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Collectorvision Games


ZillaRUSH

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Hello! I purchased Moon Patrol this past year from Collectorvision. The cart did not work and I returned it. They sent a replacement and it did not work as well. Collectorvision stated it worked on their system. Just this week I decided to get two more games...Galaxian and Lock-N-Chase. Just put them in they they did not work as well. I have two Colecovision systems and they do not work on both. Any idea what can be the issue? Would love to play these games...but now its not possible. I assume it is my systems....all the older games play perfectly. Something with the new carts? Any comments would be helpful. Thanks!

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What do you see on the screen?

 

are you comfortable with disassembling the system? If so, take the system apart and try the cart, if it doesn't work turn off the system and try and push the cart to the left, try agin. If that doesn't work try pushing to the right. If you don't want to take it apart try pushing the upper left corner of the cart and push cart down while turning on (you have to maintain the pressure). If that doesn't work do the same with the other corner.

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Yes, all other carts work and play perfectly. What I get when I put a cart in is a black screen or sometime just lines....plus a buzz or beep sound. I tried to wiggle with no luck. I know it has to do with the new carts...PCB's, yes possibly. It is odd that both systems do not work with them. Dying to play these games....thanks for all of your feedback.

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I would have to say the issue is with the new cartridges that you received from CollectorVision based on everything that you descibed.

 

All the new games you listed do not require the SGM, so that is not the issue.

 

I'm sure each cartridge is tested by CollectorVisin after assembly, so that is not the problem.

 

So leaves the time from when the game is packed up until the time that you insert it into the cartridge slot. So a few thoughts come to mind:

 

- Someone from the Post Office knows who CollectorVision is and opens the package to try the games, perhaps dumps them, perhaps damages the card edge connector and then re-packages them and sends them on their merry way to you.

 

- The card edge connector of the cartridge or your cartridge connector in the CV is the culprit.

 

- You have a ghost in your house that doesn't like Homebrew games!!!

 

- Can X-raying the package damage the cartridge or some other electrical device used by the Post Office or Customs? If so, warnings can be added to the package not to X-ray, etc.

BTW, do you own any other Homebrew games from the likes of PkK, Opcode Games, etc.

Edited by NIAD
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I suspect that the power supply brick of your ColecoVision is starting to show its age. Some homebrew PCBs seem to have slightly higher power requirements compared to the PCBs of the old carts, and perhaps your power supply brick is having trouble supplying that tiny bit of extra power. I once had similar problems that went away when I got a new power supply.

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Thanks all. These are my first Homebrews for CV. No ghosts in my house....lots of Homebrews for other systems that work. Whew.

How would I get a new Power Supply? Don't have the tech knowledge to replace the cartridge port.

 

If I get the upcoming third release of the SGM....will the regular games play through the SGM? Thinking it may have a newer port.

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I noticed something when testing games on a dina 2 in 1. The pcb was sitting higher in the casing or the leads were not down quite as far than say a donkey kong and was not able to insert far enough to make good contact.

 

Perhaps its not pushed down into the cart slot. In the case of the dina I couldn't even make it work without removing 1 from the cart shell then it worked fine.

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I suspect that the power supply brick of your ColecoVision is starting to show its age. Some homebrew PCBs seem to have slightly higher power requirements compared to the PCBs of the old carts, and perhaps your power supply brick is having trouble supplying that tiny bit of extra power. I once had similar problems that went away when I got a new power supply.

Yeah, sounds like that's the problem here

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I might be thinking it might be the cartridge port. Most Colecovision games are 16KB, and some are 24KB(Zaxxon, Mr.Do) or 32KB(Tapper, Spy Hunter). See if the bigger size Colecovision cartridges 24KB or 32KB cartridges can boot up on your system. If they boot up and work without resetting, then it may be the homebrew cartridges.

 

But having two Colecovisions not booting up the same homebrew games is odd. Do they have their own power bricks? Make sure that the homebrew cartridge are seated all the way into the cartridge slot. Check for bent cartridge slot pins.

 

Would it be possible that the games, EPROM, could been damaged while shipping by the scanning device or whatever the post office used? Maybe the publishers may need to use anti-static bag to wrap the cartridge to protect them from static electricity. Or am I being to paranoia...

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Thanks Kiwi. It plays all the old games...including Zaxxon. The three homebews are the issue. After all the great feedback (thanks all)...it is either a Power Supply issue or a Cartridge Port issue. Odd that it is with both systems. I will contact Yurkie and see if he can fix it.

Have a Happy 4th!! Pete

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OK...just realized after searching my collections...I only have one Power Supply for both systems. Interesting. That may be the issue. Just odd that both systems will not play homebrews and only old carts. Will order a Power Supply from Ebay today. Will post how it goes when it arrives. Thanks!

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I have a Friend that have exactly the same issue. ALL Carts we tested on his system works fine. (and we tested almost hundreds, including lot of homebrews).

 

He ordered few time ago from collectorvision : Moon Patrol, BombJack , Nibbly and Bagman .... Moon Patrol works, but not BombJack , Nibbly and Bagman.

 

He asked collectorvision for a replacement , they did it without problem , but it is the same thing with the new carts.

 

i took his carts tested on my consoles , they work perfectly fine. (tested on 3 differents consoles on my side ).

 

My thought was it was more a problem of contact on the connector. Because if it was a power supply issue , considering the number of different cart we tested we would have more case where it does not work. We tested of all kind of cart including 32k cart, megarom and even AtariMax , all works. Except : Bombjack , Nibbly and Bagman... we are becoming crazy...

 

Let us know if you solve your issue what solution worked for you!

 

thanks

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OK...just realized after searching my collections...I only have one Power Supply for both systems. Interesting. That may be the issue. Just odd that both systems will not play homebrews and only old carts. Will order a Power Supply from Ebay today. Will post how it goes when it arrives. Thanks!

I'm hoping the new power supply will solve the issue as it does sound like it could be the cause if it's the common component between the two systems. Thankfully there are plenty on eBay and they don't go for too much money.

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While a new/different power supply might do the trick, I'm still pretty confident that the issue is one of poor contact between the cartrdige edge connector and the CV cartridge connector.

 

I have run into this issue with Homebrew carts the last couple years when dumping the carts to rom files with the AtariMax MaxFlash Cart/CV Adapter Board... so much so that I sent the CV Adapter Board back to AtariMax for replacement and the issue still exists!!!

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