dphirschler

Thanks for doing these. They are amazing! Darryl

I will buy one if you make it again. I always wanted one. Darryl

I prefer Asteroids over RnS. I like the smaller small rocks. That being said, RnS is amazing! And if Asteroids had never happened for the Vectrex, I would've been completely satisfied. Thomas is clearly a diehard Asteroids fan. Darryl PS. I wish EVERYBODY could have a VecFever. It saddens me that so many people crave it and can't have it. I hope one day there are enough for everybody.

Freakin' brilliant mod. Nicely done!

Have you considered making another run? Darryl

Update. I've been sending in regular updates on the FB page, but I feel like it should be documented here. So here are the highlights: I've replaced the five large caps on the power board (C513, C109, C117, C118, C119), including the one pictured above. Still the same problem. I checked EP105-104 and EP105-106 and I am getting 10.4 VAC instead of 8.6. But it matches up the same with my working Vectrex. I am guessing 10.4 VAC is the US version and 8.6 VAC is for EU version? Can somebody verify this? I removed and re-seated the 4066 IC then the screen came alive! See photos. The vectors are still messed up. Either I get a dot with hairs or some messed up geometry. It's never the same thing twice. If I turn it on and get no vectors, no amount of waiting will make them appear. But if I switch it off and back on again, I may see vectors... although messed up. And then If I do it again, I may see vectors that are fairly normal, but too bright... or is it faint? I see the dot in the middle and spiderwebs, but if I turn brightness down to make the dot disappear, everything else goes away too. So I guess too faint. I then swapped out some of the IC chips (IC301, IC302, IC208) and have good reason to believe they are all good. Somebody on the forum suggested that I check the RAM. I cannot swap it out because it is soldered in working Vectrex. But after thinking about it, I reasoned that the RAM must be good. After all, the game plays fine blind. Even when the vectors are partially working or not working at all, I hear sound and it responds to the controller. Furthermore, I have good reason to believe that the MC1408-P8 DAC (IC301), 4052B CMOS MUX (IC302), and AY-3-8912 (IC208) are good, since I was able to swap them out with a working Vectrex. Could the two op amps (IC303 and IC304) be bad? Maybe. The unit produces vectors sometimes, but they seem weak and distorted most of the time. But BOTH op amps? Could the 4066B BI switch (IC305) be bad? Maybe, but it's not behaving consistently. I'd feel more sure if it did the same thing all the time. I cannot swap it out with my working Vectrex because it is soldered in. With all this in mind and looking at the schematic, the integrator caps come into question. I know caps are prone to going bad, but ALL of them? I ordered a set of integrator caps from Console5. I should get them Tuesday. Darryl

Here is the bad cap.

The Vectrex buzz came back. I originally thought it was because I cleaned a connector, but I think it just comes and goes. The diodes tested good. The power levels at various places on the board tested good. I just went down the list in the troubleshooting guide. Eventually, as I was looking for test points for the 9v power, I discovered some corrosion on a solder point. Close examination revealed a bad cap. I identified the bad cap as C513 (on the power board). I've ordered a cap kit from Console5. In the meantime, I need to clean the stuff off the board that leaked out of the capacitor. I suspect the two smaller caps above it are also bad. Depending on what's included in the cap kit, I'll replace what I can. Darryl

Help me troubleshoot this Vectrex. It plays blind. I hear sound, the controls work. I do not hear the tale tell buzz of the Vectrex or the crackle when I turn the volume knob. But I can adjust the colume. And I do see neck glow through the top vent holes. I should mention that when I turn the brightness pot, I feel like the board it is attached to is loose. Although the pot itself seems securely mounted to the board. The Vectrex is very clean! It looks and feels brand new. So I doubt it was the subject of any abuse. I haven't taken it apart yet. But I thought I would get some advice from the experts first. Darryl

Thanks to my good friend Robert, I was able to obtain and scan an original 1977 Atari 2600 owner's manual. This is the one that originally shipped with the heavy sixer and has no mention of a channel selector switch. It was in pretty rough shape. There was writing on one page and I think somebody used it as a coaster at one point. So I had to do some restoration work. Here are some raw scans (reduced) to show what I had to work with. For some strange reason, this particular manual was not available online anywhere! So here it is now for all to enjoy! Atari 1977 Owner's Manual_200dpi.pdf Darryl

I will buy some clear shells when they become available. Darryl

Found it! It's low resolution, but good enough to read. Darryl

It's unlikely the mainboard is bad. Maybe dirty sockets?

Very clean! Nice work.

Can somebody please post a scan of the Barnstorming letter? I just earned the patch today. Man! That was tough. Darryl

Thank! I see it now. I am blind. Darryl

I'm gonna go for it too, but I have to collect some parts first. Looks promising! Darryl

What mod. I haven't seen anyone suggest a mod yet. Are you talking about re-flowing the solder? Darryl

BTW, here is the link to my AV mod issue. http://atariage.com/forums/topic/265301-composite-video-mod-whats-wrong/ Darryl

Hey! You don't need a TIA after all! Congrats! I always thought that pot was for color saturation. But you give me hope! I will play with that now after I switch back to the original resistor values. I notice you have similar ghosting that I encountered. I wonder what causes that? My console is a 4 switch NTSC model, BTW. Darryl

I have one of those too. My others did not work; this one does. FWIW, I did fix one of the other ones by using the best parts of both. See in the CX10 Disassembled thread. Darryl

Forgot about the composite mod. I am struggling getting a good picture on a composite mod as well. Look up my thread. Someone suggested some different resistor values and it helped but didn't solve it. Darryl

I am not an Atari historian, but I have read that the heavy sixer was only produced for one year starting in 1977. So it stands to reason that a good many of them were produced in 1978... especially if they started making them in September. Darryl

Did that giant heatsink (on the 7805) come on your unit? I love that! Also check the coax cable. Darryl

I hear good things about Bryan's UAV mod. But I haven't installed mine yet. Darryl