gnnash

Update - I was able to fix it. With the help of the service manual, I traced things back to the power switch / volume knob. One of the two poles on the switch was working, the other wasn't. Took apart the switch, cleaned it with some tuner cleaner, reassembled, and all is well! I also shot some tuner cleaner into the volume pot part of the switch, so I have no scratchy sound when adjusting the volume.

Reseated all chips and connectors, and still no display. I've discovered that I have no -13v supply (on either side of the cable). I am going to keep tracing. Any thoughts as to a cause?

I dont have a dot on the screen, no matter what position the brightness knob is in. Unfortunately, I just moved back from school, so haven't had a chance to open it up yet. Tomorrow I'll open it, clean it out and reseat any chips and connectors I can see. Will post my results.

Yep, the brightness pot has no effect. I am able to see a dim glow at the rear of the tube through the vent holes... should this be brighter?

The joysticks do in fact self-center. Sorry, no fabled Boston games here. Just common ones (Star Trek, Scramble, Solar Quest, and Cosmic Chasm).

Those were my thoughts as well. I would really rather have myself a working Vectrex, but if I can't, then I can always make my money back on the controllers (assuming they test out to be functioning correctly).

I paid $40, came with four games, second controller, and all associated manuals/overlays.

Hello, I just purchased a Vectrex at a garage sale (not a very good idea with a final exam tomorrow, but I couldn't pass it up). Fortunately for my studying but unfortunately for me, there is no picture displayed, though sound is played properly. I have no buzz from the speaker, I'm assuming because the CRT is not functioning, and so isn't inducing any noise in the speaker wire. Are there any common issues that would cause this? I have general electronics knowledge, so am not shy to poke around inside (I am going to school for Electrical Enginering), but am not familiar with CRT operation. Any help is greatly appreciated!

See here: http://picobay.com/dtv_wiki/index.php?title=C64_DTV_Hacking_Wiki Basically, they can be turned into full-fledged C64 clones, with internal headers for a keyboard, controllers and an IEC port for a floppy drive or whatnot.. The PAL model is a bit more compatible, and has the internal connections for two full-function controllers, keyboard, IEC port, cassette port, and userport. It also has flash memory which can be programmed to internally hold different games other than the original built-in ones. The NTSC model only has connections for a keyboard, IEC port and a single controller port (and the controller port is missing the connection for the UP function!) It also has no flash memory, just a read-only ROM. But it is still fun to modify if you have a floppy drive and some old games.

Hello, I am looking for a C64 DTV (direct to tv) unit. I would prefer the european / PAL model for better compatibility when modded. Located in USA. Thanks in advance!

Sorry for the delay, I have documented the mod here for those interested: http://www.atariage.com/forums/topic/183250-fb2-cart-port-workaround/

Sorry for the delay. I have documented the fix here : http://www.atariage.com/forums/topic/183250-fb2-cart-port-workaround/ Good luck with your mod!

It seems that some people who are trying to add a cartridge port are running into an issue where 4K carts will not run. This is due to a bad trace leading to Pad 20, the A11 line. It turns out that Pad 20 is useless on these machines, but there is a pin on the ROM chip which can be easily soldered to instead of Pad 20. Since my board is now covered with a sprawling mess of cartridge port wires, I have indicated the alternate Pad 20 location below on Emehr's Rev. C board cheat sheet (I hope you don't mind!) . Emehr, if you could please add this to your visual cheat sheet if you can, for Flashback 2+ modders, that would be great.

I just completed my mod successfully this evening. My trace for Pad 20 was also damaged, but I found that the fifth pin from the right on the lower side of the ROM chip is directly connected to the A11 line on the Michele chip. I soldered the A11 pin from the cartridge port to this pin on the ROM chip, and all is well, without needing to do delicate work on the trace itself.

Fixed it! I tried this mod on my old FB2 a couple years ago, and failed when I lifted a trace. Fortunately, I still have the old FB2 around, and found that the A11 pad (pad 20 on the board) is internally connected to the fifth pin from the right on the lower side of the ROM chip. I soldered the A11 line from the cartridge port to this pin on the ROM chip, and can now play all of my cartridges flawlessly! I greatly prefer this solution to needing to solder directly to a trace. I'll try to take a picture to help others, it seems that this may very well have been a widespread issue during production of the FB2+ units. Thanks for your help! I'll try to take pictures tomorrow.