Perplexing NES issue

[Hyp81]

I need some advice on an issue with my original NES. It's a 1989 system. It has worked dependably for me for over 20 years.

About two months ago, I started having issues with it not playing my games correctly. I would get wavy white and black lines or the "blue screen of death." Sometimes flashing, sometimes not.

This occurred on all of the games I played the most as a kid, and when I put in the games I didn't play much like Abadox... they seemed to work fine. It seemed like the cartridges were "loose" going in, so I took it to my local retro store. They tested all my games I was having issues with, including two new ones I had picked up at garage sales. They also tested the system and it worked fine on their video screen. I brought it back home, plugged it in to my TV and it started having the SAME issues again.

I took it back this week and paid $29 for them to put in a new set of pins. I brought it home tonight and plugged it in. Still nothing working!! I was SO frustrated!

I tried some of the other games, like Abadox, and they didn't even work. In frustration, I pushed down on the cartridge without turning the system off, the cartridge popped up, and poof! Abadox worked! I tried my favorites and they all work, too, but only with the cartridge not pushed down. Is this normal after having the pins replaced?

I still cannot get the new games I purchased to work. I have two I got at garage sales and a Tetris I got from the game store. None of these are working, even with the pins up. I have cleaned them with alcohol on a cue-tip. I will try this again.

I am mostly frustrated with the inconsistency. Why do some of the games work on my system, but not others, when all were tested and worked on the game store system? Should I just give up on my old faithful system and purchase a new one? If anyone has any thoughts I'd be happy to hear them.

[KDub]

Replacement pins are not made like the originals, they are made like the top loading systems. The original NES required you to push the game down because the pins didn't make contact until you did that. The new pins are tight enough to work without that pressure system and because of this pushing them down actually makes them lose contact.

Since the games are displaying fine on other TVs I'd say the graphical issues you are getting would be from either your AV/RF cord or the TV inputs themselves.

[Hyp81]

I thought about both of those issues.

My SNES and other AV/RF based game consoles all work fine on my TV and it's been used for these games, with success, since 2001 when I bought it for my first apartment. So I don't think it's the TV.

It could well be my adaptor... it's original to the system. If it is the adapter, though, why is it working perfectly on SOME games, but not at all on others?

Like I said... the inconsistency is what I am having issues with. Thanks for the help on the replacement pins. That makes sense!

[Jontendo]

What KDub said, though it sounds more like a connection between cartridge & sytem issue than TV fault to me.

* See if games are more reliable when the cartridge is left up vs. in the "locked down" position. There are thickness variations between NES game connectors, some may work better locked down vs. up.

* Sometimes alcohol & q-tips aren't enough. I usually disassemble problem games & rub/scrape debris with a toothpick, progressing to a soft eraser if needed. Avoid metal polish; it'll strip the gold plating very fast and reduce corrosion resistance.

* If you're adventurous & fairly comfortable with electronics, you could ground or disconnect pin #4 on the NES lockout chip to boost reliability.