I inherited a NES system with a lot of games (many the same titles unfortunately), 6 controllers a few light guns and some really retro looking infrared wireless controllers. I also have a lot of manuals for games(unfortunately many for games I don't have). It also came with a contact cleaner kit for the cartridge slot.
this NES had difficulty working at all but if I messed with the cartridge and slot enough it would eventually start working. Typically it would have corrupt graphics or a flashing power light or both. When it works, it works fine until the next time you insert new game then its the same thing over again.
I read on the internet and diagnosed this to be a faulty cartridge connector inside unit. I ordered a new one of those off ebay and really optimistic the problem would be fixed as I could tell there was a lot more resistance when inserting a cartridge. After that I would typically get flashing power light and sometimes corrupt graphics. After endless fooling with the cleaner thing and cleaning the cartridge contacts with electrical cleaner and q-tip it would work... until you change the cartridge.
Reading some more I was convinced that I needed to disable the nintendo lockout chip, so I did that following this guide:
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Make-a-Portable-Game-System/step16/Disabling-the-Lockout-Chip/I tried to bend up the pin to make it easier to solder a wire to but it broke off.
Reading on, grounding the pin was optional so I still OK... or so I thought.
Now the thing behaves about the same but instead of the flashing light I just get a grey screen or corrupt graphics. Eventually it works, but its not any more consistent than when I originally got it.
So, what is the deal? Are the cartridges all shot? Maybe thats why I have so many duplicates. Or maybe the connector I got from ebay is no good although everyone else seemed to have good luck with this vendor and it looked new to me. something else?
any ideas would be appreciated.