Inky Posted November 26, 2018 Share Posted November 26, 2018 Look at the attached image... If I play games on my 65xe for a few minutes, a couple rows get distorted. After a few more minutes, this happens, along with a rolling screen. I've swapped tvs out, and changed the rf cable (it's possible the rf cable is bad, as these are pretty old, so I'm going to try to get a third one) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Nezgar Posted November 26, 2018 Share Posted November 26, 2018 Is the sound affected? Can you tell from the sound if a game seems to be continuing and not crashing when that happens? Have you tried the channel switch? (Channel 2 vs 3) Any chance you can test with an Audio/Video cable instead of the RF out? What does your power supply look like? there's a heavy 'Ingot' style that's prone to failure outputting high voltage, enough to damage the computer. Measure the voltage from the PSU with a multimeter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunstar Posted November 26, 2018 Share Posted November 26, 2018 Maybe if you stand the TV right side up instead of having it on it's side?!? 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidMil Posted November 26, 2018 Share Posted November 26, 2018 If it works for a few minutes then gets progressively worse, it's not likely a cable problem. Have you opened up your computer and felt the chips to see if any are getting hot? You can do (what I call the poor mans) temperature test by inverting a can of compressed air and letting a little of the liquid run onto a chip one at a time. Start with any that feel hot. David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inky Posted November 27, 2018 Author Share Posted November 27, 2018 Just throwing this out there.. Could a bad power strip be causing this? I ask because my 7800 has been having similar issues Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_The Doctor__ Posted November 27, 2018 Share Posted November 27, 2018 (edited) had a fellow who kept bringing me dead stuff... he had a battery backed up power strip... it put out stepped approximated power... some do pulse modulation... all are killiers, only use sinusoidal or true wave back up strips and battery back ups.... They don't torture and destroy stuff. bad power supplies and other issues can be checked with a meter and oscilloscope. Edited November 27, 2018 by _The Doctor__ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inky Posted November 27, 2018 Author Share Posted November 27, 2018 I plugged it directly into the wall. Same issue. I'll try testing how hot the chips are tomorrow, as I have a multimeter, but don't know how to use it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_The Doctor__ Posted November 27, 2018 Share Posted November 27, 2018 (edited) Once the damage is done, you can't expect it to suddenly repair itself by giving it clean good power... That's like burning up a car engine by using an extended NOS burn then pulling the NOS system giving good clean gas only and expecting it to be in great shape without repairing the damaged engine... Edited November 27, 2018 by _The Doctor__ 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunstar Posted November 27, 2018 Share Posted November 27, 2018 (edited) Yep, near complete rebuild from the motherboard up with the 800XL I'm restoring, all due to an ingot PSU. The OS, some ram and most support IC's were fried. Only the big five survived. Something that I'd be doing anyway though, as only about four of the minor support chips like 74LS series were socketed, so I'd be socketing it all anyway. I of course knew about those ingots and would have replaced it before it went out, but this is a friend's 800XL and he didn't know and I didn't know to warn him as I'd never seen it. Edited November 27, 2018 by Gunstar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidMil Posted November 27, 2018 Share Posted November 27, 2018 Yep, near complete rebuild from the motherboard up with the 800XL I'm restoring, all due to an ingot PSU. The OS, some ram and most support IC's were fried. Only the big five survived. Something that I'd be doing anyway though, as only about four of the minor support chips like 74LS series were socketed, so I'd be socketing it all anyway. I hope you have a desoldering gun. My wife got me one for Christmas last year and I can desolder a 40 pin chip in less than two minutes now. Plus the holes are clean of any residual solder so the replacement socket/chip falls in without any problem! David 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidMil Posted November 27, 2018 Share Posted November 27, 2018 Once the damage is done, you can't expect it to suddenly repair itself by giving it clean good power... If you were going through a power strip or power supply, I would start with the voltage regulators. You may have to take more than one voltage check to see if they are producing a continuous, steady voltage. Take several long readings when you power up the unit and then again after you start having problems. David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inky Posted November 27, 2018 Author Share Posted November 27, 2018 Ugh. From just what I'm reading here, this is looking far beyond my capabilities. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xrbrevin Posted November 27, 2018 Share Posted November 27, 2018 try a different power supply? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_The Doctor__ Posted November 27, 2018 Share Posted November 27, 2018 (edited) Swapping supplies and not using the power strip seems reasonable... are you using a direct rf connection, or are you using a switcher of some kind for the television? Some powered tv rf switches and auto-switches die like this and can damage both TV and RF modules in the computer/game consoles... I use a protection diode on my stuff... it was readily available from radio shack when they existed. F voltage block, F DC block, etc. Do not pick an attenuation combo connect, just blocking is all that is required... .99 to 5.50 give or take.... a bad power strip cable protector can ruin stuff as well Edited November 27, 2018 by _The Doctor__ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inky Posted November 27, 2018 Author Share Posted November 27, 2018 Swapping supplies and not using the power strip seems reasonable... are you using a direct rf connection, or are you using a switcher of some kind for the television? Some powered tv rf switches and auto-switches die like this and can damage both TV and RF modules in the computer/game consoles... I use a protection diode on my stuff... it was readily available from radio shack when they existed. F voltage block, F DC block, etc. Do not pick an attenuation combo connect, just blocking is all that is required... .99 to 5.50 give or take.... a bad power strip cable protector can ruin stuff as well I'll try getting a new PS as soon as I can. My systems go directly into the TV. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Nezgar Posted November 27, 2018 Share Posted November 27, 2018 Never heard whether the audio was still fine when the video glitches. Ie, do you still hear clicks when typing in BASIC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_The Doctor__ Posted November 28, 2018 Share Posted November 28, 2018 tuner cleaner in the channel selector switches won't hurt either. spray and work it spray and work it.... let it dry work it then turn on and try each channel... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inky Posted November 28, 2018 Author Share Posted November 28, 2018 Never heard whether the audio was still fine when the video glitches. Ie, do you still hear clicks when typing in BASIC. Audio is fine. No issues with that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Nezgar Posted November 28, 2018 Share Posted November 28, 2018 Audio is fine. No issues with that. Excellent, so this means the rest of the computer may be just fine. I'd try to find a composite video cable next to bypass the RF modulator, and narrow it down to just the RF modulator or ANTIC/GTIA. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inky Posted May 8, 2019 Author Share Posted May 8, 2019 UPDATE:Instead of spending wads of cash that I don't have, I bought a composite cable and a XL / XE USB power cable from 8bitclassics, and it seems to work fine now! I just need to play it for longer sessions too really be sure. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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