New mod by Arcade Works permanently replaces NES ZIF socket

[ELabit]

One of the main reasons I wanted the BLW was so my kids could enjoy the NES but I can barely get the games out with my Ver1 BLW. I want to exchange but who knows how long it's going to take them to process it

[BazookaBen]

One of the main reasons I wanted the BLW was so my kids could enjoy the NES but I can barely get the games out with my Ver1 BLW. I want to exchange but who knows how long it's going to take them to process it

Yeah, it would be better if they'd let you just order a v2, and just return the v1 once you receive the v2 and get a refund.

[BONKERS]

Exchange process is up if you went through Kickstarter.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/11 ... ts/1515944
And if not, they have methods available listed here
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/11 ... ts/1516991

I think $30 is a good deal, and this is a way more elegant solution than boiling and arduously bending 72 pins with a flat head jewelers screw driver.

It took me 5 minutes of bending and then the boiling to restore the 72-pin connector on my NES to go from working 0% of the time to working 95% time, and unlike the BLW, I can still depress the cartridge normally. I wouldn't take a Blinking Light Win even if it was free, since it destroys such a iconic aspect of the NES.

If you don't want to use the ZIF socket like it's meant to be used, you can just get a toploader.

After so many years, i'm sick of dicking around with the ZIF. Even after boiling it, you will often have to still dick around with it from time to time.
It's a terrible design. Nostalgia or not.

[ApolloBoy]

I wouldn't take a Blinking Light Win even if it was free, since it destroys such a iconic aspect of the NES.

I don't know about you, but all the original connector does is just bring back memories of me as a kid trying to fiddle with the games and getting them to work. I mainly used a top loader as a kid for that very reason, and the BLW so drastically improves the front loader's reliability that it's not even funny.

I should get in touch with Arcadeworks and have them send you a bunch of BLWs, that way you can't refuse...

[Guspaz]

I mean, I repaired the 72-pin connector, and it works 95% of the time now... No fiddling, no effort, I just stick a game in and push it down and it works. This is a unit that was explicitly sold as broken, when the only thing wrong with it was that the 72-pin connector worked 0% of the time. It was very easy to do, and if I had failed, I could have taken an after market connector and just loosened the pins a bit.

Putting a game in and not pushing it down feels unnatural. If I wanted to do that, I'd get a toploader. I don't have to fiddle, my games don't reset if I bump things, stuff just works. BLW seems like a solution to a problem that I don't have, giving up something core to the experience and getting nothing in return.

EDIT: And the 5% it doesn't work, the solution is just pulling the game out and sticking it back in again, probably because I didn't push it all the way in.

[leonk]

There are a couple of other things that people did not discuss in this thread:

- BLW's biggest flaw is that it will not work with a Game Action Replay. I know most people don't use one, but I wish I could put a BLW in my CopyNES .. but I repair too many GAR's for customers.

- BLW's biggest positive is that it allows you to play full size famicom carts with 60 pin converter on front loader! Just Breed and Lagrange Point together with adapter don't fit in front loader. They're too long! But BLW allows you to enjoy these great titles on the NES now.

[d0s]

I just installed mine (got it a few weeks ago but have been lazy) and like half my games don't work and boot to a green screen. I had better luck just leaving a Game Genie plugged in all the time with the original connector, with that everything worked I just hated the way it looked. I keep my game contacts clean, wonder if I got a defective one.

[BazookaBen]

I just installed mine (got it a few weeks ago but have been lazy) and like half my games don't work and boot to a green screen. I had better luck just leaving a Game Genie plugged in all the time with the original connector, with that everything worked I just hated the way it looked. I keep my game contacts clean, wonder if I got a defective one.

Did you read about the built in lock-out chip? Wonder if it got stuck on a weird setting like PAL or Asia

[Sargon]

One of the main reasons I wanted the BLW was so my kids could enjoy the NES but I can barely get the games out with my Ver1 BLW. I want to exchange but who knows how long it's going to take them to process it

I never tried the Version 1, but I can only imagine how difficult it must be to get the carts out if it is harder than the Version 2. I struggle to get them out with my BLW and I have a newer Version 2, so I don't think they have resolved that issue. Maybe it will loosen up over time, and it works well, but I'm still not sure if I'm happy with it over a regular 72 pin connection.

[darcagn]

There are a couple of other things that people did not discuss in this thread:

- BLW's biggest flaw is that it will not work with a Game Action Replay. I know most people don't use one, but I wish I could put a BLW in my CopyNES .. but I repair too many GAR's for customers.

- BLW's biggest positive is that it allows you to play full size famicom carts with 60 pin converter on front loader! Just Breed and Lagrange Point together with adapter don't fit in front loader. They're too long! But BLW allows you to enjoy these great titles on the NES now.

Well, if you have a Game Action Replay, you shouldn't have a problem playing large size Famicom carts with the 60 pin converter. Game Genie + Adapter is how I play Lagrange Point.

[leonk]

Well, if you have a Game Action Replay, you shouldn't have a problem playing large size Famicom carts with the 60 pin converter. Game Genie + Adapter is how I play Lagrange Point.

Didn't think of that. Personally, I prefer to play on my NESRGB modded top loader just because of the connector.

For famicom carts, I pull out my NESRGB modded Sharp Twin Famicom Turbo.

[mvsfan]

I sent mine back in finally.

i was sad to read that someone is also having problems with version 2.

version 2 cant be any where near as bad as version 1.

With my version 1 i left a game in all the time for about a month hoping the pins would loosen up and they didnt.

I was tired of breaking my fingers so i cut a notch in the cart slot in nes lid under where the games grips are.

[BazookaBen]

With my version 1 i left a game in all the time for about a month hoping the pins would loosen up and they didnt.

Well that's a good sign for their long-term durability.

The new ones aren't exactly easy to remove, but it's a good trade off for the reliability.

[BuffaloWing]

With my version 1 i left a game in all the time for about a month hoping the pins would loosen up and they didnt.

The reason why the pins would not loosen over time in this instance is because metal has a property call yield stress (strength). As long as the force/load applied does not surpasses the material's proportional limit, the metal will remain elastic (retain its original shape). Since your game is just seated in there with no additional external load and nothing else is changed, the pins will not deform permanently. Now if you were to pull the cartridge in and out through many cycles over time you could wear out the contact due to friction, but that's another story.

Here's a good video explaining metal deformation on "beam bending" https://youtu.be/xr3eMXWKLBM. The pins found in the connector are essentially a series of miniature beams.

[Guspaz]

Well, I'm willing to admit when I'm wrong. I don't have a large NES collection, but all of my games were working perfectly fine with the boiled ZIF socket (maybe half a dozen of them), until I got a copy of Double Dragon at Anime Boston last weekend.

Nothing I do seems to get it to work reliably. Tried the 99% isopropyl alcohol, no go. Tried a white eraser, no go. Tried a magic eraser (basically equivalent to wet 1500 grit sandpaper, I believe), no go. Turn on the NES, solid red screen (although no blinking). But if I wiggle the cartridge juuuust right, eventually I can get it working some of the time (and then it stays working until I move it).

That seems to rule out any problem with the NES electronics, or with the cartridge, because then it wouldn't work with just the right positioning. That leaves, as far as I can tell, the ZIF socket...

I'll try my spare third party socket and see if that works. It's got a death grip, but if it works reliably in that, it'd definitely point to the OEM ZIF socket being at fault. I guess I could try bending the other set of pins in the socket, I only ever bent one set of them, and since all my games seemed to work perfectly after that, and it had a mild grip on the cart putting it in, I figured that was enough. I guess not.

EDIT: I only bent one set of the pins because they were the easy-to-reach ones, and as I said, I didn't have any problem with my existing games after that, so I had figured it was good enough.

[bobrocks95]

A great comparison could be made if you happened to have a BLW as well and it worked perfectly in it. Would be a very concrete way of proving its merit.

[Guspaz]

I've got three sockets available to me: the boiled OEM ZIF socket that's currently installed, an untouched OEM ZIF socket that doesn't work (blinking light, like the boiled one before boiling), and a Hyperkin death-grip ZIF socket. I can try sticking the Hyperkin one in the NES and see if that helps. I'd be willing to leave it in there if I could loosen that death grip a tad, it's a bit nuts.

My feeling is the Hyperkin one will work, but then, it grips the cartridge so damned hard it can't NOT make contact...

[leonk]

Boiling the connector will solve only 1 of 2 problems; It will remove all the years of grime that was stuck to NES carts and was transferred to it.

The problem you didn't solve is the pin connector bending out of shape over time. All it takes is less than 1mm.

I have a few "new in the box" NES consoles as part of my collection. I tried one of them once with a clean cart as well as a connector I boiled in the past. I was surprised by how much grip original Nintendo connectors actually had!! The boiled connector went in so smoothly, I couldn't even tell when the pins were engaged. Only by hitting the back of the connector did I know if got to the right spot.

The more I read about BLW, the more I'm thinking of getting one for my CopyNES. Except I use my CopyNES to fix GAR's and a GAR will not fit into it.

[Guspaz]

I didn't just boil it, I boiled it and then bent half of the pins. It actually does have a bit of a grip on the cartridge, enough that I need to grip the NES when pushing a cart in. All of my carts work reliably in it, except for Double Dragon, so there must be some few pins that aren't in position that are used by that game but not others.

[mvsfan]

once i set the lockout chip, my blw worked perfectly the first time with every clean game i tried.

its only problem was the grip was too much. its definately a good product.

its just new, so theres a few bugs to be worked out, like any other new product.

[mickcris]

Has anyone received their replacement yet? I put mine in the mail the day they announced the exchange program and have not got a new one back yet.

[mvsfan]

i havent recieved my new v2 yet.

i sent it back shortly after the exchange program was announced.

Btw, THIS was my solution for V1.

hopefully i wont have to do that with v2.

[Guspaz]

I put the Hyperkin connector back in the NES, and sure enough Double Dragon works. But that death grip... It's really difficult to get the cartridge out of the NES. And when you insert the cartridge, it grips the pins so hard it's pulling the tray downwards a bit before you even press it down.

[Einzelherz]

I put the Hyperkin connector back in the NES, and sure enough Double Dragon works. But that death grip... It's really difficult to get the cartridge out of the NES. And when you insert the cartridge, it grips the pins so hard it's pulling the tray downwards a bit before you even press it down.

Have you disabled your lockout chip? I did that on my NESRGB installation and it helped (not eliminated) the normal ZIF related frustrations.

[Guspaz]

No, but I'm not sure it's a modification that I want to make: first because the problem with Double Dragon wasn't a blinking light (solid red screen, not blinking), and second because that's addressing the symptom rather than the cause.

[ApolloBoy]

You should still do it anyway, every front loader owner should IMO.

[mvsfan]

Remember, nintendo got rid of the lockout chip when they created the toploader. it doesnt have one.
it was very problematic even when the frontloader was new.

[Guspaz]

Is a reversible change possible, whereby I desolder pin 4 and then try to pull it through the via to lift it, or is that not going to work (in terms of getting the pin through after desoldering), and cutting it is the only real solution?

I guess if I ever wanted to reverse it in the process, I could solder some sort of bridge back on...

[Einzelherz]

Is a reversible change possible, whereby I desolder pin 4 and then try to pull it through the via to lift it, or is that not going to work (in terms of getting the pin through after desoldering), and cutting it is the only real solution?

I guess if I ever wanted to reverse it in the process, I could solder some sort of bridge back on...

If you have small enough tools you could snip/cut the leg at the board so that later you could reconnect them. IIRC I tried to feed it through the motherboard, but I think I said screw it and just broke it off.

[mvsfan]

I just got my V2 back from arcadeworks. Ill let you know how it works.

I tried just plugging a game into it (not installed in console yet) and it already seems a whole lot easier to pull the game out of the connector.

i have a feeling its going to be much better than V1.