Does board configuration matter for 72 to 60 pin adapters (trouble dumping carts)?

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nesfan8bit
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Joined: Thu Apr 21, 2022 3:21 pm

Does board configuration matter for 72 to 60 pin adapters (trouble dumping carts)?

Post by nesfan8bit »

Hello all. I am trying to figure out "why" I can't easily dump some of my carts. I have a Famicom dumper with a 72 to 60 pin adapter to handle my NES carts. I have had no issue for 90% of my NES carts. However, I have around 15 carts that I simply cannot dump at all, or I can only dump them 1 out of 100 tries (at best). It is not that I get bad dumps. I can't get any dumps for these usually (the dumper doesn't think a cart is connected). These are various mappers (0, 1, 7, etc.) The carts are clean and play perfectly in my front loader NES. The only thing I see in common between the carts is the pin configuration (they have gaps between the gold pins). I was hoping someone who knows about pin configuration or NES to Famicom adapters could tell me what I am missing in my understanding.

I have tested the continuity between the pins and the PRG /CHR chips with a multimeter. I get good connections. I then connect the adapter and test from the adapter pins to the PRG / CHR chips. I get bad connections. I can't seem to get any continuity between 90% of the pins for these troublesome carts. I even tried reflowing the solder joints on the adapter hoping that might be the issue.

Here is an example of Friday the 13th. I have two board variations for the game. The board with a continuous row of gold pins dumps perfectly. The board with the missing gold pins, will almost never dump (I can't get continuity for the pins either). Both games play perfectly in my NTSC Front Loader NES. It seems to me this is an adapter issue.
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Is the adapter faulty? Is this just a limitation of NES to Famicom adapters? is there something I could do to "fix" the adapter to play nice with these carts? Sorry, I am new to all of this, so I was hoping some NES experts could offer some tips. Thanks in advance.
calima
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Re: Does board configuration matter for 72 to 60 pin adapters (trouble dumping carts)?

Post by calima »

Loose pins in your adapter? Perhaps there's a slight thickness difference in those carts. Try putting a sheet of paper in with the cart.
nesfan8bit
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Re: Does board configuration matter for 72 to 60 pin adapters (trouble dumping carts)?

Post by nesfan8bit »

Thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately, it did not seem to help any. It's the strangest thing. The games in question all have no issues starting right up on a NES. So I assume it is an adapter issue. But then again, I have had over 100 successes on the first try with this adapter. I still think it is an adapter issue, but I am stumped.
Last edited by nesfan8bit on Fri Apr 22, 2022 6:39 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Ben Boldt
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Re: Does board configuration matter for 72 to 60 pin adapters (trouble dumping carts)?

Post by Ben Boldt »

It is quite possible to "widen" the contacts of female edge connectors by bending in such a way that the 2 PCBs don't remain parallel while inserted. It could be that your contacts have widened this way and no longer contacting the cartridge PCB.
nesfan8bit
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Re: Does board configuration matter for 72 to 60 pin adapters (trouble dumping carts)?

Post by nesfan8bit »

Thanks for all the responses. I tried moving the adapter pins some to make them a bit tighter. It did not make any difference for these 10-15 games. 110+ of my games will still dump perfectly on the first try with the adapter. So I know the pins are tight enough to handle 95% of my collection as-is. These rogue 10-15 games will either not dump at all (no continuity from adapter pins through to PRG/CHR chips) or will only "catch" 1 in 100 tries. They all work flawlessly on a real NES on the first try as well. It also seems strange the adapter says Copyright Nintendo 1998. Was Nintendo making these in 1998 for some reason? Or is this just added to make it seem more "authentic" by the maker?
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Ben Boldt
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Re: Does board configuration matter for 72 to 60 pin adapters (trouble dumping carts)?

Post by Ben Boldt »

Let me ask for just some clarification on a couple things.

When you tested with a continuity tester, you touched 1 end to the male 72pin edge of the adapter board, and the other end to the matching signal on the CHR or PRG ROM chip. Is that correct? Did you try the same test without the adapter board, testing from the 60-pin edge to the ROM chips? It may be that the connections aren’t as you expect even from the 60-pin. For example, CPU A14 may connect only to a mapper chip and not directly to a ROM chip. Or the ROM chips may have an unusual pinout. If you confirm all of the 60-pin connections first, then it can help support your theory that the issue is somewhere in the adapter.
nesfan8bit
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Re: Does board configuration matter for 72 to 60 pin adapters (trouble dumping carts)?

Post by nesfan8bit »

I have been doing a lot of continuity tests tonight. I can get continuity from the game pins to the PRG/CHR/etc. chips. I can get continuity from the adapter 60 pins to the female pins (where the game connects). Continuity stops there. It does not continue through the game pins to the PRG/CHR chips when connected to the adapter.

I think I have narrowed down what the problem is. On the back of these troublesome carts, the contacts are very different from the 98% of my games that dump easily. They have far less gold plating where they would connect to the adapter (see attached image). There is also this green strip painted (?) over them as well. So it seems my adapter is not deep enough to get past this part to get the connection (99% of the time). Most of my troublesome carts I have still dumped, but it took me 100+ tries to read them. So maybe some of the pins are misaligned or something else. Not sure there is anything I can do to get around this (other than try a different adapter or start bending pins in the adapter again).
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Fiskbit
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Re: Does board configuration matter for 72 to 60 pin adapters (trouble dumping carts)?

Post by Fiskbit »

That PCB is what I've seen referred to as a 'green stripe' game, where the pins end very far from the edge of the board on one side. They are identifiable by that green stripe on the edge. It's not a problem for the frontloader-style connector, but slot connectors like in the NES toploader may not be able to make contact with the pins. This appears to be limited to only some games, and not all instances of those games, but it's definitely a nuisance. Taking the PCB out of the cartridge shell can allow it to make enough contact to work in some slots, but not all. I encountered this issue myself recently with a Blaster Master, which only works in my FamicomBox in some slots and with the shell removed.
nesfan8bit
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Joined: Thu Apr 21, 2022 3:21 pm

Re: Does board configuration matter for 72 to 60 pin adapters (trouble dumping carts)?

Post by nesfan8bit »

Very interesting. I looked this up and it seems a workaround is to use a game genie as a bridge to help complete the circuit for these games. Maybe I will try that. I guess this is really not the fault of my 72 to 60 pin adapter then. I will probably be more selective when I buy games knowing this now.
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