Shift838 Posted September 4, 2020 Share Posted September 4, 2020 So I purchased a 99/4A that was supposed to be like new and only used once. cosmetically it looks great, you can tell it's never had a PEB plugged in. However, I am having some video issues. If you look at the Title screen you can see distortions around the color bars and quite a bit of character ghosting. on the second photo upper right corner you can see quite a few vertical lines. I see this all over the monitor when changing to darker screen colors. In TI Basic you can see the ghosting well too. Would this be the 9918 VDP or could this be DRAM related? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+arcadeshopper Posted September 4, 2020 Share Posted September 4, 2020 Possible bad caps or VDP if it was ram it would be like the examples in the faqSent from my LM-V600 using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+OLD CS1 Posted September 4, 2020 Share Posted September 4, 2020 MainByte has a couple of articles on alterations of the video circuit to address output quality issues. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Casey Posted September 4, 2020 Share Posted September 4, 2020 This is to the composite input on your monitor/TV? My NIB 99/4A that I got 2 years ago looks like that also - maybe not quite to that extent. But I can see vertical lines going down the screen and some color fringing as well, depending on the colors. Black background with white letters is very rainbowy. It’s always been this way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shift838 Posted September 4, 2020 Author Share Posted September 4, 2020 anyone have a spare TMS9918 they want to part with? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shift838 Posted September 4, 2020 Author Share Posted September 4, 2020 I noticed that when I power the unit up I get a white screen then black vertical lines all across the screen for a 1/2 second or so. see video 2020-09-03 22-31-31 RTUX 1920x1080 60fps (1).mp4 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toucan Posted September 4, 2020 Share Posted September 4, 2020 (edited) 21 hours ago, Shift838 said: So I purchased a 99/4A that was supposed to be like new and only used once. cosmetically it looks great, you can tell it's never had a PEB plugged in. However, I am having some video issues. hehe. I've had this happen a lot. When I see a cosmetically new-looking TI-99 I figure it might have video issues (usually it's only the beige ones). I found there was a reason it was never or only lightly used, since some of these units probably were like that from the factory. Edited September 4, 2020 by Toucan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GDMike Posted September 5, 2020 Share Posted September 5, 2020 My console is connected via my big screen as it has a composite input. But every now and then the tv goes black with a no signal message, then pops back on. I thought maybe it's the cable so I tried another cable and I still get the same thing just once in awhile. I'm thinking it's just the tv. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed in SoDak Posted September 5, 2020 Share Posted September 5, 2020 1 hour ago, Toucan said: I found there was a reason it was never or only lightly used, since some of these units probably were like that from the factory. I have the same theory regarding as-new transistor radios, often still with the box and papers. A gift from Aunt Edna? But it didn't work, so rather than make her feel bad, and not worth it to them to have it fixed and no way to return it to the store, but they can't just toss it either, so it gets stuffed in the back of a drawer. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toucan Posted September 5, 2020 Share Posted September 5, 2020 27 minutes ago, Ed in SoDak said: I have the same theory regarding as-new transistor radios, often still with the box and papers. A gift from Aunt Edna? But it didn't work, so rather than make her feel bad, and not worth it to them to have it fixed and no way to return it to the store, but they can't just toss it either, so it gets stuffed in the back of a drawer. This thread brings memories of the infamous "Russian TI-99/4A console". That was an interesting one to say the least. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GDMike Posted September 5, 2020 Share Posted September 5, 2020 I never heard of that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toucan Posted September 5, 2020 Share Posted September 5, 2020 17 hours ago, GDMike said: I never heard of that In terms of the Russian console. I was in talks with someone who was in turn in talks with a former TI employee. The former TI employee said he had a console in Russian. I was intrigued to say the least, considering the TI came out during the Cold War/Iron Curtain days. Anyway, since the TI contact said the computer was in Russian, I was envisioning a box in Russian, screen in Russian, etc. So I ended up paying for it and had it shipped to me. When I got the TI, the box was just the regular box. So I plugged it in to see if the computer was really displaying Russian text. When the computer came on, it displayed one of these screens found on this page: https://www.ninerpedia.org/wiki/Troubleshooting?fbclid=IwAR3KzYrHfdDjjrciXy7Gk_QfGJxuNaZCIcS0B7RJeXyJgi6Ba7SPZYeP6co Care to guess which screen is the "Russian Screen"? So all that for the scrambled TI unit. 1 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+OLD CS1 Posted September 5, 2020 Share Posted September 5, 2020 @Toucan Not funny, but funny. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GDMike Posted September 5, 2020 Share Posted September 5, 2020 Ok, you actually got me on that. I let my guard down, I'm the dunce of mayberry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toucan Posted September 5, 2020 Share Posted September 5, 2020 1 hour ago, OLD CS1 said: @Toucan Not funny, but funny. When I first saw screen 11111110 on that page, I was like, hey, that's the Russian screen! Maybe I could edit it to give it that name, hehe. Actually, if you look at it, the TI logo could even be a sickle/hammer 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+arcadeshopper Posted September 5, 2020 Share Posted September 5, 2020 What was the mark up on the Russian machine? Sent from my LM-V600 using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toucan Posted September 5, 2020 Share Posted September 5, 2020 (edited) 7 minutes ago, arcadeshopper said: What was the mark up on the Russian machine? Sent from my LM-V600 using Tapatalk Forget what he was asking, but I seem to remember paying $50 for it. This is from a 2002 e-mail when this all went down. So not a bad price luckily. He described it as follows: TI 99 4/A Equipment 8 9" monitors: 1 working & 7 non-working (use for parts) (sold??) 1 13" monitor (sold ??) 2 expansion modules, 1 with floppy drive 10 TI 99 4/A systems: 2 new still in the box (1 in Russian) 8 used ( 2 in box sold) 1 TI Program tape recorder 420 Blank 5 1/4" floppys (use on expansion modules) missalanious user guides and plugs and cables Edited September 5, 2020 by Toucan 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keneg Posted September 6, 2020 Share Posted September 6, 2020 I have a question about this. I know that on some computers programmers used these video issues in inventive ways to enhance games. Was this done much on the TI? If so some games might look much different if the TMS-RGB mod or an F18A is used. thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toucan Posted September 6, 2020 Share Posted September 6, 2020 20 minutes ago, Keneg said: I have a question about this. I know that on some computers programmers used these video issues in inventive ways to enhance games. Was this done much on the TI? If so some games might look much different if the TMS-RGB mod or an F18A is used. thoughts? Parsec maybe? With the multi-colored twinkling star background? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GDMike Posted September 6, 2020 Share Posted September 6, 2020 On 9/3/2020 at 10:03 PM, Shift838 said: anyone have a spare TMS9918 they want to part with? Meee too meet too...ok only if you got a spare after shift838. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tursi Posted September 6, 2020 Share Posted September 6, 2020 1 hour ago, Toucan said: Parsec maybe? With the multi-colored twinkling star background? The Parsec stars use actual colors. The vertical stripes on the ground show substantial aliasing, but the consensus was that wasn't done on purpose. Nothing on the TI I'm aware of uses the fringing on purpose. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keneg Posted September 6, 2020 Share Posted September 6, 2020 Thanks, I plan on trying the resister and capacitor fixes when I have time. I have an AV2VGA to try to get a bigger picture by using a 4:3 VGA monitor I have, but it makes the issues worse. I am hoping the fixes will get me at least back to what I get on my tiny composite monitor now. I’m on the fence about things that require modifying the computer. Things like the TIPI and FinalGROM99 really mostly duplicate functionality that you could have from vintage hardware, but much cheaper and more reliable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HOME AUTOMATION Posted September 6, 2020 Share Posted September 6, 2020 6 hours ago, GDMike said: Ok, you actually got me on that. I let my guard down, I'm the dunce of mayberry. I should be sorry too... I watched @Toucan walk you ...right into it! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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