Boiled my first old ass 72 pin connector... Sorcery happend

ZoOmer

Shit worked like magic!

I was extremely surprised to say the least, it was a connector off a super broken old system from craigslist and I could maybe get it to work about 1 in 20 tries...

After 5 mins in the boil, put it back in and Bam! Worked first try and every try! Never looked better on any system I've owned.

Time to make 72 pin soup for all the rest of my connectors. 



One thing I did was to take it out after a few mins and jam a cart in and out of the connector about 20 times to remove any grime and whatever other magic I was attempting, then threw it back in the boil before putting it back on.      



Official 72 Pin Connector Corrector Soup Recipe



1) Remove your 72 pin connector(s)

2) Boil water (enough to fully immerse connector, optional: use bottled/distilled water)

3) Drop  connector in boiling water and let boil for 3-5 mins, stir occasionally

4) Carefully remove connector from water and let cool enough to handle (about 30 seconds)

5) Take a cart and jam it in and out of connector 10-20 times (be firm but cautiuos, keep the cart straight)

6) Drop connector back in water and let boil for 3-5 more mins

7) Remove connector, tap out water and let dry (about 10 mins - optional: put in oven or use hair dryer)

8) Reinstall connector 

9) Test cart, be amazed



Important Note

When putting your NES back togeather be sure the little black plastic tab on the bottom of the springy thing is tucked under the circuit board.



Do this at your own risk!

I have had 3/3 come out like new, many others have reported success as well, one person reported it breaking 1 and their other 2 not working. Im going to continue testing using the method I posted above and will report my results. I can imagine that some connectors may simply be irreparable to begin with.



Report your results & Good luck!

Armageddon Potato

What was the exact method you used? I've heard of this before, but haven't tried it yet.

elios_kenni

I'm interested as well. I have an old system that won't load anything most of the time.

ZoOmer

1) remove 72 pin connector

2) boil water (enough to fully emerse connector)

3) drop 72 pin connector in boiling water and let boil for 3-5 mins, stir occasionally

4) carefully remove connector from water and let cool enough to handle

5) take a cart and jam it in and out of connector 10-20 times (with care)

6) drop connector back in water and let boil for 3 mins

7) remove connector and let dry

8) reinstall connector

9) test cart, be amazed



Hope it helps, individual results may vary

let me know how it goes. 

Shipsteam

I have tried this before. I was surprised the plastic on the pins didn't melt. I don't think I cooked them long enough to get the to work.

Parpunk

Just tried this and it did make a big improvement. Next time i will insert a cart in and out in between the process cause i think that helps ALOT. Also i think if you bend some of the pins that will make a better difference too.



It worked for me but i would still get a grey screen a good bit. But after i inserted a nes cleaner kit covered in alcohol about 10 times it worked better.

Mario's Right Nut

Interesting. I might have to try this.

VGD

Been meaning to try this as i have a box full of them.

Abelardo

Thanks for the info, I might try this with my original NES and see how it works out.

Otter

I have done this dozen's of times, I boil for 10 min. then I put it in the oven for 10 min. on low on a cookie sheet to dry it out....works perfect.

Sticky

All those poor dead connectors that I've sent to the rubbish bin.......

hotelmario

LMAO @ stir occasionally!

Shane

Sweet, doing that this weekend. I'm assuming you dry off the connector after boiling?

Edit: Meaning before you do anything with a cart.

the.golden.ax

I've found that the teeth on the PCB where the connectors attach are also a MAJOR factor. People tend to overlook this, but blemishes and imperfections on the PCB are often the cause of the 72 pins not working. Clean those while you are at it.



AX

Nintendo Workshop

I tried this awhile back and could not get it to work. Also put it in the oven on low for about 10 minutes to help dry it and maybe help tighten the pins.



I like the inserting cart idea. I will give it another go.

ZoOmer

Originally posted by: shane7951



Sweet, doing that this weekend. I'm assuming you dry off the connector after boiling? Edit: Meaning before you do anything with a cart.

I actually did the cart thing while it was still wet and fairly hot, figured that it would help get all the crap out and make the pins line up properly. I used a cart that I didn't really care about, but I doubt it did any real damage to it. A system cleaner thing with some alchohol would probably work just as well. 

VintageGameKing

I wonder if you just soaked the pin overnight in rubbing alcohol and scrubbed it a bit with an old toothbrush how well that would work. I know people clean "tabacco" pipes like that. I'm just trying to find a way to mass clean like 10-20 pins at a time and to a reasonable quality. I suppose I could just as easily boil a bunch of em in a big pot

arch_8ngel

Originally posted by: Nintendo Workshop



I tried this awhile back and could not get it to work. Also put it in the oven on low for about 10 minutes to help dry it and maybe help tighten the pins.



I like the inserting cart idea. I will give it another go.

At a temperature that the plastic can tolerate, the pins are not going to deform (or "tighten") from the heat.

marvelus10

I always bend my pins up no matter the cleaning method, all of my NES consoles do not require you to push the cart down anymore. The only side effect is the death grip the console has on the cart.

Roth

Originally posted by: hotelmario



LMAO @ stir occasionally!

That gave me the chuckles too haha

Blue Ember

I'm definitely going to give this a shot, sounds like it just may do the trick on one of my consoles that recently had the connector crap out.

mcat999

I've never heard of this stuff before, when I had a toaster I bought a new connector when the old one went bad. Thankfully I have a top loader now .

ZoOmer

Boiled another one today, did exactly the same thing and it worked just as well. Don't even need to press the cart down

Platinumfungi

That's wild! I've never heard of this trick before. I've always just cleaned the pins, and if necessary bent them up a bit. I'll have to play around with this - thanks for posting

Gemini

this...this is a joke right?

ZoOmer

Lol, No joke! I just finished my 3rd one and same great results.

AllYourBass

Originally posted by: ZoOmer



Boiled another one today, did exactly the same thing and it worked just as well. Don't even need to press the cart down

This actually means you put your NES back together wrong, bro

ZoOmer

Care to explain how it could even be put together wrong? didn't think that was even possible...

AllYourBass

Originally posted by: ZoOmer



Care to explain how it could even be put together wrong? didn't think that was even possible...

Replying from my phone so I can't really explain it well right now, but there's a little black plastic tab on the cartridge tray that needs to be moved below a metal piece connected to the console body. If the NES plays without pushing the game down, the black tab is on top of the metal thing. If that makes any sense.

ZoOmer

Oh yeah I know exactly what you mean, but I made sure all that was correctly in position, Most games will play up or pressed down, and this was on 2 of the 3 I worked on. And I made sure of that stupid plastic thing because its messed me up before lol. Ill look again but Im almost positive I put back togeather properly. Thanks for the tip though!

jd123541

thats an awesome tip!I gotta make some 72 pin connector soup, but I did hear it works better if you throw a few diced carrots in haha