Broken Genesis cartridge help needed!

[pharaoht]

I have Sonic 3 for my Genesis, and it has been busted for some time now. Recently, I've been into fixing consoles and games, so naturally I decided to go back to this brain twister. I still can't quite figure out the problem because I've never seen anything like it. Yes, I have cleaned the game extensively, so a dirty cart is not the problem. What happens is, nothing. I put the game in, power on the system, and not even the "Licensed by Sega..." screen shows up. The system itself is also fine, with all of my other games working 100%. Has anyone else experienced a similar problem?

[Menegrothx]

Has anyone else experienced a similar problem?

I've got two Genesis games that have the same problem. The cartridges are undamaged and as clean as they get, but they wont work no matter how much I try. Black sega lisence screen and after that nothing, every time.

[BurningDoom]

It's not a Genesis game, but I have the same problem with a copy of Metal Slug 1st Mission for Neo Geo Pocket Color. The cartridge looks to be in fantastic shape inside and out. But I get nothing.

[RyaNtheSlayA]

Have you tried hitting it with a hammer? That fixes most things.

[s8n]

lol

[flojocabron]

does the game have sentimental value for you?

you could just get another one.

If you already have the box, just get a cart only copy and replace.

[pharaoht]

I've actually got another copy of the game not too long ago. It's just that I never had this problem, nor have I heard much about it, so I wanted to know if it was fixable, in case I ever run into it again.

I forgot to mention. Even when locked on to Sonic and Knuckles or placed on top of a game genie, it still doesn't work. The Sega copyright screen doesn't show up either. It's like this game just makes everything not work.

[Hobie-wan]

check that the traces all look good and all the solder joints are ok. Otherwise possibly the capacitor. Failing all that, the chip is toast. If the cart shell looks good, still could be used to swap insides with a beat up but otherwise working cart.

[Ziggy]

check that the traces all look good and all the solder joints are ok. Otherwise possibly the capacitor. Failing all that, the chip is toast. If the cart shell looks good, still could be used to swap insides with a beat up but otherwise working cart.

Every component inside a Genesis cart is replaceable. So no matter what the problem is, it's fixable. The only problems are having the soldering skills, and (if the mask ROM is fried) needing an EPROM burner. But of course, plenty of people have their own burners these days, so one could easily get an EPROM burned for them on a forum such as this one.

If the cart's pins are super clean (with alcohol - not something like stove top cleaner) and the PCB doesn't appear to have any problems, then I would try swapping the mask ROM with another Genesis cart. This will tell you alot. You just need a game that's the same size or larger. I think Sonic 3 is 16Mb, so other games that are this large are Vectorman, Streets of Rage 2, NHL 97. Just remove the mask ROMs from the PCBs and swap them. Just confirm that it's a working cart first. So let's say you swapped the mask ROMs in Sonic and NHL...

NHL 97 mask ROM works on Sonic 3 PCB, Sonic 3 PCB is OK. Sonic 3 mask ROM doesn't work on NHL 97 cart, Sonic 3 mask ROM is busted and needs to be replaced.

OR

NHL 97 mask ROM works on NHL 97 cart but not on Sonic 3 cart, Sonic 3 mask ROM works on NHL 97 cart, some other component is busted on Sonic 3 PCB.