NES won't start up

[Haloman800]

I switched out the 72 pin connector, and now it randomly won't start (as well as not outputting to TV...), sometimes the red light comes on, other times it flashes and doesn't come on.

Anything I can do?

 

[Harsky]

If you still have the old one, you can boil it to get rid of all the muck and grime. I have one of the new 72 pin connector and it doesn't work for me. Also doesn't help that the new pins grip onto the NES carts really hard, making it difficult to remove.

 

[Erich Moraga]

The actual 72-pin connector shouldn't produce that kind of symptom, although you can certainly try re-installing the old one, as Harsky alludes to. The main thing is to re-seat the power wire harnesses from the motherboard assembly, and to properly ground yourself or take some sort of ESD (electrostatic discharge) precaution.

 

[DarkWrath669]

Same happened to me when I took mine apart last week.
For me it was the Blue connector on the right hand side, had come loose.
re-seat all the cable connections and make sure you haven't pinched any wires when closing it up.
It's pretty easy to get them caught between the board and the plastic mounting pegs.

 

[Haloman800]

I have no soldering skills, I'm going to buy the Retron 1 NES clone for $18 and give that to my sister while I attempt to fix this.

 

[Wellington2k]

Truly, getting a new connector wasn't the best idea. It's always best to use the original one. Try bending up the pins in the old connector with a pen. That worked for me.

 

[JUSTARANDOMPERSON]

Hey you came out in Freaks and Geeks.

 

[Drud1995]

The Blinking Light Win is on back order right now, but it is AMAZING!
https://www.arcadeworks.net/blw

I have one in my NES and it has been working perfectly since. The connector also supposedly has a built in function to disable the lockout chip which also helps to make games fire up every time!

 

[Muffins]

You know you can just use a pair of wire cutters to snip a pin on the 10NES and get rid of all the problems the lockout chip causes (including the blinking light) forever, right?