72 in 1/RetroElectronik board not working

[Christian Bryan]

Hi, recently obtained a Vectrex (Serial No: 2023598) a month ago. The Bezerk cartridge that came with it and the Solar Quest cart obtained separately work fine. My problem is that I have obtained a 72 in 1 board that simply won’t work, it just goes straight to Mine Storm. I took the board to the Retro Revival in Walsall and verified that the 72 in 1 card works in another Vectrex. I also obtained a few eprom boards from retroelectronik and programmed up a couple of eproms and soldered them to the boards but alas same result, it just boots into Mine Storm. However I also have the board with the Zif socket and with that I have no display whatsoever when it is turned on with or without an eprom inserted. Is there anything that I could look at/measure to determine whether or not the cartridge socket/power is teetering on the edge somehow? To my knowledge the machine has not been recapped.

 

I was looking forward in having a bash at a bit of development and it would be great if I could write my experiments to an eprom. Any help would be appreciated.

 

Thanks

Christian

[Zitruskeks]

Some of the 72 in 1 carts don't work with later (usually non-buzz) Vextrex models due to a different bios. At least that's what i've been reading here and there.

Dont know if 2023598 is already in the non buzz region, mine is a european 3108xxx model and it is one. If there are no red bodge wires on the board, its a non buzz.

 

Still, on my Veccy some retroelectronik boards with roms that I burned work flawlessly. So might be the cart socket.

[Christian Bryan]

Zitruskeks, it a full buzz model with the red wires. Ive put a socket on one of those retroelectronik boards as a kind of breakout board to see if there is anything with my cheapo digital scope. Going to do a full recap at some point to see if it makes a difference perhaps check the transformer as well. It’s a bit odd that the retroelectronik board with the zif socket can bring down the whole veccy, like it’s drawing too much power (or lack of power going to the cartridge) from the logic board as there is no display or sound.

 

Cheers