Genesis games freezing, faulty 32X?

[Menegrothx]

I recently made a thread about a 32X cartridge that suddenly stopped working and now my Genesis games are having problems too. I've had Sonic 1 freezing in the first special stage and getting glitched in the second zone. If I die the colors reset, but as soon as I start running, the screen will glitch to an unintelligible mess. And now my Rocket Knight Adventures cartridge froze when I was just about to jump on a pit of lava. I've played both games from start to finish just a few weeks before the incidents so nothing wrong with the cartridges.
The cartridges are all clean, so where's the problem? Unclean 32X cartridge slot, unclean Genesis cartridge slot or something more severe? I've accidentally dropped a few cartridges while cleaning my table (cant remember which), but I doubt that a 2 feet fall is enough to break a Genesis game?

[Hobie-wan]

Maybe the problem is actually the Genesis?

[Menegrothx]

If the problem is in the Genesis, do you have any idea what could've triggered the problem? I mean it's been sitting on it's space on the shelf for the past few weeks, I havent moved it around, there hasn't been any earthquakes that I know of and I certainly havent dropped the console Seems weird that it would just suddenly stop working when the same games worked with out a problem just a week or two ago. Ditto the cartridge slots, I dont see how and why they would've suddenly become so dirty that games dont function properly when the 32X is attached to the Genesis and the 32X cartridge slot has a cover of its own.

[Luke]

If the problem is in the Genesis, do you have any idea what could've triggered the problem?

Shot in the dark: Inserting the 32x.

My NES was never the same after using a Game Genie (I know, I feel shame but I wanted to see Mario moonwalk), and I have a model 1 Genesis that was never quite the same after using the power base converter.

[Menegrothx]

I tried with out the 32X and both games seemed to function normally. The 32X "cartridge end" is very clean and the cartridge slot seemed fine too. I haven't opened it up but I tried poking the cartridge slot around with my driver's lisence.
I probably should try playing both the games multiple times with and with out 32X so I can be sure that the problem is in the 32X.
Any one else had similiar problems with the 32X? I guess I should only insert it to my Genesis when I'm about to play 32X/32XCD games then.

This is unrelated, but any ideas why my Comix zone cartridge doesn't work? I've cleaned it over 10 times and the cartridge seems to be fine. I get the Sega logo but after that the screen goes black. I've tried with and with out the 32X and on my Mega Drive, it's the same thing on all of them. The cartridge is as clean as it gets and undamaged.

My NES was never the same after using a Game Genie (I know, I feel shame but I wanted to see Mario moonwalk), and I have a model 1 Genesis that was never quite the same after using the power base converter.

I was under the impression that games actually work better on the Genesis when you insert a Game Genie and play games via that. Atleast when you've got a 32X attached to the console.

[Duke.Togo]

You should open it up and re-seat the two ribbon cables that go from the top board with the cart slot to the lower board that inserts into the Genesis. There are no clamps on it, just wiggle and pull gently to remove, clean well, and gently wiggle and push them back into place.

This is the problem I run into on almost all 32x units I have dealt with, and it is very easy to do.

Good luck!

[Menegrothx]

You should open it up and re-seat the two ribbon cables that go from the top board with the cart slot to the lower board that inserts into the Genesis. There are no clamps on it, just wiggle and pull gently to remove, clean well, and gently wiggle and push them back into place.

This is the problem I run into on almost all 32x units I have dealt with, and it is very easy to do.

Good luck!

I actually did it some time ago. My 32X wouldn't play any cartridge games at all (32XCD games did work) beyond the black "lisenced by Sega" screen. After that everything's worked fine, untill now. You think the cables have gone loose again? I'm seriously contemplating on removing the 32X every time I dont play actual 32X games from now on if that's the case. I dont want to open my 32X every two months just to do that operation again and again

[Duke.Togo]

These cables are really flaky. I've done the fix, and had to repeat again later on. If you aren't averse to soldering and you have the talent, I'd recommend hard-wiring the two boards.

[Hobie-wan]

This is unrelated, but any ideas why my Comix zone cartridge doesn't work? I've cleaned it over 10 times and the cartridge seems to be fine. I get the Sega logo but after that the screen goes black. I've tried with and with out the 32X and on my Mega Drive, it's the same thing on all of them. The cartridge is as clean as it gets and undamaged.

I have a Golden Axe II and MK 3 that are the same. Both look pristine, but don't work on any of the many Gen consoles I have.

If you check the 32x ribbon cables again, use some contact cleaner/alcohol to clean them instead of just reseating. The sockets are really thins, so just douse them a bit and carefully remove/reinsert them cables a few times, then I'd leave them unplugged a while to let everything dry before you plug the ribbons back in and test.

[Menegrothx]

Been very lazy so I still haven't opened up the 32X but I just encountered a very weird problem when I tried playing some 32X Doom. I was playing a Genesis game and decided I wanted to play some Doom so I shut down the Genny and added the 32X addon and booted the console with Doom in it. The screen was a mess and it simultaneously showed parts of the Genesis game and parts of Doom. Plus some parts of the screen were just a buggy color mess. So once again I think there's some kind of memory unit on the thing, how else it could've been showing parts of the Genesis game?