semi-dead Vectrex

[bomberpunk]

so this thing spent a few weeks underwater a couple years ago.

 

it actually powers up with the fuzzy static noise, but no "doo-dee-doooo" melody.

 

the screen is dead until i turn it off, in which a small bright white dot appears in the center of the screen and stays there for a good 20 seconds before slowly fading away.

 

also, when the power is on, there's something glowing a soft orange inside the unit through the "vent" at the lower back part of the unit.

 

should i toss this or does it have a chance of being revived somehow?

[A.J. Franzman]

It's probably good for parts at the very least, maybe fixable. The orange glow is probably the CRT filament, and the bright spot indicates that the high voltage supply works and the CRT is probably good. Since the flyback transformer (which generates the high voltage) and the CRT would be the hardest parts to find replacements for, and yours apparently doesn't need them, repair should definitely be an option.

[FABombjoy]

If you see a dot when you turn up the brightness, then it's pretty much limited to the logic board and/or power supply. The last "dot" vectrex I fixed had bad RAM. First step is to open, inspect, reseat anything that's socketed, and measure +5 and +12.

 

The only thing that has me wondering is the "fuzzy static noise"... vec's should only make the vec buzz while drawing vectors. A dot shouldn't make the buzz at all. Is it just scratchy like a bad volume knob?

Edited May 1, 2007 by FABombjoy

[supercat]

Since the flyback transformer (which generates the high voltage) and the CRT would be the hardest parts to find replacements for, and yours apparently doesn't need them, repair should definitely be an option.

 

Or, alternatively, even if there are problems that prove to be fundamentally unrepairable (e.g. the +5 is outputting +14, likely killing a lot of stuff on the logic board) those parts could have value in repairing other Vectrex units for which such parts would otherwise be unavailable.

[bomberpunk]

 

i don't know a thing about electronics "guts" especially when it comes to chips and boards. heck, i don't even own a soldering iron!

 

any suggestions on who i could contact?

[FABombjoy]

Sorry to say, but by the time you pay to ship it & pay to have it looked at, you probably could have bought another functioning Vectrex.

[Cassidy Nolen]

If the spot comes on as you turn off, you know the monitor has a spot killer . That is common for vectors to do if there is no input signal. So that narrows it down to the logic board. The monitor is probably just fine, now you have a dead brainboard on your hands. Get a broken one that plays blind and mate the two

 

C

[Richard H.]

Before you do anything else, try rinsing the logic board in distilled water (remove it from the console first). I recently revived a coffee soaked busted laptop doing this. Do make sure it is fully dry before putting it back.

 

If you do have to replace chips on the logic board, there's only the DAC that is difficult to get hold of.

[bomberpunk]

screws are glued on by rusted on any suggestions on loosening them?

Edited May 2, 2007 by bomberpunk

[FABombjoy]

Well.. you could soak them in some penetrating oil. WD40 works, or if you're a gearhead like me then go out to the garage and get your PB Blaster. If they really won't budge after that then you might have to drill them out.

Edited May 3, 2007 by FABombjoy

[bomberpunk]

soaked all the screws in WD40 overnight. none of them will budge.

arg! yeah i think i might just put this thing on eBay for parts.

[A.J. Franzman]

I don't know how easy this is to do on a Vectrex while minimizing the risk of breaking something, but here's a trick for removing stuck screws (as long as you haven't already stripped out the heads):

While applying axial force toward the screw and torque in the proper direction to remove it, tap on the end of the screwdriver handle with a hammer. The shock of the hammer blows will often allow the screw to turn a little bit with each tap and eventually come loose. This is similar to the use of an impact wrench to remove lug nuts on a car.

[supercat]

I don't know how easy this is to do on a Vectrex while minimizing the risk of breaking something, but here's a trick for removing stuck screws (as long as you haven't already stripped out the heads):

 

Another possibility might be to use a screw-removing gizmo for a power screwdriver. Basically, it's a reverse-threaded tap. To use it, you start by drilling a small hole through the shaft of the screw. Then you use this other gizmo to tap itself into that hole. Once it's in, it can be used to apply a pretty huge amount of torque to the screw.

 

Not sure how big the screws on the Vectrex are, but if they're big enough to allow such a gizmo to work it might be useful.