Sega Megadrive Problem

Optimus Prime

Guys,

Bought a megadrive earlier, only had one game with it american football and hockey on one cart.

When it starts up after about 10 seconds or so i get a error message like address error and a load of numbers etc. anyone know if the console is broken or the game??

o1s1n

Sounds like a dirty cart. Clean it with some cotton swabs. If that doesn't fix it, try cleaning the cart slot in the console.

Optimus Prime

Cool ill give it a go tomorrow, when you say cotton swab, do you mean just cotton dry? ive cleaned nes carts before with steel wire/mesh (brillo pad but without the stuff that foams) and QTips with a bit of alchohol mixed with water.

o1s1n

Ah no, nothing as harsh as brillo pads. Just a cotton swab/qtip with some water. Or if you have rubbing alcohol all the better!

Another thing that works well is rubbers. The crumbly ones. But to do that properly you'll need to take the PCB out of the cart.

Optimus Prime

Thanks! had a look at the cart, cant see any screws on it? does it just click open?

o1s1n

I take it from what you've said it's that EA sports double header cart with EA hockey and John Madden football?

To tell you the truth, I've never actually opened up an EA cart! Never cared enough about an EA game to bother

Normal Megadrive carts have screws.

Optimus Prime

haha yeh thats the one alright! not really interested in it myself, more hoping its not a problem with the megadrive, its the only megadrive game i have at the minute.

o1s1n

I always found the Madden games highly boring, but EA Hockey is one of my favourite sports games of all time. Actually it's probably one of 5 or so sports games I like. So much fun.

If you have cotton swabs handy just give it a quick clean with that and some water. They usually come out black. Might be a quick fix.

Optimus Prime

Managed to open it up and clean it, works fine now! cleaned the whole megadrive and the two controllers, they where in bits.. a third controller unfortunatly didnt survive the cleaning process.. the dude had, for some reason, decided to paint it with tip ex! it just didnt come off and when it did it took the SEGA logo etc with it. so took out the insides for spare parts in case the other controllers break. its looks brand new now to be honest..

Grumpypants

I bought a broken Megadrive all that comes up is "this is licensed to Sega etc" then the screen stays black. I knew it did this when i bought it but i was wondering if any came across this problem before and if they have any remedy.

Can it be fixed? i only bought it for the cables anyway but was wondering if the machine itself could be salvaged.

Myrddin

Megadrives don't break. Ever. Clean the cart socket & clean the game pcb connectors

o1s1n

Indeed. No game after the license screen just means something is really dirty and needs a clean. Most likely it's a dirty cart.

Grumpypants

EnterNow wrote: »

Megadrives don't break. Ever. Clean the cart socket & clean the game pcb connectors

Nice one, I think its the console thats dirty so as i tried my own Desert strike and i got the same thing the seller had mentioned when he tried it with a different game.

Is a proper cleaning kit the best bet? I tried cotton buds but they wont fit between the connections. I ran it along the top of the connector and it came out really black so it must be filthy.

Only cost 12euro so thats pretty good i think.

o1s1n

Something that I've heard works great is to cover a credit card in a cloth, dip it in rubbing alcohol or whatever cleaning solution you're using and that shout fit in the cart slot.

Grumpypants

o1s1n wrote: »

Something that I've heard works great is to cover a credit card in a cloth, dip it in rubbing alcohol or whatever cleaning solution you're using and that shout fit in the cart slot.

Gave that a go but still no budge out of it, ill try get a proper cleaning kit. Ive a new megadrive on the way anyway so im not too fussed.

o1s1n

Did you try cleaning the cart too?

Grumpypants

o1s1n wrote: »

Did you try cleaning the cart too?

Yea and tried a few different games ill give it another try later.