General Category > General Discussion
When buying used carts...
Moviefan2k4:
I'm not extreme over it, but when I buy a used game, I clean it both inside and out. No dirty games are going near my refurbished systems. I take the carts apart, and use Brasso for the contacts, followed by a 1-to-1 mix of alcohol and water afterward. As for back stickers, I usually just remove them if they're in too bad a shape. Rental stickers are always removed very carefully, and I haven't had to make a new front label yet.
AO007:
I just clean the contacts with wet cotton swabs, as well as try to clean any writing or whatever, again with cotton swabs.
Sticker residue seems to come off over time after much scratching, and cotton swabs.
irvgotti452:
Yeap. Its that bad lol. I've gotten a shit ton of genesis games and a bunch of the ones I inherited did not work. So I've taken it an extra step and swapped out a bunch of old capacitors on the boards along with the regular ocd cleaning...they now all work. It even extends to consoles and other parts such as resistors on gb games etc...Yea...lol
Harp00nX:
Every cart I buy no matter how clean it looks gets took apart and scrubbed and any clean up needed done along with the connectors steel wooled and cleaned before they go anywhere near my cart slot.
zakurowrath:
I've actually started doing it myself because alot of my carts are used and have that familiar dirt or sticker residue. I'd love to get some steel wool or something to polish the contacts in the near future, not to mention replace capacitors and put in battery holders for save game batteries. What sucks is when your SOL getting a game that used to be a Blockbuster rental, damn stickers cover all the artwork so it's a pain in the ass to get off. Even thou my WWF No Mercy cart has almost no finish, it's still better than that old sticker that used to be on it.
Ask for consoles, the most nastiest thing I ever seen was when a friend of mine asked me to fix her SNES. I opened it up and almost puked. There was pet hair, mold, dead roaches, spiders, bug shit, you name it. Any time I get a used console now, I take the whole thing apart and run the case through the dishwasher in super hot water to make sure whatever is there is gone for good.
Speaking of capacitors, I really need to get my Genesis recapped so it lasts longer and preforms better. Also a few consoles that need battery holders for the BIOS settings and clock I need to get on that as well :D