[BMF54123]

Genesis carts seem to go bad more often than any others. I don't know why, given how simple they usually are.

I have a Quackshot cart that produces no sound in a model 1, and flat-out doesn't work in model 2s or Nomads. Even plugging it into a Game Genie or Sonic & Knuckles cart will cause the sound to fail. If I boot up S&K and plug in Quackshot while the game is running, the sound will either die immediately or make strange, unholy noises for a while (sounds I didn't think an FM chip could make) and then die. Friggin' bizarre.

I think I eventually traced the problem back to a bad capacitor in the cart, as odd as that sounds. Maybe yours has a similar problem?

[TmEE]

First thing anyone can do is take a cotton swab, then some kind of alcohol, dip the swab into the alcohol (must be clear, not colors) then use that swab on the the cart contacts. in most cases, the cart becomes alive again.

[Blast Processing]

BMF54123, on Jan 26 2009, 09:02 AM, said:

If I boot up S&K and plug in Quackshot while the game is running, the sound will either die immediately or make strange, unholy noises for a while (sounds I didn't think an FM chip could make) and then die.

I would suggest performing an excorcism on the cart.

Just in case, make sure there are any Belmonts within the vicinity incase of demons or Dracula infestation.

[Sik]

BMF54123, on Jan 26 2009, 07:02 AM, said:

I think I eventually traced the problem back to a bad capacitor in the cart, as odd as that sounds. Maybe yours has a similar problem?

Bad capacitor in the cart? And I'd think that carts only had the ROM chip (excluding Virtua Racing, the few games with mapper and the games with save RAM for obvious reasons).

[Squints]

TmEE, on Jan 26 2009, 05:09 AM, said:

First thing anyone can do is take a cotton swab, then some kind of alcohol, dip the swab into the alcohol (must be clear, not colors) then use that swab on the the cart contacts. in most cases, the cart becomes alive again.

This. I did this to a completely dead Sonic 3 cart, by the end of the night I had it working perfectly.

[Chibisteven]

This topic is starting to get me nightmares. Seriousily, now I'm worried all my games will go bye-bye in just matter of time. Although, I realiaze nothing lasts forever.

[Sik]

Well, consider that Shonic's cart started dying quite early, so chances are, his cart was most likely defectuous or something.

[OverKlockD]

I renember having a dead populus cart that would only work if plugged into a pro action replay cart. Quite strange really.

[ShonicTH]

Squints, on Jan 26 2009, 11:13 PM, said:

TmEE, on Jan 26 2009, 05:09 AM, said:

First thing anyone can do is take a cotton swab, then some kind of alcohol, dip the swab into the alcohol (must be clear, not colors) then use that swab on the the cart contacts. in most cases, the cart becomes alive again.

This. I did this to a completely dead Sonic 3 cart, by the end of the night I had it working perfectly.

I've tried that. I actually used an official Sega cartridge cleaning kit I got years ago (which is just alcohol and the cleaning swap things) and it didn't do anything to help. I still have the cleaning kit actually, I don't use it anymore because I heard it might be rare.

Sik, on Jan 26 2009, 08:44 PM, said:

BMF54123, on Jan 26 2009, 07:02 AM, said:

I think I eventually traced the problem back to a bad capacitor in the cart, as odd as that sounds. Maybe yours has a similar problem?

Bad capacitor in the cart? And I'd think that carts only had the ROM chip (excluding Virtua Racing, the few games with mapper and the games with save RAM for obvious reasons).

Actually...I'm pretty sure the MD carts that I have all have a small capacitor in them. My two Sonic 1 carts do anyway, I haven't really paid attention to the others.

Chibisteven, on Jan 26 2009, 11:27 PM, said:

This topic is starting to get me nightmares. Seriousily, now I'm worried all my games will go bye-bye in just matter of time. Although, I realiaze nothing lasts forever.

Sik, on Jan 26 2009, 11:41 PM, said:

Well, consider that Shonic's cart started dying quite early, so chances are, his cart was most likely defectuous or something.

Yeah, I wouldn't worry too much Chibisteven. This Sonic 1 cart died roughly a decade ago. =P

[Skyler]

Shonic the Hedgehog, on Jan 26 2009, 12:38 AM, said:

Moonshadow Caz, on Jan 26 2009, 05:29 PM, said:

Something similar like that happened to me once. I had one of those plug-and-play packs with Sonic 1 (unsure what version) in them. After some fiddling in debug, it not only crashed Sonic 1, but none of the other games would work properly anymore, slowly dying up to the beginning like your cart. Could it be something related to a fatal error in debug mode or something along those lines?

Wow..thats really strange. I haven't really had anything to do with those plug and play packs, but it has me interested. I wanna get one now and see what happens if I mess around with it. Do you remember what you did in debug to make it crash?

Not much, but I do remember it was in SBZ Act 2. I think the "Illegal Operation" text came on the screen, like the one you get when you roll off the end in LZ Act 1.

[Sik]

Shonic the Hedgehog, on Jan 26 2009, 01:52 PM, said:

Sik, on Jan 26 2009, 08:44 PM, said:

BMF54123, on Jan 26 2009, 07:02 AM, said:

I think I eventually traced the problem back to a bad capacitor in the cart, as odd as that sounds. Maybe yours has a similar problem?

Bad capacitor in the cart? And I'd think that carts only had the ROM chip (excluding Virtua Racing, the few games with mapper and the games with save RAM for obvious reasons).

Actually...I'm pretty sure the MD carts that I have all have a small capacitor in them. My two Sonic 1 carts do anyway, I haven't really paid attention to the others.

TmEE told me the same. I'm too accustomed to pirate carts which are nothing but a glue chip =P

[ShonicTH]

Moonshadow Caz, on Jan 27 2009, 01:55 AM, said:

Shonic the Hedgehog, on Jan 26 2009, 12:38 AM, said:

Moonshadow Caz, on Jan 26 2009, 05:29 PM, said:

Something similar like that happened to me once. I had one of those plug-and-play packs with Sonic 1 (unsure what version) in them. After some fiddling in debug, it not only crashed Sonic 1, but none of the other games would work properly anymore, slowly dying up to the beginning like your cart. Could it be something related to a fatal error in debug mode or something along those lines?

Wow..thats really strange. I haven't really had anything to do with those plug and play packs, but it has me interested. I wanna get one now and see what happens if I mess around with it. Do you remember what you did in debug to make it crash?

Not much, but I do remember it was in SBZ Act 2. I think the "Illegal Operation" text came on the screen, like the one you get when you roll off the end in LZ Act 1.

I've never had LZ1 crash like that, and I just tried it then and it was fine o.o, but I know what kind of error you mean, same error that the Sonic 1 cart was having. (Actually...come to think of it, I think it had a few of those 'LINE 1010 EMULATOR' errors too, while it was dying)

[Krigo]

I forgot to mention, my copy of Spiderman for the MD has the same problem. It'd go past the 'Licensed by SEGA' screen and just go black. It's been doing it since around 1998-2000. Not entirely sure, but I've only really played the game properly once.

[Overlord]

OverKlockD, on Jan 26 2009, 01:48 PM, said:

I renember having a dead populus cart that would only work if plugged into a pro action replay cart. Quite strange really.

On a similar vein, I have a couple of carts that won;t boot on any system, but DO generate stages via S&K Lock-On. I suspect a dirty pin somewhere that S&K doesn't need. =P

[muteKi]

I think there's something similar with my X'Eye -- the cartridge slot is probably iffy because it reads carts fine when I have the 32X in, but if I have it removed the only game that works is LHZ Attack Chopper.