NES:General Troubleshooting
If your NES is having issues, check the below general troubleshooting information for help.
Blinking Power Light
The most common issue with the NES is the "blinking light" issue. Generally, symptoms include the power LED of the NES slowly blinking (which is actually the NES resetting repeatedly) and generally a black screen. Sometimes, it may display a solid color screen (pink, gray, brown, yellow).
In order of things to try:
- Clean your game cartridge
- Disable your CIC chip
- NES:72 Pin Connector Refurbishment
- NES:Blinking Light Win or NES Slotmaster
- Replace CPU or PPU
Solid Color Screen
See instructions for the "Blinking Power Light" issue.
Garbled Graphics or Black Screen
- If you look through a thermal camera and the SN74LS373N chip is hot, try replacing the chip with a new one or a SN74HC373N[1].
- If only present on a Famicom Disk System, try the NES:Famicom Disk System Glitching Sprites Fix
- Run the NTF2 Test Cartridge and see if the VRAM test fails. If it does, this indicates a bad VRAM chip and you should replace it.
Famicom Disk System not Loading Disks
Diagnostics
The EverDrive N8 Pro has a diagnostic menu accessible by pressing Select and choosing "Diagnostics". It will test various items and might indicate an issue.
There is also the official test cartridge used by Nintendo service centers, the NTF2 Test Cartridge. This performs a variety of tests.