Nes Cartridge Cleaning

[godreborn]

after playing mega man 9 and mega man 10, I became interested in retro games. I recently bought a retron 3 to play nes, genesis, and snes, but I've encountered some problems with nes games. I think the circuit boards in several of them r dirty. what would be the best way in which to clean the boards of these nes games? I've seen some cleaning solutions specifically for this, but they seem like a rip off or something. it's like they're selling u rubbing alcohol for $20 basically.

 

[kevan]

Thats what you should use! (rubbing alcohol).

 

[thaddius]

I use rubbing alcohol on cotton swabs/q-tips. Someone I know who ran a used video game store told me he used to use Brasso, a metal polish, to fix up his old carts before selling them. While he insists that this is the best method ("It worked every time!"), I've heard that polish tends to wear down the metal a little and since there's not a lot on carts for contact, you might not want to try that method.

One this is for sure: never use water.

 

[Hanafuda]

Go to radio shack and get some contact cleaner. It's not cheap (maybe $8 a can?) but it'll last a long time and you can use it for all kinds of things gaming related ... I've used it multiple times to get the L-R buttons working again on GBA's and DS's, and it brought my old EFA Linker cart back to life after cleaning the mini-USB jack.

 

[indask8]

I personally use Q-Tip + cologne water as rubbing alcohol substitute, cologne water is made of 70°/90° alcohol and does the job perfectly, bonus, it smells good.

 

[godreborn]

with a couple games, I get a pink screen or distorted graphics unless I remove the game and reinsert it. I'm not sure if this is being caused by dust or the contacts themselves.

 

[Rayder]

Go to radio shack and get some contact cleaner. It's not cheap (maybe $8 a can?) but it'll last a long time and you can use it for all kinds of things gaming related ... I've used it multiple times to get the L-R buttons working again on GBA's and DS's, and it brought my old EFA Linker cart back to life after cleaning the mini-USB jack.

This is the BEST method really. Alcohol can damage the circuit board.....I said CAN, not necessarily will. Try to get the kind of contact cleaner WITHOUT lubricant as the one with lubricant will make your system kinda slimy feeling for awhile.

Contact cleaner MIGHT also fix many people's issue with DS shoulder buttons. The good thing about Radio Shack contact cleaner is that it's non-conductive, so just point the little straw into the area of the shoulder buttons and give it a little squirt. It should fix them right up.


Contact cleaner is also great for a gunked-up electronic devices. My GBA SP2 got sopped with soda (it was sitting on the same table as the soda that got spilled) and the buttons and flashcart were sticky and "cracky". Wiping it down multiple times with a damp towel only sorta worked, but the contact cleaner fixed it right up instantaneously..

 

[wolffangalchemist]

use WD-40 on a q-tip on the contacts then dry them with another q-tip the some rubbing alcohol on a q-tip on the contacts and the dry them with another q-tip again.
i've been doing it this way for years no issues with any of the games i try it on working after words, and you wouldn't believe the dirt WD-40 will remove from some old NES and SNES carts!