Iffy Cart Slot on NES Suggestions

[karaokeninja]

Hi folks,

I have my NES Action Set that I've had since 1990 and it's seen some better days. Currently the cartridge slot is really iffy. I did disassemble the system, clip the lockout chip, remove and boil and clean the pin connector deal, and after reassembling it was a little better, but still not reliable.

I've been looking into repair solutions, but I wanted to get some feedback from people with personal experience. I've heard that replacement 72 pin cart slots often have a "death grip" where it is very difficult to get the game out when you want to swap and risks damaging the cartridge. Are there better or worse replacements that are safer?

I've also read about Blinking Light Win as a solution, but I'm not sure I like not being able to push the cartridge down inside the NES. It also seems like a pretty drastic step for repairs since you have to remove so much of the original NES to install it. How well does it work? Does Blinking Light Win have a death grip?

Does anyone have any alternate suggestions?

Thanks!

[Duke.Togo]

I've got a Blinking Light Win in my regular use NES and the thing works great. The grip was a little tight when I first got it, but after a little use it feels just right. After fiddling with the old ZIF connectors for years, I'd never want to go back.

[HVC-Man]

Pushing the games down tends to do more harm than good by wearing out the pins on the connector. Yes, technically it's called a Zero Insertion Force connector, but seeing how death grip connectors can be conditioned to play games in the up position and last much far longer because of that, I'm convinced the ZIF design is a very poor one.

If you don't want a BLW connector, then get yourself a death grip connector, make sure the inner connector on the NES board is very clean (it can get shockingly dirty) and then just break in the connector, do not push the games down. I did that in 2006 and it didn't take long for the connector to soften. To this day, it still works like a champ.

[karaokeninja]

Thanks for the help, folks! So was it hard getting Blinking Light Win installed?

[YoshiFan501]

my friend told me to boil my 72 pin connector.

it worked

[karaokeninja]

Well, like I say, boiling the connector only kinda worked for me and it's still not reliable.

[Duke.Togo]

Thanks for the help, folks! So was it hard getting Blinking Light Win installed?

Extremely easy. Just need a phillips head screwdriver.

[karaokeninja]

Cool. Thanks!