Nintendo 64 Cartridge Maintenence

[Glitchipedia]

I have a secondhand cartridge of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and it's in rough shape:

• Parts of the plastic casing are slightly deformed, allegedly the result of having been in a fire.
• Loose pieces were found free-floating around the circuit board and removed.
• The contacts show signs of severe corrosion. Cleaning has been attempted, but was not completely successful.
• During play, the cartridge appears to overheat frequently. When removed from the console, it gives off a strange odor until it cools down—probably the smell of heated plastic.
• The game randomly freezes/crashes with varying frequency. Getting the game to even start often requires multiple tries. The save files appear completely intact, regardless.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Having gotten as far as the Water Temple, I'd hate to have to stop now.

PICS:

Spoiler

Slight case warping, presumably fire damage.


Severe corrosion visible on a couple of the contacts. Was much more extensive before cleaning.

 

[Gligar13]

Take a Pic, so I can better see.

As for the cart, looks like it's been damaged somewhere. Take apart the cart and check both the ROM chip and use some strong cleaner on the Pins. I had a yellow that was also damaged, further inspection showed pins had been cut on the GB contacts.

If all else fails, get a cheap sports game with a similar lockout chip, and replace the ROM chip on that.

 

[Haruka_Rules!]

A picture of the cart would be helpful. Unfortunately it sounds like you'll have to repair or replace the game.

You can easily find the N64 version of OoT online for $5-10 sometimes with free shipping.

 

[Glitchipedia]

First post updated with pics. At least, I think so....dial-up is a pain in the ass.

 

[Gligar13]

I know what you mean, dial up blows.

As for the cart, it looks like it's in pretty shitty shape, and looks like it got heat damaged at one point due to overheating or something. The label is in sad shape. Can you take it apart and show a pic of the PCB? You might need to clean the contacts and the internal contacts too.

 

[Glitchipedia]

Sadly, I can't take it apart. My brother's the only one who knows how, and he won't be coming home until next weekend.

 

[Gligar13]

Oh. When he gets back, have him take it apart and some pics, it might be damaged on the inside.

 

[Glitchipedia]

....actually, looks like I fibbed. My dad was able to take the thing apart successfully and give it an extensive cleaning with alcohol. He then proceeded to clean the Nintendo 64's own contacts. This seemed to have the following results:

• The console recognized the cartridge on the first try.
• The cartridge managed to go a reasonably long session without glitching up.

If this continues without incident, I will assume the problem has been dealt with.

EDIT: False alarm, the thing still crashes.

 

[Haruka_Rules!]

It sounds like you'll have to place the game. :-( Are there any video game stores in your area besides Gamestop?

 

[Glitchipedia]

There's only one place I know of that might have N64 games, and I'd hate to remove anything from that store because it's an effective nostalgia museum. My only other option is to buy the cartridge online, and I hate doing online transactions. Besides, I'd really rather not have to restart the game from the beginning now that I've gotten so far. There's gotta be some way to fix this thing....

On another note, an experiment involving a refrigerator has shown that the cartridge seems to work best at certain temperatures. Dad thinks this means there's a snapped circuit pathway somewhere in the thing that only aligns properly at room temperature. If this is the case, is there any way to repair the damaged circuit pathway?

 

[Gligar13]

I would check the PCB for any damaged traces and damaged/dirty pins on the MX chip, the save chip, and the CIC.

As for the store, you should buy a second copy, as most of the stores where I live are just like you described. They do have multiple copies of first party N64 and SNES games though.