Reviving A Vintage Nes Console From The Grave!
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- Опубліковано 10 лют 2025
- Attempting to restore a NES back to life and making it my go to NES for regular use.
NES disassembly
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Desoldering Solder Sucker (DS017)
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Console5 NES Recap kit
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Power Module Revision
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Cap Locations for NES
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I love how relatively easy this system is. Fixing my friends' NES units made me get into electronics decades ago.
Thanks for sharing that. I do agree, I'm happy everything on the NES is really big such as capacitors and things like that. It is a really great console to get into electronics. Thank you so much for your comment!
@@RetroRepairYT you are very welcome :)
Thanks for putting this up. I have not done much electronics repair in a long time but it's always nice to see folks dropping knowledge for anyone that might need it! Cheers!
Thanks so much for the comment! To me this is a very fun hobby just to make things work again. I like to take it as such and make it light and not serious. I just hope that it'll be able to help people out there from time to time. Thank you again so much for your comment
I have one of these from childhood. I haven't had to replace the caps. It just works.
That's great to hear, and even more amazing that it's your childhood one that still can give you nostalgia. Honestly, that is to me the highest point of what nostalgia can be because it's all original. I hope you take care of your NES well. It's a gem , thank you so much for sharing.
@@RetroRepairYT My husband is actually using it currently to play a game on Twitch.
That is amazing! I am overjoyed to hear that
Ugh so many of those solder joints are an affront to all that is holy.
I totally understand that. It's definitely a daunting task
Nice I got a old nes with this can bring to life thanks
No problem at all, I'm happy I could be of help. Thanks so much for your comment
Great job!!!
Thank you so much! I really appreciate your comment
Rolling Thunder is a seriously underrated NES game.
That is the truth ! The game is hard as hell too !
Your soldering skills are amazing!
Thank you so much, I really appreciate it. I'm definitely still a student in my dabbling journey with electronics. Thank you so much for your awesome comment. It made my day
He carries the solder with the iron, his soldering skills are not, in fact, amazing
Hes better than me. My teacher used to get on to me all of the time about building bridges with the solder.
Most desoldering wick contains heat activated flux, so you only need to add flux when whatever you are trying to clean off hasn't been lifted by the flux in the wick.
Thanks for your comment, I understand that flux is in a desolder wick. I just like adding more flux. It's just the method I prefer. Thanks for letting me know how it works.
Be careful with the RF shields, they're sharp!
On most of the RF modulators, you CAN replace all the caps without desoldering the RF box from the board, just go in through the 2200uF cap hole or bend the shield up. Replacing the voltage regulator with a new 2 amp 7805 is also a good idea.
8:02 you can just unsolder the leg of the chip from below and pull it up/out to reverse the mod later.
I can understand that with RF Shields. I have cut myself many times because of them. I keep a quick medical kit at my workbench just in case I need a bandage up.
I see, I didn't know that thank you so much for that insight. When I repair others I will definitely have to take your method because at that point I will need to be in and out for time purposes.
That sounds like a better idea then snipping the leg. And it sounds less invasive than the way I did it. Thank you for that as well I will have to try that method too.
Thanks so much for adding to my toolbox with your comment. I really do appreciate it
Those caps looks perfect. Nintendo used high quality capacitors when the built the NES. 9 times out of 10 re-capping is a waste of money on an NES. What problem were you trying to fix with the re-cap?
I wanted to recap the NES , that was what I decided since I was going to be in it anyways. I agree the caps looked fine. None of them were leaking. It was more of a calming thought to know new caps are installed on my NES. Thanks so much for the comment
He's getting people to Destroy their nintendo for views. Madness. Good caps and 25 year batteries
@@noneatthistime Destroy? If you can't manage to swap the caps out, then you shouldn't be doing work on that board.
@SmallSpoonBrigade, please convince me again how the most Legendary of Grey blinking screens has anything to do with capacitors.
@@noneatthistime Unstable power supply voltage to the lockout chip can cause grey blinking screen. Worn capacitors cause unstable power supply voltage as the vast majority of electrolytic capacitors in the NES are to stabilize power supply voltage.
The lockout chip is the first chip in the NES to outright fail under unstable voltage conditions. The other symptoms are random freezing, random glitching and reduced video output quality.
Cool video. You’re very talented on electronics repair
Thank you very much! I really try to make things easy to take in. I just want to make sure things like this are documented and concise. In addition to not being too serious. Thank you so much for taking time to leave a comment. I really appreciate it
Weird!! My old nes has that same danger sticker in the exact same spot!
That is really ironic! And super cool 😎
Local game store here ;)
You are the best local game store
Very good...👍
Thanks so much 😊
Awesome video, and great editing (especially the montage at 8:48)! Genuinely surprised you don't have more views and subs. I think you're gonna go a long way. This is a much less niche subject than you might think!
(Although, I would personally get rid of the "Subscribe!" reminders in the video. I think if people are genuinely interested, you don't need to remind them.)
Thank you for your comment, and your kind words. I hope to do my best and continue with more gaming related electronic repair.
About the subscribe notification. I think you're right. I was thinking about it more after I created the video and trying to be as genuine as possible in the videos as well as making the knowledge easy to digest which I feel brings decent value to someone needing this information. At that point if the other person got something out of it a potential subscribe would happen.
Again I appreciate your comment. And it's difficult to navigate when I see everybody else doing it. But you're kind of comment and way of bringing it up really made me think about it. Thanks again and I hope you have an awesome night
try the Engineer SS-02 solder sucker!
Thanks for your recommendation! I'll definitely take a look at that. Also thank you so much for the comment
Is replacing caps necessary? Does it improve anything noticeable about gameplay or visuals? I have like 15 Nintendos, and pretty much the only thing that needs to be done is disable the lock out chip. OEM connectors can be loose, and 3rd party new ARE too tight. But generally as long as you find the right seated position for the OG connector, disabling the lock out chip does the trick.
You don't have to reCap anything if you don't want to . There'd be no difference in visuals or anything like that. For me it's a comforting thing just to know that I have new capacitors in and I won't have to worry about any of them dying over time.
Thanks so much for sharing and letting me know. I do agree with you third party ones can be super tight. I appreciate your comment and thanks for checking out my video
From what I understand, the caps from that era were still pretty good, there were periods where there were an abnormal number of defective ones. That being said, on a board like the one in the NES, there's enough space that you might as well swap them out for the top of the line ones now, and then not have to worry about them going back. IIRC, the electrolytic capacitors are the ones most likely to do further damage to the system if they fail, even if that happens while they're powered down due to leakage.
Maybe I am doing it wrong but instead of the solder sucker I loosen the braid for "bigger" pools of solder.
There's no doing it wrong if you get the results you want. I do like the sound of your method. If it's all right with you I would like to try that sometime. Thank you so much for letting me know. And thank you so much for your comment
I'm a EE and design circuits for guitar pedals..... the easiest way to desolder components is to just apply a big blob of solder to both legs and they will just fall out. Suck or braid any excess solder left behind and add ur new component. Use leaded solder always, and I suggest Kester 63/37 "no clean" solder. (I still clean up with 91% isopropyl)
Thanks for this ! It definitely sounds like the most efficient way possible. I will have to work this into my workflow. I appreciate you sharing your knowledge. Thanks so much for the helpful comment
I tried desoldering the lockout chip, Nintendo actually glued it on to the board. Had to cut the legs, remove the chip, put in a socket and new lock out chip. Why? Some games actually require it. There is also a method of connect two wires to various points on the pcb but for games like chiller or tengen they actually short out the NES. Removing pin 4 unfortunately the only way to make sure games run properly.
I can understand what you're saying. Why did I do this to my lockout chip? Im okay to not run the 7 or so games that need the lockout chip. Overall though it is my preference. I was doing these fixes and mods for me and wanted to document it.
I do appreciate the info it's good knowledge to know. Thank you so much for sharing
The blinking might have been from the pin connector or the cart since it’s not an authentic Nintendo
Oh I see, you're saying since it's not the original 72 pin connector because it's an aftermarket one? If so the local shop that I got it from had replace the 72 pin connector because of the blinking light issue. So it did have the original one but the same issue occurred and then it was fixed for a little bit and then it came back after some time the 72 pin connector was changed to an aftermarket one. Thank you so much for your comment
Cutting Pin 4 of the 10NES is what every owner should do. The toploader NES version doesn't even have it.
Does bad caps only stop the console from turning on? I have cleaned my 72 pin connector, snipped pin 4 and the console turns on but I just get a white screen.
If you got a white screen it usually means that your cartridge connection is not communicating properly. From your description I still think it's the 72 pin connector even though you have cleaned it. I would suggest trying to start the game with the cartridge not press down and see if that works.
If that doesn't work the 72 pin connector pins may need to be tightened so you would have to push down on each one to bend it a little bit back into place. And then try it in the console again with it in the top position and in the push down position.
If that doesn't work I would source another 72 pin connector aftermarket's fine. Just know that it's going to grab on to the cartridge very very tight and I would not push it down in your console.
I know it looks like you're doing a proof concept to make sure the console is running.
If you do get it running and want to keep it as your own everyday driver. I would suggest installing a NES slotmaster from laser bear industries. It's the perfect fix for the issue you're having.
Usually on these consoles all of the problems stem from a poor connection with the cartridge. The cartridge connector is extremely unreliable due to the poor design of the console. I'm not sure that replacing the electrolytic capacitors and breaking the CIC was necessary.
I can definitely understand that. It may have not been needed to replace the capacitors but I just wanted to make sure that it would be able to have a long life. It's my usual go-to when I want to refurbish something all the way. Although even though those capacitors were old they definitely don't make them like they used to so I'm sure they would have lasted a lot longer than I anticipated.
I do agree the cartridge connection is super poor and it's usually the highest thing that makes everything not work on the machine. I did see an open source fix for it. I might dabble in that later just to see what it's all about. I think they take an IDE ribbon cable and solder it to a new board that has two brand new connectors on them. I'm not sure what type of connectors but they look like The old long PCI connectors on computers like on sound cards and stuff.
I do think you for your comment and next time I'll just jump to the cartridge connector. While this is gearing me up to really want to try this mod now lol. Thanks again
3:37 DO NOT use the soldering iron to carry the solder, it's completely the wrong way to do it
Thanks for your comment. Very abrasive but thanks
So is the blue device just a solder sucker?
You are correct it is a solder sucker. But I've had a few ,like four or five, and the suction on this particular one is substantially stronger than the other ones I own.
And I do have a desoldering gun as well. The thing is, is that the reason why I got a desoldering gun is because my handful of solder suckers that I did have or not working like this one. So at that point I decided to get a de-soldering gun. And I'm not saying go buy this thing I'm just saying this works better for me in my workflow than the other solder suckers and the desoldering gun for small jobs such as this one.
Now it would be different if I had to desolder 40 holes or something like that for a big chip or a cartridge connector. That's what I would pull out my desoldering gun. But if it's an in and out job like this hands down I am happy with just that solder sucker
Still, you did a bunch of capacitors all at once. In that case I still think I'd reach for the Hot Moo.
I can very much see your point
@@RetroRepairYT Thanks for the in depth answer! I’ve got a few odd and end tools but I’m still working up the nerve to try repair. I’ve only soldered once and it was just shy of a disaster. You sure do make it look easy though.
Not a problem, thank you so much for the compliment. Please understand it took me a long time to get to where I was confident enough to start repairing. I would break a lot of things. Meaning things would not turn back on. But I have a saying for that, I call it 'tuition' . It's not only the price it cost for the item that has broken. It's also the pain of not repairing something you wanted to but to analyze and understand why it didn't work out the way you wanted it to.
So the tuition isn't a failure it's knowledge to take to your next item you want to repair. Again once you do it enough you'll start winning the way you want to
Wish it were so easy. Changed my caps and lost power. Can't figure it out. Polarity is good, nothing appears shorted together. Power button has continuity... argh
That does sound super frustrating. If you're having problems like that I suggest checking out the wiki in my description and going under the section ' Audio / Video / Powerbox Wiring Reference'
It may help you if you need to run a bypass
@RetroRepairYT I give up. I basically learned that i needed flux. Kept ruining pads, it's too much for me. I ordered flux and everything should go smoother on future repair attempts.
I understand dude, yeah flux is a highly needed thing if you want to preserve pads. But you will see though that with flux the pads will attract like a magnet.
Shootz what do ya mean?@@RetroRepairYT
@@greghillmusic If it's that bad, you can always get a new motherboard for the system, just make sure to retain the few chips that it requires from an original NES.
I don't approve of cutting the lockout pin. Especially when you have a soldering iron. You could have just removed the solder from the pin.
Thanks for your comment. The lockout chips legs are going all through the hole solder points. The entire chip would have to be de-soldered in order to lift a leg. If you have experience doing this I would love to hear it to help me in my future repairs
I’ve also heard that after pulling the pin it should be grounded because left ungrounded will result in faults later.
@@michaeltime1185 good call on this I will definitely look into this. I had no idea, thank you for the help
@ element14 presents has a video that talks about grounding the pin after.
@@michaeltime1185 thanks for letting me know I'll head that way and check it out 🙂
Nintendo in angry because they want you to pay for Switch Online instead. 🤔
That is a true statement
Its cool to have one but what's the point when now days you have to literally spend more than a ps5 is worth to get one and a tv that works it use retroarch play every game for free I get collection and collector's nothing compared to owning the actual console and games but not everyone got money like that we wasnt all silver spoon fed bro
I totally understand what you're saying and there is nothing wrong with the retroarch route.
To me it's the need for nostalgia and I cannot have that met properly without the console. I got this NES for free from a local game shop because they couldn't fix it. Most of my consoles are repairs btw. So no silver spoon here either dude. I'm just able to fix things.
Thanks for your comment
Bro is literally getting people to destroy there Nintendo's for no reason. Bro. This is savage. Clean your games, work on the 72 pin Lol. Disgrace 100% bro changing good caps. Crazy. Anything for views.
I like to document things and show how I do it. Now if you don't agree with me that's fine. I'm not telling people to destroy things. Because my NES works properly my daily driver exactly in this video. If you don't like the video then just look away and give me a thumbs down. I'm totally cool with that. Thanks again for your assumptions I do appreciate your comment