Genesis cart not working - cleaned

[nova1313]

Hi - I bought a copy of Thunder Force III off ebay. The seller said he tested it and that it worked fine in a Gen-X reproduction genesis. I've taken the cart apart, cleaned it thoroughly and still can't get it to work on any of my 3 tested genesis systems. I've never seen a cart die before.

This one slides into the systems and removes a bit easier than other cartridges do. I guess it's possible that the game is just worn down? Thoughts or suggestions of other things to try?

[Hobie-wan]

I have an MK and Golden Axe II that came to me in a lot that look perfect, but are stone dead and I don't know why. If you pull the cart forward or back and start the console do they work? Just a thought since you say it is loose. But really the metal layer is so thin that I can't see it being worn down enough to not work unless you could see obvious damage. What about fed through a Game Genie if you have one?

[nova1313]

I tried wiggling it but no luck. I didn't think about trying a game genie. I'll have to try that tonight!

[Ziggy]

The GameGenie is a good idea, if the cart feels a little tighter in it.

Be sure to clean both sides of the GG before giving it a try. Also, I would just go ahead and clean the console and the cart again to be sure.

And this might sound dumb, but if it doesn't work at this point, I would try cleaning the cart a few more times. I've had this happen in the past. Most recently with my NES PowerPak, and since it's fairly new (a few years old) the pins were nice and shiny gold. One cleaning didn't do the trick, a second and third cleaning didn't get it working either. IIRC, it was the fourth time I cleaned the cart that it finally booted up. I've had similar things happen with the conductive pads in game controllers. My Wii Classic Controller, actually, which is rather new, looked clean as hell, but I had to clean some of the buttons several times before they worked right.

And while we're talking about cleaning... how are you cleaning your carts? I would recommend only rubbing alcohol (with the highest content of alcohol possible) or electrical contact cleaner. No Windex or stove top cleaner. I like to use a cotton rag, preferably white, dampened with alcohol. Then I use my finger to scrub the pins up and down, moving to a clean part of the rag when needed. That's why I like to use white, you can see that crap you're cleaning off. And a lot of times, I'll go over a cart a second time just to remove all that crud that wasn't lifted off on the first pass.

[bacardipr05]

If you tried everything else you might want to try a eraser on the contacts of the game then blowing it with compressed air/bottle.

[Ziggy]

And a lot of times, I'll go over a cart a second time just to remove all that crud that wasn't lifted off on the first pass.

Just to expand on this a little... Some times there's crap on the pins that you just can't see, and you might just be smearing it around with the alcohol and not lifting much of it off. It's a good idea to soak a piece of cotton with alcohol and scrub the pins. Then, before the alcohol starts to evaporate (which happens very quickly) scrub with a dry piece of cotton. What you're trying to do with this procedure is lift off anything that might be floating in the alcohol before the alcohol dries (and the crud dries back onto the pins). And this is why multiple passes are sometimes needed.

[nova1313]

Just to follow up on this, I tried the game genie and didn't have any luck. A few times the game genie even refused to start up.

I have been cleaning by disassembling the carts and using rubbing alcohol with Q tips. I usually hit them once with that, take an eraser to them, and then a second coat of rubbing alcohol/q-tips. That usually gets any game I have working.

I checked continuity to the port with a meter and it seemed like all the pins had connections. No way of telling how good they were.

Thanks for all the great advice here. I ended up returning the game to the seller. I was a bit disappointed, but he was super good about it.

[Snatch1414]

That's good that the seller was understanding. Just my two cents about hard to clean games for the heck of it:

I have a feeling some will frown on this, but I will switch to brass cleaner if after a few cleanings the game still won't play. Clean it once with brass cleaner and it still might not play because it tends to leave a film behind on the pins, but clean that off with the alcohol and it works a lot of the time in my experience. Not a 100% success rate, but I brought a few carts back from the dead this way.

[Hobie-wan]

That's good that the seller was understanding. Just my two cents about hard to clean games for the heck of it:

I have a feeling some will frown on this, but I will switch to brass cleaner if after a few cleanings the game still won't play. Clean it once with brass cleaner and it still might not play because it tends to leave a film behind on the pins, but clean that off with the alcohol and it works a lot of the time in my experience. Not a 100% success rate, but I brought a few carts back from the dead this way.

If regular safe cleaning isn't working, then yes, more drastic measures might be tried. You just need to clean leftover deposits as you are doing. I myself will use a green scrubby sponge as it is like very light sandpaper in the case of really filthy and corroded contacts. Then a proper contact cleaner go after. I saved some garage kept Atari carts that were kinda green this way.

[AggroSky]

A tip for cleaning. I've got several hundred Genesis games and only 1 dead cart out of all of them. What works well for me is rubbing alcohol with Q-tips and then rubbing the pins with aluminum foil. The foil works great for removing corrosion and makes the pins look shiny and almost new again. It has worked for games I've had with really rusty pins. It might be worth a try if you haven't already.