Rubbing Alcohol is your friend (and a question)

[David J.]

Today, I was looking at my genesis, and it’s gotten dirty over the years… especially those vents on the left side of a model one Genesis. So I scrambled around the house looking for something to clean. I thought car dash wipes would work, but they sometimes remove paint, so I didn’t use those. I tried compressed air in the past, but it didn’t work very well. But I found a solution…

I just took some qtips and some rubbing alcohol, cleans good. I used it to clean the system all around, and works great. It might not be the best method, but it works well, you’ll be surprised what you get out. It works well for the rest of the system; I just took a napkin, put some rubbing alcohol on it, and wiped it down.

It’s good to remove marker off of CD’s and cart labels. I found it removes sticky residue from stickers, just don’t use too much when you’re getting it off of cart labels. Most importantly, it cleans the metal contacts on carts with no problem. Got a non-working cart? Give this a shot. I bought Metal Head for the 32X and it’d lockup after the first mission, but after I cleaned it, it worked like a champ.

Oh yeah…. Do you need the static shield for the 32X? I have mine removed and it works fine... I'm talking about the one in the system, not the ones that go in the cart slot. The same with the Genesis, or is it a heat sink. I removed those, cleaned

[danielscheil]

i take - "face water" ( does this word exist ih englisch ? )
and Ear Cleaners to get my genesis in new condition it works great and it's not so agressive like alcohol

[Drixxel]

Face water.. danielsheil, do you mean some kind of facial cleanser or soap?

[Vicman]

I'm guessing he might be meaning after-shave like Old Spice or something else that has alcohol but not as much as rubbing alcohol.

[Drixxel]

That would make considerably more sense. Still, if there are concerns that the rubbing alcohol is too potent for the console delicates, it can always be diluted with water. That'd extend drying time, but there's no reason that it shouldn't work. But hey, however you manage to keep the console clean, awesome. I'm sure stranger things than aftershave have been tried... turpentine, vodka, sulphuric acid, oven cleaner... all good choices!...

[David J.]

I never dilute rubbing alcohol, because I've never had any problems.

[David J.]

WTF?

At one time I had my own bottle, but it was stolen...

Then I took another bottle recently, which happens to be my dad (cleans his face with it), and he stole it back, and snapped. It's 8:08 at night, the stores are closed, and I need the $$$ in my wallet for lunch when I start school again on monday. What to do?

[Fang]

I haven't used rubbing alcohol on any game since the good ol nes days until today. I used some alcohol on a snes game and it worked right away, no more problems to get it working.

[Ro Nova]

I use a can of endust compressed air and endust antistatic wipes. It can get a little expensive but that combo seems to work real well. I'll use q-tips and a half water/half rubbing alcohol solution for the cart contacts.