Smoke Monster

I'm a huge fan of Kev and especially his FPGA core work. I think it's the most important preservation project in gaming, which is why I've tried to support the cores with my packs. I don't own an NT Mini though, so I can't test myself. I would greatly appreciate any packs of proper roms that anyone could send me. I'll credit the submitter and source as always. Also if you notice any problems in other packs that I maintain, just let me know and I'll get them squared away.

I just heard about these for the first time in VectrexRoli's latest video. I'd definitely be in for a kit if they go back into production.

KylJoy has generously offered to look at it for me. I'm stoked about the possibility of having a working Vectrex again, and appreciate the help here. Cheers!

Are there any Vectrex experts offering repair services in the US? I will be back in the states in June and would like to have my Vectrex fixed then. Here is a thread with some details about my Vectrex's issues, and below are some pictures of the problem:

I haven't had time to do anything with the Vectrex since my initial post and right now my Vec is boxed up while I prep for a move next month. I don't have scope or second Vec to compare with unfortunately. I'll post back when I have a get a chance to work on it. I appreciate all of the help

Yes, I'm 100% sure the caps are perfect. I probed every cap about a dozen times when I was diagnosing the original problem. After the recap and having removed the intermittent short, it ran like-new and I was using it for a couple of hours every day with my VecMulti before the AV incident. I did a full recap including those under the heatsink, which I moved to the back of the board. I used console5's cap kit, and I also replaced the polystyrene integrator caps with C5's film integrator caps.

Thanks for all of the suggestions. I haven't had a chance to work on it yet, but I will look in to everything suggested. More info on my Vectrex: I did a full recap and afterwards experienced problems due to an intermittent short. After fixing this, the Vec ran perfectly for a week until the first time I started it with the Atarivox attached, which why I originally looked to it as the cause.

Yes, I have it temporarily insulated right now with a thick piece of plastic and I have the parts coming to do it right. The squealing sound completely went away after insulating the voltage regulator, and now I'm working on a different problem that came up. Hopefully it's just a convergence issue.

Will do. Thanks!

I recently recapped it and it's been running perfectly for the past week. I've been using it for an hour or so per day. I started it with the Atarivox plugged in and it hasn't worked since. I'm sure this has something to do with my console in particular, since the Atarivox+ is widely used and no one has mentioned it causing any problems. If it somehow caused my convergence to be misaligned, would what I'm seeing on screen make sense?

I plugged in an Atarivox+ in VecVoice mode today for the first time and it killed my Vectrex. I'm just getting severely scrambled graphics now. Audio is fine and it seems to be playing games correctly behind the scrambled video. Any ideas on what might have happened?

Impressive work. The visuals and audio are excellent.

Thanks for the info. Now that I know what they're called, I can order a replacement. I'll also coat it in non-conductive thermal grease (AS Ceramique) as per your suggestion. Also, I have a bag of 1N4005 diodes on hand and am up for installing one as an experiment as long as it's safe. Is there any chance that installing it could cause any harm?

I was finally able to fix the Vectrex today. Of all things, it was a short between one of the voltage regulators and the big heat sink. I added an extra piece of plastic to separate them (thickening the stock piece) and it fired right up. Thank you to everyone for the support and for keeping me optimistic about fixing it

Great work on the controller tool MantaNZ. This will be my go-to controller test program from now on

Awesome videos as always Jibbajaba. Your work is always fresh and inspiring.

Sorry to double-post, but I can't edit my last post. Rolo, I forgot to ask you if there is any benefit to installing an ln4005 diode at D503? I have a pack of them on hand since I ordered them before we figured out that it's not actually there. If so, do I need to remove one or both of those J1 & J2 jumper wires? I know that I have bigger problems to solve right now, but I am curious about this too

I suspect that this is caused by something that I've done wrong in the recap, but I've gone over the boards a hundred times looking and probing for problems and so far I've come up short. Yes, the transistor was good after all. I will try your suggestion to isolate T502 6 and/or 7 next and report back.

Thank you for providing me with those readings. They gave me some momentary hope, since mine matched yours. So today I put a new fuse in and powered it on. The Vectrex booted to the startup screen for about a second, but then the screen went black and the fuse blew again.

Thanks again for your help, it's giving me the optimism to get this thing running. All of this is beyond my experience and the guidance is much appreciated. I just went to test D503 and it's not populated on my PCB. I've attached a picture below. I could order an 1N4005 and install it there if it will help. C505 and C506 aren't shorted and look good. On a properly working Vectrex, should the three points of Q502 have be shorted, or does that indicate a problem as I was assuming? I haven't plugged it in to test again since the fuse blew on Monday.

Thanks for the help. It's hard to test anything right now, since most all of the positive and negative points on the board show continuity due to the (probably) blown transformer. I've looked over the board a hundred times now, and will next remove the flyback transformer to make sure it's the cause. Hopefully I can then find someone to repair or rewind it.

I'm afraid that your hunch is probably right. I removed the transistor last night and those three points on the power board all still have continuity, which I believe means that something else must have blown. Once removed, the transistor doesn't bridge its three pins, which probably means that the flyback transformer is the cause I imagine. Is the flyback a repairable part? It seems like that would pretty much put me at a dead end otherwise. At this point, I'll either have to give up or send it along to someone who can repair it. If you have a good recommendation, please PM me.

I may have found the source of the problem. When I was testing yesterday the fuse blew out of nowhere. Looking for shorts, I found that all three legs of the BU407D (Q502) transistor have continuity, and it looks discolored in one corner as you can see in the picture below. I've already ordered a replacement. The BU704D drives the flyback transformer, so is it possible that this is the root of the Vectrex's problems?

Thank you for the excellent explanation Rolo. I think that you're right about the sound being caused by vibrations. The squeal changes pitch and amplitude depending on the game that's being played, for example the Cantina Band demo doesn't cause any squeal but Spike makes it sing so loud that it causes the screen to freak out (zooms in/out and dims). If there is nothing that I can do to repair the transformer, then I must look in to replacing it.

Please PM me if you have a Vectrex flyback transformer for sale. I'm in the US.