Matt V

When plugged in, I get an orange light, like normal. When I hit the power switch, I get a red light next to the orange...

I was Candy Crushin’ it and the tablet abruptly shut off and won’t turn back on. It doesn’t show a charging symbol, the...

I had the same problem.. Only Mario worked sometimes and nothing else.. I put isopropyl on the game’s pins and jammed it in and out of the console a few times to clean the pins on the games.. Then they were actually working sometimes (1 out of 3 times, taking them out, jamming them back in..) Then I took the console apart and cleaned underneath the cartridge slot (it pulls straight off the motherboard) with a q tip and isopropyl. Lots of yellow gunk came off and it cleaned up nicely. Now all games work every time. Hope it helps.. And yes, those security bits are so annoying. Do yourself a favor and get them for a couple bucks on amazon. They’re called GameBit.

It’s not missing a pin, you can even see the same thing here: How to clean the Nintendo 64 cartridge slot While you have the console apart, take off the cartridge slot (it pulls straight off the motherboard) and clean clean clean (ipa + cotton swab) get all that gunk out of there. It’s probably just dust and grime built up in there.

The N64 doesn’t have an O/S so it’s up to the games to make it do anything other than a black screen. Try rubbing a bunch of isopropyl on a game’s pins and then jam the game in and out of the slot several time (this cleans the contacts inside the cartridge slot). After I did that, the games would sometimes work, I had to push em in and out a few times to get them working.. So I took the console apart, pulled out the cartridge slot (it pulls straight out of the motherboard), cleaned all around the cartridge slot area with isopropyl and a cotton swab (cleared a bunch of yellow crap and dust and grime build-up). Works every time now.

If it’s just the plastic, it shouldn’t really matter.. The cartridges work with or without the cover anyways.. For aesthetic purposes only, it’s up to you if you want to attempt a repair.

The fact that BOTH of them have the exact same issue says it’s a TV/cable issue. Which cables are you using, and into which inputs are you plugging them into? My N64 works fine on my modern hdtv with composite video (red/white/yellow connectors) and I get no “video settings” in Composite/AV source mode on my TV.. It just is what it is.. But, luckily my modern TV actually HAS composite input. I’ve heard about Composite to HDMI upscalers which allow you to plug into HDMI and give you a guaranteed working resolution, but with a bit of lag.. And good ones are not cheap. Make sure your screen supports low resolutions (240p - 480i).

Have you diagnosed the jumper pak / expansion pak? Expansion paks are known for resetting the system randomly (ESPECIALLY 3rd party ones)! due to overheating. Try using the original jumper pak (not expansion pak)? When it overheats, the systems goes black, then it cools and the system reboots.. The console gives a “black screen of death” if the jumper pak isn’t seated perfectly. If it’s loose or corroded at all, the system will just go black, with the red light still on..

My reset switch only worked 1 out of 10 times or so. I opened the console and sprayed 99% ipa directly into the reset switch (Using a spray bottle.. Generously.. I mean, spraying right into the thing). I let it evaporate out and now it works every time. I noticed it feels more “firm” now… Before, it seemed easier to press Reset, now it feels stronger. I guess some inner mechanism was getting jammed up. I also cleaned up the whole system while it was apart (particularly the pins around the cartridge slot.. My games weren’t always loading up the first time, and sometimes had small glitches/frame skips… This solved all of that) .. I hope this can help anyone with this issue.

I just rub some 99% ipa on a game’s pins and jam it in and out of the console like 5 times. Works like a charm.