Nintendo 64
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The successor to the SNES was Nintendo's entry in the fifth home console generation, as well as the company's first system designed specifically to handle polygonal 3D graphics.
N64 Resetting Issue
So I have had this system for a long time but over the past, I don't know 5 or 7 years, it has been sitting on a shelf. Recently I found a retailer that sells old N64 games. Now remember it was working fine before I put it up all those years ago. So I get my trusty system down to play the new games I picked up for it and now it doesn't work. The issue is that it just keeps resetting itself. Obviously my first thought was overheating. It seemed unlikely though because this was happening after maybe 3 or 5 minutes of it being on and it was not hot to the touch at all. Nevertheless, I took it apart and cleaned out all the dust. Still having the issue. I took the expansion pack out and put the original in and still no dice. I am not terribly tech efficient so I can't really disect the inside of the system to see if anything has gone bad, but it doesn't look like anything is broken. It looks a heck of alot better then the inside of my NES looks. So I was hoping that maybe someone knows of the potential problem. Oh and for the sake of saying it, I did try other games. Games that I know were working before I put them up. The issue is definately coming from the system in some way. Any ideas?
EDIT: It is definately not 3 to 5 minutes, it is more like 1 minute if even that long.
HA! Yea that would probably be an interesting phone call. Maybe it is still under warrenty......
I have no advice but good luck man, I know how painful it is to pull an old system out of storage expecting it to work and finding it busted. My original NES and SNES are both relegated to decorations right now, and I fear my PS2 may follow them soon. My N64 still works fine, though the 'party hub' nature of the system has not been kind to the controllers and I now only have one that works like it should.
If worst comes to worst and you can't buy a new system or fix your current one, it is quite possible to emulate N64 games. You don't even need a great computer to do it.
Yea, I am fortunate in that I have both a working NES and SNES even with them being stored and not played for an extended period of time. Every time I pull them out, aside from jimmy-ing the NES carts, they both work fine. My N64 is a real bummer. The outlook is not so bright
@The_Laughing_Man:
Well I have read the first forum before and aside from cleaning it out and checking under the hood, I can't figure out what is wrong with it. The other two posts as well mainly point to either an overheating problem or a short somewhere. I can't see where a short would be and I have thoroughly cleaned out the system with compressed air and cleaned the contacts. SIGH maybe I will just have to find a "new" one :(
I do realize that downloading a N64 emulator and some roms of the games I have would be infinately easier, there is something to be said for playing old games on old systems with old style controllers. I think I would rather replace my system then just go the emulator route.
@Beaudacious:
5 minutes might have been more of an estimation, it was probably shorter then that. I didn't notice a small battery inside of it but I guess its just crapped and I will have to replace the whole thing. I appreciate your suggestions though, thanks
Not good enough to risk screwing up a perfectly good controller. Though I might buy one for just that purpose. It would be cool to have a USB N64 controller. And saving is a nice feature, agreed!
@LunarAura:
I actually did have it completely taken apart as I was cleaning it and checking it. I just can't see the reason why it keeps messing up. There was a post in a different forum about an issue in the power supply being to blame, but with no other power supp[ly to try, I can't really test that theory. They are pretty cheap now a days so I guess I might just see if I can find a replacement.
My SNES went through someone similar. All you had to do was touch the console anywhere and it would reset itself. The slightest vibration would cause it. Haha, we couldn't jump in celebration or we'd lose everything.
Upon a second inspection, I came across some residue on the "processing" units(?) Anyone know if this is supposed to be here? Or perhaps I need to add more to it? Could this be the source of the supposed overheating? I suppose if there isn't a solid connection between between them and the heatspreader, that would cause them to overheat just like in a computer's processor and the heatsinks right?
So i have some info that might help here. I recently bought a n64 and started playing majoras mask and after an hour or so the console reset itself a few times and then kept resetting every 2 or 3 minutes after that. At first this obviously seemed like an overheating issue since the time between resets was getting shorter and shorter. To test this I put in Perfect Dark and it played fine, which led me to believe that it was a problem with my nintendo brand expansion pack since I heard that Zelda games were more likely to have the reset issue (I assume this is due to the fact that only certain games utilize the expansion pack i.e. Perfect Dark only needs the expansion pack for multiplayer but zelda games will shut off the console if you remove them while playing). So I took the expansion pack out and the connectors were absolutely immaculate not a single piece of dust on them, but I decided to clean them anyway and now I have not had the issue since. So I guess the connectors on those cartridges need to be clean on a microscopic level! If my problem comes back I will post again to let u know if and how I fixed it.
I got the exact same problem. It's overheating, the base of the system suffocates when it's over any surface (except the anti thermal ones I guess) because there's no decent airflow. The solution is very simple and you don't need to tear it apart or buy a new one. I found that you just need to get it off the ground with the help of some supports. Try to find some cilinders or any object that can make the N64 stand on top of them like the parthenon of Athens (in my case I used those Wii U supports that comes with the black one). The airflow will then function properly and the resetting will stop.
Hope this helps ;)
@koxen: Thanks for the heads up. My system isn't broken, but it might be in the future. Now I know.
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