NES Top Loader Reset button broken

wyatt8740

wyatt8740

CAG Veteran
I have a NES Top Loader, like new except that the reset button doesn't work.

As a new user, I have to use edited links to show images.

What a top loader looks like:

(http) a.imageshack.us / img44 / 8017 / dsc01771a.jpg

What the inside of mine looks like: (The rust is not my fault)

http:// a.imageshack.us /img837 /7343/ dsc01772m.jpg

Could you help me? I REALLY don't want to have to go through 4 more top loaders to find one that works at all.
 
Are you handy with a soldering iron at all? That reset button looks pretty unique. I'm not sure if you'd be able to find a replacement at Radio Shack, or Digikey. Anyway, can you check the backside of the PCB and figure out where the reset button is connected? It's probably just 2 solder points.
 
That is not like new. You don't have internals like that in a like new console. I hope you have the skills and equipment to do this.

1. Only the second image is really worthwhile. It would be much easier to tell what was going on if you had it in as high a resolution as the first image.

2. Clean up as much of the rust as you can right now. I recommend using a lot of flux remover and scrubbing a lot with a little paint brush. Cut the paint brush down so the bristles are short. It will make the scrubbing more effective.

3. The reset button is probably rusted internally, so it's probably useless. I don't know what type of button you can use as a replacement. If you know how to solder, take it out. Turn the console on with everything open and see if you can reset the console with a pair of tweezers briding the contacts on the circuit board.

If you're able to reset...

4a. What you do now is up to you. Maybe try to find a suitable replacement button. Maybe wire up any old button you can get to the contacts and leave the thing dangling out of the top of the console. It won't look pretty, but it will work.

If you're not able to reset...

4b. Something else in the reset circuit is damaged. Probably rusted. You're going to need more electronics skills than would be worth putting into words here. If you've got the skills, you already know that you can figure out what you need to do.

Even after you clean out the rust, the thing might still be a ticking time bomb. It could fail at any moment. In the small second pic, I don't know what that weird bullseye-looking thing is to the left of the reset swtich. It's too low resolution to tell. That may be a clue to what's wrong.
 
Yeah, I know it's horrible looking on the inside. But I was lucky to get one that worked at all, after four that had bad rf boxes or controller ports that weren't working. This weekend, I will be pulling it out. And the links are like that because I haven't posted enough to insert regular links in. And I am going to replace the rusted video circuit with an AV mod. The reset button is spring loaded, and the white part sticks about 1 cm out of the base. Besides the reset, the video output is as good as a top loader's RF gets, and the audio works, the pin connector is flawless. I think, as i've had top loaders before with working buttons, that it's not internally rusted, and I know where it's hooked into the board. I might cannibalize one of my front loaders and see if the reset button works.
 
I used a paperclip- and- paper fastener switch to reset the console. Do you think a front loader reset button would do the trick?
 
Here's the switch I threw together. I also found a switch from a pc that might do the job.

Sorry for the double posting, but I'm doing this from an iPhone.

79419818.jpg
 
Is that a paperclip and three thumbtacks? I've got to confess, that's a lot more creative than I would have done.
 
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