jarreboum

I have absolutely no proof of anything, one way or the other. I'm not an electronic engineer, I'm coming here with a console problem asking for help. I'm sharing my doubts and experience in the hopes that people with actual knowledge could help me, and correct my wrong assumptions. It is sort of gradual, but happened in less than a second. When I was able to get a correct picture, that picture could hold as long as I would use the console, but I never did extended tests. When that picture would change, I would get a correct picture for less than a second, then it would quickly fade to black and white with audio noise. Then after a couple of tries, I could get it working properly again. I noticed that unplugging the console, flicking the switch and waiting a bit, before using it again was a reliable way to make it work. I'm using that TV with other consoles, but only the 2600 uses RF. It's the only console I have that uses RF, and it's the only TV I have that can take RF from the 2600. The TV is digitally tuned. Could it drift the way you are describing? The problem now happens all the time and I cannot correct it any more. Whatever was partially faulty in the console is now completely faulty. I can't do before/after tests any more.

Comparing the schematics, that would be my guess as well. I doubt it's anything before the voltage regulator, though I did order some more caps just in case. Hopefully that's the one.

Indeed! Now my problem would be to identify the guilty cap, as I don't see anyone with a Jr in those threads.

I'm using a CRT TV. The setup hasn't changed at all between when it worked and when it stopped working. The degradation was very progressive, at first it just happened once in a while, then it happened all the time but I was able to restart the console properly, and now restarting doesn't do anything Could it be the power adapter? I don't have an original one, but a cheap one from Chinese eBay. I replaced the voltage regulator with the new one that's part of Tim's RGB mod kit, that didn't change anything.

Hi there, I'm having some problems with my 2600Jr. I had been working fine when I got it, but after a while, and after changing games, the console started to randomly display a snowy black and white picture with static noise coming off the TV speakers. Sometimes unplugging the power cord and turning the power switch on for a few seconds did the trick to bring back the colours, but now it doesn't do that any more: now when I turn the console on, the pictures very briefly appears in colours but quickly switch to black and white with noise. The games are otherwise playable. Being able to have a brief normal picture after the console is fully discharged made me believe that it may be a capacitor problem. But which one? I tried changing the big 2200µF 16V one, but that didn't help. It's quite possible that the "new" capacitors I used could be bad too, I've had trouble sourcing them. I haven't touched any other cap in the machine, there are lots of them all over the place. None look bad, but I don't have the eye for it. I tried installing the Tim's RGB mod, thinking it could be something in the RF modulator, but I couldn't get an image out of the mod. my problem may be interfering with whatever the mod does to output RGB.I've completely uninstalled the board for now. I also installed his new linear voltage regulator, which I'm still using. What could be the problem here?

Have you triple-checked with a continuity tester that your sync is correctly wired? Does the display work with other consoles?

Sound advice, thanks! Yeah, making an entirely new board just for this model would make no economical sense. I'm glad you went with the flexible adapter though, you could have told us to just use a bunch of wires instead and leave it at that. Which reminds me, the FM board is a pain to install on the Master System 2, with loads of wires to solder to chip legs. Would you consider making a similar flexible adapter for that console? Mine is already modded so I'm cool with the mess I made, but it could probably help other people.

Ah yes, I misread the photos. I intend to bend the pins away instead of cutting them, in case I ever need an intact TIA. I just don't like hacking ancient chips. I'm very curious about the flex adapter, it would be the first time I'd work with such a thing. Last time my iron approached plastic it dug a hole in it, eh. So even soldering the chip directly on your board and discarding sockets would make the mod too thick? Or was it a case of simplifying the installation and avoiding chip desoldering?

There goes my Christmas present. Is there a reason for the four additional wires? Or they just couldn't fit on the flex adapter?

The value is in the eye of the beholder. Monetarily, I certainly value more a well modded system than an original RF one. This system is a board put between the chip and the motherboard. As the original chip is socketed, there is nothing destructive here. You can hijack the original RF hole to use for the RGB cable, either desoldering the original cable or hiding it in the case. The author recommends to replace the original power regulator with a modern one. The old one is probably prone to failure, especially when asked for extra power for the board. Though it does look different, it's nothing more than replacing a failing part, like you would with dead caps. You could try RGB without replacing it, it may very well work.

Right in time for the holiday season? Can't wait.

I'm still patiently waiting for the Jr mod. Once it's out I'll undoubtedly start spamming this thread again.

Could you elaborate on how the palette switch work? I don't have your board yet and I'm not sure I understand what happens when you press the switch. Say if you have PAL/NTSC autodetect, a 60Hz game and press the switch, does it roll through all three NTSC palettes or all six NTSC and PAL palettes? In what order? Same behaviour if the region autodected mode is off? What could be interesting for a v1.1 board is some space to attach an LED, which would briefly flash one to n times when the palette is changed, so we know where we are in the cycle. (and maybe, just throwing it out there, separate switches: one for the PAL / NTSC colour scheme, and one for the Original / Custom1 / Custom 2 palette switch? I'm just thinking out loud here, don't mind me too much)

Damn that's unfortunate. I'm assuming you would be using something similar to Kevtris NES HD mod, with an interposer board and ribbon?

Playing Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back and Revenge of the Beefsteak Tomatoes, as I received both a couple of days ago. Star Wars is fast and stressful, I like it. It hurts my hand though, but exploding AT-ATs are really gratifying. Tomatoes can be irritating, especially when shooting blocks to build the walls, and I feel the player character is too slippery (unlike in Star Wars, where slippery is good). Still, it gives a challenging game that I can see myself going back to. Just don't forget to switch the difficulty mode to A, as easy B gives infinite lives and a boring game as a result.

Any word on the Jr adapter board?

The switches aren't very well designed, the levers on the original are easier to use. But the black Irish Jr is such a sexy little machine, so rad.

As long as you haven't destroyed the chip by cutting a leg short or frying it somehow, your unit is repairable. Solder a socket in, put your chip on it, and follow the traces / use documentation to know to what each pin is supposed to connect to. Use a continuity tester to check if the traces are damaged, then put a wire on those who are. One of my first fuckup with soldering was similar. I wanted to change the BIOS of a Mega-CD, and I completely fucked up my desoldering, destroying the chip in the process. Some of the pins came out nicely, some others I burned the board badly, in the end I just cut all the remaining legs and used pliers and the soldering iron to take every leg out. After putting the socket and the new chip, the unit wouldn't even turn on! In any case after being very upset with myself, I decided to took the matter in my own hands. I downloaded the technical documentation containing the whole board map and systematically followed every pin to check if they were still connected. I identified three of them who weren't, and it turned out they were part of those I I thought I correctly desoldered, while the burnt ones were fine. I repaired the connection with a bunch of wires, and the console was resurrected, and lives a happy life to this day. Don't despair, your unit can be repaired. Worst thing is maybe you damaged your chip, but you can order a spare one. Take some time to take it out of your system, maybe do the other VCS you ordered if that one is socketed. After a while you will be able to go back to this project and solve it yourself.

Oh ok. Has the correct wiring been posted on the Internet? The box is mighty confusing. So I suppose different versions of the joystick, with the same box, were made with different wiring to accommodate for the different consoles and computers?

Ok so I tested it on a 2600 and it behaved quite differently. - Switch to the left is automatic fire, no button pressing is needed. - Center and right positions are semi-automatic [button 1] on the left triangle button, while round buttons are still one press = one bullet.Right trangle button doesn't work. - Right seems slightly faster than Center for the automatic shooting. Any idea why?

I have now two of those Competition Pro joysticks with two round buttons and two triangular buttons at the base of the stick. I bought the second one on the assumption that my first was broken, but they both behave the same. They were sold as Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore, Spectrum compatible and I'm trying them on a Master System. They have a three way switch on the base with mysterious effect. Does anyone knows how they are supposed to work? Right now the two round buttons are duplicates of [button 1], which I understand is the correct behaviour. But the triangle buttons don't do anything, except when the switch is on the left position, then the right triangle button is also a duplicate of [button 1] (the left triangle button still doesn't do anything). No autofire of any sort. (not mine)

Solder wick should work just fine. Are you using flux? You need to submerge your wick and the point to desolder in flux so that the solder can be properly absorbed by the wick.

It's also a problem only occurring with the XRGB upscaler. I'm assuming it would have problems regardless of the type of signal used (Composite, Svideo, RGB). A CRT fed with RGB should be displaying Warlords without any problem.

How does it compare, in terms of brightness, to the original RF? Assuming your console can still output RF and that your PVM can decode RF.

Only the Jr left. Damn.