Yoder

Cool! Looks clean! Have fun with it...

I just fixed a C64 that had a bad PLA and a bad SID. Ironically, the SID would not let the thing boot up even after changing the PLA. If you have no other C64 around, pull the SID (MOS 6581 chip) and boot it to see if that works. The bad SID that I have will keep an otherwise good C64 from booting. It must be shorted inside. If you just want to sell the C64 for a few bucks, let me know. I have another one that I need to fix. Of course, this thread is old, so disregard if you already got rid of it :-)

Hi Guys, I'm trying to revive a dead C64 (had a bad PLA and SID) just to put it into the hands of someone else who can use it and it needs a SID. Or if you have the need for a perfectly working C64 breadbin that needs a SID, PM me. I'm not looking to make money on this...I just want the Commodore to get fixed up and into an enthusiast's hands. I also am trying to revive my Atari 800XL that has a bad POKEY (no keyboard functionality). Best Electronics has these for $10, but I figured I'd ask here too. Any dead 8-bit Atari board would work...I'd just have to desolder it if it's from a game console, I think. Only thing is that shipping might kill it. Thanks!

It would actually be cool if sellers didn't delete their entire listing after things are sold. It would be nice to at least see asking prices and condition of things that are sold on here since a lot of stuff doesn't come up a lot on eBay...and the completed listings expire really quick now.

Ok, I took it apart last night and cleaned the head with a swab. I was surprised to see that even before I started cleaning it, it looked very clean. I could clearly see the off-white ceramic head with the dark lines...no black stuff on it or anything that I'm used to seeing on C1541s. I actually did try to stick a swab in from the front to clean it the other day...maybe I actually got to it that way? Or maybe the head cleaning disk worked a little? Point is, I cleaned it with some elbow grease using the swab and isopropanol and I didn't really get much off of it... Seems like these Synapse disks have just aged poorly. I'm going to try to "eye them up" to see if I can see a pattern in these disks...like the batch or manufacturer. I did notice that one of them has a peculiar texture to it...like it's stippled with little dots. I'll check the other ones too. I still have one more to test...Drelbs... Not sure if should take the chance, but what good is it if I never even try the disk out? I'll keep the screws out of the drive as I continue testing it and the disks I have so that I can keep it clean. Now, just to see if I can get or build and SIO2PC cable.

Wow, thanks for those posts, guys! Sounds like I'm seeing this synapse pattern too! Yes, the older gold-labeled ones are OK. It's the newer ones that suffer. Ok, I'm gonna take the drive apart and start cleaning it. I did notice some black garbage from this...it was a little piece that collected at the edge of the disk window. I'm sure some is on the head too. What a shame that they used shoddy disks...but they are antiques after all. Who'd have thought that we geeks would be playing with these things 30 years later Ironically, I never actually owned a computer with 5.25" disks until I got my Commodore 9 months ago. BITD I had a TI and then a Tandy 1000 HX with 3.5" drives. I missed the whole 5.25" revolution :-/ I was so looking forward to nibbling disks to make them double sided back when I was a kid

Good call. I wonder how many people know that using a double sided head cleaner (with access hole on top & bottom) will tear up the pressure pad. I need to find a good way to make new replica disk labels for when disks fail (or the labels fall off). I bought an expensive box a Avery 5.25" labels and they barely stick. Well, I actually didn't know that at first. I did a head cleaning first using it as-is and I noticed that the white thing in the cleaning disk was getting fuzzy looking (top half), so I figured I'd research it a bit. That's when I learned the err of my ways. At least I stopped at one quick cleaning. I might see if I can drop the cleaning thing into one of my "dead" disk jackets to make it a little more appealing, and to keep the card stock from getting soggy, tape from coming off, etc. Hopefully that one cleaning I did with it didn't mess anything up :-/ Actually, I'm guessing that this system was stored in horrible conditions for the last 25 years. I'm actually lucky that it works as well as it does...and that it was free!

Thanks, guys. Yes, I read "that thread" above last night. That's how I ended up modifying my DS cleaning disk to make it a SS one. Seems the jury is still out on opening it up vs using the head cleaning disk. I've also opened all my C1541s up and just cleaned the nasty black stuff off with a q-tip. It does seem to be the way to go...at least when you first get the drive... I'll probably do the same to this one now. I would have, except I realized that the screws were under those little stickers on top and I don't want to damage them. Any tips? Ok, so it sounds like these disks could be just be bad, too? That would make me feel better. I probably should still get a 1050...and a SIO2PC...

Hi Guys, Newish member here...mainly have just bought some things from here and haven't yet had the opportunity to post much. Anyways, like most of you, I played with these computers "BITD" and have recently gotten bitten by the 8-bit vintage computing bug (I have a Commodore and an Apple IIgs too) and hope to do some gaming and learn a little 6502 assembly programming. Anyways, I recently picked up a whole Atari 800 set (for free!) with original software that looks to have been retired in the 80s and not really touched. It even has an Omnimon card! There is some great s/w with it like 10 Infocom games and a bunch of Synapse games that I've been going through and testing. I did some head cleaning (using a head cleaning disk modified to be SS) and it addressed some boot errors I was getting, but I've found that a BUNCH (like 6 or more) of Synapse game disks that I have are getting stuck mid-boot, and then when I inspect the disk, I'm seeing one or two rings on the bottom side of disk surface...and the disk seemed to be hot...like the head was dragging. Then it refuses to even try to boot when I tried it again. I've destroyed at least 6 games (most fairly rare) and all but one of them (Wolfenstein) were Synapse games. Interestingly, the Synapse games that I have that have a different style label are OK. For example, Shamus I is fine, but Shamus II is damaged now...as with the other ones I have of that (newer?) label style. Wondering if they changed disk material or something. Now, the Infocom games and many others seem to work fine, but I'm still nervous with this thing. I don't want to mess anything else up, and I still have some disks to go through (including one or two Synapse games)... I'm not afraid to take it apart to clean the head or at least look at it to see what's going on. Can you guys give me some advice here? Should I just drop it and get a 1050? I understand that early 810s were wrought with problems...maybe that's what's going on. Or are these disks just shot, and the drive is staying on the same track trying to retrieve data, and further ruining it? I hope this wasn't too rambling, but I wanted to give you the whole story. This is all part of the hobby, but it really is a bummer :-/ Thanks in advance.... P.S. Damaged games from memory...could be a couple more :-( Protector Shamus Case II Fort Apocalypse Blue Max Necromancer Shadow World Castle Wolfenstein

Yeah the big thing is buyer/seller protection and how they handle all that...if at all. If it's purely a bank transfer with no protection at all you'd only want to use it for people you know at some level, as you've mentioned. I have BofA and I've had people pay me instantly from there BoA accounts, but once it's transferred it's transferred, so it may not be ideal for online purchases. Nice to have [cheaper] alternatives though.

You're focusing on using priority flat rate shipping which is the most expensive way to ship. IMO, it's only for heavy items or for convenience...outside of that it's a waste of money. Otherwise go for first class or parcel post. Or just ship it non-flat rate priority which is almost always cheaper. Atarigal is right on target. I can ship Sega Saturn games CIB in long boxes at just under 13 oz if I use a small and light box, so you should be fine, to... The USPS is doing a great job marketing their flat rate boxes and getting a lot of people to use it due to the convenience. It has its place, but I prefer not to pay for flat rate shipping when I buy or sell due to the cost. BTW....I didn't think the new fees on shipping were being charged until like June 16th.

Super cool and thumbs up for having a price!

Won't happen, unfortunately, since the original NES is a series of chips. There is no original "chip", but a bunch of chips that make an NES (video, audio, cpu, ram, etc) I'm curious. Are these revisions of the first model? Or are they the first version? (which would be rev 0, right?) Anyways, I have the first retron and it's a nice system. The beauty in this thing is that you can plug in real genesis, snes, and nes controllers in it and they work perfectly. The Nintendo side of it is actually pretty good. No Castlevania III, but other than that it does great. My only complaint on the NES side is that I have a hell of a time getting cartridges out of it. The SNES part is near perfect. The image has a grain or texture to it that's noticeable on my 47" LCD, but otherwise audio and video are great. The Genesis side is awesome since it supports S-video. Audio is a little funky but it's OK. I like it b/c I can take it somewhere and a few cartridges and not have to lug three consoles, power supplies, etc. Yes, I now have all three systems (again) but this is nice alternative and for $35 it's a steal. I think mine was $55 last September.

Kinda weird seeing my PMs posted here :-/ I guess PM stands for "Public Message" LOL Any of you guys have an idea why this Neo-Geo system would only work once the PSU warms up? I'm concerned that it might not just be a power supply issue. That would be great since that's an easy fix, but I sure as heck won't be tearing apart a Neo like I would my Atari 2600s :-) Yes, game library is limited with a TG-16, but even though I may pick up a Turbo Duo myself, I'm still keeping the American model of the TG-16. Just doesn't seem right to only have the import system :-) I personally picked up a flash cartridge for mine. Haven't used it yet, and it's not ideal, but it has its advantages :-) 7800Fan, just let me know. If you don't feel comfortable with the deal, don't go for it. I'm not going to push you into anything. I'll hold off for a nice deal if I need to. God knows I have enough games to play already :-/

Cool, not sure where that info is from but that's interesting. Well, I remember looking at it and wondering why it said 490/00 (thinking it was a dual part number or something). So it definitely looks like it's a PAL. I've actually seen other PAL things here recently, too. I know that anything that says DVB is a European satellite system. Thanks for the info :-)

OK, I changed the chiclet capacitor with a 100V .22 uF one from Radio Shack and I think it worked! It's been running for 45 min to an hour now and I haven't heard or seen anything unusual :-) I'm not gonna close this case quite yet, but I think that may have done it :-) Thanks for your help, guys! I probably would have started with the big 2000 uF capacitor if I had taken a wild guess. Also resoldered the custom power cable for my 7800 that my two-year-old yanked apart :-/ I'll let him slide since he loves my Ataris :-)

Thanks so much! This is helpful! I guess I have to unload this thing :-( I think most of them here were Magnavoxes...the 910 apparently was released here, though. I haven't actually seen one of these things since the early 90s when they were selling them as new. I just found a post from a guy in the UK wanting one (on the CD-I forums). Maybe I'll join and solicit him :-) It's fairly light so shipping may not be terrible...we'll see. Thanks!

Hey guys, I picked up a (bare) CD-I 490 today to play with. It seems to work, but I think it may be PAL! Three clues (in the order I discovered them) 1. Where the AC power cable goes in on the back it's labeled "Mains" We don't call it that in the states :-) 2. This site http://www.philipscdi.com/players.htm indicates that the CDI-910 was the first to be released in the US, and I'm guessing the 490 is an older system (that was released in Europe). 3. I realized that it's made in Belgium (odd) 4. When I hook it up, the screen rolls!!! We have a lot of European transplants here in Tampa. Maybe this thing was imported all the way here? So... If it'a PAL is there any 60 Hz hack? Or are there any Europeans who want this thing to take back to the homeland :-) Cool thing is that the console is very small and the CD drive opens/closes perfectly! Thanks for your help!

Yep, that's my plan. There is a guy in the UK that sells complete kits (and maybe even offers AA discounts IIRC). Not sure if I'll do that or try to piece together my own kits. I have one I bought and two others that the retro game place gave me (all with different issues), so maybe it would pay to just get an order from mouser, digikey, etc.

Ok, cool. I thought so, so I bought a two-pack of them at Radio Shack today :-) They're the .22 uF ones and were $1.50. Hopefully I can put them in tomorrow if I get some time... This will be my first ever capacitor replacement :-) Then I have an NES with the same wavy lines issue, a Genesis with no audio, a Sega CD Model 1 with laser issues, and a Game Gear with back light issues. Each of these may need cap replacements unfortunately.

I always use to say it looks like a huge thumbprint over the playfield. Yes that's exactly what it looks like :-) Well, I had thought I narrowed something down to an issue with the power switch since it seemed flaky, especially when the screen got wavy (it seemed super sensitive then). So I opened it up and cleaned nasty tan gunk off everything. I now get a solid picture for 15 minutes or more (used to give me problems in 2- 5 minutes) but then it gets funky again... I'll see if I can get the green capacitor at RS. I think it says 100V .22M and then there is an "F" a little bit lower. Is it a .22 microfarad cap? This thread suggests that those are in six-switch 2600s and that mine is a .1 uF 24 V, but this one is a 4-switch Vader... Any thoughts on this? I'm thinking it's really a .22 uF based on what's printed on it... http://www.atariage.com/forums/topic/62893-atari-2600-turning-bw/

OK, thanks. I'll take a look at that. One thing I've noticed is that the B/W picture I'm getting when it does this doesn't look the same as the "regular" B/W picture since it changes a little when I put the switch on B/W. Also the screen is full of wavy lines...like a moire effect. I don't have a pic yet, but I get this sort of thing all over the screen:

Cool! That sounds like a good idea! Maybe I'll try it tonight yet :-) OK, I checked voltage in and out of the 7805 and it was 10.2V and 5V before and during the funky black and white screen. I also checked the big 2200 uF capacitor. I turned off the console and found that the voltage across the cap went up to 15 V and stayed there for a minute or so and was solid. Then I turned the switch to the "on" position and the cap slowly drained down over the next 30 seconds. I'm not sure if what I did made any sense or not, though :-) The weird thing is that now it's taking much longer for the screen to go black and white...like 20 minutes whereas it was taking only a minute or two before. I'll play with it more tomorrow night...

Cool! That sounds like a good idea! Maybe I'll try it tonight yet :-)

Hey guys, This is my first "real" post, and as usual, its about an issue :-) I'm a member over at Sega-16 a but I own almost every retro console, and of course, it all started back in the early 80s with the 2600 :-) Anyways, I have an Atari 2600 that started doing this thing where after a couple of minutes I hear an "RF interference" sound and then I look over and the screen is black and white with some wavy lines on it. Restarting the Atari fixes it again, but only for a minute until it returns. I'm wondering if I have a bad capacitor in there. If so, are there any that I should focus on? Or do I just need to change all of them? Is this something you guys have seen? I have an NES that sort of does the same thing...thinking it's a bad cap too. Thanks!