dphirschler

Concerning the RF Modulator mod... I just discovered the connector easily come apart if you slide the rubber cover off. I desoldered the original connections and soldered in an A/V cable (Red and White=audio, Yellow=video). It looks profesh after I put it all together! Darryl

Joysticks that don't work right I had a joystick that would not go up. And it was not the Alpha-lock key. I described my problem here in this thread (http://atariage.com/forums/topic/230818-joystick-horror-story-with-a-happy-ending/). The solution is to clean the contacts on the flexible circuit board inside the joystick. I used 90% isoprohyl alcohol. Take care not to "clean" the silver pads painted inside the TI joystick. If you do, it will just rub away like a scratch-off lottery ticket. But even that can be saved by either painting it again with conductive paint, or applying a small square of conductive tape. Darryl

Bad (currupt/garbled) video When I first dug my TI's out of the basement and blew the dust off them, I powered up my beautiful beige console and the screen looked garbled, like this. I asked the folks here and they quickly identified bad VDP RAM as the culprit (http://atariage.com/forums/topic/228756-diagnose-this-sick-ti/?p=3053085). 1) Modify my console by installing an F18A board. The F18A is a snap-in replacement to the 9918A video processor which gives VGA output from the TI. This board uses its own VDP RAM (baypassing the bad VDP RAM on the motherboard). The TMS 9918A chip is socketed, so it literally is a snap-in mod. The more difficult part of the mod is cutting a hole in your console casing to make a spot for the VGA connector. There are some photos of other people's case mods for the VGA connector here http://atariage.com/forums/topic/228626-who-has-vga-out-on-their-console/. 2) Identify and replace the defective VDP RAM chip(s). It seems the easiest way to identify the bad one is to stack a good one on top of the supposed bad one, making sure all pins make good contact, and look for the video to improve. The technique was mentioned in the first thread above (diagnose-this-sick-ti). There was one other thread which described how to possibly identify a bad VDP chip out of circuit (http://atariage.com/forums/topic/229064-testing-4116-ram-chips-out-of-circuit/). I went with solution 1, and am happy about it. The TI never looked better than on this VGA screen. Darryl

Here's a keyboard overlay strip I don't remember seeing. Sorry for the poor quality. Not sure what software it goes to. Any clues? Darryl

Yes! Thanks! Darryl

No sound from the console One day my otherwise good console stopped producing sound. Two possible solutions were presented to me here on this forum (http://atariage.com/forums/topic/231542-no-sound-from-ti-console/). 1) Replace the sound chip, which might have gone bad. This solution fixed my issue. I just happened to have another TI motherboard which was bad. It powered on with an angry sound and glitchy video. The angry sound was enough to tell me that at least the sound chip worked. I swapped it out and my silent TI was again producing sound. It was an easy fix as the sound chip is in a socket. What I should have done before swapping the sound chip was to test speech. I am not certain, but I believe speech would have worked even with a bad sound chip. Am I correct? It would be an additional useful diagnostic step. PM me if you know the answer and I will correct this post. 2) Re-solder the back A/V connector which might have come loose through years of plugging/unplugging. One user reported that this was the problem and simply re-soldering the connection fixed it. The sound chip is highlighted in blue in the following picture. The audio/video is shown in the upper left corner. Darryl

The problem is (and I should have probably noticed before I soldered it in) that there isn't enough vertical clearance for the socket. grr! OLD_CS1, does yours fit in the closed shell? I'd just like to know for sure before I order one from Mouser. Darryl

Oh, that's good to know. Darryl

Well, what do you know? I replaced the sound chip and now I have sound! Simple fix. Good thing I had a trashed motherboard (with at least a good sound chip). Thanks everyone. Darryl

Well, the coin battery socket (from a CMOS battery in a PC) is too small. It's 20mm. The one in the Mini Memory cart is easily 24mm or more. So I don't think this is an equivalent replacement. Darryl

The three A?27C040 EPROM chips I gave to my friend programmed on his burner just fine. Not sure where that leaves me, but at least I can burn them at his house.

Just found a coin battery socket I can scavenge from an old PC motherboard. I don't know why it just now occurred to me to look for it there. I've been scavenging parts from this board for about a year. I'll let you all know how the surgery goes...

I played some games with it too. It worked just fine, and then one day it was silent. I do have another sound ship. Desoldering it will be the trick..

I don't want the battery external. And the mainbyte site only tells you how to solder a new one in, not a socket. Doesn't even tell you the size of the battery. This is below mainbyte's usual standard of thoroughness. Darryl

I want to replace my old battery in the Mini Memory cart with a socketed battery. Before I open my cart and measure it, can one if you tell me the dimensions of the battery socket I need? Hoping it's 20mm as I have a new battery here ready to go. Darryl

I have a black console that suddenly stopped outputting sound. Any recommendations how to proceed with repairs. OLD_CS1, this is your old console that you had done some work on trying to get s-video working. Not saying your work caused this, but maybe you'll have some special insight. Darryl

On the subject of EPROM UV erasers, I found this nice project. Built an eraser into an old toolbox. http://dcroy.blogspot.com/2010/10/huge-eprom-eraser.html

It looks like not all yours are bad. If I can get my vram chips desoldered (they are quite difficult to remove), I will sell you a set. One of them is bad, but I believe the other 7 are good. I had the same issue with my TI and the F18A made those vram chips unnecessary. Darryl

In order to spur some movement in thus area, I thought I'd start a topic to collect nanoPEB/CF7+ case ideas. I have two drawings u want to share and discuss. Darryl

Wow!! Looks fantastic! I love the TI logo in the level. Nice touch. The yellow Arkanoid logo on the purple label (and red label) with the new style look awesome. I also prefer the yellow logo on the manual too. Really nice work. One of my favorite games for sure! Can't wait to see a playable prototype. Darryl

I'd personally like to see: - a "supercart" that takes an sdcard loaded with cartroms. - an in-console realtime clock. - a casing for the nanoPEB (or in-console mod kit). - and of course, I am still waiting for the ps2/AT keyboard mod. Darryl

If Arkanoid is seriously in development, I hope special consideration is given to the MBX analog joystick. Or even a mouse or special paddle control. Darryl

Qix Also... my list of games I think could be ported to the TI: Soccer Physics (IOS) Jetpack Joyride (IOS and Android) Yar’s Revenge (Atari 2600) Pokemon (Nintendo) Star Castle (Arcade) ExciteBike (Nintendo) Crazy Climber (Arcade) Arkanoid (Arcade) Dr. Mario (SNES?) Tetris (PC?) Zombies Ate My Neighbors (SNES) Prince of Persia (PC)

OK. I had to sit on this for a while. I was confused by what looked like conflicting responses. What I think I understand is that the chip WILL work for me, just not with the 512K image. Seems this chip has a maximum capacity of 64K. Is that correct?

Any side effects of using that 5V powerline to the nanoPEB? Does the switch still work? I am going to do the mod. Darryl