Ian Primus

Yeah, don't worry about opening the console. There's nothing in there that can hurt you. And plugging the cable back into the board is probably the safest possible thing you could do in there. In one of the other threads, I've been telling people which pins to cut on chips and where to solder things together -Ian

Yeah, the thing that seems to be happening is that the chip develops some kind of internal resistance and causes the line to get stuck on. You want to take it out of the circuit. Cutting the legs works well - or if you're good with a soldering iron, you can actually unsolder them, and pull them up and out of the board. But cutting is far easier and you're much less likely to damage the board. And, if you do end up destroying the chip entirely, it's not a big deal, the 4050 is like a forty cent part. But yes. Disconnect those pins from the board, and connect the places on the board where the pins used to connect to. -Ian

Yeah, I sent him an email already, asking about empty cart casings and blank boards. I have heard that there is a source for them, and just haven't found it. Are his carts made with custom boards, or hacked production boards? I plan on ordering a game or two from him anyway, since he's got some cool stuff. And yeah - definitely interested in any dupes. -Ian

PM sent. -Ian

I just bought a Vectrex, and I'm looking for more games - as well as commons/dupes to use as donor carts for making up my own. Anyone got any they'd like to part with? Also, I heard rumors of new manufacture cart housings and boards being available... Any ideas where I could buy some? Thanks! -Ian

Nope - mine plays fine. Perhaps you have a different version of the original ROM? That's one thing that bugs me about .ips files. There is no mechanism to do a checksum of the original ROM - and nobody distributes md5's of the original ROM with the .ips! So, there's really no way to know _which_ of the many various dumps were used originally... -Ian

Ring cracks around the controller port pins is pretty common on both the 7800 and the 2600. If I'm having controller problems with a system, that's always where I start (well, other than trying a known good controller...). It's just wear and tear from the constant plugging/unplugging of the controller, so it shouldn't matter how old the system is - just how much use it's had. It only takes a minute to resolder them - so don't worry about it. When it starts getting flakey - then you can go in there and fix it. -Ian

I made up my own cartridge so I could play the original Super Mario 2 on the real NES. Man, that game is _really_ hard... I can only get past about the first three worlds. I need to spend some serious time practicing -Ian

Right player is pins 6 and 7. -Ian

Glad you guys them working! It's odd that the 4050 developed that internal short/resistance/whatever. Especially weird that potatohead's started latching. That's not supposed to happen... Ideally, you could replace the chip. But, again, Atari omitted it in later models completely, so it's not really necessary to have it buffering the line. -Ian

I've been playing this some more, and I actually got through a few more boards than usual (yeah, I suck at Pac-Man...). One thing I noticed is that if I get that red ghost on my tail, I can't get rid of him. He always catches me. Is it just me, or did the original allow you to make corners faster than the ghosts did? I don't remember being run down like that - and this is in clear spaces, I'm not eating dots. But man, this game is excellent. I'm really enjoying it! Once again, excellent, excellent work! -Ian

Yay! Glad you got it working! Probably a cracked solder joint on the back of the board. This is pretty common on devices like this - what happens is the components sit there and cook inside that little box, then tiny cracks start to form in the solder joints. Sometimes you can't hardly see them, but it's enough to make things not work. Just reheat the connection with a soldering iron and flow in a bit of fresh solder. Touch up any other joints that look suspect while you're in there. Now, go play some Donkey Kong -Ian

The AC reading is not good. You should get nothing when you switch over to AC. I've never actually been inside the official Colecovision power adapter, so you're in new territory for me - but I've fixed enough of this type of thing to know what's going to be inside it. Follow the red wire back to the circuit board. It should be connected to the positive terminal of an electrolytic capacitor (looks like a can with a label - what does the label on this one say? It should list a rating in 'uF', and a voltage rating). Following that trace on the back of the board, it should be connected to some diodes (or a potted rectifier... but probably diodes). The diodes are little black cylindrical things, with a silver stripe on one end. Two of them should be connected to that trace that's connected to the red wire/positive of electrolytic. Set your meter on AC, and measure with one probe on the opposite leg of each of those two diodes - the legs that AREN'T connected to the red wire/electrolytic. You should get a good solid AC reading of somewhere in the vicinity of 12v from this point. If you do, then the transformer is good, and you have a problem with either the diodes or the capacitor. Start by carefully examining the solder points on the back of the board for cracks - but it sounds like you've done this already. Post the numbers you find on the capacitor here - and I can direct you to a replacement (should be available from Radio Shack). The diodes should also have number on them, but they should be replaceable by the generic 1n4001 diode. You can get these at Radio Shack too. Total cost for all the parts should be under five dollars. When replacing parts, be careful of the polarity! Both the diodes and the capacitor must be installed the correct way around! Can you post pictures? I'm going to go hunting on the 'net and see if I can find schematics of the Coleco power adapter. Once again, I've never opened one of these, so I'm going on knowledge of other AC adapters. The Coleco adapter puts out multiple voltages, so I'm not 100% sure what I just mentioned will match yours. A good photo of the inside, the top of the board, and the bottom of the board will provide me the info I need. -Ian

From what I've read, converting a Genesis controller or similar is a pretty simple hack - it doesn't sound like the analog nature of the original controller is used by very many games. Of course, the controller that came with it is quite neat looking. I wonder why so many Vectrexes turn up with no controller? It's not like they would have worked on machines other than a Vectrex. And since they clip right onto the front, you'd think the two would stay together. -Ian

"Price - $80 (inc shipping anywhere)" It's cool, but quite expensive - and I definitely don't have the cash now that I spent all that money on the Vectrex itself. Also, I wouldn't even be able to use it, since I have no computer that will run the special downloader program (haven't used Windows at home in years...). Besides, building dedicated carts or a multicart is simple - I can make my own pretty easily. I just need to find some donor carts. But, I must admit, the VecFlash is a nice bit of hardware. Just, not what I personally am looking for right now. -Ian

Yeah, that probably is too much for one. Mine was pretty expensive, came out to being around $95 after shipping. But, it comes with games, and it's in working order with a working controller. But, I figured, I've always wanted one, so I'll go ahead and splurge. Of course, that means I won't have a lot of extra cash for a while, but that's OK. I'll just play MineStorm instead of eating I'm really excited - I can't wait until it gets here. I've been doing some hunting online for more carts, but haven't turned up any great deals. I'm primarily looking for loose carts. If anyone has any dupes.... I'll probably post a Wanted: in Marketplace eventually. Now, see, I really want to play this thing - I still say that the USPS could make a fortune if they came up with a "Temporal Postal Service", that delivers packages before they're mailed. <grin> -Ian

I take it you cut the power cable, or opened up the power supply brick? Or are you measuring something inside the Coleco itself? Yes, all outputs should be stable, and read DC volts. The blue and white wire readings are correct. Try setting your meter to AC volts and see what you get on that weird one. You might get a solid reading that way - which is not good. It should be DC. It sounds like a rectifier in the power block failed. You can repair it if you can get the power block open. Hopefully the Colecovision itself wasn't damaged from using this supply. It's been a while since I was in one, so I don't remember the power regulation circuit. Another altenative is to patch in another power supply. The power supply from an old PC will put out all the voltages you need - look for the kind of supply with the ON/OFF switch (AT style), as opposed to the 'soft power' switch (ATX). -Ian

Perhaps the stalk the key fits onto is broken as well, I've seen this happen before. But still, it's a matter of only a couple of screws and you can just swap the keyboards between the units in less than ten minuts. Or the floppy drives for that matter. And if you have an STFM, you can connect it to the TV set with no special hardware - it just uses a regular TV/Game switchbox or RCA/F connector adapter like any video game console. -Ian

Could also very well be a homemade multicart. I've never seen the Sean Kelly multicart, but I've made a few myself. Would be interested in seeing the inside of that - I wonder if it's a custom PCB or a hacked production cart board. -Ian

That is pretty cool. But, for stuff like that, I typically prefer to make my own. I found the pinout of the Vectrex cartridge slot - so making up my own cart/mulitcart should be pretty simple. That, and I spent enough money on the Vectrex that I'm probably not going to be able to afford any expensive toys for a while... While we're on the subject - what are the most common Vectrex carts? I need to look for those as well, for donor carts to make my own. -Ian

You can hack up Genesis controllers for their cables - much more expendable Use a meter to figure out which wire color goes to which pin number. The pin numbers are standard for dsub connectors. If you're looking into the connector at the end of the controller cable, the pins go like so: 5 4 3 2 1 9 8 7 6 The wiring is simple. All the switches will have two contacts. (Three if they're microswitches). For microswitches, simply ignore the contact marked "NC". All directional switches in the Atari stick are just connecting one line to ground. Ground is pin 8 on the joystick connector. Connect ground to one terminal of every direction switch (not the fire buttons!). Traditionally, on microswitches, one uses the "COM" connection, but it really doesn't matter. Then, wire up one wire from each direction to the other contact of it's appropriate switch. Pinout is: 1 UP 2 DOWN 3 LEFT 4 RIGHT Directional controls are finished! Now on to the fire buttons. This is where it gets tricky on the 7800. The 7800 is backward compatible with 2600 sticks, and at the same time, has two buttons. So, how is it wired? This is how: The button input line (pin 6) is wired as the common for both buttons, instead of ground. Then, the other side of those buttons is connected to their requisite signals - pin 5 for the right button, pin 9 for the left button. They are ALSO tied to ground through a pulldown resistor of 620 ohms. (or thereabouts). You can get the resistors at Radio Shack, should be a pack of five for a buck. So, wire pin 6 to the common for both fire buttons. Then solder a resistor to the other terminal of both buttons. Connect the other end of both resistors to ground (the common of your previous switches, pin 8 on the controller). Then, connect pin 5 to the Right button, on the same terminal you soldered the resistor to. Likewise with pin 9 for the left button. Confused yet? You should be done! -Ian

Yeah, the problem is that he only goes twice a week! Come on - you need to train your body to produce plasma faster. <grin> (as if that were possible). Hey, whatever works. Of course, I have very little interest in new releases, but still... -Ian

I am unaware of any generic Coleco controllers - but the Coleco controller follows the "standard" for up/down/left/right/fire, and therefore things like the Atari and Sega controllers work. Any of the extra buttons require Coleco controllers, or a creative adapter circuit. I also know of no replacement for the Intellivision controllers. Since they're hardwired to the console, I seriously doubt that aftermarket replacements were available. I've seen hacks to use other controls though. -Ian

You can plug Atari sticks into the Coleco and they'll work - you only have one button though, and you generally need to start the game with the Coleco keypad. The controllers shouldn't be that hard to fix though. Take them apart and try a good cleaning. -Ian

The Vectrex has been on my "to find" list for a long time. I found one on eBay and decided not to wait any longer - so I bought it. Working, complete with controller and a couple carts. So - something to get excited about! Hopefully it shows up soon. Any recommendations as to the best games to look for? -Ian