Dirty SNES Carts...

[Cassidy]

So I snagged a copy of SFII Turbo on the cheap. I cleaned it (exterior) as well as using light, diluted rubbing alcohol on the contacts and let air dry.

When I fire it up, sometimes it loads and sometimes I have to manually reset. The screen goes all garbled and messed up.

Should I take it back and get a refund or is there some trick to make it work? The thing was dirty as hell to begin with and there was NO way it was going into my practically new SNES which is immaculate, so I know it's not the console...

Any help?

[toredauei]

Well it is cartridge based... sometimes it takes me upwards of twenty times putting a cartridge in and out of the console to get the thing to work. Sometimes you have to put the cartridge barely in for it to play, sometimes you have to lean the cartridge backwards so that it gets a good connection. These things were fickle when they were brand new so its only natural that they atleast get worse with age. just keep trying, if it works kinda then it should eventually work all the way with the right combonation

[Ziggy]

Well I don't know about all that. It should work first try.

It's much easier to clean if you have the security bit to open the case up, you can get a much better view of the pins and it's easier to clean them that way too.

Anyway, how do the pins look? They should shine.

[blackmagepwns]

Maybe you didn't clean it well enough. Back when I started buying carts from the flea market they would look like someone just sprayed them with a dust gun, and hell, even some of the had the contacts colored with sharpie. Try giving the connectors a more through cleaning, as I may of had to go back and clean them 100 times, but in the end, the card has always pretty much started without hassle.

What I do, I use 70% Isopropyl rubbing alcohol, generic q-tips, I scrub the connectors on both sides in a horizonal motion to get the excess dust off, then i go through on each side scrubbing each and every connector vertically to scrub the hard to get stuff off, and believe me, there is ALWAYS more dust to clean off. I bought a copy of Axelay once that I like to call the special black cart (as someone had a bright idea to color the entire cart with black sharpie.) and I went through at least 15 q-tips and I even poured the alcohol into the connector (which I don't recommend) and dumped it out, let it dry, and it started up just fine.

Just take your time cleaning them and you will get them working, Good luck.

[Mr. GameFix]

You are going to waste a lot of time and energy using rubbing alcohol and you will never get the cart truly clean with it. Rubbing alcohol does not have any special properties that would dissolve the surface contaminants on the cartridge which cause it not to play. Yes, with enough scrubbing they will remove SOME of the surface dirt, but not much, and as mentioned already, you will have to go through A LOT of q-tips.
Using windex, sandpaper, or a pencil eraser is just as bad, because these things were not formulated for this purpose. There is no way that they can remove the surface sulfides that are contaminating your game cartridge.

What you want to use is a real contact cleaner like DeoxIT which is what I use in all my game cleaning services. It's made for this exact purpose, will do 10 times the job of those other methods, and requires far less wasted energy.

[blackmagepwns]

What you want to use is a real contact cleaner like DeoxIT which is what I use in all my game cleaning services.

Where exactly would you find this stuff? It may just be me living in the middle of nowhere, but I have never heard of it.

[Mr. GameFix]

You can get it from their website, but it is really expensive to buy. There are other places on the internet that sell it, but you will not find much of a pricing difference.
It's going to be expensive no matter where you get it.

I already have a good little supply of it though, so if you are interested and want to send me your games I can clean them for you.

[Mod_Man_Extreme]

Don't use diluted Rubbing Alcohol, use 70% By Volume Rubbing Alcohol, it's not so strong that it damages carts and contacts, and it gets the job done fast with the added benefit of sterilizing your games.

[chupon]

you fed right into that bait. "here's what you should use... wait for responce... I'll give you the best deal around - just send me your carts and cash."

[Whatever]

I use Wrights "water based" brass polish on all cartridge games. I take the game apart to get at the circuit board, dab a little of the polish on a paper towel and rub the contacts for a few seconds. Restores games to brand new condition. I would recommend cleaning all games thoroughly before clogging up a system. Those old cartridge games can be in hideous shape.