Help repair: Intellivision controllers quit working after a while

[vintagegamecrazy]

I have a really clean Intelly 1 console but the controllers quit working after a few minutes of play. Once it cools down after being turned off for a while they work again. Something is overheating. I tried replacing the AY-3-8914 audio chip since the controllers run through it but that isn't the problem. Has anyone ran into this issue and know what IC to replace or do I have to buy some freezer spray and start testing ICs?

 

Any help would be appreciated.

[mr_me]

Does the audio still work after the controllers stop. Does the soldering between the controller connectors and the chip look okay. Did you test with one controller unplugged.

[vintagegamecrazy]

The audio is fine the game never freezes or hiccups. I did not test with one controller unplugged although I have swapped them. It doesn't seem like a solder connection. Before they go out completely it gets to the point where you have to press any of the fire buttons to get the directional disc to respond and after a while even that will get less and less responsive. I'll have to try to do some more testing but it just seems like one of the ICs is getting too hot.

[mr_me]

Did you test the voltages coming from the power supply board; before and after.

[vintagegamecrazy]

No but I'll definitely give that a try I'll have to try it when I first fire it up and it's running well and then try it when it starts running badly.

[vintagegamecrazy]

OK so I just got around to checking this system out again. I took it apart and tested all of the voltages and all check out fine. I don't get anything out of the controllers anymore though and can't get past the title screen where as before I could play for about five to ten minutes before the controllers quit. I'm stumped now. Any other suggestions?

[+intvsteve]

Did you try @mr_me's suggestion of having one controller disconnected?

 

On the non-Intellivision II systems, it's super easy to reconnect the controllers incorrectly. If that happens, many games will be stuck in the way you're describing. So it's certainly worth having only one controller connected, see how things work, then flipping the connector over and trying again.

 

There are some variations in the system boards, too. IIRC the later boards changed some circuitry around the controller inputs so a picture of the board can help, too.

[mr_me]

Try unplugging both controllers, put in an old mattel cartridge, see if you can get passed the title screen by shorting the first two controller connector pins with a screwdriver.

Edited November 3, 2019 by mr_me

[HunterZero]

One of the membrane keypad buttons might be stuck down. When this happens, it can "lock out" the disc control and other key pad buttons.

 

As suggested, disconnecting one or the other controller can help check this.

 

- J

[+intvsteve]

@mr_me - is there visual guidance that @vintagegamecrazy can follow to know which pins are 1 and 2? I can't recall if they're labelled on the board.

 

That said, it won't harm anything if you "the wrong" pair.

 

[mr_me]

Definitely try both sides but the first pin should be towards the back of the intellivision.  

[vintagegamecrazy]

I will check these suggestions out tomorrow when I have some spare time and get back with the results.

[vintagegamecrazy]

So I just tested this out the other night and sure enough if I unplug the second controller then either controller works find in the first port and I played it for quite a while. Something is shorting out on the second controller port and now I get to try and figure out where that is. Is there any other issue it could be besides a short somewhere?

[+intvsteve]

It's great to hear that the problem seems to be controller-specific.

 

Just to be sure... did you test by swapping the working controller to the other port and trying it out?

 

You can test the controller using an Ohmmeter to find out which pins are shorting, assuming the problem is in the controller itself (likely).

 

Have you already disassembled the controller to inspect the mylar layers?

 

We had similar problems even back when we were kids. In our case, the disc input would short. The "fix" I came up with then was to get some notebook paper and tear out a small circle of paper and poke a hole in the center to place it between the layers to keep them apart.  IIRC you typically find a small plastic "disc" of material that provides a little separation between the layers. I'll attempt some ASCII art below to try to describe it...

 

Top Layer: ---XXXXXXX---  ---XXXXXXXX----  << the --- indicates clear plastic, XXXX is where the conductive paint is, the gap is the hole in the center that goes around the spindle
Mid Layer:            --  --               << plastic "washer" that provides a little separation between layers
Bottom:    ---XXXXXXX---  ---XXXXXXXX----  << bottom layer... when you press plastic disc, it causes top layer 'XXXX' to touch bottom layer 'XXXX' to create the input signal 

So in our case, we just 'fattened up' that middle layer.

 

Some solutions:

• Open up your controller and make sure things are clean - gently wipe with barely damp cloth
• Be sure the separator layer is correctly installed
• Harvest a controller from another system
• Use FlashBack controller with adapter
• Get new mylars! There are new controller mylars! You can order here.

 

My order of new mylars from the U.K. just arrived last week. Haven't tried them out yet, though.

[vintagegamecrazy]

Yes, I played Astrosmash with both controllers and they both functioned properly. It's definitely something wrong with port 2 on the system.

[+intvsteve]

19 minutes ago, vintagegamecrazy said:

Yes, I played Astrosmash with both controllers and they both functioned properly. It's definitely something wrong with port 2 on the system.

Do you have any pictures?

 

Some Intellivision motherboards have different circuitry for controller inputs. Those tend to be pretty interesting. The first thing then would be to check the conductivity between the pins on the motherboard itself, and see if you can identify anything on the board that might be causing a short.

 

What's odd though is that if the short were on the motherboard, it shouldn't make a difference -- the problem would happen regardless of having a controller attached or not.

 

Some pictures would help a lot.