dabone

Make a offer.

I just picked up one of these today, It's a standard 800xl with Cart, Dongle, remote control (that plugs into the joystick port), and some software on disk with manual. Mine is dated 08/24/84 SN#80030. I'm new at atari 8 bits, I'm mainly a Commodore and PC guy, anyone want to grab and archive these from me?

I found this trouble shooting guide, maybe it will help. http://www.playvectrex.com/shoptalk/vtghtml_f.htm Good luck.

Yeah, I'm not complaining about the support offered, but the hint of "I would guess an IC somewhere in the Veccy is responsible" isn't exactly a troubleshooting guide. I was wondering if anyone had done a list/fix for issues. I've been spoiled working on commodore computers with great lists like the following. http://personalpages.tds.net/~rcarlsen/cbm/c64/c64-ic.txt And it would help the next person to come along. I actually don't own a vectrex, I'm repairing one for an old friend.

It had a single horizontal line, with moving graphics and sounds for the game, I found this old old post. http://rec.games.vectrex.narkive.com/JCFdNpMA/replacment-for-ic401 "You can also get a slightly different display if only the Y-axis side of the LM379 has failed. In this case you still get normal sound. The display will show a single raster line centered vertically on the screen. In other words you will only see a single line reaching from the right to left side of the screen. Typically this line will have 'dancing dots' on it as objects are being drawn to the screen. You get this display instead of the blank picture as before due to the deflection detection circuits that enable J-FET's 401 and 402 are only taking their sense signal from the horizontal deflection. " So, I ordered a nos lm379s from ebay along with a cap kit, and got a different scrambled display on half the screen. The cap kit did NOT come with the Integrator Cap Kit, and I just decided what the hell and gave it a try, and it brought back full screen decent video. So from single flat line, and the spot killer not working. (If that's what it's called on the vectrex, I'm an old arcade monitor guy) to working by replacing the LM379S (The actual chip driving the gun) , and all the caps. Still waiting for a multi cart to arrive, so I can fine tune in the unit with my scope, But I was surprised with the lack of response for the issues. Here's original thread. http://atariage.com/forums/topic/275976-vectrex-hardware-repair-question/

I have been working on a unit, and have asked help in this forum about 2 distinct errors, but no one here had answers. I did eventually find enough information to fix one on a old newsgroup post, and took a guess at the second and got it repaired also. Is there a break/fix guide to the console, listing symptoms and common fixes? I'd like to read one if there is, and add my own repair issue to it. Later, dabone

Ok, I was chasing the wrong thing with the ground issue. Didn't realize that that section used a different voltage. I found this on the web... So, I ordered a nos lm379s from ebay along with a cap kit, replaced both, and now I have this display instead of the single flat line. Any thoughts? I'm wondering if the lm379 I got was wrong. Thanks.

Yes, movement on the line, and sound. Just missing ground on part of the main board.

I'm working on a unit with a single horizontal line, and checking voltages, I have no ground on the CD4066 @ IC305 and the MC34004 @ IC303. Any suggestions to start with? Thanks. Later, dabone

Price?

Ok, after many many attempts, I have finally found out how to do the following. 1. Get a dos image that boots on my sio2sd. 2. Edit the disk image using Atari 8-bit Disk Utility, and finally seeing that it defaults to saving a compressed atr.. (This is what took forever, same atr extension, but compressed and not usable on the sio2sd) 3. Getting past the remove cart message from ant. (Could you just say on that screen, on XL machines, hold option when rebooting to disable basic??) 4. Finally getting the os patched. Shift - Reset works great. The board seems to work fine with this config, it seems to me that the major issues I ran into just getting the flash done is a lack of a good wiki on working with disk image and what programs are available. Thank you Simius for your work and product, it does look great and was very easy to install. You might want to list in your doc page about the long cycle to clear ram. Later, dabone

Ok, trying tonight, and being an atari newbie, I need some help. My equipment consists of 1 130xe, and a sio2sd device. I've got Mypicodos images with games loaded in drives 1 thru 4, and a disk image containing the ant program and rom in slot 5, So I boot off disk1 into the menu, then hit 5 to select disk 5 and then run ant. Within ant I press F to go to the rom flasher menu, then select L to load, the O for OS, and it returns with the error D:*.* Error 130 Press Any Key Pointers please. Thanks.

So, I'll give this a try this weekend, I just need to flash the patched file into the default slot correct?

Well this makes it a pain to use in a gaming computer. Mine is a 130xe with a sio2sd loaded with games, I just wanted the ram expander to play with bigger demos and games, Kinda ruins the mood having to wait a random amount of time before I can turn the machine back on to play a different game. Anyone one here want to buy my ram board? Shipping from zip 37415.

Hey Simius, is it normal for the ram not to be cleared on a cold boot, or have I done something wrong?

Is anyone else having my issue of the ram not clearing with a power cycle?

Ok, I got mine installed this evening, setup as a rambo xl. And the only problem I'm seeing is it takes a long time for ram to clear after power off. Like over a minute. So I load a game, turn off the power, wait 5 or so and turn it back on, the game is still there. Wait a little longer, and machine has garbage as the ram is partially cleared, etc. Later, dabone

Ok, so mine arrived this week, just a board and a cable in a box. No docs, no links to an install guide or software. I'm new to the world of atari's, growing up as a Commodore user, so I don't have the chips memorized when people in the thread are talking about sally and the mmu. My Atari collection consists of the 1 130xe I'm installing this in, and I guess I need to pull out the CO14806 , and the CO661618? And on the new board , which is pin 1 for the cable? Thanks. Later, dabone

I've got a ROM1 GS with 4mb ram,a CFFA3000 card, and I also have a asante localtalk to ethernet bridge plugged into the printer port. Both work alone, (I can network boot using the a2server.) What I'd like to know is it possible to use localtalk on a rom1 and the cffa? Is there any support for tcp over these adapters? And telnet or web browsers that support it? I'd just like to see if I can get this thing on the web. Later, dabone

Mine is for the 130xe. Later, dabone

So when can we send you some money? Later, dabone

And, the cart came in the mail today. And didn't work at first. But after plugging and unplugging a few times, it all seems to be working fine. Joystick interface tomorrow! Later, dabone

I ordered one of Ksarul's 2048 carts. I forgot, now I need to build my atari joystick interface. I should have all the parts for that laying around. Later, dabone

Ok, 32k 8 bit memory upgrade installed, but I'm currently unable to test it. (I have nothing but the machine, no carts, nothing....) Just on a side note, it works alot better if you mount the 7421 to the CORRECT 74138.... Doh!. Now awaiting my multicart. Later, dabone

1 For me please.. Later, dabone