C-128 problem with Sega carts

[MegaManFan]

I'm hoping somebody could give me a little advice. I've been a Commodore

owner since childhood, and of late I've gotten back into gaming with my

C-128 (the C-64 has a bad power supply, so it's packed away somewhere).

I recently picked up a working 1571 drive and I've been happy with that,

and I've also gotten into acquiring carts. What I've noticed though is

that even carts I get which are reputed to be "tested and working" (and

I have no reason to think the sources aren't reputable) won't boot up on

my C-128, and they're always Sega carts. Some that I own like Tapper

and Zaxxon work right off the bat, but others like Buck Rogers, Congo

Bongo, and Star Trek: S.O.S. never get anywhere. The closest I can get

to them booting is a black screen. Now I will note that my cart slot on

the C-128 has always been a "tight fit" even on Commodore made carts;

as a kid and still today I had to push them in really firmly and pull them

out really hard to get a good pin contact. It occurs to me that it may

be that all of these Sega carts fail because of the molding of the shells

makes them too wide for me to push in far enough to make a good contact.

 

Of course, I don't want to rip these carts apart to play the games even

if I was 100% sure that would solve the problem, because I don't want to

ruin the labels. What's a Commodore gamer to do? Advice is needed - thanks in advance!

[surfnmadness]

Although I never got past a Vic 20 with the C lineup, I was able to find this little bit of history.

 

http://www.oldsoftware.com/history.html

 

The part about the C128 explains it is able to play C64 programs while running in 40 column mode only. (limitation of it) Maybe need to change back to 40 column before starting your game?

[MegaManFan]

Good theory dude, but even in C-128 mode it start in 40 columns mode automatically unless you have the "40/80" switch down. C-64 mode should have no way to access any of the C-128 properties, including 80 columns, and all carts fire up the C-64 bios (I don't think I ever heard of or saw a C-128 game designed to run as a cart in that mode, and very few C-128 specific games exist anyway).

 

PS: Even if true that wouldn't explain why Tapper works and Buck Rogers doesn't, when both are clean carts with good contacts. The only reason could be that the C-128 was poorly constructed and some carts just don't fit in the overly narrow slot, while other "looser" Sega carts do.

[tyranthraxus]

Any chance these games fall out of the 99.9% compatibility of the

128? Do have any pirate disk versions of these games to try?

[MegaManFan]

Fraid not. And again, I wouldn't be surprised if I had one or two games that fell out of 99.9% compatibility, but the fact that they're all carts and all made by Sega and they all don't seem to fit in the slot very well makes me suspicious. I guess as much as anything I'm trying to see if anybody else has had this problem. I got these carts from two very reliable AtariAge members who both reported them tested and working before I got 'em in trade.

[Mayhem]

Ah you posted this on comp.sys.cbm then? Ah... I replied there actually, but I will here also seeing as I sold you some of them heh. Yes, Sega carts are notorious for being a bit tight at times. I recommend getting one of those cart port expanders for the machine. Not only don't you then have to worry about anything fitting, but it saves wear and tear on the actual slot itself...

[MegaManFan]

Got any good sources I can get a port expander from then?

[Mayhem]

Erm.... eBay

 

I had a look though there doesn't appear to be any up there currently...

[MegaManFan]

BTW dude, am I completely insane or is the disc version of Ms. Pac-Man better than the cart? I haven't dug out my disc yet to compare, but it seems to me it must have been much better. And I have to say Galaxian was a bit of a dissapointment too. After AtariSoft did such an outstanding job on Donkey Kong, I feel a bit let down by these two carts although I'm still glad they're in my collection.

[Mayhem]

If it's the Thunder Mountain version of Ms Pacman, I could almost swear they are the same game (certainly there are a few TM releases which ARE the Atarisoft cart games)...