Strange Genesis problem - cart not booting!

[Le_Mons]

Hey everyone -

Never had a problem like this one before. I have a copy of Castlevania: Bloodlines in fantastic shape, however when I try and play it, it never makes it to the Main title screen... only to the "Licensed by etc etc etc" then to black. I've cleaned the contacts, etc but never get any further than that. It's on an original model genny, and all other games, power base converters, etc play fine on it.

Ever heard of this problem? I'd understand it if the cart was beat.. but man this thing is clean.

[Ziggy]

How exactly are you cleaning the cart?

[bryan_65]

I hate to be that guy, but have you tried another Genesis?

[SamuraiMegas]

How exactly are you cleaning the cart?

This is pretty important, are you using anything when you clean it or just Q tips or something like that?

Also i just noticed I'm still you're sig Ziggy

[Le_Mons]

I usually clean with alcohol, and I clean the contacts with an eraser if they are really bad. However - this is one of the cleanest carts I've had so it didn't even look like it required cleaning.

And I haven't tried another genny, as I only have this one ATM...

[Ziggy]

I've said it a million times before, but, looking clean doesn't actual mean clean. I've had a few times where the pins looked brand new and I still couldn't get the cart to boot. But as it turned out, I cleaned the cart a few more times and got it to work.

So you're opening the cart up to clean the pins? That's good, it allows you to clean the pins much easier and also allows you to do a better job.

Assuming you can open the cart, can you take a picture of the front and back of the PCB and post it?

Have you cleaned the console's cart slot as well? This is equally as important as cleaning the cart.

[Mad_Hatter]

Yea, I would do what Ziggy said. Try to open it up and take a nice picture of the back and front. Maybe one of the tech savvy people can see if there's a probably or something. May as well give it another clean with rubbing alcohol and q-tip since you have it opened up.

Also, give the cartridge slot a clean (credit card wrapped with a thin cloth moisten with rubbing alcohol worked fantastic for me). I did this for my Genesis, and some of the games that had trouble reading started to read again.

[nightrnr]

I have a similar problem with a copy of Dragon's Revenge. I can sometimes get it to boot if the stars are aligned just right, but even then, it usually glitches out mid playthrough.

Same thing though, I cleaned the heck out of it with q-tips and alcohol and finally ended up buying a replacement (which is in rougher shape but works great).

I will have to try it on a few other systems though. So far, my 2 Genesis 2's and my Nomad do NOT like this copy of the game.

[Hobie-wan]

finally ended up buying a replacement (which is in rougher shape but works great).

Switch the better board into the nicer shell.

[Mad_Hatter]

finally ended up buying a replacement (which is in rougher shape but works great).

Switch the better board into the nicer shell.

Exactly what I was thinking and that's what I would do as well.