Ok, so I turned on the NES I just won from ebay, and it's just blinking at me! I know this is a common problem with the system, and know it is fixable, but DON'T know how, or if it is worth it! Can any of you guys help me out?? Or am I better off just getting another one? Either post here or PM me if you can help, i'll be logged on for the next few hours! Thanks!

if you smash it with a hammer, that should stop the blinking.  or if you want, you could get a new 72 pin connector on ebay

LOL!  ;D I might go with the hammer option!!! Although that may be cruelty to NES's...... so on second thoughts I might go with the connector!!

You might also try cleaning the game contacts with rubbing alcohol and Q-tips paying special attention to the contacts toward the outside edges.

If that doesn't help, turn off the NES and wiggle the game left or right (with the game still fully in the system) and then turn it on again.  Often with a bit of play, you can get a game to work on a dirty connector.  That way you can test the system before getting a new connector.  

Ok, I'll give it a go, thanks!!

Nope, still blinking no matter how much I encourage it. I've just bought a new connector from ebay, was only 7.99, and should hopefully arrive in a couple of days, so I guess I'll find out for sure then!

There could be another problem I don't see mentioned a lot. Sometimes the connector pins no longer make full contact with the carts because they're pushed away from the pins on the cart. It's common with the consoles I've gotten -- putting in, pulling out and sliding the carts around inside the console causes it. All you have to do is open up the system and take a needle to each pin, prying them back into position ever so carefully, so that each pin is is closer to the center insert where the cart's board is inserted. That sometimes works.

Ok, I might give that a try too, it won't hurt I guess! Thanks.

changed the connector for a new one, put it all back together, was very careful! The stupid thing's still blinking at me with evey game!  :( I think it looks like I'm just going to be playing my games on the retrocon unless anyone knows any other common problems that can be fixed relatively easily!?

You must clean the games really good. To do this you must open the games, take out the pcb board and use a q-tip with some good alcohol so the 10-20 year old dirt will come off. Sometimes you have to use 2-3 q-tips.

Yeah, I'm gonna do that tomorrow on my day off, but I still think there's something else wrong - I tried a couple of games that are virtually brand new, in immaculate condition and it didn't even think of loading them, just straight on with the blinking! It's all very depressing! Ah well, we'll see what happens tomorrow, and as I said, at least I've got the retrocon, so I don't have to be entirely NES-less!  :)

Cut pin 4 on the CIC chip.  Here are the basic instructions:

http://nesdev.parodius.com/nlockout.txt

http://www.raphnet.net/electronique/nes_mod/nes_mod_en.php#lockout

http://www.tylerwillis.com/2006/04/28/disabling-the-nes-lockout-chip-so-your-games-will-actually-work-a-how-to-guide-with-sarcastic-commentary/

Don't worry about soldering in another wire to ground.  Just cut the pin, bend the pin away from it's connection and make sure it doesn't touch anything else, and put your nes back together.  You just need some cutters with a nice point on them to do this.  I've heard of people using some kind of blade to do it, but you want to be careful that you don't cut any other pins.  There is no way for you to have a blinking nes after doing this.  If you still have problems, there is a good chance that the nes is somehow dead.

Are you sure that the games and the nes you are using are from the same region?  You will always get a blinking nes when using games that are not from the right region for the nes (cutting the pin will fix some of these problems but some games won't work right if you're crossing nstc games and a pal nes).  

Yeah, they're all UK PAL, as is the system. I'll give that a try though on my next day off, thanks!!

So, after cutting this fourth pin, are you able to play any NES cartridge?

Aha! :) A good topic to make my post.


ThaDuke wrote on 09. Oct 2006 at 20:02:

So, after cutting this fourth pin, are you able to play any NES cartridge?

Probably 98% of them; there are differences between PAL & NTSC TV signals.*

Anyway, even though I have a Toploader, I decided to hook up my toaster & see what games worked with it:

-Leon's homebrewn SMB2J worked as expected
-A Famicom converter with a Famicom game didn't work as I believe it's for PAL
-Surprisingly an HES Silent Assault with no game in the piggyback slot worked fine (but started up weird :-?).

What I noticed was not only the crisp, lack of lines across the screen with the toaster, but the colors are brighter as well (the toploader's graphics seem faded in some way).

Since I had two toasters, & since it seemed so easy, I decided to disable the lockout chip on my non-childhood one (the one I got from a friend back in middle school).  The only tricky part was finding something small enough to cut the pin.

Hooray! :D Now I can play Banana Prince in all its prime.  No blink screen either; that's reason enough to cut the darn thing.

You know how you're playing & sometimes it will just start blinking in the middle of a game, causing you grief?  Is this caused by the lockout chip or bad pins or what?  Basically, will it still get messed up in the middle of a game without the blinking?

*http://www.nesworld.com/unines2.htm

wrote on 11. Oct 2006 at 00:52:

You know how you're playing & sometimes it will just start blinking in the middle of a game, causing you grief?  Is this caused by the lockout chip or bad pins or what?  Basically, will it still get messed up in the middle of a game without the blinking?

You have no idea! This actually happened to me this morning while I was playing Dragon Warrior. I leveled up a few times, got a new weapon, and new armor. As I was walking back to save my progress...

[BLINK]

[BLINK]

[BLINK]

[BLINK]

>:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:(

Anyways...I have a few questions now, Jedi QuestMaster (or anyone):

What is a famicom converter? Can this be used with any NES system? Where can I find them?

When someone mentions a Famicom converter, they're talking about one of two converters. Either a converter that takes NES games and makes them playable on the Famicom or a converter that takes Famicom games and makes them playable on the NES. The Famicom is 60 pins, while the NES is 72. So, in order to play games from one system onto the other, you need a converter.

They run about $10-15 bucks on eBay.

You can use it with any NES system, I think, though sometimes you have to be creative because the converters and Famicom games are short when compared to NES. Some come with a ribbon so that you can easily pull it out of the frontloader. What I do is just keep the screws off my frontloader so that I can take off the top cover, that annoying silver cover and the black springy cartridge holder inside. Then I just connect the converter directly to the pins inside the NES, and of course, the game to the converter.

Here is another question:

Today, I moded my NES by disconnecting the fourth CIC pin and bending the the contacts on the connector. But, by pulling down the contacts for more friction, can this scratch the board in the cartridge? It feels much tighter than before...

BTW: Is this for real?
http://www.atarihq.com/tsr/odd/scans/adapter.html

ThaDuke wrote on 11. Oct 2006 at 02:52:

Here is BTW: Is this for real? http://www.atarihq.com/tsr/odd/scans/adapter.html

Yes. Sometime you can find them cheap. The problem is that not all the black box games, like Gyromite, came with the converter inside. Only way to know for sure is to open up a black box cart before buying it, but you can also try a weight test, which is to say, carts with converters inside weigh more than the other NES carts. I still haven't found one, but I haven't really been looking too hard.

As to your other question. I don't know. I often adjust the contacts within the NES so that there's a bit more guaranteed friction. I'm sure it does some damage -- the tighter it is, the more damage is should cause. I think there are ways of protected the game contacts -- don't recall the specifics.

What are the differences between the Famicom Disk System and the Famicom cartridge toploader?

ThaDuke wrote on 11. Oct 2006 at 02:52:

Here is another question: Today, I moded my NES by disconnecting the fourth CIC pin and bending the the contacts on the connector. But, by pulling down the contacts for more friction, can this scratch the board in the cartridge? It feels much tighter than before...

It will a little bit (tin is harder than gold, referring to the plating on the NES connector and carts).  Jam your least favorite cart in there about a couple dozen times and it should be ok, if you're worried about it.  New connectors are like that too, a really tight fit.  In fact you don't even have to press the cart down with the spring thing, until you've swapped enough carts to break it in.


Quote:

BTW: Is this for real? http://www.atarihq.com/tsr/odd/scans/adapter.html

Yep, I've got one thanks to someone on the forums here (forget the name at the moment).  To add to what JC said, rumor has it that every Stack-Up cart has one of those, but I've never seen that cart anyways.

As for the weight thing, I've heard that doesn't work too well.  Maybe if you're really good at weighing stuff or have a precise scale, heheh.

The Famicom top loader is like the NES frontloader. The Famicom AV toploader is like the NES toploader. The Disk System is an accessory for the Famicom. It hooks up to the Famicom and allows you to play disk card games that were released for the disk system.

Famicom:
http://www.famicomworld.com/Family_Computer/Famicom_Biography.htm

Disk System:
http://www.famicomworld.com/Disk_System/Info.htm

There are three ways to find Gyromite adapters. I don't know if these work with other Black Box carts but I assume #1 and #3 will work with most since they're all simple chipsets and they have to do with weight/balance.

First is weight: with adapter is 4.1-4.2 oz, without is 3.5-3.6 - this is barely perceptible with your hands and since boards vary in size and weight, even comparing a random gyromite to another 5-screw in the same bucket you may not be able to rely on your results. It's good if you get a lot and have a postal scale and don't feel like reaching for your screwdriver.

Second is visual: The non-adapter's "Robot Series" logo is a very violet, deep purple. The adapter logo is a lighter purple, more Royal, with more blue in it. The blues on the non-adapter cart's "Gyromite" text (front and end) and sprite-art background are a deeper more primary blue, and on the adapter cart they're a lighter sky blue. This test takes a trained eye but I can spot it every time after seeing one next to another. This test falls apart if the cart gets sunfaded or dirty though, which brings us to the surefire test to find Wild adapter Gyromite carts.

Turn the cart label-down and balace it on your finger like you were going to spin it as a basketball. Your fingertip should be touching the label, and the Magic Spot for the test is between the "Robot Series" logo and the "Nintendo" red oval logo. Horizontally, your finger will be directly centered above the embossed arrow in the cart plastic, in the black space between these logos. An adapter cart will balance, a non-adapter will topple forward.

Works every time :)
 -Dan

Great, now I've got to catch up in the conversation.  Oh, &...
[quote author=JC link=1153242094/15#16 date=1160527601]that annoying silver cover[quote]
Somehow, mine doesn't have one. :-\ It does have a repair warranty in the bottom container, so it was probably removed.

60->72 Pin (Famicom->NES) Converters aren't as cheap to find as those 72->60 (NES->Famicom) Converters, which pisses me off.  I guess the latter were made due to the Famiclones.

FC->NES: I think some/most/hardly any are regional (I think mine is European).  Many were meant to be used with the toaster although the Toploader virtually eliminates all problems you can have with it.  Mine has a ribbon which I used the first time today. :)

And yes, those Christmas of '85 carts with Famicom boards & converters do exist - I have two of them, one of which is Stack Up (100% guarantee or else you've got something even rarer) & ExciteBike.

I always find myself linking to this:

http://www.neszone.net/articles/famiguide.shtml

I can tell if they have an adapter just buy holding a Gyromite.  I must have a gift ;D  I once made 5 bucks at a flea market from a vendor because of this.  We got to talking about them and he said he couldn't tell a difference.  I said I could and he called bullshit.  We picked 10 Gyros at random and I said which ones had them, and which ones didn't.  Then we opened all 10 up and I got all 10 right :D I Pointless story, yes, but I made 5 bucks for doing nothing 8-)
~~NGD

AV Famicom:

http://www.japangamestock.com/buy_video_games.php?cPath=67&products_id=5442

I still don't understand why these games came with the converters. You would think that Nintendo would have stopped this immediately!

Anyways, how does the graphics and sound compare on the Famicom disks? Even though they may have had slower load times.

Nintendo needed a fast way to manufacture NES games, so they used existing Famicom boards w/ converters & lo! NES Games!  Of course, they stopped doing this after that first season.

As for the FDS, the graphics are exactly the same, no?  I don't know about the sound, though - but it's probably the same as the Famicom.

I'm pretty sure the disk system graphics and music are the same? I don't own one yet. I think the point of the disk system was to give gamers a way to save their progress in games. So that's the only major difference in choosing to buy a disk over the cart. Of course, there are many disk system-exclusive games.

Plus disks would be cheaper to use.

One thing to note: when I beat the homebrewn Super Mario 2 on my NES, the end music sounded (cool, but) NES-like.  When I tried it on an emu, there seemed to be extra channels.  So I assume the Disk System sound is either different or relies on the hardware (in many cases the Famicom) it's hooked up to.

Yeah, the FDS does have another sound channel (through the RAM cart's chipset).  Many games don't use it much though.  Metroid for example only used it on the title screen, some sound effects (door opening), when you pick an item up, and the end music.  Zelda used it for the title screen music and sword-throwing sound.  That Doki Doki Panic game used it for sound effects, and when they released it in the US as SMB2 it sounds like they converted and recorded the sounds into samples.

I have NSFs of FDS games.  The thing is, whenever I listen to them on Meridian Advance or FCE Ultra, the tracks with the extra channel sound terrible.  Is this an emulation problem or is there something wrong with the NSFs?

Most likely an emulation problem.  IIRC, Meridian Advance is pretty old, but I'd think FCEU would have good FDS sound emulation, but maybe not.  I dunno which other player would be the most accurate.

Okay, I tried FCEUXD SP & Nintendulator & they sound fine on those. :)