y-bot Posted January 8, 2013 Share Posted January 8, 2013 I acquired Keyboard Component #400357 from the estate of David P. Chandler "Papa Intellivision" at PRGE last year. It only displayed a black screen even after cleaning all the connectors. Today I opened up logic board shielding, removed and reseated every socketed chip. I broke the leg off of one chip but repaired it and the small auxilary board has what looks like burns marks on one of the sockets. The chip is not burned though so maybe it has already been replaced. I checked the continuity on all the legs of that chip. I also checked the +5V, +12V and -5V and all seem to be within spec. After reseating all the chips it is alive! The screen is freaking out a bit although sometimes it stays solid for 30 seconds or more. The commands work and I am able to pop open the cassette door. When I go in to cartridge mode it works perfectly, no screen problems at all. I tried my BASIC cart but plugged in to either port in the back it on displays a black screen. Anyone have any ideas? I have the little RF adapter thing and I know itis grounded to the logic board enclosure. How critical are those connections? What is that auxilary board? Link to the service manual: http://papaintellivi...docKeyboard.php Anyone have Frank Palazzolo's contact info? Here are some pics and videos: 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stc2009 Posted January 8, 2013 Share Posted January 8, 2013 Sorry, cannot help but.... Wooh! that's so cool! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pimpmaul69 Posted January 8, 2013 Share Posted January 8, 2013 any pics of the back and the carts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Purdy Posted January 8, 2013 Share Posted January 8, 2013 y-bot, sorry to say that the KC is no good and must be disposed of in an eco-friendly way. I will do that for you at no cost and will even pay for the postage to send it to me. Now on a more serious note, wtg on getting some life out of it! You have a challenge there, so well done so far.... I can't help, but thanks for sharing your experience and pics....it will be interesting to see how you progress, so keep posting! I'm sure that, as you say, the chip that fits in the burnt socket has been replaced...any component causing that sort of damage would have blown a hole in itself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foom Posted January 8, 2013 Share Posted January 8, 2013 Hello y-bot, I was going to hold off on announcing it for a little bit, but, as you are attempting to get your Keyboard Component 100% functional, I thought I would let you know that I also own a Keyboard Component. Congratulations on your acquisition of the late Mr. Chandler's KC. KC's are considered by many to be the "holy grails" of classic videogame/computer consoles. As yours was owned by "Papa Intellivision" himself, one could say that you now possess the "holy of holies". As we are such a small community, we should definitely try to help each other out! Right off the bat, I believe that I can help you with two of the points you mentioned: 1) Your "freaking out" screen: the original video chip in my KC behaved very similarly. A replacement chip was ordered and the replacement works perfectly. Thus, I would suggest that you attempt to obtain a replacement video chip. We can talk about this further via private email, if you like. 2) Your BASIC cart: I do not have the BASIC cart myself. The rear connector ports on my KC are in very good condition, thus I would suggest that you send me the BASIC cart so that I could test it myself. Or of course, if you can get in touch with Frank P. or another KC owner, they could test it instead. I realize that the BASIC cart is a very rare and valuable item, and not the sort of thing that you just "send off" to someone that you don't know. I would suggest that we discuss this privately, as well. I will send you a private message here with my personal e-mail addy. I will also see if I can get in touch with Frank P. and let him know about this discussion thread. Welcome to "the club"! - Doug 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knarfian Posted January 8, 2013 Share Posted January 8, 2013 Hi - It's been a long time since I thought aboout this stuff - but I hope I can help a bit. Unfortunately I don't own a KC, although I would like to get one eventually. Screen "freaking out": The white text which is generated by the CRT controller chip (The big one with the heatsink) is overlayed on the video signal coming from the game console. There is an adjustment pot somewhere - which might be tweaked. Unfortunately, I can't remember where it is on the board, but it's near an 8-pin Phase-Locked Loop chip, maybe a 565? I do remember though that Doug needed a new CRT controller chip to fix the problem - if the chip is bad it can freak out as the chip gets hotter. I used some cold spray to verify this. The chip is documented here: http://wiki.intellivision.us/index.php?title=TMS9927_CRT_Controller I may still have some - I think I bought more than one. I'll see if I can find them. The little board: I'm fairly certain that I didn't have that board in the 3 consoles I've seen on the inside...not sure what it could be for. I wish I had a console here, I could see what it is near. BASIC cart: Yes, it's possible the cart is bad, or the connection. It would be useful to make sure you have a known good basic cart. The basic actually runs on the 6502. I have an image of an intellivision cart I wrote, which loads code into the 6502 and let's you debug on that CPU. Not sure if that would helps or not - I had put it onto a modified intellicart. Hope this helps! -Frank P. P.S. Joe Z might also have something more to add...if he sees this thread... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
y-bot Posted January 8, 2013 Author Share Posted January 8, 2013 Frank, I met you briefly at the last CGE. My name is Toby and I was helping to test out that KC my friend Rick was selling that the tape got stuck in. Thanks for the help guys! I have another dead Keyboard Component so I may swap that CRT controller chip. Unfortunately it displays only a blank screen like this one did. I don't think I've had the logic board out so I don't know if it has that auxiliary board or not. I guess my next step is to tear that one apart. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
y-bot Posted January 10, 2013 Author Share Posted January 10, 2013 Had some more time tonight so I tok apart the other KC I have. I think I may have reseated the chips before but I did it again today. No change, that one still displays a blank screen. Interesting thing is that the logic board is completely different. One is computer II and the other is computer III. The CRT controller chip appeared to be the same (the heatsink is covering the markings) so I swapped them. No change in behavior but with either chip the working KC display is fine for 30 seconds ore more when the machine is cold and then slowly starts freaking out. I don't have any of that cold spray stuff but it seems like some chio is malfunctioning when it gets warm. I cleaned the connectors on the back and my BASIC cart and now it works, woohoo! More pics: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+evg2000 Posted January 10, 2013 Share Posted January 10, 2013 failure due to heat could mean bad solder connection. need to find bad connection and reflow solder, though I woul probably just use a heat gun on it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
y-bot Posted January 10, 2013 Author Share Posted January 10, 2013 That is true. If the chip isn't crazy expensive it might be worth just to get an extra. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pimpmaul69 Posted January 10, 2013 Share Posted January 10, 2013 (edited) I would probably just use a heat gun on it i wouldnt. the way the old boards traces are heatguns can bubble the traces right off the board. the old traces arent very well applied to the boards Edited January 10, 2013 by pimpmaul69 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
y-bot Posted January 10, 2013 Author Share Posted January 10, 2013 Yeah, I wouldn't use a heat gun. I've reflowed solder on a few connectors before on my arcade games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Games For Your Intellivision Posted January 11, 2013 Share Posted January 11, 2013 I am repurposing www.gamesforyourintellivision.com soon as a site dedicated to new Intellivision games. Perhaps we should set up an information page for Keyboard owners there? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
y-bot Posted January 11, 2013 Author Share Posted January 11, 2013 Good idea. I was searching the internet yesterday and couldn't find a single picture of the insides of a KC or any info about the Computer II and Computer III logic boards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knarfian Posted January 14, 2013 Share Posted January 14, 2013 Here are a few really old pictures of the board I was working with...and some of the diagnostic code running: http://avoidspikes.com/dsplib/personal/pictures/INTVKbd.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
y-bot Posted January 14, 2013 Author Share Posted January 14, 2013 I see that is the Computer III logic board like my KC that only displays a blank screen. My semi-working one is marked Computer II and totally different. The repair documents on the Papa Intellivison website only mention the Computer II logic board, weird. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
y-bot Posted January 14, 2013 Author Share Posted January 14, 2013 Oh, and thank you for posting the pics. That diagnostic stuff is way over my head. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
y-bot Posted January 17, 2013 Author Share Posted January 17, 2013 Small update. I used the freon from a can of compressed air to cool the chip and it did indeed make it work correctly. I used a heat gun to get the heat sink off and it is a CRT-5037, not exactly the same one I thought it would be. Ordered on off Ebay, fingers crossed that it fixes the problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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