TheBman80 Posted March 1, 2016 Share Posted March 1, 2016 Well I got it a few weeks back but I was able to work on it a little and get it working somewhat today. The 6522 was bad and it took a few weeks for my order to come in from china. Once I installed the new 6522 the game system came to life but everything is VERY faint and you can see all the vector lines. You can play the game but all text is unreadable any ideas? I played with basically all the adjustment knobs and didn't get anywhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Mitchell Posted March 1, 2016 Share Posted March 1, 2016 Brightness knob on the back ?? Or bad brightness resistance? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Fisher Posted March 1, 2016 Share Posted March 1, 2016 (edited) Dunno what the problem might be (brightness knob bad was the first thing that popped into my head). I do know that if you run it for very long in that condition you will soon have another problem-a big spot of fried phosphors in the exact middle of your screen! That would be damage that you could not fix except by getting a new tube (good luck with that!) or taking one from a parts vectrex. In a perfect world, you would be able to fix this without even having the monitor connected, but that may not be possible. Try to minimize the time it's on, though. Edited March 1, 2016 by Matt Fisher Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vectrexer Posted March 1, 2016 Share Posted March 1, 2016 If you tried adjusting the brightness on the rear and it had no effect, then the potentiometer might be damaged and in need of replacement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBman80 Posted March 2, 2016 Author Share Posted March 2, 2016 Yeah I did adjust the brightness knob just goes from totally black to this. I'm thinking about going over it for cold solder joints. I had a Battle Zone one time that had similar symptoms with the monitor and cold solder joints were the cause. Maybe I will get some time and will go over the monitor video PCB first and see where that gets me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBman80 Posted March 4, 2016 Author Share Posted March 4, 2016 Well I did the cold Solder joints no real change brightness adjusts a little better. I think I'm going to recap it next and see what i come up with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Mitchell Posted March 8, 2016 Share Posted March 8, 2016 Dirty brightness pot?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBman80 Posted March 19, 2016 Author Share Posted March 19, 2016 Just did the cap kit and still hasn't fixed the issue. I just ordered all the IC chips in the vector control section I'm not messing around with this anymore. At the very least I will have some extra chips so if I feel like buying another Vectrex then I will have all the parts ready to go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBman80 Posted April 1, 2016 Author Share Posted April 1, 2016 Ok I made some headway and still hit another road block. I found what was causing the lettering to be all screwed up it was a broken pin in the molex connector of the yellow wire on the power PCB. I also found a broken pin in the molex connector of the blue wire on the power PCB. The blue wire didn't seem to do much when I fixed it. I noticed that the E's and T's are missing parts of the letters. Plus there are no vector lines what so ever even when you turn the brightness up well they appear but really faint. Everything is just dots with out the connecting lines. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBman80 Posted April 1, 2016 Author Share Posted April 1, 2016 Well after messing with it a little more I found that the one mylar capacitor at location C306 .0047 was bad. Of course it was one of the 3 I decided not to replace because they looked fine. I was pressing on chips while the Vectrex was running and my finger hit that one cap and the screen went normal for a minute so after I replaced it everything is almost there.My next problem and hopefully last is the alignment is totally fubar I have tried everything to get this to work with directions online and what not to no avail. I really wouldn't be surprised with everything else that was messed up on this thing that the guy before me was screwing with the yoke or something as well. But amazing all the text looks perfect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desiv Posted April 1, 2016 Share Posted April 1, 2016 I really wouldn't be surprised with everything else that was messed up on this thing that the guy before me was screwing with the yoke or something as well. But amazing all the text looks perfect. Closer!! Nice.. I don't know much about Vec repair, sorry. But wouldn't messing with the Yoke mess up all of the display alignment including text, not just the graphics??? desiv Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nebulon Posted April 1, 2016 Share Posted April 1, 2016 I am clueless about how to repair Vectrex units (however, there are a few people on this site that seem to rock at it). Could be worth checking existing Vectrex repair forums for their user names. I hope the repairs go well. And when it's ready, be sure to run out and get Vector Pilot! http://www.kristofsnewvectrexgames.comli.com/ It's on my highly-recommended list and has been continually plugged into my Vectrex for almost a year now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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