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First gen INTV: games won't start up


S1500

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So I bought a 1st gen Intelly for $15 at an estate sale. I cleaned up some parts here & there(the plastics), but it won't go past the title screen. Cleaned up the controllers looking for something obviously bad, but no go.

 

I did a google search on repairing Intellies, but wow. Why in the year 2011 are we still using ascii graphics & no actual photos of what to look for? It's like trying to coach brain surgery over the phone.

 

Any quick diags I can do to see if the controllers are fried, or something else I can do to get past the title screen? I picked up a handful of games, and all but 1 stick at the title screen.

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Did you have several carts and happens the same? I have that similar problem that can be solve with a deep clean. not with alcohol, somthing more powerfull would be better.

 

And what would a more powerful solution(pun intended) be? That RF shield covering doesn't look fun to desolder.

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Did you have several carts and happens the same? I have that similar problem that can be solve with a deep clean. not with alcohol, somthing more powerfull would be better.

 

And what would a more powerful solution(pun intended) be? That RF shield covering doesn't look fun to desolder.

 

Well, I mean cleaning the cart port and the cart itself.

 

I use an Ink erasor to clean the contacts until are shining. For the port, I use spary oil (for loosing bolts and stuff) and the clean with a cardboard with the wide and thick of a cart, insert it several times and several cardboards until is relesed clean (like toilet paper :D)

 

It work for me very well so far, Once i clean an intv is ok if i don´t insert a dirty cart.

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I tried cutting an Xbox 360 points car to the width of the connector, wrapped a paper towel around it, soaked that in alcohol & jammed 'er in there for the cart connector. Still stuck on the title screen. But I shall try thine cardboard method. Of course, these intelly cart's aren't exactly easy to clean the connectors. The 5200's even worse as they are totally protected!

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If you've tried multiple games, and if all of the games get to the title screen but none of them can get past it, I'd suspect a problem with the controllers, since the games generally won't start without controller input. Did you open the controllers when you cleaned them? If so, I'd open them up again to make sure that the membrane inside is properly aligned with the cable contacts. You might want to open them up anyway to check for dirty contacts or for cracks in the membrane. Beyond that, I'd check for any obvious cuts or breaks in the cable, and as a last resort, opening the console to make sure the cables are firmly plugged in.

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If you've tried multiple games, and if all of the games get to the title screen but none of them can get past it, I'd suspect a problem with the controllers, since the games generally won't start without controller input. Did you open the controllers when you cleaned them? If so, I'd open them up again to make sure that the membrane inside is properly aligned with the cable contacts. You might want to open them up anyway to check for dirty contacts or for cracks in the membrane. Beyond that, I'd check for any obvious cuts or breaks in the cable, and as a last resort, opening the console to make sure the cables are firmly plugged in.

 

I did open up the controllers(even took pix) & cleaned them such. Even checked them out for anything glaringly wrong. Of course, I'm zero for zero on repairing controllers with numeric keypads(5200 & ColecoVision). I noticed things look a bit burnt around the ring-shaped circuits on both controllers.

 

When I first bought this thing, the cube-shaped nibbers around the controller cables were improperly on the outside of the console, when they should have been inside(I assume), to keep you from yanking out the cord too much.

 

I'll post pics later.

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I just recently bought a first gen intellivision that came with 8 games for $30. I'm having the same problem as described here. All of the games wont go past the title screen. The person offered to buy it back from me if I couldnt get it fixed luckily.

 

I'm in the process of cleaning the console out now. I even switched the P1 controller with P2 to see if there was a bad controller and no dice. I'm interested to see where things will go.. If/when you find the solution, be sure to post it in here ok? lol

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Some updates:

 

I partially took apart the controller just so I could get at that bug-like contact set & manually ran metal over it to conduct things. That still didn't work! For a brief 5 seconds though, I was able to fire the guns on Mission X.

 

It seems that partially unscrewing the screws on the controllers did more to interact with the console than playing with the contacts. Why oh why?

 

The Dungeons & Dragons game now actually gets to the title screen. It even shows the map, but of course I can't get any farther. Wonder if all the action of inserting/removing cartridges actually cleaned it out a bit.

 

My next step is to take an eraser to all the contacts on the numeric pad & d-pad to see if that does the trick. That, and erase-clean the white rectangular pad that touches the bug-like contact set. Not going to give up so easily.

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Some updates:

 

I partially took apart the controller just so I could get at that bug-like contact set & manually ran metal over it to conduct things. That still didn't work! For a brief 5 seconds though, I was able to fire the guns on Mission X.

 

It seems that partially unscrewing the screws on the controllers did more to interact with the console than playing with the contacts. Why oh why?

 

The Dungeons & Dragons game now actually gets to the title screen. It even shows the map, but of course I can't get any farther. Wonder if all the action of inserting/removing cartridges actually cleaned it out a bit.

 

My next step is to take an eraser to all the contacts on the numeric pad & d-pad to see if that does the trick. That, and erase-clean the white rectangular pad that touches the bug-like contact set. Not going to give up so easily.

 

You may need this:

 

My link

 

Sorry for the auto-promotion ;)

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So I managed to make some progress. I actually played Mission X & Dungeons & Dragons for about 5 minutes apiece.

 

What's weird is that the Mission X cart was stuck at a black screen on one bootup.

 

So what I noticed is that if I push down slightly bit on the inserted cart, screen go black. I think maybe there's a slightly messed-up cart connector. Would that prevent any controller input from working?

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So it's actually the controller cords. Whipped out the voltmeter & tried pressing buttons while checking the connection at the molex connector. VERY inconsistent. One time it will work, another time it won't complete the circuit. The 2nd controller, due to my mishandling now always has a closed circuit. Bend it one way, it works. Bend it another way, it won't work at all. It won't work 99% of the time.

 

Anyone have any spare INTV1 controller cords(that are good) for sale? Putting in a replacement would be easy. Or does anyone have just an INTV2 controller set? One could wire up ports easily.

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So it's actually the controller cords. Whipped out the voltmeter & tried pressing buttons while checking the connection at the molex connector. VERY inconsistent. One time it will work, another time it won't complete the circuit. The 2nd controller, due to my mishandling now always has a closed circuit. Bend it one way, it works. Bend it another way, it won't work at all. It won't work 99% of the time.

 

Anyone have any spare INTV1 controller cords(that are good) for sale? Putting in a replacement would be easy. Or does anyone have just an INTV2 controller set? One could wire up ports easily.

 

I have two of these controllers, all intact, that I salvaged from an Intellivision that did not work at all. PM and they are yours.

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I just went through this with my controllers. I cleaned the traces (with 99% alcohol), had them apart and back together at least ten times. Even when I got them together right, it only worked intermittently. So, what finally did the trick was to clean the metal traces that contact the metal fingers with an aggressive (not one of the soft ones that fall apart) pencil eraser. That did the trick on each one the first time through. Yay, I can get into the Inty HSC!

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Second round. McCallister was kind enough to send me a pair of replacement controllers + cords. I got Maze-A-Tron working somewhat for 3 minutes, then nothing after that.

 

What's weird is before I went to bed, I got as far as getting Mission X to work in a weird manner. Left on the d-pad goes left, but the right fire button(closest to cord) makes it go right. It fires & drops bombs on its own.

 

99% of the time I tried testing the other games resulted in no response from the controller. Most luck I had was doing a bit of unscrewing one of the screws(gets me past title screen), and pushing my thumb around on the mylar sheet top, on top of the metal fingers.

 

Getting a set of Intelly controllers going should not be this difficult. I'm gonna try swapping the controllers(but keep the cords) against my old ones. If that works, I'll swap out the discs & call it a day. The circuit board sheet has that burnt look on both sets of controllers.

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I had the almost the exact same problem, tho with an Intv II.

Bought an Intv II; some games worked, others wouldn't go past the title screen. Looked for an solution, couldn't find one. So i bought a second working Intv II that came with system manual, swapped the controllers of my working Intv II with the "broken" one out of curiosity, and the broken Intv II worked fine.

 

http://www.atariage...._1#entry1882416

Edited by Smatchmo
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Good news, it works! I swapped the 1st player controller(furthest from power swtich), but then I realized, hey, maybe this was wired wrong. When I first got this thing, the stopper boxes on the controller cables were on the outside of the "tray".

 

Lo and behold, I turn the 9-pin molex-ish connector around that goes to the mobo, and it works just fine! Now how the heck do I test the other controller's polarity? I have: Star Strike(wow is that an easy game to lose) Space Armada, Space Battle, Maze-A-Tron, Mission X(wow, suck game), and AD&D(not the Treasure of Tarmin one).

 

Guess it was just an odd coincidence that if you wire it up backwards, left goes left. And the right top fire button goes right. Easy clue for the future. I'm still going to use the controllers McAllister gave me since they have the shiny discs on them. That and they are 2 revs higher.

 

Thanks MCallister & everyone!

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