Any reliable Intellivision repair/modding services out there?

[+thegoldenband]

I don't play much Intellivision these days -- and by "much", I mean "any" -- because none of my Intellivision I consoles work correctly.

 

(My Intellivision II works perfectly but none of the controllers are 100% reliable -- they always seem flaky and inconsistent to me -- and the whole giant wall wart + power/reset button thing is annoying.)

 

Of the three Inty I consoles I own, two crash to black screens after startup (which was, in fairness, how I received them in the first place). For one it takes 5-10 minutes to crash, the other, 5-10 seconds.

 

The third, which had been my main Intellivision, seems to have blown a controller chip and will only respond from the Player 2 side. I still made it through Tower of Doom from the 2P side, back in 2015, but some games (especially homebrews) are unplayable that way.

 

In theory, with three consoles on hand, I probably have enough working parts to restore at least one of them to fully working condition -- but anything that involves soldering/desoldering or diagnosing chip failures is beyond my skill set. Plus all I have is a low-end soldering iron, an ancient multimeter, and a Cuttle Cart 3 with the test ROM on it.

 

I've swapped some controllers around when one's gone bad on me, but that's about my limit. There's no accessible how-to for newbies to diagnose this stuff -- not that it's anyone's job to make one, but all discussions seem to assume you have an EE background and an oscilloscope. I don't even know which rails I can and can't safely touch with my Radio Shack multimeter while the system is on.

 

So, I'd like to find someone to whom I could send out one or more units to be restored to 100% working condition. Even better would be if they could get a high-quality AV mod; I have a colleague who loves Intellivision and has done me a solid, so a second working unit would be a nice present for him (and a good home for some of my doubles).

 

Is there anyone out there doing this kind of work -- skillfully, reliably, affordably (within reason), cleanly (no piles of hot glue), and without the sort of drama that we saw with SwampFox56 (or whatever his handle is/was)?

 

I guess I should've kept that CIB Super Pro system I used to have, since those are allegedly more reliable. I always found its controllers stiff and its RF signal sketchy, though.

[Blimpers]

Or is anyone selling lovingly refurbished consoles? Fully cleaned, re-capped, contacts deoxidized, and whatever else?

 

I've been checking eBay, but very few are even tested (so they claim), much less refurbished. I found a recapping kit but I too am reluctant to do this myself.

[alortegac]

Send me. Pm thanks!

[IMBerzerk]

I sell refurbished units now and then. If I win the bid on the Sears unit on eBay, I'll let you know when it's done. I don't jack my initial bids very high, just try to make my money back from my purchase and a little to buy another unit. I just like to see these things keep going, especially to people that will take care of them.

 

JR

[Cdstahlman]

There are also new controller electronic sheets available as well, to refresh your game pads. I'll find the link and post it.

[ColecoJoe]

Anybody in the Los Angeles area that works on these beasts? I have a modded console with a sound glitch problem that has been bothering me for months.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

Anybody in the Los Angeles area that works on these beasts? I have a modded console with a sound glitch problem that has been bothering me for months.

 

Do you know what mod was installed in it? The audio really shouldn't be that big of a deal in most cases. Most mod instructions have you grab it off the audio input line into the RF Modulator. I tend to grab it off a ceramic capacitor towards the center of the main logic. I'd be happy to look it over but I'm in the center of the country so shipping it wouldn't be the cheapest. (About 20+) at last check.

[Gernot]

phew, so i'm definately a lucky one with my console i bought, it's almost as new because it has been used rarely.

 

but neither i can help you, i live on "ross 154" and that's quite off.

neither i'm really good in what i do, even if i fix my broken things as good as i can, (while it gets really worse as older i get, eyesight is a problem).

 

in germany some clever retailers offer such a service, but i guess if i look at the "appliable controller sticks" which is a product of one of them (or the leading one) it won't be cheap, but they offer maintaining and modding.

 

but well in days you pay $100 for a rotten old amiga mouse... or a powersupply wire (wire only without the powersupply)...

[ColecoJoe]

 

Do you know what mod was installed in it? The audio really shouldn't be that big of a deal in most cases. Most mod instructions have you grab it off the audio input line into the RF Modulator. I tend to grab it off a ceramic capacitor towards the center of the main logic. I'd be happy to look it over but I'm in the center of the country so shipping it wouldn't be the cheapest. (About 20+) at last check.

 

 

I'm not sure which mod is installed. It's a total DIY hack mod with a breadboard, not one of the pre-made ones you can get online. The glitch seems like it's a ram issue. Certain frequencies break up and sound choppy or not at all. Here is a video of the glitch.

 

At this time I'm not interested in shipping this thing out since I have a Ultimate Flashback I've been using but when I get really super frustrated with it I'll keep you in mind.

intellivision-sound-issue.mp4