The Codemasters Problem - Or how to open a Codemasters Cart

Hi there,

1st Post, not really sure how this blog turns out and if someone will read it but I don't care really.

Remember the good days when gaming companies tried to satisfy their customers?

I think they are gone by now. But here's the story:

Around December I plugged in my SEGA Mega Drive (or Genesis for the US Kids out there) and wanted to play one of my favourite childhood games: 

MICRO MACHINES

I decided to play the whole series except "Military". I played a bit through Turbo Tournament 2 and 96.

Then I popped the first game in and was shocked - The cart did not work. I tried cleaning it with Isopropanol, I even tried another console that I had sitting around and nothing. The cart seemed dead!

So I decided to be funny and sent this email to Codemasters hoping that they would respond in a helpful or just funny way:

The response was not what I've had expected...

Thank you Rob. Neat that you say I should try the forementioned companies but that does not fix my problem. Some stickers or goodies would have been nice. I decided to not answer to this as it somehow gave me the feeling that Rob really wanted to help me with his advice. (No pun!)

[Dear Rob if you read this: Stickers and Goodies are still welcome. Kudos to Neil Hill and Charlie Skilbeck for progging this masterpiece!)

So I looked up ebay and found loose carts for about 15 €. You can get the whole game CIB for about 25 €, so why bother with buying a loose cart?

I then decided to give it a try and open the cart again. (As I did before. See above)

So I had to find out how you open a cart made by Codemasters. They're clever boys and girls with their own cartridge format if you did not know.

Searching the internet was not helpful, as this was a bit too in tech I guess. (Thats why I decided to start this blog - too explain and show not so common stuff to the retro gaming world)

How To Open A Codemasters Cart For The SEGA Mega Drive/ Genesis

1. Be aware that you maybe kill your cartridge sticker
2. Prepare a hair dryer or radiator to heaten up the sticker 
3. Get a razor blade or a craft knife
4. Beer is always welcome - like steady hands ;)

Step 1. Heat the sticker with a hair dryer or by placing it on a radiator
Step 2. Gently slide the blade under one corner of the sticker and try to peel as evenly as possible
Step 3. Be happy if your sticker is still re-applicable and locate the screws to unscrew them

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After this you will find the little PCB with it's Maskrom that contains the game.

So after Rob could not help me I decided to try one more thing:

Reflow every solder point on the mask rom. So I reflowed every single one and guess what happened after I plugged it into my machine:

IT WORKED! 

So the fault were cold solder joints that I found after inspecting the PCB for the 2nd time. They were very hard to spot but I was very happy with the final outcome and played Micro Machines for about 3 hours that day and my christmas mood finally started to come back.

Thank you for reading! I hope this helps opening Codemaster Carts for repairs. :)