VGRestore Ep19: Faulty N64 Cart

Today I take a look at a broken N64 cart.

[jermainepalk]

Why do I naturally like watching these types of videos😂

[specialformula]

its great to see a channel of someone properly fixing carts .. ive been fixing consoles and carts like this for years

[Huddy]

Quickly becoming one of my favorite channels!

[KuraIthys]

Cartridge faults can be interesting.

When it doesn't work at all that's sad...

But it gets interesting when it does work but has problems.

For instance, I've got a copy of Ocarina of Time which consistently displays the same fault rendering it unplayable. (I have a second copy now which needs a replacement SRAM battery, but otherwise works fine)

So, the fault is like this:
Game works fine for about 15 minutes, then the console locks up.
If you reset after the game has locked up, all save files have been erased.

This isn't your typical fault, but I don't know if there's corrupted data in the ROM, a trace that makes intermittent contact, or what.
The time related issue could also suggest a thermal problem.

Unfortunately, opening the cart up doesn't show anything obviously wrong...
So... Yeah. That's fun. XD

[johne]

Mario golf: the only sports game cart that's worth more than 5-10 bucks.

[ajaydillon]

This is an awesome video. I've got a couple of non working N64 games I've hoped are salvageable but didn't really know where to start. Seeing the process you went through here was very helpful. Thanks!

P.S. That's some beautiful solder work.

[MagnumForce]

Those were just test pads you fixed in the beginning. Those you didn't have to fix because those traces terminated at those test pads. Unless you planed to use the pads for anything, you didn't have to fix them. ;)

[bobby]

I thought that thing was a goner, it looked like the previous owner stored it in a fish tank lol. Great Job Brother. Now to get you to restore an original Famicom.

[thelink]

Hey man,

Great work there. Just a little tip, you can use kapton tape to mask of the pin and prevent solder from flowing down it as you're spot on keeping those pins flat is a very good idea!

[stage]

Thank you for the video

Have question, what you use to scratch the pcb board ?
If you have link to buy would really appreciate that

[specialformula]

lmao.. it is a nightmare in there... i just swapped the chips off the worst snes game yet.. someone had stepped on it.. board was cracked in 6 places .. and at least 12 traces broken