TimTheKoala Posted December 20, 2015 Share Posted December 20, 2015 Yo guys, I'm having problems with a colecovision i found in my grandads garage that used to belong to my uncle. The unit used to work absolutely fine till the day he put it away. Ive already done some troubleshooting with it, I've actually replaced the power switch and ive tested the voltages from the power supply and all seems to be fine but no matter what i do, i can't get it to work properly. It keeps displaying garbled graphics and wont load games properly. Sometimes it shows the coleco load screen with game name but all the letters are screwed and may sometimes also go to the blue selection screen but wont do anything. I really wanna fix this thing in time for my uncles birthday for early next year as he has fond memories of it as a child. Here is a video i posted on youtube of the problems I'm having: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiLic0ne t0aD Posted December 20, 2015 Share Posted December 20, 2015 Since you replaced the power switch already, next step would be replace the RAM.. it definitely looks like that's the problem but there might be other stuff going on too. Installing an F18A video chip would eliminate need for the RAM altogether and would give you VGA output. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NIAD Posted December 20, 2015 Share Posted December 20, 2015 Usually the culprit in this situation is one or more of the RAM chips, but you could have an issue with the VDP as well. As was mentioned, the F18A VGA Board will remedy both a VDP issue since it replaces the original Coleco VDP and it also contains it's own RAM, so the Coleco RAM chips are not used. It's tough to say "buy the F18A", because ideally you want to know your system is working perfectly before spending more money and time on a mod like this. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hannacek Posted December 20, 2015 Share Posted December 20, 2015 The problem might be the games are dirty. The best way to clean them is to unscrew the 2 screws on the front of the game. (You might need to break small holes in the label to reveal the screws). And then take the board out of the game, and using a pencil eraser rub both sides of the contacts until as much dirt and oxidation as possible is removed. Using Q tips and rubbing alcohol is not as effective as using an eraser. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kamshaft Posted December 20, 2015 Share Posted December 20, 2015 The problem might be the games are dirty. The best way to clean them is to unscrew the 2 screws on the front of the game. (You might need to break small holes in the label to reveal the screws). And then take the board out of the game, and using a pencil eraser rub both sides of the contacts until as much dirt and oxidation as possible is removed. Using Q tips and rubbing alcohol is not as effective as using an eraser. What he said. Most times that's the prob. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hannacek Posted December 21, 2015 Share Posted December 21, 2015 (edited) If you clean one game really good and it works perfectly, then you found the problem.The sad thing is that you can easily spend more money fixing a broken ColecoVision, then it would cost to sell the broken one for $20, and buy a new working one on eBay. Its sad but true. Edited December 21, 2015 by Hannacek 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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