Cleaning the Dirtiest NES Cartridge & Circuit Board I Have EVER SEEN in My Life!!!
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- Опубликовано: 23 июл 2024
- Today we are fixing a non working copy of Tetris for NES. Why is it not working you say? It just happens to be the dirtiest, worst looking cartridge, I... HAVE... EVER... Seen. So lets jump into the cleaning and see if this classic can be saved...
#GameRepairs #howto #repair
00:00 Intro
01:10 Deep cleaning the circuit board
03:11 Deep cleaning the cartridge shell
06:43 Testing
07:57 Final product
Check out this video to see if the vertical lines can be fixed at the end:
• Can You Fix An NES Con...
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If your interested in what happened with the NES Console that had the weird lines on the screen, check out my other video here:
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looks like it was in a flood or sewer backup while the cartridge was face down, water seeped into the cartridge bringing grime that dried, had a few n64 cartridges i forgot about get flooded several years back, i recognize the residue anywhere.
Good theory! I love these, I feel like we should do a poll to find out which theory is the most plausible from the comments. One odd part though, wouldn't it have some rust or additional corrosion from the water hitting it?
the bubbles on the cover is because it was stored in a plastic container in a hot place
I’ve bought a few carts with this issue and wondered how it happened.
Makes sense. It would be neat to figure how this cartridge came to be. Why was there just dirt mainly on one side too? And why wasn't it covering the outer shell? Its a really odd one.
@@gamejaeger I wonder if the back of the cartridge is actually off of another game. I’ve bought bulk cartridges that you can tell one half isn’t original with the other. Typically it looks like a two tone cart, one half being darker.
OOOoooooo, GOOD ONE!!! I never even thought about that... I think you have something there, I personally didn't swap it but that would make a lot of sense too. Maybe someone wanted to fix several carts, opened them all and then forgot about them. Came back after years? and starting putting them back together but just grabbed whatever shells their hands touched first and starting added screws. Gotta say, I like this theory...
That residue isn’t from being in a warm container. It’s from being exposed to outdoor conditions. The bubbles aren’t from plastic and heat. It’s from gasoline/petroleum fumes. There’s another RUclipsr who bought a bunch of Tetris games in bulk, stored them in their garage and their cart started blistering. Some kind of reaction ABS has to petroleum off gassing. Maybe opened then forgotten on a workbench in a garage somewhere. I’ve seen some far worse examples of it. Either way, great job with the clean up.
my bet would be that it was opened, and left open for a while. either the person was a smoker, or it was left in an area where petroleum fumes were common, like a garage or other similar workspace. IPA and glass cleaner clean those rather well, youtube smellovision would have let us know which direction was most likely. great content!
+1 for youtube smellovision lol
I saw some spotting on the plastic after he cleaned it . more like small bubbles. I have see that in other videos when they were exposed to petroleum fumes so I am thinking you nailed it.
I love these ideas! So I can confirm it did not smell like smoke or like old smoke, if that makes sense. It just smelled kinda like an antique store but not musty. More of an old book, left in a closet for a while, smell. No smell while cleaning either which is odd too. Normally with smoke smells you will get little wiffs during cleaning.
@dfko100 I second this...
The lines are probably a cartridge connector defect.
The NES works with 8x8 pixel tiles that get fetched from the CHR rom chip, and conveniently, every column of those tiles are represented by a data pin of the ROM, so if one of the 8 lines fail, the tiles get corrupted that way
Thank you for the info! I have to look into it more and see if it fixable but still funny how it just started happening while I'm testing this cartridge.
@@gamejaeger Yep. murphy's law in full effect
For sure! lol
Unlikely. These cartridges are basically ROM chips with a connector. They contain machine code (the program) and data (constants, levels, graphics, sound, ...). If a data line on the connector is defective (stuck to ground, or open), this would very likely also affect the machine code (=the program) read from the cartridge. Then the game would not run at all.
@hagen-p So maybe its a defect with the motherboard then? I still need to look into it more to determine what the root cause is but that would make sense too.
To clean the cartridge, I use Dawn dish soap and wash it like a dish on each half then I rinse and immediately wipe it dry. As long as you don’t let the cart sit in the water and soak, the labels are just fine using this method. Also I bought a special electronic connector eraser that works wonders on crusty, filmed over pins.
Great tip, dawn is normally my go to and great for cleaning.
Canned air. It's the Spaceballs LOOK OUT!. LOL. Love the video!!.
Glad you enjoyed it!
For edge contact cleaning (home computers, game cartridges, memory modules) I always use pencil erasers. The really soft (usually white) ones are already enough for most cases. The more plastic-feeling types are good for a bit more resistive layers of gunk. Finally the red and blue erasers - blue much more abrasive than red - will help remove stubborn dirt and oxide.
Of course a gentle wash with alcohol/water/glass cleaner or a wet wipe are still important. But for the edge contacts, erasers are really quick and useful.
I've tried them but didn't like them at the time, I'll need to go back a retry it and see if I like it now. Good tips though!
he's right, a good eraser really buffs up the contact points. back before stuff was common, I basically soaked a qtip in Hydrogen Peroxide to clean pins. nowadays I also know that it's the console's own pins that also need a good cleaning half the time.
@anonymuswere Yeah the 72 pins can get very dirty after a while...
Looked to me like maybe it was on a basement floor that flooded, or maybe in a fire. Basically, some situation where it was filled with dirty water. The dirt settled before the water evaporated. If you notice, the dirt was mainly on the front, and also the back of the board. Both of those surfaces would be facing up if the cartridge was face down, and the dirt settling out of water would be left on those surfaces.
It definitely looked and felt like old dried dirty water dirt. If you have ever cleaned out an old floor drain or sump pump crock that was dry, it was very similar to that. What surprises me though was no corrosion... Really odd, I would think there would be a bunch. Just a weird film over everything instead.
@@gamejaeger Maybe it wasn't wet for long. I also wonder if that layer of whatever created sort of a protective coating after it dried. It's really a weird mystery.
It really is. Who knows how half of these problems happen though...
I’ve seen some dirty cartridges in my day but that one takes the cake!! Nice job!! Subscribed!!🐺😁
Thanks for the sub!
That was filthy, glad you were able to get it working again! Couple suggestions for cleaning the pins: Jewelry polishing cloth works pretty well to polish the pins and remove any tarnish thats on there and a normal pencil eraser (will need to hit it with IPA again to make sure no little pink bits are still on the cart). Look forward to seeing the video of you repairing the NES with the lines in it.
Yes it was, just nasty stuff. I'll look into the other cleaning stuff too. I'm going to have to do some research on how to fix the lines on the NES. I've never seen that specific issue before but I'll share what I find out! Thanks for watching!
Whhaaaatttttt did you not read the back of the cartridge!!!! no alcohol! lol
Hahaahahahahahahha! Nope... lol
I'd have started the whole process with warm tap water with a bit of detergent added and a soft brush. Cleaning a plastic case with window cleaner and wipes is making a simple task far more time consuming than it needs to be unless there is a compelling reason to avoid immersion. A cheap small paintbrush works quite well for cases. After washing with water I'd rinse everything with running tap water. The circuit board would get a final rinse with distilled water. I'd use clean compressed air to blow off the excess water then allow the board to air dry, or use a hair dryer if I were in a hurry. Of course not everyone has an air compressor with suitable filters.
IPA does work very well for some types of contaminants, but it isn't as good as water for plain old "dirt" and certain tyes of contaminants (anything with sugar, for example) and it is highly flammable.
IPA will dissolve rosin-based flux, so once you've committed to using it you need to remove all the flux or you'll be left with an ugly mess. It takes a bit of time. Once again, after immersion cleaning a rinse with fresh alcohol is appropriate.
I would scrape gold-plated contact fingers only as an extreme last resort. I'd try a more aggressive solvent such as acetone first. That's best done with "Q-tip" type swabs. Acetone is very volatile and very flammable, so lots of care is required. Acetone will attack many plastics very quickly, so keep it well away from plastic cases and components on the board (most components will withstand brief exposure but some won't). "Lacquer thinner," which is usually mostly toluene, is another aggressive solvent option. Again, keep it away from plastic cases and components - and fire!
I don't often clean existing equipment but I've cleaned far more new circuit boards than I care to count.
edit: Two other solvent possibilities, both with potential risk to plastics, both good for waxy substances that may dissolve in IPA but very slowly:
Chlorinated brake cleaner (intended for cleaning brake pads, disks or drums of motor vehicles). These are typically tetrachloroethylene, also known as perchloroethylene, or "perc". It is non-flammable.
Non-chlorinated brake cleaner. This is typically mostly heptane - very similar to gasoline but without the additives
Both come in spray cans and cans, but are best used with cotton swabs for doing small areas.
These solvents perform very poorly with lots of things that are readily water soluble.
Thanks for the tips! I didn't want to use any super caustic stuff to avoid having fumes in the house and the only reason for using the glass cleaner was I didn't want to damage the label any more than it already was. If I didn't care about how it looked I would have for sure used some soapy water, since as you said, it works pretty well on dirt. Thanks for watching!
Never use a sharp metal object on the contacts. Use something like “Brite Boy” or Detoxit.
Thanks for the tip.
Good job
Thank you
So it was a fishtank ornament
For a little while...
I recognize the "bubbles" in the inside of the case...that cart was smoke and heat-damaged. I saved a few carts that had been caught in a house fire. MY problem isn't the carts, though...the consoles THEMSELVES need cleaning and maintenence. I often find it's not the media, but the PLAYER that's down. I believe the line thing and even the "red blink of death" associated with NES consoles comes from the overzealous "anti piracy chip" that was included.
Thanks for the info, I'll have to look into that further.
Why is the back shell so "bubbly"? Manufacture defect or deterioration of the plastic?
A lot of people have been saying its petroleum off gassing. There are a few videos online about it but gasoline in particular can react with the plastic and cause bubbles like that. I almost want to test it to see what happens first hand but haven't done that yet to confirm it.
Never realized how little of the cartridge case was actually used.
Yeah, they are pretty small inside. Some are larger, but I haven't seen any that fill up the whole space.
water is perfectly fine to use
that's how people clean boards with an ultrasonic
I'm always worried about corrosion with using straight water, that's why I've always opted to use other chemicals like IPA for cleaning boards but I've seen some inventive recommendations already in the comments section of other stuff that can be used too. Seems like pretty much anything can work if used properly lol.
I watched this because I thought it was Tengen Tetris........ Snake from The Simpsons "Oh no! Nintendo Tetris."
lol, thank for watching!
Looks like it was in a flood or something (or a house fire where the liquid they was using to put out the fire made it way into the cart) as that looks like sediment from the dirt in the water all settled on the same side but not on the other side.
Good theory.
I've found that rubbing cardboard over the pins works well. It is very mildly abrasive and takes away dirt while polishing the pins.
Good to know, I'll have to try that one out.
Also, If i had to reckon, that looks like a 2 pack a day Tetris Cartridge.
lol, it sure looks like it.
Good. Nice to see this. Like + sub for your content. 👍🏻
Thanks for the sub!
The crud inside looks like it might be dust, but with a high clay content. Judging by the color when you were cleaning the cartridge case.
I would agree about that. It was very clay like under the top few layers but slightly dusty on the top layer.
IPA must be really cheap,
i just bought a one liter bottle for €10 ($10,80)
I would have gotten a smaller container 😅
lol, its pretty cheap. I'm using 91% here for the bulk cleaning but save my 99% stuff for detail cleaning.
@@gamejaeger I stocked up on the exact same Sam's Club alcohol back during the height of the Pandemic. IPA was extremely hard to come by at the time, and there it was, a whole pallet of it!
lol, right? It was hard to find then. Everyone was making their own hand sanitizers with it. Thank god I had a small stock pile (2 bottles) so I could still work on stuff during 2020. Not that I use a lot, but you never know...
LGR vibes...keep at er man.
Thanks!
Looks like the good old teamwork of condensed candles' wax and nicotine.
PS: Better use a toothbrush and IPA or if there's corrosion, something like DeoxIT D5 for cleaning the contacts. Seeing you scratch them with an sharp and harder than gold object was a bit painful ;)
I'll have to add that to the list of alternate items to use for cleaning pins. Thanks for the suggestion!
@@gamejaeger Thanks for the video :)
:)
@@gamejaeger Use an eraser first (for pencils). They should not be able to rub off the gold plating.
Will do
For really dirty and I mean real bad cartridge pins I use metal polish. I use as little as possible and make sure to avoid the board above the pins the best I can. then follow up with plenty of 90% or better Isopropyl alcohol to make sure I get all the polish off. Polish is more aggressive than I like to get but less aggressive than scraping with metal or pulling out some sand paper or magic eraser. I have seen it done but getting that aggressive has not been needed for me as of yet.
I have yet to try that but I've heard it works really well too. That and a fiberglass pen. I haven't tried either but I've read that both of them work really well in applications like these. Might need to pick up some, video about testing what works the best maybe?
91 or 99 percent IPA. Let it soak for about 20 minutes. Then soap and water on the board. Then brasso the pins and soap and water again. Brasso works great in the copper pins.
If it is real bad after the ipa it gets thrown in the untrasonic cleaner before the brasso. The reason it gets IPA before the untrasonic cleaner is PCB solution is expensive compared to IPA.
I can imagine it is expensive, you need to do a lot of repairs to justify some of those costs too. I tried a cheaper ultrasonic cleaner a few years ago and wasn't really happy with the results. Is there a brand or model that you like with a specific cleaning solution that works well for you? I didn't want to get a massive desk unit but something small for stuff like this would be perfect.
I would say the stuff inside is just plain old mud and dirt, The cartridge was likely sitting outside for some time and rain and dirty water could come inside and deposit grime on the face down side . But it is by far not the worst I seen myself to be true
I believe you, I guarantee there are worse ones out there. Just need to do some digging at a swap meet and I'm sure you'll find some real winners mixed in at the bottom of an oil soaked dirty box.
@@gamejaeger I actually got a Sega master system that somehow been so water damaged even components have rotted away. It is a mess. Probably beyond repairable sadly enough but I even seen stuff beyond recognition too. Sometimes I wonder how it is even possible to become as bad as I seen
I wonder that too, I have no idea how some of these items get so bad.
@@gamejaeger yep. Lucky some people have the patience to save some of it at least. To save what deserves it from the landfill
I always wondered how many copies of little samson or even something more common like super mario 64 ended up getting tossed for one reason or another... I guess we will never know, but at least I can save a few from that fate...
Might be a candidate for bleach (oh sorry, retrobrighting) but not sure if it would work as it might not be discoloring from the sun. Anyway cool vid!
Thanks for watching! I need to do more research on retrobrighting. I'm still not 100% convinced its a good thing to do. It absolutely looks great in videos but no one ever really discusses the long term effects of the process. I have a sneaking suspicion it is doing something detrimental to the plastic, especially ABS plastics, but haven't found any proof of that. Yet...
@@gamejaeger True, some said it made the plastic more brittle and that it could crack o the long run but no one confirmed it really...
Exactly, that was one thing I was afraid of. I've also read the yellowing comes back much faster too so its not a permanent solution at all. It just looks pretty for a while then, poof, back to how it was before. I need to do a deep dive into that stuff sometime and see what I can find...
Well you know what to do then: retrobright some loose pieces, let it sleep and check on them every year haha.
Exactly! lol.... In all seriousness though, I might...
Tetris gets 1up.
NES Console not so.
Content to be made.
Absolutely.
when you're dealing with alcohol, make sure to wear some nitrile stretchy gloves!
That's a good tip, I tend to not bother with it and my hands get a little dry sometimes...
@@gamejaeger it's not good for ya. Make sure to at least lotion up after.
I wash my hands, does that count? lol
@@gamejaeger gotta take care of yourself!
Yes washing your hands does help, but a little bean sized drop of lotion will have your hands staying soft for a long time
I have to use lotion because my skin naturally turns peely and dry
Sounds good, I'll try to do that in the future
Use a pencil eraser on the contacts.
A bunch of people have said to try them again. So future videos with eraser usage! lol
Its too bad that the tengen was the better one.
Also like $150 loose too. lol
Somebody must have given it to you after they found it in a dumpster. Lol.
lol I actually bought in on eBay without any pics of the inside. The seller just said it didn't work, now I know why lol.
Get an ultrasonic cleaner for this kind of stuff
I should...
You have to be careful with ultrasonic cleaning of electronics. Many components will withstand it just fine, but not all of them. It is actually possible to break bonding wires between the leadframe of a semiconductor part and the die. This isn't likely with fully encapsulated parts but can happen with types where wires are unsupported except at the bond points.
Good info, I did not know that...
Never use a screwdriver on plated pins like that, you are damaging them.
I'm not pushing hard and really digging in with the tool, just a light surface scrape to remove whatever the film was on them.
@@gamejaeger Still, the plating is very thin.
@@gamejaeger I'd suggest using an ink eraser to remove film without damaging the plating. If heavily tarnished, use a jewelers cloth, it will remove a small layer of plating, but far less than something like a screwdriver and much safer. For serious stuff like rust/corrosion, use a fiberglass pen.
I'll have to check it out and see what works best. Maybe I'll do a deep dive into what works best for cleaning pins? Thanks for the tips!
They make (or maybe made) edge connector replating kits just for this purpose
It's only tetris...you should of left it in the trash
C'mon Tetris is great!
No joke and not internet spam. We have been trialing cola and erm… it works.
Cola soak, and deep rinse. Lots of rinsing.
I feel like there must be an issue with this due to sugar but hear me out. For some applications, and for low value items or people starting out.
I’m not sure if cola would discolour the labels but I’m sure IPA is a solvent so that might also effect the glue on the labels. More info needes
Try cola.
Maybe do a video on a cola soak. I’m ok with being wrong but defo meets some applications.
I would think that would damage the chips wouldn't it? I know colas in general can eat through metal given enough time but never heard of using it to clean boards.
The active ingredient is citric acid. If you want to use it, just get a tub in powder form and add a teaspoon or so. No risk of other ingredients causing damage that way...
@@gamejaeger it worked well on some pioneer CDJs that IPA just wouldn’t shift and it did fix them and they have been working.
Got to admit it does feel Heath Robinson especially considering drinks is what kills DJ kit usually but that is when it’s all left to sit there.
@@javaguru7141 maybe we can do a soak test citric acid vs cola. Alternative circuit board cleaning. Dunk one chip in citric acid and one in cola for a set amount of time and see if it effects there use.
I have no idea how chips respond to liquid ingresses but I would assume not very much. I’ve always assumed they are very well sealed and only the legs are effected and not the internals. I also assumed the casing on a chip was inert as I am not aware of them failing from the outside unless they have legs shorted making them work in a way that is out of spec.
@DJPeterJames I always assumed the same with the chips. Unless they are damaged in some way I don't believe anything can penetrate the cases, unless your using some kind of oil or penetrant, but why would you? That may be a worthy test to do though. I'm guessing citric acid and cola can be pretty caustic under the right conditions but it would probably require a lot of soak time to be a problem.