Super Smash Bros N64 Cartridge broken

My Cartridge broken and no longer boots up, I am not sure what is wrong with it.

Please help.

 

Hello, welcome to the forum!

Have you tried cleaning the cartridge pins with a qtip and rubbing alcohol?

 

I have cleaned them with a Qtip but I did not using rubbing alcohol is that a safe option?

 

Yes but I have heard conflicting stories about it. Some say rubbing alcohol coats the pins and will damage them many years down the road. Others say it's perfectly fine to use it. A pencil eraser works too from what I've heard.

Try the pencil eraser first then if it still has problems, use a light amount of rubbing alcohol.

 

I will give it a try.

Thanks

 

Your welcome and do let us know if it fixes it. I have a few games that could use some cleaning too. I should probably do that...

 

Sorry I am new to this but where exactly are the cartridge pins?

I did clean the gold strip that goes into the console and still have had no luck.

 

The gold strips are the cartridge pins. Did you clean both sides?

 

SSB PAL cart PCB pictures if you need them.





And no "Rubbing Alcohol" does not "coat" anything.. Funny thing is I saw a video by ReviewTechUSA today saying that every other tutorial on the internet was wrong but a few minutes in he says that Rubbing alcohol contains Glycerin, all types I've ever seen are just 70% IPA and 30% de-stilled water.

It's electronics just because it's a console does not make it magical.......

Use some contact cleaner or IPA, worst case a fiber glass pen would work (just make sure you don't get any on you ouch!)

 

Ah ok. So rubbing alcohol is perfectly fine then. Thank you for the info.

I'm actually subscribed to Rich and I think I saw that video a while ago. I'll have to try it on Virtua Racing Deluxe for the 32X since it has been having issues lately. Come to think of it, so does my 32X when not inserted a certain way.

 

The rubbing alcohol that I have is 91%

I honestly did not know that an n64 cartridge had so few parts. It looks fairly simple compared to say a Neo Geo cartridge that has much more going on inside.

 

I just made a video about how to fix an N64 cart. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hj9ELEu38mk TL;DR: Use a multimeter to check all of the connection on the PCB. There's probably a broken trace or solder pad.

 

Great stuff man!! Thanks!!

 

Yeah, a cotton tip dipped in rubbing alcohol is the way to go about cleaning contacts. Give it rub with this and checked the cotton tip is getting dirty. If it is, that shows the contacts were dirty, so keep going until you get to the point where you can rub the contacts with a fresh, rubbing alcohol dipped cotton tip and it doesn't get dirty.<br>

 

You may need to pull the console apart and remove the cart connector, give it a scrub with some contact cleaner (same for the main pcb)

 

I've used WD-40 to clean up contacts, not only for consoles but for other situations too. I find it quite magical to be honest, i've never had to blow my Mega Drive cartridges again since i cleaned them up with it. Just be careful to not spray the cartridge stickers as it is a very good sticker remover and will ruin the labels. I normaly spray it in cotton tips and pass them on the contacts to not risk

 

wd40 makes wd40 branded contact cleaner, that alone should be indicator enough that standard wd40 is probably not the right tool if thats what you mean

iso all the way. only complaint i've ever heard in re: to iso was a gentleman I worked with who believed iso alcohol caused flex cables to become brittle--mostly a non-issue with retro game carts

 

Yup - contact cleaner (essentially isopropyl alcohol) is the only way to go. Pencil erasers are not intended for this purpose. Nor are medical spirits. WD-40 is definitely not - it's horrible stuff that should remain in the garage. Keep it away from electronics and locks!

Don't be a cheapskate - the correct stuff is cheap and any good electronics store will sell it - Radio Shack, Maplin etc.

 

I use IPA on flex cables just about everyday (both Kapton and Plastic based ones) it does not hurt them at all..

 

Personally, i've fixed many game carts by using a pencil eraser; works well.