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Author Topic: DS Cartridge Not Always Recognized  (Read 15386 times)

« on: August 06, 2015, 12:10:35 AM »
If you have followed the other thread, you know that I'm about a decade late to the DS party.

When I inherited the DS, I got four games with it, then my buddy bought me the DS version of Super Mario 64. The four games that were Grandpa's all work fine, no questions asked. (Of course, three are of the "brain" type; he got the DS to work on his memory in his final years but also enjoyed the occasional game of Madden).

The Super Mario 64 game sometimes doesn't get recognized by the DS itself. Even if the cartridge was never removed, it sometimes will say "no cartridge inserted". This doesn't happen with any of the other games.

I know this wasn't the most used DS in the world, so I'm going to think it could be the cartridge itself (it did have three save files on it when I got it; I wiped the data so I could start over but it was obviously played quite a bit). I have heard of a few others saying Mario 64 DS is prone to this--could it be a result of the game being an earlier title and the cartridges maybe not being completely perfect design-wise yet?

More importantly, is there any fix here? I feel like I have a tiny NES here (those of you who survived the constant removal of cartridges know what I speak of). Heck, I even blew on the cartridge a few times, thinking the old NES magic would work on the DS. Tonight, it took me nine tries to get it to read.

Interestingly, the DS didn't even start up properly once. It froze while loading the title screen. Taking the cartridge out helped this immediately.

Again, this doesn't happen with any of the other games, nor does it happen with the one Game Boy Advance cartridge I tried (dug one out to test it). Any thoughts on what could be causing this and how to resolve it?

Tavros

  • he was hello
« Reply #1 on: August 06, 2015, 09:35:49 AM »
I don't think it's only the cartridge, as I have the same problem with my 3DS. My best guess is that it's caused by the pin connections in the cartridge slot degrading to a point where most cartridges work most of the time, but the SM64DS cart has degraded just enough to the point where it'll occasionally be unrecognized.
Of course, I didn't make the DS, so I don't know.
EDIT: I don't really know of a way to fix it permanently, so your best bet is to just put it in and take it out until it's recognized, as that's what I do.
« Last Edit: August 06, 2015, 09:39:28 AM by Tavros »
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