Does anyone know what causes a cartridge to have bubbles/blisters in the plastic? I'm not sure if this is common, but I've got a few carts here with the disease. Perhaps it's from heat of some sort?
Your thoughts are correct. Cartridge blistering/bubbling is a form of melting generally caused by overexposure to heat. Depending on the severity of the heat, the cart may not work properly after such overexposure, or it may not even fit inside the system.
Here's a picture of a couple of carts with the issue. I'm still yet to clean these and test them out, so it will be interested if the insides are as cooked as the outsides!
The funniest part is that the blistered carts I have received have all worked pended the right cleaning...however carts that I have that look great are screwing me over...what bad luck.
Great looking Action 52, Contra, F117A and yet none of them work sadly
Wow. I have never seen anything like that before. I've been traded a NES cart where the plastic was so warped that it curved like a spoon and wouldn't sit right in the NES deck- but never bubbling.
Just cleaned and tested the Wizards & Warriors III, and it's working fine. Seems like it's only cosmetic. Strange thing is there's even bubbling inside the end of the cartridge, just above the edge connector!
I have only had 4 games that wouldn't work for me in my 6-7 years. 2 had boards with small holes in them, look like severe corrsives was spilled on them. 1 had a chip out of the board. The last one had no visible damage but wouldn't work no mater how much I cleaned it.
I am pretty sure the reason for cartridge blistering is that they were exposed to water. I had a sealed copy of Magic of Scheherazade that was in very bad condition and had obvious water damage. When I opened it up it had major cartridge blistering.
I think it's a defect with the heating/cooling process at the factory, personally. Honestly, I do not see how the sun or water could cause that effect, but what do I know . As for non-working games, I've only come across one NES cart in all my years that absolutely would not work (damn you gumshoe!).
Zzap, I have a Castlevania III cart that matches your CV II with this damage(NTSC though). I'm not really certain was causes this either, but whatever it might be did not apparently effect the labels in any way.
I have only had 1 cart not work no matter what i don't have it anymore it was top gun the second mission. It was my first attempt to make a NES like weapon system. It made quite the hole in the drywall at my old house in edmonton...it didn't matter we were working on the basement and that way was coming down but it did get stuck and fall down to the bottom of the wall. did not try it after I should have.
Comments
Great looking Action 52, Contra, F117A and yet none of them work sadly
dip q tip in alcohol
rub q tip over connector
take a scotch brite pad and scrub the connector until it starts to look dirty
wipe it off with the wet q tip from before
then wipe what is left off with a napkin...
I have only had that MTPO that wouldnt work with this method so maybe it will work for you....
~~NGD
~~NGD
Looks like Sun damage to me. I sold a SMB3 cart a while ago that looked like... uh how do you upload pictures? It's not letting me =(
http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m228/armageddonpotato/SMB3gg.jpg