Conference rusure::nintendo

450.0. "Repairing Intermittant Systems...mwr" by WMOIS::RAINVILLE (Situations wanted, Messiah!) Sat Apr 21 1990 12:54

OK folks, here's how you fix them....but I must admit a temptation to keep
this to myself and charge $$$$...It did take myself and a neighbor several
hours to get to this point, but the game has been dependable for months now.

Our Nintendo system had gotten VERY intermittant.  My kids & others had
developed a number of rituals around making the game work.  Sort of mild
versions of "Did you kick it yet?"  We got the cleaning cartridge, (we
figured rented games were spreading some gold-oxidizing virus) we tried
all kinds of stunts.  Tantrums were thrown when a little sister bumped the
game and lost the work put into advancing....tempers boiled...

Finally,

we chased the kids away and ripped the damn thing apart completely.
Not much to it.  And we found the (mechanical) problem afflicting several
(2 year old+) games in the neighborhood.

The connector the game cartridges plug into is not soldered into the circuit
board.  It connects to the system module in the same way as to the games,
...fingers and spoons.  A row of 'spoons' in the connector are sprung to
contact the 'fingers' on the game module and on the system module.
And here's the rub(literally).  The spoons wear tiny holes into the tin
(Not Gold, some kind of white metal) on the fingers of the system module.
If you knock the game around enough, you can get enough contact to make the
game work.  Another knock and you're down.


We effected a temporary fix with hacksaw blades and a file...crude eh?
Taping three hacksaw blades together, we broached out the (bakelite?) sides
of the connector a modules-thickness wide and 1/8" deep to allow the system
module to slide in further.  We then clamped the system module to a table and
ground off the 1/8" of fiberglass past the 'fingers' with a rasp so the board
wouldn't bottom out.  Now the spoons slide another 1/8" onto the fingers.
We leave the plastic top of the game loose.  After inserting a game, the kids
pull it back to the rear cartridge stop.  This maximizes contact.

Obviously a better fix would be to re-tin the system module fingers,
I will do that as soon as I can find silver-solder.  Any tips on that stuff?
Well, if you've read this far, your possesed of sufficient perservearance to
do what we did.  The 'elegant' fix, of course, would be to rework a brand new
game so that the connector cannot possibly rub across the system module fingers,
thus preventing wearout.


Tempers are cooler know, and us two dads have gained some respect.
If anyone uses this fix, successfully or not, please enter a reply.
If anyone knows where I can buy silver solder, please send mail.
					Bob Brown and Mike Rainville

    
    I think I have some silver solder at home. Give me a couple of days to
    look for it and if I find it I'll let you have a couple of feet.
    
    Your bigest problem is going to be the higher temperature that the
    silver solder melts. I hope that the material around the connections
    can take 900 F ???? <<<<I think it's 900 F>....
    
    	Dan

    I didn't know it took more heat...maybe I should just use the 
    lead-tin stuff???
    					mwr
    

	Depending on how bad the damage is, you might be able to use
	a liquid tinning (sp?) agent.  It is available frmo Arrow
	electronics in Woburn, MA.

thanks
ort1

    Has anybody considered electroplating those contacts?  I was thinking
    about electroplating gold on but my resident technical expert suggested
    the chrome plating would be more durable.  The electrical resistance
    would be insignificant for the thickness involved but the hardness
    of the metal would improve wear characteristics considerably.  
    
    I haven't tried this out yet but, since I've already experienced
    the frustration of losing my place (not to mention the guilt of
    terrifying my daughter), I am seriously considering it.
    
    Anybody out there know if our reasoning is faulty?  I don't want
    to blow it due to lack of info....
    
    Bill