Pokemon Red Freezing

[Rounin]

My copy of pokemon red keeps freezing during play is there anything I can do to stop it happening?


Thanks for looking.

[Ziggy]

Clean the pins on the cart, then clean what ever you're playing it on (Gameboy, Super Gameboy, etc).

[Rounin]

What is the best way to clean the pins?

[Troglodyte]

EDIT: I obviously suggest, cleaning the pins first as Ziggy said.
You can read below exactly solution is recommended for doing this.
If you don't have the proper tools to open the cart up; that is OK.
You can still clean the pins pretty well by using rubbing alcohol
and a Q-tip.

Where does it keep freezing?
If you can; and you don't mind losing your saved game;
that you try another save slot (but I think early Pokemon games only support one save slot?),
or erase the game and start over. You could have a something like a corrupt save point, etc.

First open it up and try cleaning the contacts.
If that doesn't fix it, I know this sounds stupid / possible destructive,
but I have gotten the following to work many times, in the past, before:

Dunk the entire PCB into 90% isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol)
and then dry it out really well with a can of compressed air, and then try it out.

If that does not work; either leave it submerged in the rubbing alcohol for a few hours (even over night is OK).
Dry it out really well, and try the game again.

I recommend removing the battery before doing this; but I have tried it without doing that as well;
and it hasn't caused a problem.

Just keep in mind that this may cause the contacts that connect the battery to somewhat oxidize.
I don't mean that they will rust or even corrode; they will maybe just need to be cleaned off a bit.
The battery should continue working, but as I wrote earlier; I can't guarantee this fact;
so I recommend removing it first.

Failing that, I'm not sure what you can do.

[Rounin]

The game freezes at random intervals sometimes I can play for a for over an hour other times its ever 10 minutes. I have just cleaned the pins and there was a lot of dirt on them so with a bit of luck I have solved the problem.

[Troglodyte]

I have just cleaned the pins and there was a lot of dirt on them so with a bit of luck I have solved the problem.

Sounds good; let us know.

[CRTGAMER]

Dunk the entire PCB into 90% isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol)
and then dry it out really well with a can of compressed air, and then try it out.

If that does not work; either leave it submerged in the rubbing alcohol for a few hours (even over night is OK).
Dry it out really well, and try the game again.

I recommend removing the battery before doing this; but I have tried it without doing that as well;
and it hasn't caused a problem.

Here is the inside of that cart. Be careful of that bath, there is a risk of breaking the battery contact.
At least there are no capacitors that would be ruined from getting wet.



In addition to cleaning the cart contacts only, you could try cleaning the Gameboy contacts.

[Troglodyte]

Here is the inside of that cart. Be careful of that bath, there is a risk of breaking the battery contact.
At least there are no capacitors that would be ruined from getting wet.

Yeah; basically; To make myself clearer; this should be seen as a last ditch effort in order to try getting it to work.
Chances are small that it will cause any problems; as I have been doing this for a year or more; on used games that
were sold as "dead".

However, you really want to make sure that it is dry. It seems to get them working often enough, though. I suppose that is because the circuits / components / spaces between said components are so small; that fine dust might be getting trapped in between them. I honestly don't know the exact reason why it works.

[Ziggy]

Definitely clean the system as well as the cart! You'll only get the cart dirty again if your sticking it in a dirty system.

[Rounin]

I have also Cleaned the system now. I played it for two hours last night and an hour this morning so far so good.