jdgabbard #1 Posted April 18, 2015 Was visiting some friends in the city I used to live in and stopped by a Retro Gaming shop. After browsing for a few minutes I asked a guy who was replacing capacitors on an old Game Gear if they had any TI Carts. He came from around from behind the counter and asked if I meant the 99/4a, then pointed me to a couple of carts. He then asked if I wanted a Speach Synthesizer. I asked if it worked, and he said he didn't know, he didn't have a working system to test it on. I asked how much and he told me $12, and said they had a 30 return policy, so if it didn't work to bring it back.. I said sure. Then he asked if I wanted a parts system for $5. I asked him what was wrong with it, and he said that it just made a weird noise when he turned it on. which sounds exactly like what happens when I turn on my system without plugging in the power cable for my nanoPEB. Which leads me to suspect the 7805 had possibly gone bad. I don't know for sure, but I snatched it up too. Along with the 5 cartridges that he sold me for $8. So for $25 I got a system I think I can get working (no cables or power supply), a Speach synthesizer that I suspect works, doesn't look like it's ever been plugged into a system but maybe once, and 5 carts. Of which Blasto and Personal Record keeping are the most desireable. But I did also get two Terminal Emulator carts. So overall, it's been a good day! 3 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Shift838 #3 Posted April 18, 2015 Good find. I have a retro gaming shop by my house and they have about 10 carts for the 99/4a when i walked in last, but did not gaurentee they work and there is a no return policy. So I did not risk it. 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jdgabbard #4 Posted April 18, 2015 Yeah, I was shocked he let everything go so cheap. He told me that he is more of a console guy, so he just wasn't too interested in it, or want to devote the time to it. They also had a lot of atari stuff in there... So colovision too.. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Opry99er #5 Posted April 18, 2015 @Chris: BUY EM!!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Shift838 #6 Posted April 18, 2015 I remember they had a 4A Flyer, that's the one I was interested in. I will drop by there again next day or so before I head in for surgery and see if they are still there. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jdgabbard #7 Posted April 18, 2015 (edited) Disregard Edited April 18, 2015 by jdgabbard Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jdgabbard #8 Posted April 18, 2015 I remember they had a 4A Flyer, that's the one I was interested in. I will drop by there again next day or so before I head in for surgery and see if they are still there. Don't you hate it when you think to yourself 'Man, I should have bought that...' Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jdgabbard #9 Posted April 19, 2015 (edited) Well, I got home and turned on the TI, and sure enough, it doesn't boot. Maybe the video ram or chip... It makes a sound similar to what my other system does when the nanoPEB isn't plugged into 5v power just like I said earlier... Like to the video is below. Anyone have any ideas? The good news is all the cartridges tested good, as well as the speech synthesizer. So I did get a working unit as far as that is concerned... http://youtu.be/g-UI9qAcxR0 Edited April 19, 2015 by jdgabbard Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Willsy #10 Posted April 20, 2015 Possibly the pad ram, if it wont start at all, as the 9900 would have no ram for its registers. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jdgabbard #11 Posted April 20, 2015 Well, whatever it is, it doesn't appear the 9900 is initializing. This is where I wish that scopes were cheaper, because it could be as simple as the 3mhz crystal being dead. But without being able to do any probing with a scope I'm guessing. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
+Ksarul #12 Posted April 20, 2015 Somebody posted a link to a USB scope that was good up to 20 or 30 MHz on another thread a while back--and it was under $80. 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jdgabbard #13 Posted April 21, 2015 I'll have to check into that. Like our other conversation taking place right now, it would be so nice to have one handy to analyze what is going on... Just as a little update, I've got some crystals on their way, so we'll start with that. Then the memory. Then if I have to, the other stuff. Who knows, by the time it's done I might end up with a NOS TI in a used shell... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
am1933 #14 Posted April 21, 2015 Going back to the initial pictures at the start of the thread, would it be possible to take some larger pictures of the cartridges-as I can't quite make out the atomic structure of the cases Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jdgabbard #15 Posted April 22, 2015 Well, I suppose I could always break out the HD camera if needed 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
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