Did Blowing Into The NES Cartridge Really Work? • Hacker News Board

Re: Did Blowing Into The NES Cartridge Really Work?

#61

Post by mlvljr » Tue, Sep 25, 2012, 9:44 PM UTC

trhtrsh wrote: post #46

xentronium wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Russia we had so-called Dendy[1] (hardware clone of Famicom made in Zelenograd) which had that exact vertical slot. Guess what, we used to blow into our cartridges too when they didn't work. [1] Actually, history of game consoles in Russia in early 1990s is quite curious. Nintendo themselves weren't interested in our market, so Russian-Chinese manufacturers promoted their clone quite freely. I believe it was even…

What about Rush'n'Attack? Did Cold War favorites cross over?

Confirm playing that on my NES clone (not DENDY, "SUBOR")! Ротфронт ;)

Re: Did Blowing Into The NES Cartridge Really Work?

#62

Post by CamperBob2 » Tue, Sep 25, 2012, 9:51 PM UTC

scovetta wrote: post #18

I remember using rubbing alcohol on a q-tip against both sides of the connector. That seemed to work well when blowing on it and rubbing it with your shirt didn't.

Isopropyl alcohol as sold in US drugstores/grocery stores is about 30% water, though, and the alcohol evaporates a lot faster. So for the most part, those who were cleaning their cartridge edge connectors with rubbing alcohol might as well have been breathing on them or using water by itself.

One thing I couldn't tell from the article was whether those fingers actually were bare copper, or gold plated. If they were bare copper, I'm amazed that they lasted a week. If they were gold-plated, then the connection problems would have been strictly in the harmonica connector inside the console itself, at least until people started using pencil erasers. Blowing on the cartridge itself would certainly have had no effect.

Another possibility is that Nintendo made the mistake of flashing gold directly over copper when they should have used an intermediate layer of nickel for passivation. This would probably result in connections that were better than bare copper would have provided but not as reliable as a proper surface treatment would have been.

Re: Did Blowing Into The NES Cartridge Really Work?

#63

Post by icebraining » Tue, Sep 25, 2012, 9:55 PM UTC

pserwylo wrote: post #54

willstepp wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I did that too! Man, this article is taking me back...

Taking you back? My house mate and I are currently moving through our Killer Instinct phase on SNES, and I just lent my NES to my 18 year old sister and her boyfriend who borrow it regularly. I'm taking this article very seriously, as I am from the family of people who blew in the cartridges (and the console) up until I read this :)

Is it really worth it the risks to play on the real thing? I don't have my NES anymore (my parents convinced me to give it away when I got an N64), but I think that I'd still use an emulator and boot it only once every few months rather than risking breaking it. And using It Might Be NES (emulator for the PS1/One/2) on a CRT TV is almost the same anyway ;)

Now, I realize there's no point in having something without using it, but my point is if parsimony isn't a better policy.

Re: Did Blowing Into The NES Cartridge Really Work?

#64

Post by pixelbath » Tue, Sep 25, 2012, 10:06 PM UTC

emillon wrote: post #53

pixelbath wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Alternatively, if you're really, really brave, you could do what I did: disassemble the NES down to the header, and use a small screwdriver to bend the pins slightly back into position. However, it is easy to bend them too far, and increase the insertion force required to actually load the game. Or worse, snap off one of the contacts. I did this with an NES that I purchased for $5 off eBay (over 10 years ago), and ha…

That's not really being brave ; I mean, it's not dangerous. The NES is very serviceable.

I guess I forgot to mention that you have to play Mumblety-peg after bending each pin.

Re: Did Blowing Into The NES Cartridge Really Work?

#65

Post by dylanz » Tue, Sep 25, 2012, 11:10 PM UTC

aristus wrote: post #5

As a wee lad in the last millennium I was an authorized Nintendo repairman. Blowing on the cart sometimes worked, if there was errant dust or fluff in the way. But in the long run the salty moist air would cause a corrosive layer of gunk on the contacts. Normal procedure was to open each cart and clean them with a good eraser then an alcohol wash. The bigger problem was bad design in the original NES. The cart plugge…

Enlightening, thanks for sharing!

I was about 8 years old, and convinced a local video store in my small town that I could repair Nintendo games. I brought them home, and if they were indeed not working, I would get a Q-tip, apply some rubbing alcohol, and swab/scrub the contacts. This nearly worked every time.

I got slightly called out when a customer brought in an actual Nintendo that was broken. I ended up taking it home, opening it up, turning it on (probably not the best idea), and went through each component on the board to see if anything looked out of place. I ended up finding a capacitor that was a bit bent, so I straightened it out with my fingers and, viola! It worked! I returned the Nintendo back to the shop in working order and felt like quite the little man.

I had free game and movie rentals for life, as well as being able to pick out what Nintendo games the store was to order next. I was in gaming heaven.

Re: Did Blowing Into The NES Cartridge Really Work?

#66

Post by danso » Wed, Sep 26, 2012, 12:01 AM UTC

What a stupid article. You're supposed to cough into the cartridge, not blow in it. Then you insert the cartridge, slap the system's sides twice, and power on

Re: Did Blowing Into The NES Cartridge Really Work?

#67

Post by meatpopsicle » Wed, Sep 26, 2012, 12:03 AM UTC

nollidge wrote: post #60

meatpopsicle wrote: post #55

Holy crap, everyone is wrong. I didn't think I'd see this day on HN. The reason people resorted to blowing in the cartridges is because of the CIC chip. The so-called "Lock-Out" chip on the NES is responsible for the Blinking power button and games not working. "Sometimes," I hear some of you say, "You'd take the game out, put it back in, and it'd sometimes work. Why?" Well, imaginary question-asker, because the a fa…

I'd say they're not wrong as much as just not addressing that particular complaint.

They were addressing whether or not blowing in a cartridge fixed a problem. The same problem the CIC lockout chip was responsible for.

Therefore, they were addressing whether or not ignoring the CIC lockout chip fixed or alleviated a problem. clearly, it does not.

Perhaps you can explain how ignoring the cause of the entire problem, blaming the cartridge slot, and then working from a false presumption mean that they're not wrong?

Re: Did Blowing Into The NES Cartridge Really Work?

#68

Post by meatpopsicle » Wed, Sep 26, 2012, 12:08 AM UTC

pmahoney wrote: post #38

The Game Genie is a mini cartridge that attaches to a game cart (to apply cheats/mods through a code-entry screen). This combo is then inserted into the NES, Game Genie-first. The combo is too long to be pushed down, and the NES door remains open while playing. I never understood why you don't need to push "down" the Game Genie; a bare cart would never function unless pushed down... Nevertheless, every game I had tha…

you didn't need to push down on the game genie, because the "push down" was to enable the CIC lockout chip. Galoob spent a considerable amount of time (and legal fees) bypassing the CIC chip. this allowed all games to run without problems on most NES systems.

Re: Did Blowing Into The NES Cartridge Really Work?

#69

Post by meatpopsicle » Wed, Sep 26, 2012, 12:09 AM UTC

aristus wrote: post #5

As a wee lad in the last millennium I was an authorized Nintendo repairman. Blowing on the cart sometimes worked, if there was errant dust or fluff in the way. But in the long run the salty moist air would cause a corrosive layer of gunk on the contacts. Normal procedure was to open each cart and clean them with a good eraser then an alcohol wash. The bigger problem was bad design in the original NES. The cart plugge…

If this was true, then why could you stick a game genie into your system, not press down, and still get the game to work, even on a broken NES with bent or non-connecting contacts?

The contacts were never the issue. the CIC lockout chip is the culprit everyone's ignoring.

Re: Did Blowing Into The NES Cartridge Really Work?

#70

Post by foca » Wed, Sep 26, 2012, 1:44 AM UTC

agumonkey wrote: post #59

xentronium wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Russia we had so-called Dendy[1] (hardware clone of Famicom made in Zelenograd) which had that exact vertical slot. Guess what, we used to blow into our cartridges too when they didn't work. [1] Actually, history of game consoles in Russia in early 1990s is quite curious. Nintendo themselves weren't interested in our market, so Russian-Chinese manufacturers promoted their clone quite freely. I believe it was even…

Thanks I never heard about Russian market and that you were left without original NES ! I only knew about few South America clones.

Ah, my Family Game, how many hours did I invest in it while growing up? Those "999 in 1" cartridges were awesome :)