why did we blow on the cartridges of our NES? and did it really work?

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

I used to put it in the freezer.

 

[cyphilis]

I used to put it in the freezer.

Are you serious? I would of never been able to do that... I would blow on it, slide it back and forth in it,.. slam it down, pull it out and knock the game on the ground,.. everything I could until the game worked, including flinging controllers and punching the NES console (which I'm sure never helped, but as a kid you don't understand not to punch things if they don't work). I would of never had enough patience to put it in the freezer and wait.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

I fixed one of my 360s with this trick It would not read any disc, I blew vigourously into the slot a few times, and all better. I did not have any compressed air on hand.

 

[Jeffg010]

I learned all those ticks on this system. Talk about glitches!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellivision

 

[BD2003]

the way I learned was just to put the cart in so that the front of the cart scratched the console lip as it went down. It worked 100% of the time.

Yep, that was the most effective method. I found that it also helped to push the cartridge a little bit more forward once it was down in place. Itll only go forward another millimeter or two, but it seemed to make all the difference.

But sometimes it needed some cleaning. The cold air "fwooooooooooosh" blow did nothing. You had to do the hot air "haaaaaaaaaaah" blow in order for it to actually help.

Its amazing how we all came up with the same fixes long before the internet. OTOH, there would be some crazy class action lawsuit about it nowadays.

 

[viivo]

That's a good point. I don't recall who told me the tricks either.

Sorry to take this thread off topic, but Malak could you please tell me who that is in your avatar? I must know the name of the smuggest man in the world.

He looks a little like Cary Elwese after a good beating..

 

[JDub02]

voodoo magic ... at least that's what it felt like it took to get the NES working sometimes.