Faicuai Posted February 20, 2021 Share Posted February 20, 2021 (edited) ... If you happen to have one or more of these boards that seem damaged or with gabled video output, and you have already tried swapping discrete logic components, 2KB ram chip, EPROMS, or 6545 and still no picture. well... there are good and bad news for you... The bad news is that you most likely have a fried CRT8021 chip, and (on top of that), they are not that easy to find new and in operational condition. The good news is that I have an extra stash of them, and will be releasing them, eventually. Whether your BIT3 is damaged or you may want to stock-up for the impending failure of your existing CRT8021, you may want to consider getting one or two extra replacements. Anyone interested, just PM. And if you want to get rid of yours, let me know as well. I will hold here these CRT8021s for a while, and give AtariAge the "first right-of-refusal". Sometime down the road, I will dump them on eBay, at wonderful eBay prices, of course. Cheers! Edited February 20, 2021 by Faicuai 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Stephen Posted February 20, 2021 Share Posted February 20, 2021 I have two BIT3 cards that need at least testing. I bought one being told it was bad, the other one I don't know - the cables had been ripped out of it. But in order to test these, I have to do some repair work to my spare 800. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+slx Posted February 21, 2021 Share Posted February 21, 2021 If only I had a Bit 3 to share such worries.... 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
venom4728a Posted February 21, 2021 Share Posted February 21, 2021 I have one that appears to be undamaged, but I have never plugged it in to test out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faicuai Posted February 23, 2021 Author Share Posted February 23, 2021 Well, folks, at this point I only have nine (9) CRT8021 left... If don't see that much movement here, they will go to eBay, and at will be sold at a premium (as they are essentially non-existing there, in this condition). Don't be fooled by a working CRT8021... It simply means its impending failure is guaranteed, as I learned. Cheers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faicuai Posted February 27, 2021 Author Share Posted February 27, 2021 Now down to (7) left... Will post any other updates for the next week or two, before moving to eBay. Happy weekend! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
venom4728a Posted February 27, 2021 Share Posted February 27, 2021 7 minutes ago, Faicuai said: Now down to (7) left... Will post any other updates for the next week or two, before moving to eBay. Happy weekend! I am interested in one CRT8021, tried to PM but the systems says you are not able to receive messages Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faicuai Posted February 27, 2021 Author Share Posted February 27, 2021 (edited) 2 hours ago, venom4728a said: I am interested in one CRT8021, tried to PM but the systems says you are not able to receive messages Error in my preferences (unknown reason). Rectified. Please, try again at your earliest convenience. Edited February 27, 2021 by Faicuai Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_The Doctor__ Posted February 27, 2021 Share Posted February 27, 2021 I tested PM and it's working. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
venom4728a Posted February 28, 2021 Share Posted February 28, 2021 22 hours ago, Faicuai said: Error in my preferences (unknown reason). Rectified. Please, try again at your earliest convenience. Just tried from 2 different browsers and I get this when I try to send. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faicuai Posted February 28, 2021 Author Share Posted February 28, 2021 41 minutes ago, venom4728a said: Just tried from 2 different browsers and I get this when I try to send. You have PM ! It seems I still had some some garbage buried in my account settings. Should be working now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faicuai Posted March 3, 2021 Author Share Posted March 3, 2021 We are now down to six (6) units left... (CRT8021). I will hold them here for one more week, and will send a quick reminder before sending them to eBay. IF you have not gotten yours , hurry up. You will need them. Cheers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sl0re Posted April 9, 2023 Share Posted April 9, 2023 I finally tried to use mine and I have vertical jailbars. Basically the leftmost line of every character space is lit up making vertical lines going all the way up and down the screen. Otherwise it looks pretty clear considering its on a modern monitor. I tried cleaning the card contacts with deoxit. Anyone have any other ideas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mytek Posted April 9, 2023 Share Posted April 9, 2023 On 3/2/2021 at 5:18 PM, Faicuai said: We are now down to six (6) units left... (CRT8021). I will hold them here for one more week, and will send a quick reminder before sending them to eBay. IF you have not gotten yours , hurry up. You will need them. Cheers! Digi-Key has them with a minimum buy of 17 pieces @ $18.71 each -- P/N: 2156-CRT8021-ND Maybe someone can do a group buy if there is still demand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sl0re Posted April 9, 2023 Share Posted April 9, 2023 17 minutes ago, mytek said: Digi-Key has them with a minimum buy of 17 pieces @ $18.71 each -- P/N: 2156-CRT8021-ND Maybe someone can do a group buy if there is still demand. Looks like that is probably what I need to fix my card. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sl0re Posted April 28, 2023 Share Posted April 28, 2023 On 4/9/2023 at 4:13 PM, mytek said: Digi-Key has them with a minimum buy of 17 pieces @ $18.71 each -- P/N: 2156-CRT8021-ND Maybe someone can do a group buy if there is still demand. I tried ordering them and was sent a variant. The CRT8021-003. This won't work right? The datasheet says it uses a different character width. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mytek Posted April 28, 2023 Share Posted April 28, 2023 27 minutes ago, sl0re said: I tried ordering them and was sent a variant. The CRT8021-003. This won't work right? The datasheet says it uses a different character width. Thanks That's a good question, and one that I don't have an answer for. Did you try it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sl0re Posted April 28, 2023 Share Posted April 28, 2023 (edited) No; not a electronics guy but I don't see how the characters are going to come out right if they use different numbers of rows and columns... But was hoping for a more informed opinion. And or could you look at the datasheet? Figure 2 goes over the differences in the characters. As a non programmer it still looks like they mean they have to be programmed differently. Is there some kind of direct replacement database for chips? Thanks Edited April 28, 2023 by sl0re Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mytek Posted April 29, 2023 Share Posted April 29, 2023 3 hours ago, sl0re said: No; not a electronics guy but I don't see how the characters are going to come out right if they use different numbers of rows and columns... But was hoping for a more informed opinion. Well unfortunately that wouldn't be me, since I have never owned or used a BIT3 card. My original posting of the part number and source seemed to line up with the chip that was being sought, and I assumed there would only be the one type, which obviously I was wrong about. If the chip was a standard DIP that could be socketed, then popping it into your BIT3 to test would be worth doing, but unfortunately that chip has an odd footprint that doesn't lend itself to doing that. EDIT: I just took a better look at the image of the BIT3 board that was posted earlier and it looks to be a standard DIP 28 pin device that is socketed. This would allow an easy swap to test the alternative, but unfortunately with a minimum buy of 17 pieces that probably wouldn't be practical 3 hours ago, sl0re said: And or could you look at the datasheet? Figure 2 goes over the differences in the characters. As a non programmer it still looks like they mean they have to be programmed differently. As I said I'm not familiar enough with the chip to give you that informed answer. 3 hours ago, sl0re said: Is there some kind of direct replacement database for chips? Not really, since that would be a tall order for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sl0re Posted April 29, 2023 Share Posted April 29, 2023 (edited) 1 hour ago, mytek said: Well unfortunately that wouldn't be me, since I have never owned or used a BIT3 card. My original posting of the part number and source seemed to line up with the chip that was being sought, and I assumed there would only be the one type, which obviously I was wrong about. If the chip was a standard DIP that could be socketed, then popping it into your BIT3 to test would be worth doing, but unfortunately that chip has an odd footprint that doesn't lend itself to doing that. EDIT: I just took a better look at the image of the BIT3 board that was posted earlier and it looks to be a standard DIP 28 pin device that is socketed. This would allow an easy swap to test the alternative, but unfortunately with a minimum buy of 17 pieces that probably wouldn't be practical As I said I'm not familiar enough with the chip to give you that informed answer. Not really, since that would be a tall order for sure. It would be easy to drop in but the character map layout is different. I don't see how the same character set rom settings could work on both chips (its covered in section 2 of the chip datasheet). I could try writing a new one (not really programming... more making a Minecraft skin 😂) but it's not 100% it would look ok on a modern modern monitor. I already have the chips. They sent the wrong ones. Any EE's have a minute to look at the datasheet to verify (or shootdown) my assumption about the character maps on the rom? I don't know this stuff. https://datasheetspdf.com/pdf/1412104/SMSC/CRT8021/1 Edited April 29, 2023 by sl0re Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mytek Posted April 29, 2023 Share Posted April 29, 2023 9 hours ago, sl0re said: I already have the chips. They sent the wrong ones. Yep that definitely appears to be the case, since what is listed on Digi-Key doesn't have the -003 suffix, and yet that is what they apparently sent you. Any chance of returning them and either getting the correct one or a refund? However if that is the only chip version they have, and you could get it to work by a character ROM change that would be very beneficial to anyone else faced with needing to replace the same chip in their BIT3 board. Because from what I understand there aren't a lot of viable options when it comes to finding a replacement. Hopefully someone with both a BIT3 board and the technical skill set required to make that ROM change chimes in to give this idea a try. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sl0re Posted April 29, 2023 Share Posted April 29, 2023 5 hours ago, mytek said: Yep that definitely appears to be the case, since what is listed on Digi-Key doesn't have the -003 suffix, and yet that is what they apparently sent you. Any chance of returning them and either getting the correct one or a refund? However if that is the only chip version they have, and you could get it to work by a character ROM change that would be very beneficial to anyone else faced with needing to replace the same chip in their BIT3 board. Because from what I understand there aren't a lot of viable options when it comes to finding a replacement. Hopefully someone with both a BIT3 board and the technical skill set required to make that ROM change chimes in to give this idea a try. It draws smaller characters so it may look really bad. In a old thread someone (who has the skill to do it) mentioned reverse engineering the chip. Might be the way to go. I think less than 100 are left. The AliExpress ads for them are sus as they want more money than the American vendors. I think everyone is trying to drop ship from those last few.... Plus the original chip loves to fail. Other is stick mango pi on a 800 style board... Have it respond like a bit3. It outputs hdmi... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sl0re Posted May 2, 2023 Share Posted May 2, 2023 After I setup my RMA Rochester now lists the part / crt8021 as unavailable. Guess they didn't really have any left and just had misfiled crt8021-003s. They have a part called a crt8021p though.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_The Doctor__ Posted May 2, 2023 Share Posted May 2, 2023 crt8021p should be the correct part. -003 is not the correct part. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sl0re Posted May 2, 2023 Share Posted May 2, 2023 35 minutes ago, _The Doctor__ said: crt8021p should be the correct part. -003 is not the correct part. Thanks. What does the p represent? There was a seperate part number without a p and I have never seen a p on any of the chips / bit3 chip photos. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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