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zborgerd

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Posts posted by zborgerd

  1. Posted

    Thanks for the pictures and write-up. I was looking everywhere for info on this. I was going to tear mine down but I don't have any originals (only Hyperkin GN6) to compare them to. These feel much better. Shorter button throw and a better d-pad than my other third party 6 button controllers. So glad that classic gaming just keeps getting better and lives on. Now, to find one for the Saturn.

    • Like 1

  2. Posted

    If you find that the switch is not bad, you may want to look into replacing the RIOT chip. I had weird problems with my game select switch causing strange things to happen. Occasionally I had weird colors but most often it caused games to lockup.

     

    http://atariage.com/forums/topic/218031-6-switch-tele-games-game-select-crash/

     

    If you think it's just a switch, Best Electronics actually has replacement switches. Be aware that they have a pretty large minimum credit card order.

  3. Posted · Edited by zborgerd

    I love Mark's reviews and this game looks simply awesome -- yet another AA homebrew I must have.

     

     

    This makes me want to visit the intergalactic space arcade. I don't care that it is really just a warehouse somewhere outside of Pittsburgh -- as long as I get a ride in the El Camino and get to meet Stella the Wonder Dog.

     

     

    And crack open a few beers while eating a "Lord Karnage Sandwich". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghp9ztA3nxQ

     

    Then play some Truxton, MUSHA, and Juno First!

  4. Posted

    I can highly recommend the Best paddles with 'super pots' for anyone looking for paddles for your 2600: http://www.best-electronics-ca.com/cx30_paddle.htm

     

    I hate to dig up an old thread, but figured that someone else should offer an opinion on this. I also just repaired a set of paddles with Best's "Super Pots". They really seem to work great. I like the resistance that they provide and they are almost a perfect drop-in replacement for the original. The center is just slightly smaller, so they suggest wrapping the pot with a small amount of tape to fill the gap in the plastic.

  6. Posted

    Sure enough, replacing the RIOT resolved my problems. I was surprised to see that there were actually DIP sockets in this thing. Maybe that was typical for the 6-swtich units (I've seen a few other photos online that show this)? I was expecting to install DIP sockets for easy future replacement.

     

    I was also surprised to see that the ICs appear to have been sourced from different companies (maybe not, since MOS licensed out 6502/7 and similar chips to everyone under the sun). The bad one in question here was a Rockwell chip.

     

    While I had it opened, I also replaced the .22 uF capacitors to stabilize the incoming voltage, and this alleviated the weaker video when pressing the game select switch. I'm going to perform a similar repair on my 4-switch vader.

     

    Thanks to everyone for all of the good info here!

  8. Posted

    A shout out and thanks to this and other AtariAge threads discussing this issue. I wanted to add my experience.

     

    My heavy sixer would start to get a fuzzy picture after playing for a while. Recently, the picture was always fuzzy, lots of noise on the screen as if the connection was bad. I found that unplugging the 2600 would reset the picture, but it would slowly go fuzzy again until unplugged. I found this thread and decided to replace the 7805 chip and the two green chicklet capacitors.

     

    Radio Shack no longer carries the .22ufd 100V capacitors in their stores, but you can order online. You can still get the 7805 chips in the store, but their prices are a little high. So I ordered from http://www.jameco.com . I have used them before to order RAM chips for my stand-up Joust arcade machine. While cheap, it is important to note that they charge a $5.00 fee if your order is less than $10.00, so you have to factor that in to your pricing decision.

     

    Replaced the parts with a little soldering, and the picture is nice and clear now. Below are the parts from jameco:

     

    Part#786138 Description: IC,LM7805CT.,TO-220/3, 5V 1A Price .45

    Part#26972 Description:CAP,MYLAR,.22uF,100V,10% Price: .29

     

     

    A capacitor kit is a good way to have a supply of a variety of caps if you are trying to have stuff on-hand for electronics repairs. Elenco has a 100 piece cap kit, for $10-$14 depending upon who you buy it from. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004YHZDW0 . It's good if you have to add items to an Amazon order to make a super saver shipping minimum.

     

    The kit has a bag containing 5 pieces of .22 uF mylar @ 5% tolerance. The electrolytics appear to be "Qunlo" brand. I cannot attest to their long-term quality, but they seem fine.. If I buy electrolytics, I normally prefer brands like Panasonic and Nichicon. I'm not too worried about ceramic chip and mylar caps though.

     

    There are other kits out there as well, such as this: http://www.amazon.com/Joe-Knows-Electronics-Value-Capacitor/dp/B007SVHFXO/

  10. Posted

    I'd say your assumption that the RIOT is bad... But double Check to see if the line for the switch isn't shorting out an address or Data line.

     

    Thanks for the response. I also emailed Best Electronics with the details above and they responded that the RIOT is probably the first thing to check as well. I'm probably going to order a few of the various chips for future projects anyway. Might be a fun project to restore this one.

  11. Posted · Edited by zborgerd

    Hello all.

     

    I just picked up a 6-Switch Tele-games that works well, with one exception. The "Game Select" switch causes the console to freeze, or crash, when pressed. I've also observed the game mode increment repeatedly on at least two situations when pressed, but it's hard to replicate. Generally, the CPU just bombs and the image becomes distorted or black. In some games, it appears to continue to run the program but in a glitched state - never actually changing the game mode.

     

    There was another post about the subject where someone had the never-ending mode increment problem, and I think that it was suggested to clean the switches. I've tried that, but it doesn't seem to help.

     

    Looking at the schematics, the switches are pretty simple. Just seems to pull the pin on the RIOT to the common when the switch is closed.

     

    Anyone seen this behavior before? Maybe a bad RIOT or problem between the address or data lines on the 6507? Maybe RAM? I've checked the traces and everything appears to be in good order with no physical damage. Initial observations would tell me that something is writing bad data to the RAM or the RAM is just defective. But games seem to run fine as long as the game select switch is never pressed.

     

    This Tele-games is unusual, in the respect that it appears to physically be a light-sixer shell, made in Sunnyvale, but everything on the PCB appears to make it a heavy-sixer; from the heatsink on the VREG, to the missing channel select switch, to the ribbon cable. I can see no obvious signs that it's ever been serviced or opened previously.

     

    Thanks!

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