ColecoVision suddenly stopped reading cartidges

[NoelleAmelie]

Well, my Coleco has been on the fritz for a bit now (having issues reading carts, usually read fine) and it seems that it's now gone bad. I was testing my CV collection to figure out what to sell (which came out to very few games compared to how many I kept!) and what to keep and out of no where, it just stopped working despite working fine seconds before. I've read that apparently these issues come down to power supply issues but I'm kinda stumped on that for a few reasons:

 

1: The Atari add-on works perfectly fine. Controller ports, games, switches, all of it. No problems.

 

2: Centipede by Atarisoft, oddly enough, kinda works...? It will boot to the title screen and give me a corrupted player select screen (text stating PLAYER ONE and PLAYER TWO at the bottom of the screen). Now it just boots to the title screen without accepting controller input.

 

3: I can't access the error screen when nothing is inserted. The system just gives out a really fuzzy RF signal and nothing else, not even any text. Maybe every 1 in 10 times it'll play a loud tone but that's it.

 

4: I cleaned out the system and I still get nothing. Did I not do it thoroughly enough? The system is down to just the motherboard and some metal I couldn't get off of the power switch and the RF box. http://imgur.com/a/5YPI6

 

Any help figuring out what's wrong with this would be greatly appreciated. I really don't want to have to throw this thing away or use it just to play Atari games.

 

Thanks

[+grips03]

post better pic of the cartridge connector

[Rey]

+1 on what grips03 posted. I had a similar problem on an ADAM even after multiple cleanings and ended up replacing the connector. It's perfect now.

[NoelleAmelie]

post better pic of the cartridge connector

This is the best pic I could get atm. Connector seems pretty clean. http://imgur.com/ohysI0f

[+grips03]

This is the best pic I could get atm. Connector seems pretty clean. http://imgur.com/ohysI0f

Would need a better pic. If you have a spare connector they are pretty easy to change.

[NoelleAmelie]

Would need a better pic. If you have a spare connector they are pretty easy to change.

Alright, here's some hopefully better quality pictures. The only defect I can really see with the connector is that there's some dust at the very bottom of it that was there years before this problem happened. Nothing has changed about the condition of the connector from when it worked to now with the exception of most of the dust being cleaned out.

http://imgur.com/a/qgBIf

Edited February 25, 2016 by Noah120

[+grips03]

Looks ok, but perhaps you can check voltage on pins 29 and 30?

 

http://www.hardwarebook.info/ColecoVision_Cartridge

[NoelleAmelie]

Looks ok, but perhaps you can check voltage on pins 29 and 30?

 

http://www.hardwarebook.info/ColecoVision_Cartridge

I might be able to. I know there's a multimeter laying around here somewhere but I don't really know how to use it or check voltages since I haven't had to mess around with the internals of any of my electronics before beyond some simple dusting off and replacing PC parts. I believe my dad knows how to do that stuff but I'm not 100% sure.

Edited February 25, 2016 by Noah120

[Rey]

My connector looked much better than what you have there and I had to replace it.

[R.Cade]

Completely deoxit/scrub and resolder the cartridge connector, or replace it. It can break loose and have bad solder connections because there is nothing to relieve the stress of it...

 

I would also rebuild/clean or replace the power switch.

[7800fan]

I may need new connector on my Colecovision system as well. Some games plays, some games glitches, and some game puts up a no-cart warning screen. Where can I get new connector? Or are they standard like a 15/30 contact, 0.1" spacing between pin and standard PCB thickness between rows?

 

The only issue I may have is the rivets on the sides holding the connector to the PCB.

[Rey]

You drill those out. You can get the original connector from ecoleco or a similar one for less on eBay.

[+grips03]

I may need new connector on my Colecovision system as well. Some games plays, some games glitches, and some game puts up a no-cart warning screen. Where can I get new connector? Or are they standard like a 15/30 contact, 0.1" spacing between pin and standard PCB thickness between rows?

 

The only issue I may have is the rivets on the sides holding the connector to the PCB.

 

 

digikey, mouser, or newark

 

5530841-2 <---TE part number

[7800fan]

Digikey seems cheapest on shipping, didn't want to sign on newark to find out the shipping cost.

[Rey]

 

 

digikey, mouser, or newark

 

5530841-2 <---TE part number

Thank you for the part# ! Rather get it at mouser than ecoleco.

[7800fan]

Digikey is fast. I placed order early Thursday and used cheap first class mail. The new connector arrived today so I would suggest Digikey for fast replacement connector if you're in the lower 48 states. Sorry, Alaska and Hawaii probably takes longer to ship :/

[NoelleAmelie]

Digikey is fast. I placed order early Thursday and used cheap first class mail. The new connector arrived today so I would suggest Digikey for fast replacement connector if you're in the lower 48 states. Sorry, Alaska and Hawaii probably takes longer to ship :/

Neat! If I end up having to repair my connector then I'll buy a new one from Digikey.

[NoelleAmelie]

Welp. I got the desoldering done. It's not the power switch, that thing is as clean as a whistle and has fresh grease and everything applied to it. It's not the power supply, I checked with a multimeter and everything is fine (12 volts to 12 volts, +5 to +5, etc)

I think it might actually be the cartridge port. I checked it with a multimeter as grips03 said (black/ground lead on Pin 29 Ground, red lead on Pin 30 +5VDC) and I got -0.05 on it. My question is though, how does the cartridge slot make it so the system won't even boot?

[+grips03]

Welp. I got the desoldering done. It's not the power switch, that thing is as clean as a whistle and has fresh grease and everything applied to it. It's not the power supply, I checked with a multimeter and everything is fine (12 volts to 12 volts, +5 to +5, etc)

I think it might actually be the cartridge port. I checked it with a multimeter as grips03 said (black/ground lead on Pin 29 Ground, red lead on Pin 30 +5VDC) and I got -0.05 on it. My question is though, how does the cartridge slot make it so the system won't even boot?

 

Even without a cart it should boot to that screen that says to turn power off and insert cart. Do you get that?

[NoelleAmelie]

 

Even without a cart it should boot to that screen that says to turn power off and insert cart. Do you get that?

Nope. I get a black screen, occasionally with a loud beeping noise

[Keatah]

It's upset about the Chameleon.

[+grips03]

Nope. I get a black screen, occasionally with a loud beeping noise

Ouch

 

Perhaps check power after the power switch?

 

Take a look at parts 3 and 4 here.

http://colecovisionzone.com/page/coleco%20industries/tech.html

[SiLic0ne t0aD]

You probably broke a trace if you soldered in a new cart edge connector, it's easy to do with Coleco boards unfortunately.

Edited March 2, 2016 by SiLic0ne t0aD85

[7800fan]

If you put in a new cart connector, you may have a line that either got severed or a solder that didn't go through. You should start checking for all the important line between Z80 and the bios. All address and data lines are wired through cart slot from CPU to the bios, if one of the line is bad it would explain blank screen even without the cart.

[+grips03]

he has yet to put in a new connector.

 

Right now I think he needs to use those flow charts and find the problem. I would check power before and after the power switch. Check to make sure CPU and VDP are getting power.