RobertT

Hi all I thought I'd try a pick the brains of everyone here over a problem I am having with a 2 port 5200. I don't have any spare parts to test components, but if anyone has had anything vaguely similar, maybe they can help. When I turn on the console, it shows the splash screen, but sometimes with problems, like the 'copyright' word split over two lines, or the Atari logo splattered all over the screen. It will then go to the start screen, where at times random characters may flash on the screen, but without affecting the abilitiy to start a game and get a few minutes of gameplay without any noticable problems. After this time, the display will start deteriorating with an increasing number of glitches. For example, in PacMan, parts of the maze will start to shift left or right, while other parts will remain in their normal position. In Mario Bros, the display will deteriorate in a seemingly random fashion, with artefacts all over the place, until there is just a mess of colours. However, the gameplay will usually continue - it doesn't hang - and I can still vaguely make out the characters moving, so it is still functioning to some extent and accepting input from the controller, and the sound is fine. In Centipede, there seem to be random shifts in the screen in a manner similar to that in PacMan, and it can also deteriorate to a mess like Mario Bros. What's wierd is that, occassionally, the display will start to reorganize itself to a state where it is almost normal looking, after which it will probably deteriorate again. All this over a period of a few minutes. Any thoughts? Power supply tests at about 14V unloaded, and the regulators VR1 and VR2 seem fine, giving 5V at each of the right legs.

Hi there I have a newb question. I live in Other Parts of The World (ie, not USA). My question is about the universality of the Intellivoice module, or otherwise. If I got my hands on an Intellivoice module from the US, could I happily plug it into my Other Parts of the World Intellivision without any issues? Or does the Intellivoice module have the same PAL/NTSC - 110V/220V issues that plague worldwide gaming? Thanks in advance for any help on this one.

Hi there I should add my 2c worth as well. I have had one of these in it's nicely packaged box for a few weeks, and have finally managed to find the time to hook it up. It even works in Australia. All you need is a TV/VCR that can handle NTSC, and a 240V to 110V transformer (or, I guess, a 240V Colecovision power supply - the transformer seems cheaper and easier to find). Excellent work by Yurkie. Rob

Any luck? After recently learning about this little console, I am interested in getting one too - preferably a PAL version/clone. Happy to hear from anyone with a spare they're willing to say goodbye to.

If you don't mind me asking, and without being too specific, did you find this at a garage sale or something? Always get a bit envious when I read about these finds. But being in Melbourne... well, you know what people that live in Melbourne are like...