Albert Posted October 6, 2016 Share Posted October 6, 2016 Greetings, While testing ColecoVision consoles today for the Portland Retro Gaming Expo, I came across one that is not working properly. Upon power-up, I just see scrambled graphics. The game seems to be running fine, just the graphics are screwed up. Sometimes the screen gets completely skewed (shown in the second picture), but reverts back to a normal screen with garbled graphics.. This system has been modified with s-video, composite, and audio outputs. I have not pulled it completely apart yet, as I'm not sure it's something I can fix. Any suggestions? Could anyone here fix it for me if I sent it to them? Thanks, ..Al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+nanochess Posted October 6, 2016 Share Posted October 6, 2016 I'm more for a VRAM problem. The easiest is to replace all eight chips, it happens that some of the old chips have the ability to destroy the new chips if you only replace a few. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwi Posted October 6, 2016 Share Posted October 6, 2016 It possibly the US power supply brick. Try to find a Canadian power supply. US power supply brick get to that when they aren't powered on for a long time, and very picky how it is plug into the back of the console, in my experience. You can probably let the US power supply warm up and the sprite stop glitching, it should be ok. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bmack36 Posted October 6, 2016 Share Posted October 6, 2016 Try cleaning the power switch as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bmack36 Posted October 6, 2016 Share Posted October 6, 2016 If those suggestions don't fix it for you, I can get it fix or upgrade it for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted October 7, 2016 Author Share Posted October 7, 2016 Thanks everyone for the feedback. I have several ColecoVision power supplies I can test with this one trouble console. I'll also clean the power switch. What's the best way to do that? And I can definitely replace the RAM -- can someone tell me what kind of RAM I need to buy? Thanks again, ..Al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bmack36 Posted October 7, 2016 Share Posted October 7, 2016 There are 2 ways to "clean" the power switch. The first is the easiest and more temporary and that is to open up the system and spray electrical contact cleaner or deOxit into the side of the switch opposite the switch actuator. Move the switch back and forth several times and leave the switch on the opposite side. Then spray the ECC or deOxit on the opposite side from the first spray. Then move the switch back and forth several times to work it in. The second and proper way is to actually clean it and the directions can be found here: http://www.colecovision.dk/PDF/power%20switch.pdf Here is a link to the 5V ram replacement:https://console5.com/store/colecovision-5v-memory-upgrade-kit.html https://console5.com/techwiki/index.php?title=Colecovision_5V_RAM_Modification Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted October 7, 2016 Author Share Posted October 7, 2016 Thanks for those links, I ordered two of the RAM kits, since I'm sure I've seen this on at least one other ColecoVision I have. I'll clean the power switch (by taking it completely apart) and see if that makes a difference as well. ..Al 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corby Posted October 8, 2016 Share Posted October 8, 2016 was just asking about this. Today I took apart a power switch to a coleco that suffers from garble graphics, but nothing. So my guess it has to do with bad chips. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corby Posted October 8, 2016 Share Posted October 8, 2016 also tried a couple of power supplies too, but didn't help Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amn Posted January 30, 2021 Share Posted January 30, 2021 (edited) Hey guys, this is the second post I'm reviving because I actually have 2 ColecoVisions that aren't working properly. The first one has video but no audio, and the second has audio but only garbled video. I've disassembled and cleaned the power switch and it made no difference and have tried 3 different power supplies none of which improve the situation (I have one working CV and it works fine with all 3 power supplies). I've attached an image of what the video looks like. Hoping to fix at least one of these because I'd like to gift it to a friend who grew up with a CV but hasn't played it since he was a kid. I've seen in other similar threads that this may be a RAM issue? Just thought I'd bump up this post to make sure I'm getting the most up-to-date recommendations on how I should go about fixing this. I don't really know a ton about electronics but am not against learning. Edited January 30, 2021 by amn Updated link to my other post Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+-^CrossBow^- Posted February 1, 2021 Share Posted February 1, 2021 If you have cleaned the switch and tried different PSUs with the same issue, then it likely is the vram at this point. The service manual has a few different screen caps of various graphical issues that point to which ram module I believe. The more long term solution is to replace all of the vram with the +5 ram upgrade kit. But the traces on the CV, especially in that area are more prone to lifting than other parts. So if you do upgrade the vram, I would advise use of the clipping of the legs method and then using your soldering iron and tweezers etc. to lift the remainder of the legs out of the vias and go from there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChildOfCv Posted February 1, 2021 Share Posted February 1, 2021 Yeah, the RAM upgrade available from console5.com is the best solution for bad memory chips. As a bonus, it comes with sockets which make future repairs a lot easier. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amn Posted February 2, 2021 Share Posted February 2, 2021 Thanks for the replies guys! So this is the kit you would recommend? How easy would this upgrade be for someone who doesn't have a ton of experience with electronics? I'd like to do this myself if possible, but don't want to do anything that I'd have a better than 50% chance of messing up and killing the CV altogether. Also while I'm putting in the order for this, is there anything else you'd recommend me picking up? I'm paying for shipping anyways, may as well make it as worthwhile as possible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+-^CrossBow^- Posted February 2, 2021 Share Posted February 2, 2021 4 hours ago, amn said: Thanks for the replies guys! So this is the kit you would recommend? How easy would this upgrade be for someone who doesn't have a ton of experience with electronics? I'd like to do this myself if possible, but don't want to do anything that I'd have a better than 50% chance of messing up and killing the CV altogether. Also while I'm putting in the order for this, is there anything else you'd recommend me picking up? I'm paying for shipping anyways, may as well make it as worthwhile as possible. It isn't terribly difficult to do this mod, but even with my equipment I've still had a pad or two just melt away with the rest of the solder when trying to remove the old ram even with my iron only set to about 300C, so you need a temp controlled soldering iron. That is why I recommended the clip the legs method and then remove the legs from the vias off the PCB after. As for other things to get, you might look at getting the ESD protection boards for the joystick ports. And if you don't want to mess with the 10sec delay startup on many games, get the bios update chip too. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amn Posted February 2, 2021 Share Posted February 2, 2021 9 hours ago, -^CrossBow^- said: It isn't terribly difficult to do this mod, but even with my equipment I've still had a pad or two just melt away with the rest of the solder when trying to remove the old ram even with my iron only set to about 300C, so you need a temp controlled soldering iron. That is why I recommended the clip the legs method and then remove the legs from the vias off the PCB after. As for other things to get, you might look at getting the ESD protection boards for the joystick ports. And if you don't want to mess with the 10sec delay startup on many games, get the bios update chip too. Thanks for the reply! Sorry for my ignorance but just so that I understand 100% what you're saying, why does clipping the legs first make it safer? Won't I have to desolder the legs from the board anyways once I've clipped off the chips? But this seems doable! Thanks a lot for the help. I'll take a look at the other parts that you recommended and put in an order later today! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChildOfCv Posted February 2, 2021 Share Posted February 2, 2021 Clipping the legs allows you to remove them one at a time. If they are still part of the chip, you have to make sure you pull ALL of the solder off of every pin before you can remove the chip. Clipping the legs allows you to heat them up one at a time, pull the pin, and then solder braid both sides to clean it up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amn Posted February 2, 2021 Share Posted February 2, 2021 57 minutes ago, ChildOfCv said: Clipping the legs allows you to remove them one at a time. If they are still part of the chip, you have to make sure you pull ALL of the solder off of every pin before you can remove the chip. Clipping the legs allows you to heat them up one at a time, pull the pin, and then solder braid both sides to clean it up. That makes a ton of sense! Thanks guys, this has helped a lot! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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