Smoke Monster Posted March 19, 2016 Share Posted March 19, 2016 I plugged in an Atarivox+ in VecVoice mode today for the first time and it killed my Vectrex. I'm just getting severely scrambled graphics now. Audio is fine and it seems to be playing games correctly behind the scrambled video. Any ideas on what might have happened? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desiv Posted March 19, 2016 Share Posted March 19, 2016 Not sure.. I've used one without issue.. It does use power from the port so maybe you had a weak cap (or some other piece) and it was the last straw???? Hope it's an easy fix.. desiv 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vectrexer Posted March 19, 2016 Share Posted March 19, 2016 Having use Atarivox+ for over a year as well as VecVox and VecVoice in the past, I would tend to agree with desiv. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted March 19, 2016 Share Posted March 19, 2016 I have never heard of anyone having issues before using an AtariVox or AtariVox+ with a Vectrex, so I cannot offer any advice based on others that came before you. And I'm not a hardware engineer so I cannot offer suggestions as to why this may have happened. I'm sure others more knowledgable than me in this area will hopefully offer some good suggestions. I will also point Richard Hutchinson at this thread. ..Al 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+save2600 Posted March 19, 2016 Share Posted March 19, 2016 Besides the possibility of bad caps/failing power supply, looks like maybe the timing was coincidental that your Vectrex is behaving this way? Convergence pots may just need to be cleaned and readjusted. I'd start there before assuming an AtariVox would have this effect on the screen. Assuming you didn't plug it in while the unit was on. Does the screen still look this way with the AtariVox disconnected? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard H. Posted March 19, 2016 Share Posted March 19, 2016 It does use power from the port so maybe you had a weak cap (or some other piece) and it was the last straw???? I would say that's possible. It's definitely not directly caused by the Avox. Some display distortions can be caused by a faulty PSU. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smoke Monster Posted March 19, 2016 Author Share Posted March 19, 2016 Besides the possibility of bad caps/failing power supply, looks like maybe the timing was coincidental that your Vectrex is behaving this way? Convergence pots may just need to be cleaned and readjusted. I'd start there before assuming an AtariVox would have this effect on the screen. Assuming you didn't plug it in while the unit was on. Does the screen still look this way with the AtariVox disconnected? I recently recapped it and it's been running perfectly for the past week. I've been using it for an hour or so per day. I started it with the Atarivox plugged in and it hasn't worked since. I'm sure this has something to do with my console in particular, since the Atarivox+ is widely used and no one has mentioned it causing any problems. If it somehow caused my convergence to be misaligned, would what I'm seeing on screen make sense? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+save2600 Posted March 19, 2016 Share Posted March 19, 2016 If it somehow caused my convergence to be misaligned, would what I'm seeing on screen make sense? Well, what I was saying is that perhaps it was a coincidence, which is why I mentioned it. Have seen similar garbage on the screen with the convergence off. Fiddle with the convergence and report back please - you have nothing to lose trying! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smoke Monster Posted March 19, 2016 Author Share Posted March 19, 2016 Well, what I was saying is that perhaps it was a coincidence, which is why I mentioned it. Have seen similar garbage on the screen with the convergence off. Fiddle with the convergence and report back please - you have nothing to lose trying! Will do. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+save2600 Posted March 19, 2016 Share Posted March 19, 2016 Some good stuff here too: http://vectrexmuseum.com/share/coder/other/TEXT/SERVICE/SERVICE.HTM 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rolo Posted March 24, 2016 Share Posted March 24, 2016 This time, it's not so "easy" to track down, I'm afraid . I guess, you have to go back to the start: disassemble, check your voltages. Is your - 5VDC still sane? Do have a scope, where you can see the signal? Is it flat or dp you see some noise/distortions... on the line? If your voltages are "flat" not rippling, then your PSU-caps are good. What potential is the heat-sink on? Really ground or shortening something again? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maraakate Posted April 9, 2016 Share Posted April 9, 2016 I've seen this happen if you put your finger near the DAC 0 adjustment potentiometer. Maybe this pot needs a good cleaning? If the polystyrene caps are all out of whack too they can cause vectors to run all over the place... But, look at this old website near the bottom: http://web.archive.org/web/20041128210425/http://perso.club-internet.fr/sap1/vec/vec.htm. It looks as if some defective ICs caused similar situations. So you may need a scope to check the waveforms of some ICs to verify they are proper. It may be possible that your quick fix for IC401 may have caused it to work harder than it needed to and cooked it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keatah Posted April 9, 2016 Share Posted April 9, 2016 What did the OP do to IC401? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maraakate Posted April 9, 2016 Share Posted April 9, 2016 I mistook it for IC401 But he had this say to in another thread: "I was finally able to fix the Vectrex today. Of all things, it was a short between one of the voltage regulators and the big heat sink. I added an extra piece of plastic to separate them (thickening the stock piece) and it fired right up." I was thinking maybe because the heatsink wasn't reattached properly or the grease has failed and possibly has damage from being cooked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maraakate Posted April 9, 2016 Share Posted April 9, 2016 Other thoughts could be that the AtariVox itself had some soldering issue and hurt the sound chip (which also is linked to the controllers). Or that your DB- connector for Player 2 had some sort of bad connection and took out that chip. However, I don't know if the AY sound chip is responsible for any part of the drawing scheme. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maraakate Posted April 9, 2016 Share Posted April 9, 2016 But, back to the DAC pot.. Check the solder joints of the pot, clean it with some contact cleaner, and move it left to right like ten or twenty times. Check the solder joints of the metal film resistors by this pot. I would just reflow solder and the top and bottom of the vias of the metal film resistors and the pot and see if that works. When I replaced the metal film resistors in a previous unit I noticed the same kind of craziness. Directly pressing my finger on the metal shell of the pot would cause the vectors to go haywire like what you showed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maraakate Posted April 9, 2016 Share Posted April 9, 2016 Do the same deal for the integrator potentiometers too if you can. They're also on the logic board. Incorrect adjustments of the High Voltage pots on the power board only help to minimize the blooming effect from bright and large objects on the screen; so we can probably rule that out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smoke Monster Posted April 11, 2016 Author Share Posted April 11, 2016 Thanks for all of the suggestions. I haven't had a chance to work on it yet, but I will look in to everything suggested. More info on my Vectrex: I did a full recap and afterwards experienced problems due to an intermittent short. After fixing this, the Vec ran perfectly for a week until the first time I started it with the Atarivox attached, which why I originally looked to it as the cause. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+save2600 Posted April 11, 2016 Share Posted April 11, 2016 You absolutely 100% sure you didn't accidentally reverse the polarity on a cap or two?? Happens to the best of us sometimes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maraakate Posted April 11, 2016 Share Posted April 11, 2016 I would imagine if a cap was reversed wouldn't it have popped by now? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+save2600 Posted April 11, 2016 Share Posted April 11, 2016 I would imagine if a cap was reversed wouldn't it have popped by now? Can take a while sometimes, not always immediately! Which is why the OP posted what he has. Bet is has more to do with his machine than the AVox. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maraakate Posted April 11, 2016 Share Posted April 11, 2016 Yeah but he said he was using for a week. Now, if that was for 5 seconds to see the intro tune every night when he got home then maybe. But, I've never wired up a cap backwards yet so I can't say for sure how long it would take. I still think it has something to do with the DAC pot being dirty or possible one of the chips in the DAC circuit itself causing it to go nuts. The only caps by that are are the poly caps and a few non-polars. I don't recall if the non-polars are mylar, but I think they are and there probably is no reason to suspect they are bad. But any bad or questionable solder joint in that general area could be cause for concern with intermittent vectors with no regards for proper intersecting > . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maraakate Posted April 11, 2016 Share Posted April 11, 2016 Now, there is two caps under that large heatsink. One must be a bi-polar cap, and the other is polarized. Maybe they could be wrong. But I don't know if they would cause this issue or if the OP replaced those caps. Most people don't bother to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smoke Monster Posted April 11, 2016 Author Share Posted April 11, 2016 (edited) You absolutely 100% sure you didn't accidentally reverse the polarity on a cap or two?? Happens to the best of us sometimes. Yes, I'm 100% sure the caps are perfect. I probed every cap about a dozen times when I was diagnosing the original problem. After the recap and having removed the intermittent short, it ran like-new and I was using it for a couple of hours every day with my VecMulti before the AV incident. Now, there is two caps under that large heatsink. One must be a bi-polar cap, and the other is polarized. Maybe they could be wrong. But I don't know if they would cause this issue or if the OP replaced those caps. Most people don't bother to. I did a full recap including those under the heatsink, which I moved to the back of the board. I used console5's cap kit, and I also replaced the polystyrene integrator caps with C5's film integrator caps. Edited April 11, 2016 by Smoke Monster Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rolo Posted April 16, 2016 Share Posted April 16, 2016 Any news? What about the -5VDC? Good or not good? Can you get hold of a 2nd working Vectrex and a scope to do some comparative measurements? I don't believe, that any blind cap changing will do the job. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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