The “Nintendo” Method

In my day job, one of the things that I do is “front line IT”. This means that if you work in an office and your computer has issues you would call a guy like me and I would come by and help fix the problem. One of the things that I deal with on a remarkably frequent basis is helping the people in the company that I work for with their devices that attach to their computers. I want to be very clear; I’m more than happy to help. If they aren’t able to do their jobs, then it will be a relatively short period of time when they don’t need me anyway…

Many of the devices that people use that attach to computers are connected by USB. USB’s have been around for about 30 years, and it works well. The thing is that every once and a while when they don’t work, they need to be fixed. This is where I come in. There is a reasonably simple way to see if your USB device needs to be replaced. I like to refer to it as “the Nintendo Method”.

Way back in the day with original Nintendo systems, the cartridges that you would put in the console to play your games would stop working. It was reasonably quick that people figured out that to make it work again all you would have to do is take the cartridge out, blow on the side that connects to the machine and put it back in, and voila, it would work again. The reason for this is because Dust would work its way into the area between the cartridge and the console and would block the connections that were supposed to be made. This issue of dust between the connectors is the same issue that USB devices experience today.

I know what you’re thinking. “How the hell could dust get in there? it’s so small!” I get that but is true. It doesn’t require a large amount of dust that’s required to block the connection between the USB device (be it a USB drive, or a Mouse or Keyboard dongle or whatever) and the computer. And when the dust gets in, it makes the connection not work correctly. This could mean that your device stops working (like your keyboard or headset) or your device will not work properly. Using the “Nintendo” method is a great way to clear out the dust in the USB device.

I should probably take this moment to mention that this method doesn’t always work. More to the point, that sometimes USB devices have other issues with them and dust in the USB may not be the issue. If it’s a USB dongle and the Nintendo method doesn’t work, it may be because the batteries in the device you ’re using may be dead and need replacing, It could be because your software may need updating. This method that I use and that I advise that you try as well is just one of many ways that you can use to fix whatever device needs to be used.

Would you consider using the Nintendo Method?

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