Fix your NES blinking red light for good

[glazball]

I'm not associated with this Kickstarter project in any way, but I just have to pass this along.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/113891498/blinking-light-win-resurrecting-your-nes

This little gizmo called Blinking Light Win replaces the 72-pin connector in the NES, which allows for a solid cart connection and no more frustrating blinking red light!  I have never supported a Kickstarter project before (this is my first), but this simple solution seems totally worth it - a $20 pledge plus $10 shipping.  Imagine having to never fight with your NES again for a very reasonable 30 bucks.

I plan to install mine in my NESRGB modded console.  Can't wait!

[cjameslv]

umm...you can just insert the game in a toaster without pushing it down and it will work the same. or an even better fix:

[glazball]

Will you sell me a top loader for $30 shipped then? ;)

[ClodBusted]

They say the toploader's video quality is visibly inferior to the classic front-loading NES.

[Bernie]

hmm, I like that.

[DeshDildo]

umm...you can just insert the game in a toaster without pushing it down and it will work the same. or an even better fix:

Except crappier video and RF only in stock form.

glazball, Thanks for sharing!  I backed so I could get one.  I did a similar mod to a toaster a few years ago using a donor connector from a game genie attached it to the cartridge "receiving" mechanism and made it so the mechanism could no longer be pushed down.  I then hard wired the connector to the motherboard.  It worked great but this is a much nicer "factory looking" approach.  I approve!

[cjameslv]

Will you sell me a top loader for $30 shipped then? ;)

Hey that is possible on craigslist or in the wild randomly but does take time to hunt. I picked up one for $50 off craigslist and it had the dogbone controller even.

[PunkCryborg]

I ordered one, very excited to get it! This is a great design. NES really got some nice treatment lately with the new RGB mod kits and now this

[Bernie]

I ordered one, very excited to get it! This is a great design. NES really got some nice treatment lately with the new RGB mod kits and now this

How did you order one?  Am I missing something?

[Arjak]

I'm very excited about this project as well. I plan on pledging $40 to order two right off the bat; one for my own NES, and one to fix one of my old broken ones to give to my little sister.

[DragonmasterDan]

Except crappier video and RF only in stock form.

glazball, Thanks for sharing!  I backed so I could get one.  I did a similar mod to a toaster a few years ago using a donor connector from a game genie attached it to the cartridge "receiving" mechanism and made it so the mechanism could no longer be pushed down.  I then hard wired the connector to the motherboard.  It worked great but this is a much nicer "factory looking" approach.  I approve!

There DOES indeed exist a variation of the Top Loader that uses the multi-out found on the SNES, N64 and GameCube but it's extremely rare and was apparently only given out by Nintendo of Canada to people who complained about the lack of composite output.

[glazball]

I ordered one, very excited to get it! This is a great design. NES really got some nice treatment lately with the new RGB mod kits and now this

How did you order one?  Am I missing something?

Bernie, it's a Kickstarter project, so through that site you pledge any amount of money and if you pledge $20 (plus there will $10 shipping) or more, you'll get the gizmo as a "reward".  Payment will go through on the deadline in January only if the project meets the goal.  Well, the goal has been met and exceeded, so it's for sure a go!

I'm happy to pledge now because I'll be pissed if another run doesn't manifest or something.  I found out about the Atari 5200 Redemption, a homebrew gizmo that lets you use better controller, and now I can't find one!  Something every 5200 owner should have imo.

I agree the NES has gotten some great lovin' lately with this and the NESRGB  It's a fresh breath of life that our old friend sorely needed!

[DeshDildo]

Except crappier video and RF only in stock form.

glazball, Thanks for sharing!  I backed so I could get one.  I did a similar mod to a toaster a few years ago using a donor connector from a game genie attached it to the cartridge "receiving" mechanism and made it so the mechanism could no longer be pushed down.  I then hard wired the connector to the motherboard.  It worked great but this is a much nicer "factory looking" approach.  I approve!

There DOES indeed exist a variation of the Top Loader that uses the multi-out found on the SNES, N64 and GameCube but it's extremely rare and was apparently only given out by Nintendo of Canada to people who complained about the lack of composite output.

I've never heard of that.  The only factory A/V "top loader" I've ever known about is the A/V Famicom.

[pdiggitydogg]

A buddy and I backed today

[Medic_wheat]

Not that they needed me to back them as they have %100 plus their target goal I went ahead and pledged.

Seems like a good investment.


Only thing that keeps bugging me is I always heard of the "toaster" as the top loader

The original NES (us) was always more VCR.

[ClodBusted]

Only thing that keeps bugging me is I always heard of the "toaster" as the top loader

The original NES (us) was always more VCR.

I agree.
I think "what the fuck, who came up with this toaster shit? Have you ever seen a toaster where you put your bread in horizontally sideways and then closed a lid?" Not the case with toasters I know, which are all and throughout top-loaders. I could only imagine the small electric mini ovens might be somewhere called toasters as well.

As you said, the original US/PAL NES is much more like a VCR. Heck, even on real VCRs, the cassette usually gets pulled in, then lowered down on the spools, and the front lid closes. How is that for a comparison.



EDIT:
Adding to the Multi-out discussion:
In France, a SECAM variant of the original NES was sold with an output, which closely resembles the later Nintendo Multi-AV out. It has an RGB transcoder or something inside, which converts the blurry composite video from the PPU into blurry RGB video. So the RGB picture still looks like composhit with all the dotcrawl and colourbleed. A friend of mine accidentally bought such a thing. He couldn't made any use of it since he was lacking the needed cable, and sold it later on to fund a regular NES.

[NightWolve]

I found a good enough fix BITD when my NES got lots of play: NES Game Genie. The thicker contact PCB in the front connected better, didn't and couldn't be pushed down with cart, etc. - it made it push/pull by design. I bought like four for a few bucks each from a resale shop, gave one to Bernie I recall, leaving my triple play gluing of the rest in tact. The more you connected, the more codes you could add. Anyway, another interesting Kickstarter story...

[DragonmasterDan]

I've never heard of that.  The only factory A/V "top loader" I've ever known about is the A/V Famicom.

Here are some pictures including internals of an RF and the AV model. http://nintendoage.com/index.cfm?FuseAction=Users.Photos&User=Dain

[SuperDeadite]

Isn't the blinking red light the lock-out chip failing to make a good enough connection, hence the system gets locked in reset mode?

Just snip the pin to disable that shit, and it will solve the problem 90% of the time.

[glazball]

I found a good enough fix BITD when my NES got lots of play: NES Game Genie. The thicker contact PCB in the front connected better, didn't and couldn't be pushed down with cart, etc. - it made it push/pull by design. I bought like four for a few bucks each from a resale shop, gave one to Bernie I recall, leaving my triple play gluing of the rest in tact. The more you connected, the more codes you could add. Anyway, another interesting Kickstarter story...

This is what I currently do.  I use the GG with every cart.  It's like my cartridge slot condom.  I clean every game before playing (even if it looks clean) but if there is any nastiness on the pins I want it to stay on the GG and not in my slot.

Like you said, the thicker PCB does make a better connection and I will still use it even after getting this BLW.  There are a few games though that don't like the GG (more so with Genesis GG though).

[NightWolve]

Ah, so somebody else noticed that too... How about that, another $20,000 dollar Kickstarter that wasn't quite so necessary. ;) Well, more power to the son of a gun...

[NecroPhile]

As you said, the original US/PAL NES is much more like a VCR. Heck, even on real VCRs, the cassette usually gets pulled in, then lowered down on the spools, and the front lid closes. How is that for a comparison.

It's like the early VCRs where you inserted the tape and manually pushed it down, though their mechanisms protruded from the top of their cases rather than being accessed through a door in the front.

[PunkCryborg]

It's called a toaster because it pushes down like toast. So with this new adapter it's not really a toaster anymore

[Medic_wheat]

I found a good enough fix BITD when my NES got lots of play: NES Game Genie. The thicker contact PCB in the front connected better, didn't and couldn't be pushed down with cart, etc. - it made it push/pull by design. I bought like four for a few bucks each from a resale shop, gave one to Bernie I recall, leaving my triple play gluing of the rest in tact. The more you connected, the more codes you could add. Anyway, another interesting Kickstarter story...

This is what I currently do.  I use the GG with every cart.  It's like my cartridge slot condom.  I clean every game before playing (even if it looks clean) but if there is any nastiness on the pins I want it to stay on the GG and not in my slot.

Like you said, the thicker PCB does make a better connection and I will still use it even after getting this BLW.  There are a few games though that don't like the GG (more so with Genesis GG though).

See it is all about the thickness. 

[glazball]

Ah, so somebody else noticed that too... How about that, another $20,000 dollar Kickstarter that wasn't quite so necessary. ;) Well, more power to the son of a gun...

Is any part of our video game hobby "necessary"?

[Medic_wheat]

Ah, so somebody else noticed that too... How about that, another $20,000 dollar Kickstarter that wasn't quite so necessary. ;) Well, more power to the son of a gun...

Is any part of our video game hobby "necessary"?

Shhhhhh my wife might see this post! 

 

[ctophil]

Here's an NES fix:  Take care of your original NES and don't jam your game load mechanism up and down so hard.  I still have my original system from 1988, and it still works great.  To me, I don't see any design flaw with the system as so many have claimed.  It's more user error than anything else.

Half of the problem is keep your games' metal contacts clean.  Take it apart to clean with an eraser if you have to.  Dirty games will infest your system into permanent non-working status.  I find that the dirty games come from cartridges bought from other users (Ebay, yard sales, flea markets, pawn shops, etc).  Once I take care of the game, they stay clean.  And your NES also will work perfectly.

[ClodBusted]

It's called a toaster because it pushes down like toast. So with this new adapter it's not really a toaster anymore

I didn't thought of that before. Thanks.

[Medic_wheat]

It's called a toaster because it pushes down like toast. So with this new adapter it's not really a toaster anymore

I didn't thought of that before. Thanks.

Eh.  I still think that is dum considering it appear to closer resemble a VCR then just saying oh you push down like you do with toast.

What's next we push down on buttons I a controller let's call them toaster controllers now.

[glazball]

ctophil, you are right - the #1 cause of NES glitches and blinking screens is dirty carts.  Any random NES cart you grab is always dirty as shit, more so than any other console.  Of course, we treated our games like trash back then.  This device will do absolutely nothing to help with that.  Still, I think this will make playing the NES a much less frustrating affair.  I got so sick of cleaning a game, inserting it, putting in GG codes, then getting a blinking or black screen that I pretty much gave up on playing NES until a few years ago when I found a like-new boxed system at a local Goodwill which has been giving me less trouble (along with always using my GG condom).

Edit: I always thought the toaster referred to the top loader as well.  Who the hell puts in toast sideways?  It makes no sense!!

[InfraMan]

Isn't the blinking red light the lock-out chip failing to make a good enough connection, hence the system gets locked in reset mode?

Just snip the pin to disable that shit, and it will solve the problem 90% of the time.

I did this to my NES a few years back, and it's given me zero trouble ever since. Well worth the five or so minutes it took.

Also, as mentioned by a couple of others, clean your games before you play them for the first time!

[NightWolve]

Here's an NES fix:  Take care of your original NES and don't jam your game load mechanism up and down so hard.  I still have my original system from 1988, and it still works great.  To me, I don't see any design flaw with the system as so many have claimed.  It's more user error than anything else.

Half of the problem is keep your games' metal contacts clean.  Take it apart to clean with an eraser if you have to.  Dirty games will infest your system into permanent non-working status.  I find that the dirty games come from cartridges bought from other users (Ebay, yard sales, flea markets, pawn shops, etc).  Once I take care of the game, they stay clean.  And your NES also will work perfectly. 

No, I disagree. It was a bad design that wore out quickly, dirty carts or not. Period. That is why the newer NES consoles switched to the standard. I didn't exactly treat my SNES carts great, but gee, never had a problem, worked 99% of the time. My HuCards worked 99% of the time. Atari 2600 carts worked 99% of the time... Everywhere else you had a standard, simple push/pull design, dirty or not, full contact would work 99% of the time... Indeed, they STILL work 99% of the time.

My NES console however, The Lone Ranger with this tray, push down design, well, that was a whole other story. Some fights with some carts were much longer than others, but there were many battles alright... Getting games to work was a "project" in it of itself. Like I said though, you don't need a $20,000 fix, those NES Game Genies did the trick well enough, at least for my console. I discovered this very late in the game though, but yeah.

[roflmao]

Isn't the blinking red light the lock-out chip failing to make a good enough connection, hence the system gets locked in reset mode?

Just snip the pin to disable that shit, and it will solve the problem 90% of the time.

I did this to my NES a few years back, and it's given me zero trouble ever since. Well worth the five or so minutes it took.

Also, as mentioned by a couple of others, clean your games before you play them for the first time!

Yep, this.  Super simple to do and 0 issues since.

[esadajr]

Functionally speaking it is a great idea, I won't deny it. However, this is not what I grew up with back in the 80's. Not getting it.

[cjameslv]

Isn't the blinking red light the lock-out chip failing to make a good enough connection, hence the system gets locked in reset mode?

Just snip the pin to disable that shit, and it will solve the problem 90% of the time.

I did this to my NES a few years back, and it's given me zero trouble ever since. Well worth the five or so minutes it took.

Also, as mentioned by a couple of others, clean your games before you play them for the first time!

Yep, this.  Super simple to do and 0 issues since.

Amazingly enough i didn't even know why the light blinked lol, figured dirty games. I read the guide and did that to my original nes. Still use my top loader but nice to have my other one just a bit better now.

[pdiggitydogg]

I removed my lockout chip years ago and I still have trouble. The chip will stop the console from flashing and partially booting but its the pos connector that gives me trouble with the console booting with a solid color screen (mine is always yellow, a friends always grey, some are blue, etc)
That is the real issue that this thing looks to fix... The fact that it calls it self a flash fixer seems a little incorrect. I DOES fix that, since many people never touch the lockout, but it solves a much larger problem by removing the connector.
My games are so clean, you could eat off them...and as I said, I still have trouble getting my NES to boot games properly. Wiggling the cartridge...

[Miracle_Warrior]

Was really hoping to see a picture of a front loader smashed in to a 100 pieces.  That'd certainly fix the blinking light problem.