components. All standard disclaimers apply; the following information is provided WITHOUT WARRANTY or GAURANTEE of any kind, and Way of the Geek is not responsible for any damage incurred to your NES, your home, or your body while following these instructions. This procedure worked for us; if you choose to follow our example, however, you do so at your own risk.
You will need:
* Your NES system.
* One (1) Phillips head screwdriver (#1).
* One (1) flathead precision screwdriver (1/8” or smaller).
* One (1) small container (optional, but recommended).
* Non-powdered latex gloves (optional, but recommended).
* Adequate light.
* A slippage-free workspace.
Step 1: Disconnect your NES, and remove any cartridge that may be inside. Amazingly important: DO NOT OPEN THE CASE WITH THE POWER CONNECTED, EVEN IF THE POWER SWITCH IS OFF. Failure to heed this warning may result in electric shock. Once in your workspace, flip it upside down. If you chose to use gloves, put them on; you will be directly handling key internal components during this procedure, and the gloves will help prevent any oils from your skin from possibly getting on contacts.
Step 2: With the Phillips head screwdriver, loosen the six recessed screws on the bottom of the NES. Ignore the two screws holding the controller ports in place; you won’t be needing to disassemble things to that extent. When the screws are loose, carefully turn the NES right-side up and gently shake the unit (if necessary) to drop the screws onto your work surface. Set the screws aside in a safe place, preferably in a small container.
Step 3: Gently lift off and remove the top part of the NES case. DO NOT FORCE IT; it should come right off with minimal effort. If it does not, ensure that all six screws you loosened are in fact out of their holes. Welcome to the inside of your NES; you should be looking at a circuit board mostly obscured by a shaped piece of metal, which is the internal RF shielding. You’ll need to remove this before continuing. There should be 6-7 screws holding the shielding down; remove these as you did the screws on the bottom, setting them aside.
Step 4: Once the RF shielding has been removed, you should be able to see the complete ZIF cartridge housing. This is a two-part assembly, with one part (the actual cartridge contacts) connected to the main board. You will have to remove the second part, which contains the mechanics that raise and lower a cartridge into position. Remove the screws holding it down. The two screws that are closest to the front of the NES are longer than any other screws. REMEMBER THIS, and ensure these two screws go back where they originally were when you reassemble the unit. All other screws you have removed are interchangeable, including the other ones on this housing, but the two longer ones MUST go back in these specific holes. You will have to gently pry the housing loose in order to lift it out of the NES. Again, DO NOT USE FORCE or you will break the unit.
Step 5: This is the trickiest part, and is technically optional. However, if you perform this step you will find what comes next to be much easier. The portion of the cartridge assembly that remains on the main board is connected in a manner similar to an internal card on your PC, and may be removed if necessary. To do this, grasp the black housing in one hand and GENTLY begin to rock it from side to side. Eventually, you will feel it loosening. Being VERY careful not to damage the housing or the main board, work the housing off its connector. It cannot be stressed enough that this must be done with care, as this is the actual point where a cartridge makes contact with the NES main board. If this component is damaged in any way, it may turn your cherished childhood friend into a doorstop, so BE VERY CAREFUL!
Step 6: Now we come to the meat and potatoes of the matter. Along the top of the contact component you will find a row of 72 pins (36 sets of two pins each) underneath a plastic “roof.” Most likely, you will find these pins somewhat “squashed,” down and away from the roof. Your task is to bend those pins back into shape, ensuring they make contact (or close enough) with the upper plastic. To do this, take the precision screwdriver and slide it underneath the pins on top of the contact. Now, GENTLY AND SLOWLY pry the contacts up, as if you were using a miniature crowbar. Amazingly important: BE CAREFUL NOT TO BREAK THE METAL PINS. See earlier “doorstop” warning. You will have to do this for all 36 sets of pins, 72 in total. Yeah, it’s tedious, but then again so is level-building in the original Final Fantasy. Just stick with it, bending the pins back into position and working down the line from one end of the connector to the other.
Step 7: Once you have bent the last set of pins back into shape, you may reassemble your NES. Simply reverse the order of the disassembly instructions in Steps 1-5, taking care to put the two longer screws back where they were originally and ensuring that all screws are securely fastened. Now, you may reconnect the power and RF/video outputs.
Step 8: This is the moment of truth. Take a cartridge and insert it. You may find that the cartridge will have to be slightly forced in order to fit; this is because the contacts you bent are now partially blocking the port, just as they would have on a brand new NES. This is perfectly normal and poses no harm to your NES or cartridges, provided excessive force is not applied to get the cartridge to fit. If all goes well, you will see the title screen pop up without any effort on your part. Congratulations, you’ve beaten the most common cause of “death” for many NES systems!
If you’re not used to taking things apart to fix them, this whole procedure may be scary. That’s okay. Fortunately, there are a few YouTube videos (such as this one) that clearly illustrate the process if you’re uncertain what to do. It is highly recommended that you watch these a few times to familiarize yourself with what you will see at every stage of this process before you start doing it on your own.
If nothing else, this is certainly preferable to laying out a C-note for an NES 2, or having to break out the soldering iron and retrofit a top-loading slot onto your NES (as other dedicated gamers have done)! The process I’ve described here, complex though it may sound to a newbie, requires a minimum of effort, yet will probably solve the “flashing” problem in about 90% of cases involving an NES with a ZIF slot.
It worked for me, that’s all I can say… it may work for you as well.
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I think I side-stepped this problem by using a Game Genie. With the game genie and cart you can’t press down the little bay inside the NES. It still powers on without problem and solved the constant resetting with some games so well that I just leave it this way for all games (I’d imagine the game genie doesn’t care about the lockout chip on the cart, but will likely have one of it’s own so that the NES boots with it plugged in, or perhaps it’s less finicky with the connector on it’s input side and gives a better connection for the lockout chip’s pin on the cartridge), the actual game genie hasn’t left my NES more or less since I got it as you can start the games without fiddling any memory addresses by just not entering any codes.
It doesn’t seem the Game Genie does anything special with it’s NES-side connection so I’d guess you don’t have to lower the bay at all, maybe this could be a possible solution for those with only slightly bent pins?
The Game Genie solution certainly works for a while – it did for me for several years, in fact, and I was all but convinced that was the solution to the problem. A few years back, however, I noticed my NES was getting tempermental about even this setup; I was getting the flashing screens and artifacting screens even if I used the Genie.
My guess is that even the Genie will eventually push the pins down to a point where they’re not making proper contact. It may take longer, largely due to the irregular angle the Genie is inserted at, but it will eventually happen.
The solution I outlined, while some might argue is a bit radical, is a more surefire way to fix the issue. It’s also probably the best if you don’t actually have a Game Genie, short of retrofitting your NES with an external, direct-insert cartridge port (for which you’d need at least a soldering iron, a Dremel, and a 72-pin slot).