How to Determine a Dead Genesis Cart?

I found a Sonic 1 in a bargain bin, and after I cleaned it up I found that there was little corrosion on the thing. I tested it on my Genesis and nothing appears. Do I have to be more obsessive with my cleaning or is this really a dead cart? I'm not sure if it helps but I did see a crappy brand 16V 47uf Capacitor in there.

 

Try it with the cap removed. The cap only provides DC filtering and they do go bad but usually not so bad it kills the cart outright. At worst it'd only be unstable and glitchy but somewhat playable.

ROM can be zapped by static electricity. If it simply won't boot and you've ruled out dirty connector, bad solder, shorted caps, and broken traces then assume the ROM is fried.

 

I have a Flashback genesis cart that I think has a dead rom. I cleaned it beyond measure. The connector pads are mirror finish and I found no broken continuity on the PCB. I really think that ROM is kaput.

I guess I will have to ''Flash back'' a new rom chip for it xD

 

http://www.digitpress.com/forum/sho...doesn-t-work&p=1752779&viewfull=1#post1752779

No traces are broken. Little to no corrosion as I said. I have NES carts in worse condition and they work nonetheless.

This guy says he has four Sonic carts that don't work. If it is static that killed the ROM, wow that much? Maybe this can be a rewritten cart if push comes to shove.

 

Pretty simple, really. If your console is known good, test continuity between the edge connector and the chip(s). If there's no (or poor) continuity, then the edge connector is dirty, there's a broken trace or a dry joint. If everything's good, then you've got a bad ROM. Well, check any electrolytic caps too, of course.