~Need help troubleshooting my NES...

[I Feel Asleep!!]

Forgive me if this sort of thing was already answered somewhere here, but I just wanted to ask something. My current NES (an original, regular bulky NES console) has recently been acting up a LOT more often when playing games. You know, that flashy grey-green light show whenever I try to play a game. It was very occasional before, but now that is almost all I get no matter what game I try. I clean these games very carefully and I KNOW the games work just fine - they all played perfectly on my old yobo top loaders before they (the top loaders) crapped out on me. I also treat the NES itself very very carefully. Why do you think my NES is doing almost nothing but the light show whenever I try to play clean (and NOT overly clean, so don't suggest that) games? Is this a sign that the NES is dying or the inside of the NES itself is dirty? Is it time to get a new NES, or should I take a different approach to the situation?

EXTRA question: I'm thinking of investing in one of those spiffy officially licensed NES top loaders, though I know they are much more costly. Are they worth it? Do they play games better, longer, and more efficiently? Anything in particular I should know about these top loaders before I invest in one?

Thanks. Cheers!

[dsheinem]

Forgive me if this sort of thing was already answered somewhere here, but I just wanted to ask something. My current NES (an original, regular bulky NES console) has recently been acting up a LOT more often when playing games. You know, that flashy grey-green light show whenever I try to play a game. It was very occasional before, but now that is almost all I get no matter what game I try. I clean these games very carefully and I KNOW the games work just fine - they all played perfectly on my old yobo top loaders before they (the top loaders) crapped out on me. I also treat the NES itself very very carefully. Why do you think my NES is doing almost nothing but the light show whenever I try to play clean (and NOT overly clean, so don't suggest that) games? Is this a sign that the NES is dying or the inside of the NES itself is dirty? Is it time to get a new NES, or should I take a different approach to the situation?

EXTRA question: I'm thinking of investing in one of those spiffy officially licensed NES top loaders, though I know they are much more costly. Are they worth it? Do they play games better, longer, and more efficiently? Anything in particular I should know about these top loaders before I invest in one?

Thanks. Cheers!

Try cleaning all the connectors inside. If you get the problem repeatedly, it may be time for a new 72 pin connector, which you can find on eBay for a reasonable price and is easy to install.

In my experience, toploaders are more dependable (and a cooler collector's item), but you sacrifice composite video (it is RF by default). You can mod it for better sound and video, but that takes some soldering work.

[Ziggy]

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-NES-NINTENDO-72 ... ccessories

Just get one of those, you'll be playing all your carts like the system is brand new!

[benderx]

What do you mean "grey-green light show ", television is my guess. unless you are talking about the red blinking light on the nes console.

[swiftzx]

Have you tried cleaning the games with a q-tip and windex? I clean my games like that and it usually does the trick. Maybe it's time to replace your pin connector? as dsheinem stated before, the toploader is more dependable, but you have rf instead of av(uless you get the RARE official toploader with av).

[I Feel Asleep!!]

The grey-green lightshow is what I see on the TV whenever the NES is turned on with a game in it. I clean all the games well, so it's not the games. Definitely the console.

I believe it probably IS the NES pin connector, I have no tools for cleaning inside there well and I don't know how to clean inside safely, I get worried about damaging something in there...I don't know how to take it out and install a new one, but I'm assuming it's pretty easy and I could just look it up...


I didn't know the official NES top loader had RF only...Does that affect the sound quality much? When I used the RF before, certain parts of the music and such were missing. Unless I did something else wrong. haha...

[benderx]

Here is my nintendo, wanted to sell this on ebay, but no one was close to buying it. I cut the secruity switch many years ago. have less problems running games on it. I basically clean every single nes game that i buy. And those nes games are not for sale.

[swiftzx]

The grey-green lightshow is what I see on the TV whenever the NES is turned on with a game in it. I clean all the games well, so it's not the games. Definitely the console.

I believe it probably IS the NES pin connector, I have no tools for cleaning inside there well and I don't know how to clean inside safely, I get worried about damaging something in there...I don't know how to take it out and install a new one, but I'm assuming it's pretty easy and I could just look it up...


I didn't know the official NES top loader had RF only...Does that affect the sound quality much? When I used the RF before, certain parts of the music and such were missing. Unless I did something else wrong. haha...

Well...pin connectors for nes are cheap and it'll take no more than 10 minutes to replace it. All you'd need is a screwdriver; I replaced mine a couple of weeks ago and now it works fine

[I Feel Asleep!!]

Sweet! So you don't need a special tool to open up the NES, eh? Not like the gamebit for opening up the N64 and such?

[swiftzx]

Sweet! So you don't need a special tool to open up the NES, eh? Not like the gamebit for opening up the N64 and such?

Nope! I would've been screwed(no pun intended) since I don't own one...