blue screen of death? Vic-20 issue

[bpatte02]

Its a new day and a new issue. When I turn my Vic-20 on the normal basic screen will appear for about 3 seconds and then it turns completely blue. I think it might be the rf modulator that is external to the machine, so I'm going to grab a New one and see if that fixes things, but if this is something any of you have dealt with please leave some info below, as always it is much appreciated.

[carlsson]

Blue, not cyan? Like you have a TV set that defaults to a blue picture when there is no signal?

 

I would recommend getting at least a composite video cable if possible. VIC, C64, Atari 8-bit and a few more are compatible. Sega Master System, Genesis etc aren't. That would be to rule out the RF modulator. I think a composite video cable would set you back less than a RF modulator, and easier to find as well.

[bpatte02]

I'm sure it is cyan. I was under the understanding that Vic-20s were designed to use the rf modulator unlike the C64 because it wasn't built into the Vic-20. I didn't think you could use a composite on it because of it.

[carlsson]

Now you know. The VIC outputs composite video through two pins on the connector. Some models may have different signal strength/impedance on those, and one of the two signals is picked up by the external RF modulator to generate the TV image.

 

Does the behavior repeat itself if you turn the VIC off and then back on? I.e. that you get a BASIC boot screen for a few seconds, then it goes all blue/cyan/whatever? I would think that a broken RF modulator would not generate an image at all, or at least that it would take a while to discharge capacitors or something to get it to work for a few seconds again. If the process is possible to repeat over and over, I'm afraid the problem lies in the computer for some reason.

 

Ray Carlsen has some troubleshooting here, but I can't see any symptoms that match what you describe: http://personalpages.tds.net/~rcarlsen/cbm/vic20/vic20.txt

[eightbit]

It is most likely the RF modular. It looks (at least to me) that the signal is getting lost to your TV and that may be the TV's default "no signal" blue background. Get rid of it and get a composite cable. I recommend this (as I have purchased from him before):

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/302095102037?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

 

It's worth a shot at least. Sounds like the modulator to me.....but could always be something else. Are you sure it isn't that guy from Star Trek (Spock?) standing behind your TV doing something fishy?

 

If that doesn't solve it at least you'll have a composite cable and I *HIGHLY* recommend contacting Ray. He is one of the best people I have ever dealt with on the internet. Really really nice guy and really knows his stuff.

Edited October 7, 2016 by eightbit

[carlsson]

Shouldn't the guy from Star Trek rather be James T. Kirk, since it was William Shatner who endorsed the VIC-20? Or perhaps you were thinking in the other direction, that Mr Spock would undo what his crew member Capten Kirk had set into motion?