finally got around to finishing setting up my game consoles. my nes has some kinda power flashing issue - it resets itself after one frame, repeatedly. im gonna try cleaning the pin connectors before i write it off as unfixable (to me)
i was gonna reward myself by ordering an fxpak pro, but they're out of stock. i guess ill keep an eye out for restocks
@typhlosion could that be be the 10NES chip doing its thing? it can be kinda sensitive, might be best to just disable it because its only purpose is to be DRM
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@Felthry thats the other thing ive heard might be causing it. what does disabling it entail?
@typhlosion i think soldering like one wire somewhere and cutting one leg of the 10NES or something like that, it's a pretty trivial modification
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@Felthry anything involving soldering is above my pay grade, at least at the moment
@typhlosion oh i just looked it up and apparently it's actually just cut one leg of the 10NES (pin 4 specifically)
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@Felthry what do i need to do that, exactly?
@typhlosion a pair of side cutters, doesn't even need to be good ones but you probably need something finer than your typical wire cutters. they'll look something like this
here's one i can personally vouch for being good but honestly any would work, you can probably find ones at your local hardware store https://www.amazon.com/Xcelite-General-Purpose-Shearcutter-Diagonal/dp/B07BM2GRHT
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@Felthry i'll look in the hardware store tomorrow. i need to go get q-tips and alcohol for cleaning the connectors anyhow
@typhlosion remember that the chip is quite small and you need to cut just one leg of it, so make sure you get ones with a fine point
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@Felthry i wasn't able to find anything like that at my local hardware store, alas. the only things here with a relatively fine point are pliers, not cutters
@typhlosion aw, that's unfortunate
might be worth ordering a pair off ebay or something, they're pretty cheap
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@Felthry as a last ditch i went to the craft store and bought a set of jewelry tools that included a flush cutter, but the tips of that weren't as thin as it showed on the picture - they're just barely too thick to fit between the pins, so i have been foiled again
@typhlosion aw dammit, that's no good :<
Maybe still worth a try? You can get by with thicker ones than it looks like would work.
Would offer to let you use ours but i doubt you live nearby
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@typhlosion you could also in theory cut the trace on the PCB instead of cutting the IC pin, that you could do with a pocketknife
i didn't think of it at first just because cutting the IC is a cleaner solution and cutting the PCB is something we're a little loath to do on an NES... but it's still just the 10NES chip, no one has any nostalgia for that, mostly just frustration with needing to try a bunch of times to get their games to boot
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@Felthry i dont wanna cut the pcb either, that always struck me as messy and a little terrifying, especially for someone like me who has Literally Never worked with electronics before
@typhlosion yeah not the preferred solution, we've cut PCBs before but only to fix bugs in prototypes and stuff
i'd tell you to check a radioshack but, well
is there an electronics repair place near you? maybe even a batteries plus? (i doubt batteries plus would have it but i'm throwing things at the wall to see what sticks)
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@typhlosion unfortunate! again, wish we could just do it for you or something but unfortunately you can't send physical objects over the internet yet
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@Felthry someday.......
im sure theres someone in the boston area who can do this for me
@typhlosion very likely
i'm like 99% certain that the problem is the 10NES chip
if you don't intend to use any unlicensed games on it, some physical cleaning of the system, particularly the cartridge connector, might help--often the 10NES is still functional but whatever it does to verify games doesn't always work if the cartridge connector is a bit dirty. it's a temporary fix though because the 10NES seems to just always go bad eventually or something
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@Felthry none especially close, and a thunderstorm is rolling in so i can't really go out again today, unfortunately