Yesterday I picked up a copy of kirby's dream land 3 at my local retro games vendor and couldn't wait to get home and play it. Before I left the store, I tested out the game and it worked perfectly. When I got home to play it on my Snes, it wouldn't boot up. The Snes would turn on, but the screen would stay black and nothing would show up. So I tried my other Snes games to make sure the Snes wasn't broken and they all worked fine. I even tried other games that require the extra two chips on the bottom of the cart (I tried MMX2 which uses a CX4 chip and KDL3 uses a SA1 chip, so maybe the SA1 is the problem). I brought it back to the store today to get a refund but the game worked at the store! The employee gave it a deep cleaning and I brought it home to play. And, well it didn't work. So tomorrow i'm bringing in KDL3 to return and my Snes to figure out what's wrong.
If any of you guys have any idea what's going on, please let me know!
Thanks in advance
kirby's Dream Land 3 problem starting up
Re: kirby's Dream Land 3 problem starting up
I know you said you tried another SA1 game (and I'm assuming that one worked fine) but try giving those extra pins on your console a good cleaning anyway.
I've had several times in the past times where A would work but B wouldn't, and even tho I already cleaned B several times and it looked perfectly clean, further cleaning got it to work.
I've had several times in the past times where A would work but B wouldn't, and even tho I already cleaned B several times and it looked perfectly clean, further cleaning got it to work.
Re: kirby's Dream Land 3 problem starting up
Thanks for tip, what's your preferred method of cleaning the extra pins in the console?
Re: kirby's Dream Land 3 problem starting up
Firstly, good practice would be to unplug the SNES and then turn it on to drain any electricity built up inside. Leave it unplugged until you're done cleaning it.
Get some rubbing alcohol. The higher the percentage the better. 9X% is what I suggest but if you have a bottle in the bathroom closet it's probably 75%, which is fine. If it's 50%, you'll want something stronger. The percentage is how much alcohol to water there is. So if it's 50%, it's 50% water.
Or just get some electrical contact cleaner, which is made for cleaning electrical contacts.
As for what to stick in the cart slot, I can suggest two things. Hobie likes the cardboard method. You can use an old cereal box folded so it's the appropriate thickness. I like to suggest old gift cards, enough of them stacked to the appropriate thickness. Whatever you use, just pay attention to the thickness of it. It's a real Goldilocks kind of thing. Too thin and it wont be scrubbing the pins. Too thick and you might bend your pins out of whack. You want it just right. I would compare it to the thickness of the cart's pins, and maybe make it just ever so slightly thicker than that.
If using old gift cards, obviously you'll wanna cut them down to the right width for those FX pins. I like to use an old (but clean) white cotton T-shirt. Wrap it around the plastic cards. Soak it with some alcohol. It doesn't have to be dripping with alcohol, but you can get it nice and wet. Push it in the slot, then pull it up, about half way out, and go up and down with it a few times. Then pull it out. I like to use the white T-Shirt because I feel it adds enough abrasive and also you can see any dirt that comes off. If the T-shirt gets black on it, then move to a clean area of the shirt and repeat until the shirt doesn't get dirty anymore.
If you're using cardboard, I think you can get away with just the cardboard and no shirt. I never tried the cardboard method, but I would try and use a shirt anyway. I'm assuming you don't have any spent gift cards lying around, so you'll probably resort to the cardboard thing. Or, use your head, and just find anything that's the right thickness that you could use. Doesn't really matter what material it is so long as the thickness is good and you can wrap a T-shirt around it. It just has to be durable enough.
And while you're at it, you might as well just clean the center (main) cart slot.
After you're done, and you're satisfied that it's clean, it might be a good idea to just wait 1-5 minutes before powering it back on. Alcohol and contact cleaner (which is basically just alcohol) evaporates very quickly. You don't need to use so much that you end up with a puddle in your cart slot. The amount you should use, it should all evaporate 30 seconds after your done. But, just to be on the safe side I guess.
Get some rubbing alcohol. The higher the percentage the better. 9X% is what I suggest but if you have a bottle in the bathroom closet it's probably 75%, which is fine. If it's 50%, you'll want something stronger. The percentage is how much alcohol to water there is. So if it's 50%, it's 50% water.
Or just get some electrical contact cleaner, which is made for cleaning electrical contacts.
As for what to stick in the cart slot, I can suggest two things. Hobie likes the cardboard method. You can use an old cereal box folded so it's the appropriate thickness. I like to suggest old gift cards, enough of them stacked to the appropriate thickness. Whatever you use, just pay attention to the thickness of it. It's a real Goldilocks kind of thing. Too thin and it wont be scrubbing the pins. Too thick and you might bend your pins out of whack. You want it just right. I would compare it to the thickness of the cart's pins, and maybe make it just ever so slightly thicker than that.
If using old gift cards, obviously you'll wanna cut them down to the right width for those FX pins. I like to use an old (but clean) white cotton T-shirt. Wrap it around the plastic cards. Soak it with some alcohol. It doesn't have to be dripping with alcohol, but you can get it nice and wet. Push it in the slot, then pull it up, about half way out, and go up and down with it a few times. Then pull it out. I like to use the white T-Shirt because I feel it adds enough abrasive and also you can see any dirt that comes off. If the T-shirt gets black on it, then move to a clean area of the shirt and repeat until the shirt doesn't get dirty anymore.
If you're using cardboard, I think you can get away with just the cardboard and no shirt. I never tried the cardboard method, but I would try and use a shirt anyway. I'm assuming you don't have any spent gift cards lying around, so you'll probably resort to the cardboard thing. Or, use your head, and just find anything that's the right thickness that you could use. Doesn't really matter what material it is so long as the thickness is good and you can wrap a T-shirt around it. It just has to be durable enough.
And while you're at it, you might as well just clean the center (main) cart slot.
After you're done, and you're satisfied that it's clean, it might be a good idea to just wait 1-5 minutes before powering it back on. Alcohol and contact cleaner (which is basically just alcohol) evaporates very quickly. You don't need to use so much that you end up with a puddle in your cart slot. The amount you should use, it should all evaporate 30 seconds after your done. But, just to be on the safe side I guess.
Last edited by Ziggy on Sun Dec 22, 2013 8:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: kirby's Dream Land 3 problem starting up
Wow thanks for that in-depth response, I'll definitely give it a shot and I'll let you know how it goes
Re: kirby's Dream Land 3 problem starting up
I edited that post to add some safety precautions, just in case.
Re: kirby's Dream Land 3 problem starting up
a. Thanks again for that response, you can bet i'll use it in the future
b. I went ahead with Hobie's method and gave the FX pins a good scrubin', the cereal box was the perfect width. Unfortunately the game still won't play, so i'll have to lug in my Snes tomorrow to have them check what's up
c. Being the Canadian I am, thanks again
b. I went ahead with Hobie's method and gave the FX pins a good scrubin', the cereal box was the perfect width. Unfortunately the game still won't play, so i'll have to lug in my Snes tomorrow to have them check what's up
c. Being the Canadian I am, thanks again