lowlytech

I ended up taking the composite mod board off the double sided sticky tape and found some solder flakes under it. Cleaned that and reattached and also had one resistor that looked like it had a loose solder joint. After this the picture looks more normal, however still overly soft, but at least doesn't look like an acid trip.

Got around trying to finish up with this 2600 mod and when I first tested the mod it looked okay, when I put everything back together again I was getting very bad looking video. Thinking something was grounding out, etc. I took the system back apart and tested it again outside the RF shields, but it now always has this really bloomy overly sharp picture. The mod was a simple one transistor/2 resistor job that is on its own PCB. I have went over all my connections and I just don't know what else to check. Hoping someone would know an area I could concentrate on to maybe find this issue. Thanks

That UAV mod looks pretty slick and clean. I already ordered a composite mod unfortunately off ebay that uses the single transistor method. I guess that UAV will give you s-video? I like the idea of keeping rf, albeit inferior. The TV i plan to use is a sony trinitron with only composite and rf connectors. I will report back once i get the kit to confirm if the modulator was the fault.

Reseated all the ic's and cleaned the legs/sockets with deoxit except a203 which is not in a socket. You think this could be a bad RF modualtor? I don't mind doing the composite mod, but don't like the idea of not being able to go back to RF if i wanted to.

After messing with the connector that connects the switchboard to the motherboard several of the wire connections broke off on the motherboard end. Ended up using an old floppy cable from a pc to repair this. However this didn't change the behavior. I still get random horizontal bars, or a few times will get a green or red screen with bars. Not sure what happened as i had a good looking picture without sound a few times before. Seems like i can't get this machine to be consistent. Downloaded the service manual and will try to get some time to try a few additional things.

Yes, console 5 sent another cap to replace the chicklet cap and i installed it. I also managed to take the console apart and I test 10.5 volts DC on the incoming leg of the regulator and 5.00 on the out. Now I have pretty clean video and didn't do anything but take the console apart. However i have no sound and I highly suspect it is the wires connecting the two circuit boards together as I tap on those cables and the behavior changes with video. These cables are extremely stiff and as we speak i just get color bars or other random stuff now on the screen when i try a cart. I figure there is no ribbon cable upgrade available anymore? My plan is to reflow some points and see if that makes things more consistent.

I picked up a light sixer last month and the guy showed me it played a game before I took it home. The picture was full of snow and lines, but nontheless it did work and you could play the game. He also mentioned it would freeze after being on for 20 or so minutes, but I figured a new VR and caps would take care of these minor issues. So I got the refresh kit from console5 yesterday, installed all the caps, voltage regulator, along with the protection diodes, etc. Well now when I turn on the machine I am greeted with snow and static kinda like the RF isn't hooked up at all, it occasionally will get to be a darker type of snow and you can see some variation when power is toggled on and off, but for the most part it appears dead. I tried channel 3 and 4 with no change. I tested my crt tv and switchbox with my 7800 unit and it works well, so I can safely say I did something to the 2600 during the refresh. I will get it opened back up and check the voltages at the regulator, any other suggestions on what to look for? Thanks again for the help.

Thanks cbmeeks, I appreciate it. Hope yours is the same revision as this one.

This sounds goofy I know but I wanted to check with you guys first. I have a C128 power supply that I don't have any history on other than it sat for 20 years in a halfway torn down house exposed to some pretty nasty stuff. I opened it up and pulled all the boards out to give it a good clean, also replaced the 2A fuse since it was blown. Tested it and the 5 and 9 volts seems pretty good under no load now. So I was going to put it back together again, and low and behold the fuse PCB just seems to not have a home. I can't believe that would just float around in there, I didn't take pictures before I tore into it last week unfortunately and google searching for an image turns up a majority of power supplies that don't look like this one. Anyone know the proper way this needs to be reassembled or is this it? Thanks...