7800 constantly resetting

[John D]

Hello, all.

Pulled my system out of the basement some time ago, which was working when put away. Upon powering up, it seems to be stuck in a loop at the title screen of each cartridge inserted. I'm thinking capacitors, as all the switches have been replaced to cure a power issue. The schematic shows a bunch of caps listed as ".1"... Are these tiny electrolytics, or are they more of a ceramic style? Thanks in advance for any assistance.

[DanBoris]

Hello, all.

Pulled my system out of the basement some time ago, which was working when put away. Upon powering up, it seems to be stuck in a loop at the title screen of each cartridge inserted. I'm thinking capacitors, as all the switches have been replaced to cure a power issue. The schematic shows a bunch of caps listed as ".1"... Are these tiny electrolytics, or are they more of a ceramic style? Thanks in advance for any assistance.

 

Did you try cleaning the cartridges and cartridge slot? What you describe is what happens when the system can't validate the cartridges signature.

[CPUWIZ]

Yep, what happens when you try to play a 2600 cart?

[John D]

Thanks for the replies.

 

 

Did you try cleaning the cartridges and cartridge slot? What you describe is what happens when the system can't validate the cartridges signature.

 

Yes, that was step one. I have a universal cleaning kit that covers all the cart-based systems.

 

 

Yep, what happens when you try to play a 2600 cart?

 

I believe the 2600 carts are blank screen. It has been a few months since trying those. 7800 carts all get picture and sound, but never allow anything to happen past one or two seconds.

[John D]

Update: The 7800 Ms Pac Man cart test loads to the title screen, asking for number of players. When anything on the joystick is pressed, it begins to reset a bunch of times, then reverts back to the title screen. Pitfall 2600 cart test *almost* gets to the title, displaying mostly squiggly diagonal lines and random shapes, with a never ending beep sound. Removing/replacing the 2600 cart results in different patterns of squiggly lines at random times. Should I be concentrating on the connector area, or something more involved?

[fstim82]

Has there been any development on this? I just got a 7800 off of ebay and now I'm having the same issue where I can't get off the title screen, or Ms Pac Man will insta-reset. Was it just a cleaning issue? Can someone suggest a particular cleaner? I'm kinda just now getting deeper into the retro/restoration scene...

[+KylJoy]

Same problem. Get to player select screen on Food Fight but no further. All 2600 carts are blank screen. I think the blank screen might just be the constant resetting.

[+KylJoy]

Well, here's what I did...

 

I removed the 6532 (I/O - RIOT) completely. Without the IC the system gave the same symptoms while running a game from a cartridge. I added a socket to the motherboard where the RIOT was, cleaned and re-seated the 6532 and... woah... it started working... momentarily I had the first screen of Food fight, not the second one, for a short time. BUT... this did not last long! The original problem reared it's head again. So, I dropped a replacement RIOT into the new socket and WALA!! All seems well now.