Harmony card issue or console issue ?

[JihemB]

Hello.

I'm a French user using the Harmony card for years either with the (ugly) French SECAM Atari 2600 console or the Colecovision (PAL ?) console with the VCS 2600 adapter.

Since I was fed up to setup a Coleco each time I want to play with the VC2600 I just bought a PAL composite modded VCS2600 and wanted to give it a try.

 

My first try was with the Compumate keyboard and discovered the first line of characters on the keyboard doesn't do anything (although it works fine with my SECAM console).

Then I used my Harmony card to run the "Testcart ROM" to see if everything is fine and everything was fine...

 

A few hours later I wanted to show a friend the console and play a game with the Harmony card and it was the start of troubles :

When I switch on the console with the Harmony card :

 - Either the display is OK but I can use the joystick to move up or down nor use the fire button to choose an option

 - Either the display is OK for a few seconds then the only display I get is the [.] on an empty screen (except the Harmony logo and the "Page 0" information).

 

I try to update the firmware of the Harmony cart without luck regarding the result.

 

If I put the Harmony cart back to my SECAM console it seems to work fine...

 

What do you think ?

[JihemB]

[Edit]

It seems the console acts as there are some "fake" signals comming out the joystick controler so the display ([.]) would mean it entered an empty directory...

Should this means there is something with the internal joystick processor ?

[+SvOlli]

At this point of discussion, I would suggest if you RIOT is socketed you swap it out for another chip. There's still new old stock available on ebay. The RIOT is the only chip that has died on me so far in my collection of 2600s. I've still got one with a broken RIOT, but it's a jr, so it's not socketed, and I lack the skill and tools of soldering that out.

[JihemB]

Hi.

Thanks for your input SvOlli.

 

Just before your reply I got a feedback on a French forum where it was suggested to me to have a look at the TIA chip.

Since I had the choice between changing the TIA or the RIOT but got the TIA suggestion first I started with the TIA (I had to order one since I think it was not possible to swap a PAL console TIA with a SECAM console TIA, right ?) which I received this morning.

I put the replacement TIA in the console and it seems it solves the issue.

 

I'm leaving the console powered for a few hours with some interruption to get if the Harmony cart menu back and check it behaviour works as expected as a proof of proper functionning.