7800 modded died - what now?

[Rhomaios]

So, my 7800 that I got s-video modded by Electronic Sentimentality died. I think it might be capacitors as the sound was going and the video was over time getting darker and darker. Is there any place online that specializes in repairs? I'd like it to be someone other than ES, though, since their original job actually made the sound uneven (some sounds were hard to hear, others were painfully loud).

 

Thanks in advance.

Edited June 14, 2017 by Rhomaios

[H454]

So, my 7800 that I got s-video modded by Best Electronics died. I think it might be capacitors as the sound was going and the video was over time getting darker and darker. Is there any place online that specializes in repairs? I'd like it to be someone other than Best Elec, though, since their original job actually made the sound uneven (some sounds were hard to hear, others were painfully loud).

 

Thanks in advance.

 

I don't think best electronic ever offered s video mod.

Their mod was a red,white and yellow RCA cable soldered to the board with some extra resistors(the simplest mod to do).

 

Caps and voltage regulator are were most people would start.

Finding someone to fix it is another story, shipping one way is $15-20 + plus cost of repair.

Some modders may take a look at it.

If you lived in the st. Paul, MN area, I'd look at it or replace the board with one of my extras.

 

You can also post in the marketplace under wanted - the AA forums are filled with people that like to help.

Edited June 14, 2017 by H454

[CPUWIZ]

I'd look at it or replace the board with one of my extras.

 

 

I collect 7800 motherboards, if you ever feel like unloading one for a decent price or a trade of some kind.

[H454]

I only have an extra due to bad shipping ,

Now, if I ever get a round to it, I'm gonna stuff into a Pactec keu10 case.

[Rhomaios]

I don't think best electronic ever offered s video mod.

You're right! Mea culpa. It was ES. I updated the initial post.

 

I thought I'd get advice here before making a thread in the Marketplace, though that will be my next step if there's no other recommendations. Thanks!

 

CPUWIZ: I'll keep you updated.

Edited June 14, 2017 by Rhomaios

[+-^CrossBow^-]

Only other advice I can provide, is to get on the waiting list for Bryan's UAV boards. I've installed two of them into 7800s now and really prefer it greatly over the LHE version that ES was selling and installing. Was the RF modulator removed from your modded 7800? Another thing to check if you have a multimeter and skills, is to check the voltage regulator. The VRs on the 7800 I feel are prone to fail.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

So, my 7800 that I got s-video modded by Electronic Sentimentality died. I think it might be capacitors as the sound was going and the video was over time getting darker and darker. Is there any place online that specializes in repairs? I'd like it to be someone other than ES, though, since their original job actually made the sound uneven (some sounds were hard to hear, others were painfully loud).

 

Thanks in advance.

Where are you located? Because H454 is correct in that pretty much it costs close to $20 to ship a 7800 or really any console of that size in a safe manner these days. Combine that with the repairs, which is mainly the time needed to diagnose more than the cost for the parts, and it would be expensive to have it sent away.

 

ES does excellent work from what I've heard from others. So it could be just a matter of a component failure within the console and not really related to the mod.

[Rhomaios]

Where are you located? Because H454 is correct in that pretty much it costs close to $20 to ship a 7800 or really any console of that size in a safe manner these days. Combine that with the repairs, which is mainly the time needed to diagnose more than the cost for the parts, and it would be expensive to have it sent away.

 

ES does excellent work from what I've heard from others. So it could be just a matter of a component failure within the console and not really related to the mod.

 

The s-video was sharp, so no complaints there. The sound never quite worked right. I'm in NYC.

Edited June 16, 2017 by Rhomaios

[+-^CrossBow^-]

Then yes it would be about $18 - $20 to ship a 7800. I just shipped a 7800 to Maine and it ran $18 via 2-day priority with $50 included insurance. Crazy that you only get $50 in insurance when the shipping costs more than a 1/3 of that.

 

The sound is easily corrected. In the instructions on the LHE installation on the ES site, it states to solder the audio wire to the south legs of R5 and R6 resistors. What you should do instead is cut the north legs of these two resistors as they point towards the back of the 7800 and then lift them but don't remove them from the board. Solder your audio wire from these two cut connections from the resistors themselves. The resistors provide the balances audio that is needed. Soldering them on the south end of the resistors is grabbing the audio before it actually goes through the resistors. Very simple to fix. In my case, I didn't even use the audio section of the LHE. It was just as easy to solder my wire from the point I mentioned to the + side of a 10uf - 16v capactior and then run a wire from the negative lead of the capacitor to the center posts of your audio out RCAs.

 

I do believe this will cut the audio out from the RF doing this however.

Edited June 16, 2017 by -^Cro§Bow^-

[Rhomaios]

Solder your audio wire from these two cut connections from the resistors themselves.

Couple questions. 1. Would the video via s-video going dark (and now stopped showing up altogether) also be a symptom of the problem you outlined above? 2. Is it feasible to just ship the board without the frame, or does that place an undue burden on the fixer?

[+-^CrossBow^-]

Well..you can't really just send out the board if you want the AV mod to be tested since all the connectors are on the body of the casing somewhere. The S-Video going dim could be due to a failing voltage regulator since again, they are prone to failure and the LHE does require a +5 source. I believe the extra current draw is minimal, but who knows? The only issues I had with the LHE when I did that mod on my 7800 sometime back, was that brightness between Composite and S-vid wasn't consistent on my flat panel TVs I tested it on. However, they both looked great on an actual CRT. The other issues which, I've mentioned several times before, was the bad ghosting and color bleeding like effect on the 7800 games. 2600 games looked better but still had some jail bars and other issues.

[Rhomaios]

Minor update. It appears I forgot a crucial detail. The s-video has completely died (and the sound is still weird) but the regular composite jacks are still fine.

[H454]

Who did the mod work itself?

Was it the guy who runs the ElectronicSentimentalities mod site?

If yes, have your tried contacting him?

Word is his customer support is pretty good.

He will fix his boards separate as well:

 

"You can always send me your non-working assembly to fix. I'll fix it for a flat rate of $20.00 fee plus $15.00 for any IC on the Atari that needs to be replaced. You cover shipping. If I've made a mistake on your board, I will refund for the cost of the board and fix your installation free of charge."

[Rhomaios]

I've contacted him before for something unrelated. I'd like to look elsewhere this time, especially now as I'm getting Bryan's board, and I was never particularly happy with the sound (one side far louder than the other). Besides, it's been a few years now since he had done it.

Edited July 5, 2017 by Rhomaios

[H454]

" I was never particularly happy with the sound (one side far louder than the other)."

Thats weird, the mod should just be two mono sources tied together.

[Rhomaios]

Thats weird, the mod should just be two mono sources tied together.

 

E.g. when playing Centipede, the shots are much louder than the centipede crawling music. (Or vice versa, can't remember which is louder, I can check later if it matters.)

Edited July 5, 2017 by Rhomaios

[+DrVenkman]

 

E.g. when playing Centipede, the shots are much louder than the centipede crawling music. (Or vice versa, can't remember which is louder, I can check later if it matters.)

TIA actually has two sound channels - depending on how the mod is wired (e.g., grabbing both sound signals off separate pins and tying them together), it’s possible a solder joint is failing leading to the volume differences in one channel or the other. Similarly, S-video failing but Composite still working also seems like a solder joint going bad to me, either at the jack, where the the signals are being picked off the board, or the mod board itself.