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[neoxavean]

About 7 years or so ago, I replaced the 72-pin connector in my NES.

I was wondering if anyone has done so recently (the past year or so). I'm wondering if there has been any change in design of the replacement connectors.

Obviously my connector makes the system work great again. But there are still some flaws:

1. The connector design is so tight that you need to rip at the carts to get them out
2. Even after cleaning a cart and using compressed air to get rid of the particles from the Q-tip I used, I still need to blow in every game (just once, no matter how slight) before they actually end up working.

Anyone else have similar experiences?

 

[neoxavean]

*cough*

 

[GitarooMan]

I put one in maybe 18-24 months ago and the connectors are still very tight. I still occasionally have to put the cart in once or twice but it does make a world of difference. My guess is that they haven't changed that much though from when you put your connector in.

 

[Baron]

I replaced my pin coinnector earlier this year on my NES. And yes, it makes carts impossible to get in/out of the system without ripping them out with a herculean flair. I found that I was still getting flashing screens and no quick bootup, so I looked around on the web and found a little procedure you can do - disable the...region lockout chip. I think that's what it's called. The screen blinks and goes nutso because the system has trouble with this chip and its interaction with the carts every time you turn the NES on. It's fairly simple - locate it on the board, snip one of the connectors. Done. It helped - my NES is still troublesome, but I attribute that more to the new connector having insane amounts of tension on the carts when you insert/remove them.

 

[Tiktaalik]

At one point I took out my connector and extensively cleaned it and the connectors of my games with rubbing alcohol. I found it didn't make any difference at all.

 

[Baron]

At one point I took out my connector and extensively cleaned it and the connectors of my games with rubbing alcohol. I found it didn't make any difference at all.

It depends on how badly gone your connector is. I did what you described here, and it gave me another year or so of life on the system. Eventually it just wouldn't boot up at all, and that's when I replaced the connector.