Glad to see the pencil eraser trick is still being used. It was one of the first troubleshooting methods I ever learned about 25 or 30 years ago and it was already old when I learned it. Ancient Knowledge of the Elder Geeks.
Most of the time they're not actually "broken", they're just dirty or unable to get a clean connection. Sometimes they actually do fail, and I've got a number of videos where i fix faults, last week was a copy of pokemon yellow Big difference from new games. Scratch the data layer on a disk and it's not fixable, you've just got yourself a $70 coaster
@@RetroRepairs what’s your opinion on buying retro games and investing thousands to get the games from one’s childhood back? I have been doing a lot of research on data rot and it seems that over time, along with the old consoles, that things simply stop working eventually and that all retro games will eventually just cease to function. It’s quite demoralizing but I don’t see the urge anymore to buy games for myself when I am aware that their chips can stop working at any time for good or that something else can be a fatal blow for it. Thanks.
Eventually, yes they'll all just stop. ICs have a life span, but we don't quite know what that is yet. There are systems from the 70s still kicking around, and with repoduction chips its possible some of those could last to over 100. The newer systems will be more challenging. Once the super Nintendo chips are gone, they're gone. There will never be more. That's part of why i do this, as a way to rebuild my collection from 20 years ago, but without paying collectors full price.
I'm just now getting interested in soldering and small electronics repair and let me tell you these videos are SO valuable. I'm starting from scratch so even know the common things to look for are helpful. Seems like 50% or more of the time things are an easy fix. Not to say any of this is easy, but I'm way way less intimidated.
I've been buying and fixing nes/snes carts. I've done alcohol and qtips and white erasers, and I've found that wet magic erasers work really well. I've used them on pins, cases and even labels all without damage. Now they are very mildly abrasive so I'm gentle, bit they work great. Really good for removing sharpie from cases. You do need to clean with ipa after to remove residue.
I wouldn't use magic erasers. They can be corrosive and they're also very coarse. It's the equivalent of using a light sand paper which is not recommended for electronics.
@@Darxide23 I actively tried to damage pins with the magic erasers. They are not abrasive enough to damage the pins easily. As I said you do need to clean with ipa after, but they are very effective.
Hey Adam, good to see that you returned back for more stuff! I began to wonder, since I dont really have anything worth fixing in my collection from the OG stuff, maybe you'd be interested in doing a repair video of a bootleg system for a change ? I do own a few bootleg Family Computer systems, I remember that once you did a repair video of Sharp Famicom as well as original Family Computer. I do own one that has got a shell in a good shape, but its not working. Since this isnt a complicated system, this is probably a faulty cap or something like that. Would you be interested ? This way I could at least contribute to your channel a bit, after watching you since 4 years by now
Love your videos man, I’ve learned so much. Glad you are posting again. A little trick I use to really clean carts and consoles is armor-all and gently rubbing with a magic eraser. It works wonders.
I didn't know about the magic eraser, but I seeing this for the second time in the comments so I'm really surprise that it's working, but a good surprise. Thank you for the tip!
IPA normally doesn't affect the label if it is laminated. That is my experience with NES, SNES, and Genesis carts. Most of the N64 carts I got were already cleaned and I noticed select carts did not have laminated labels.
Windex isn't designed for this and you have no idea what is in it as its a proprietary formula. Stop telling people to use it. There is a reason Conservators don't spray windex on things they are cleaning.
Speaking of Jaguar. In that case it’s much more pain in the ass to clean carts up. Firstly it’s a pain in the ass to open cart without damaging a label (screws under label)... and secondly it’s less space between board and plastic. But they usually comes in much better condition than any Nintendo game )
It leaves the entire bottom open to dust&debris. Get something metallic in there and you've got a whole other problem. Better option would be to lightly sand the spacer so the hole is slightly wider
@@RetroRepairs Or just keep carts clean. I mean if it’s clean it’s don’t make any problems. I have few really old carts that was actively use back in the days. But they clean and is no trace of damage on the board XD
@@Stevie-J Nobody says about perfection. I just mean that adult collectors are more than capable to keep games in good condition. No dirt - no corrosion.
I wouldn't even put the spacer and cartridge RF shield back in. They're really not necessary anymore. At least delete the spacer and then polish off the rusty crust off the cartridge RF shield if you absolutely must put it back in.
@@RetroRepairs Don't have to show game play, just to see the completed cart working... It's like a cool little reward for the viewer who watches to the end imo...
You're right that blowing on carts is bad but to say it does nothing is just not true. It works for the exact same reason it's harmful being moisture on it
Yesterday I got two controllers and all the cables for my N64 from my childhood. More than half of the games no longer work. The only one that works is Super Mario 64. My favorite game, Ocarina of Time, works too, but as soon as I load a save game, the game starts flickering and keeps restarting... Has somebody a clue how to fix this? I'm close to despair childhood memories and all 🥺
@@RetroRepairs I'm not certain, but I think Kapton tape is made to not leave a residue. I wouldn't use electrical tape for sure, that's some nasty adhesive
Question. What do you do if you do this and it still does not work? before you ask the composite cables work fine as the GameCube was working right afterwards and as you remember they share composite cables. But anyways i have not tried yet as i have to buy a fucking specialty screwdriver but the paranoia of "What if that don't fix the game you have been playing for literally 20 years?" All 12 of my N64 games i have to take apart
I always clean my cartridges and consoles with ammonia. For years. Works way better than alcohol! And it's cheaper. But keep a little distance because it's a bit aggressive. Try to cover your mouth nose and eyes if it takes time. For the pins, pcb's and motherboards i still use alcohol only!
It uses an NUS-03A-01 Other games that use that board: NUS-03A-01 F-Zero X Harvest Moon 64 Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 1.0 (DORADO EDICIÓN ESPECIAL) Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 1.1 Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 1.2 (Player Choise ver. CENSURADO) Mario Golf Super Smash Bros. WCW/NWO Revenge WWF: Wrestlemania 2000
![Lp. Сердце Вселенной #60 РОЖДЕНИЕ ЛОЛОЛОШКИ [Финал] • Майнкрафт](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/YoR0pAV9FVQ/mqdefault.jpg)
I love seeing this stuff. Restoring older things is so fun to me.
Also, really appreciating the captions for this video!
Glad to see the pencil eraser trick is still being used. It was one of the first troubleshooting methods I ever learned about 25 or 30 years ago and it was already old when I learned it. Ancient Knowledge of the Elder Geeks.
I'm honestly amazed at how easy it can be to get an old game working again.
Most of the time they're not actually "broken", they're just dirty or unable to get a clean connection.
Sometimes they actually do fail, and I've got a number of videos where i fix faults, last week was a copy of pokemon yellow
Big difference from new games. Scratch the data layer on a disk and it's not fixable, you've just got yourself a $70 coaster
@@RetroRepairs what’s your opinion on buying retro games and investing thousands to get the games from one’s childhood back? I have been doing a lot of research on data rot and it seems that over time, along with the old consoles, that things simply stop working eventually and that all retro games will eventually just cease to function. It’s quite demoralizing but I don’t see the urge anymore to buy games for myself when I am aware that their chips can stop working at any time for good or that something else can be a fatal blow for it. Thanks.
Eventually, yes they'll all just stop. ICs have a life span, but we don't quite know what that is yet. There are systems from the 70s still kicking around, and with repoduction chips its possible some of those could last to over 100. The newer systems will be more challenging. Once the super Nintendo chips are gone, they're gone. There will never be more.
That's part of why i do this, as a way to rebuild my collection from 20 years ago, but without paying collectors full price.
@@RetroRepairs Thanks for your input and yeah it truly is a great way to regain some of the collection through your methods. Great work :)
I'm just now getting interested in soldering and small electronics repair and let me tell you these videos are SO valuable. I'm starting from scratch so even know the common things to look for are helpful.
Seems like 50% or more of the time things are an easy fix. Not to say any of this is easy, but I'm way way less intimidated.
I'd say it's even more than 50. It's rare that something is unfixable
This reverse trick at the screw, is so important.
Keeping retro games alive, one cart at a time!
Love your videos! I've used your techniques to fix/clean some of my games. Thank you and keep the amazing videos coming!
i always took them apart and added a single strip of electrical tape to stop the plastic shield from rubbing the pcb. great video love your content =)
That's a fantastic idea sir!
Ayy, new N64 video, I love the N64 fixing stuff
I've been buying and fixing nes/snes carts. I've done alcohol and qtips and white erasers, and I've found that wet magic erasers work really well. I've used them on pins, cases and even labels all without damage. Now they are very mildly abrasive so I'm gentle, bit they work great. Really good for removing sharpie from cases. You do need to clean with ipa after to remove residue.
I didn't about wet magic erasers for the pin, I only did it on case or label. Thank you for the tips.
I wouldn't use magic erasers. They can be corrosive and they're also very coarse. It's the equivalent of using a light sand paper which is not recommended for electronics.
@@Darxide23 I actively tried to damage pins with the magic erasers. They are not abrasive enough to damage the pins easily. As I said you do need to clean with ipa after, but they are very effective.
Hey Adam, good to see that you returned back for more stuff!
I began to wonder, since I dont really have anything worth fixing in my collection from the OG stuff, maybe you'd be interested in doing a repair video of a bootleg system for a change ?
I do own a few bootleg Family Computer systems, I remember that once you did a repair video of Sharp Famicom as well as original Family Computer. I do own one that has got a shell in a good shape, but its not working. Since this isnt a complicated system, this is probably a faulty cap or something like that. Would you be interested ? This way I could at least contribute to your channel a bit, after watching you since 4 years by now
At 1am? Sleep is overrated. Time to watch Retro Repairs!
One off my favorite channel.
Nintendo 64 is one of my favourite consoles of all time! Awesome vid bro 😎👍✨
Adam: i wanna clean it up a bit more
Me: it works now. Imma play it 😅
Love the professionalism.
for some reason when you was cleaning with qtip that noise just went straight through me 😂
Love your videos, please keep doing more, greetings from Mexico 🇲🇽
I hope you keep making more videos! Id love to see you fix more things!
Wow I will definitely try the pencil eraser. I'm so happy to follow your channel and learning new tricks.
Love your videos man, I’ve learned so much. Glad you are posting again. A little trick I use to really clean carts and consoles is armor-all and gently rubbing with a magic eraser. It works wonders.
I didn't know about the magic eraser, but I seeing this for the second time in the comments so I'm really surprise that it's working, but a good surprise. Thank you for the tip!
The sick thing is the one cart I got on eBay was good it was the others I got from a local game store that they seemingly didn’t even test 🤦🏻
Love the videos, but I was thinking you think you can show the results also? I think it completes the video nicely.
It's crazy how just a bit of gunk on the right contacts can make an entire cartridge not work. Clean it out, no problems. So weird.
IPA normally doesn't affect the label if it is laminated. That is my experience with NES, SNES, and Genesis carts. Most of the N64 carts I got were already cleaned and I noticed select carts did not have laminated labels.
I don't trust a 20 year old label though. Scratches or other wear allow points for ipa to penetrate into the label
@@RetroRepairs With that I just replace the label a high quality replica which is better than the tattered original.
I disagree. I like to keep it original where possible. Unless it's severely torn, I'll try save it
@@RetroRepairs I respect that.
@@andychamplin i prefer to just buy lightly used balls. AAAA tp5x or z-star xv.
May I ask what multimeter you use? Your videos are so informative and interesting, keep it up!
It's a lomvum t28c. About 40 bucks on Amazon
@@RetroRepairs Thank you so much!
I love this channel
👍👍
Windex is much better for cleaning the cart itself, Also it won't hurt the label like IPA.
Windex isn't designed for this and you have no idea what is in it as its a proprietary formula. Stop telling people to use it. There is a reason Conservators don't spray windex on things they are cleaning.
Such an underrated game
The king like always
The screws on the RF shielding looked pretty loose, are they all like that?
Speaking of Jaguar. In that case it’s much more pain in the ass to clean carts up. Firstly it’s a pain in the ass to open cart without damaging a label (screws under label)... and secondly it’s less space between board and plastic. But they usually comes in much better condition than any Nintendo game )
Jag owners are in huge minority, so anyone who owned it probably cared more about his collection
If the spacer damage the circuit traces, why you dont take out it the cartridge?
It leaves the entire bottom open to dust&debris. Get something metallic in there and you've got a whole other problem. Better option would be to lightly sand the spacer so the hole is slightly wider
@@RetroRepairs Or just keep carts clean. I mean if it’s clean it’s don’t make any problems. I have few really old carts that was actively use back in the days. But they clean and is no trace of damage on the board XD
@@Stevie-J Nobody says about perfection. I just mean that adult collectors are more than capable to keep games in good condition. No dirt - no corrosion.
I wouldn't even put the spacer and cartridge RF shield back in. They're really not necessary anymore. At least delete the spacer and then polish off the rusty crust off the cartridge RF shield if you absolutely must put it back in.
I would like it if you played the game at the end for a minute
Not a bad idea as long as the game doesn't start off slow.
@@RetroRepairs Don't have to show game play, just to see the completed cart working... It's like a cool little reward for the viewer who watches to the end imo...
Hey I have a universal n64 adaptor that is in need of repairs is there a way I am able go contact you?
You're right that blowing on carts is bad but to say it does nothing is just not true. It works for the exact same reason it's harmful being moisture on it
It's just as bad for SNES and NES carts where they've had lines of corrosion and broken traces.
Looks much better. And it works.
Yesterday I got two controllers and all the cables for my N64 from my childhood. More than half of the games no longer work. The only one that works is Super Mario 64. My favorite game, Ocarina of Time, works too, but as soon as I load a save game, the game starts flickering and keeps restarting... Has somebody a clue how to fix this? I'm close to despair childhood memories and all 🥺
Nevermind it workd 😁✌️
I did this and added a strip of kapton tape on area where the plastic cover goes to try and prevent wear
I would worry about the adhesive lasting. I've opened up some old systems and the adhesive has turned to dust
@@RetroRepairs I'm not certain, but I think Kapton tape is made to not leave a residue. I wouldn't use electrical tape for sure, that's some nasty adhesive
Question. What do you do if you do this and it still does not work? before you ask the composite cables work fine as the GameCube was working right afterwards and as you remember they share composite cables. But anyways i have not tried yet as i have to buy a fucking specialty screwdriver but the paranoia of "What if that don't fix the game you have been playing for literally 20 years?" All 12 of my N64 games i have to take apart
Great work👍
I always clean my cartridges and consoles with ammonia. For years. Works way better than alcohol! And it's cheaper. But keep a little distance because it's a bit aggressive. Try to cover your mouth nose and eyes if it takes time.
For the pins, pcb's and motherboards i still use alcohol only!
It's Mickey Mouse!
Am I missing something? Did you get it working or just clean it?
Well done man!
Great video 👍👍
Your audio volume changes a lot, good vid tho
"You're going the wrong way"
06:58! You are lying! Blowing works 99.997% lol
Toylaniakea vintage Saint saiya Japón v1 biutiful brother
Know what game I should ruin to save a copy of Smash Bros with broken pins?
It uses an NUS-03A-01
Other games that use that board:
NUS-03A-01
F-Zero X
Harvest Moon 64
Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 1.0 (DORADO EDICIÓN ESPECIAL)
Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 1.1
Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 1.2 (Player Choise ver. CENSURADO)
Mario Golf
Super Smash Bros.
WCW/NWO Revenge
WWF: Wrestlemania 2000
My choice would be whatever of those wrestling games is the cheapest
Maybe a magic eraser would work great with the shell
Magic eraser is pretty abrasive, you you have to be careful not to take the texture off the plastic
@@RetroRepairs Yea it's kinda of abrasive, maybe you can test it with a discarded shell or something and see the results
:D
Than n64 so dusty...)