Stupid Intellivision!

[JB]

GAH!

 

My INTV's RF adapter was acting up. Evidence indicated it was likely a loose connection. Easy to fix, right?

...

Guess who didn't do their research.

 

I knew the INTV had solder holding it's RF shield shut. But I wasn't prepared for the huge globs I saw.

 

A few hours later, the system's open. A visual inspection finds a joint that MIGHT be bad under the RF modulator. Fix that, hook it up, symptoms unchanged.

 

Pry the modulator open, only to find oout I can't get at the underside of the internals. Which means I can't fix the %#@^&.

 

All that work, wasted.

Rather than go to the extra effort to remove the modulator from teh board so I can get at the underside, I'm just scheduling it for an AV mod.

I'll likely be doing some parts shopping this weekend.

At least if I screw up, I know it was essentially a dead system anyways.

 

 

 

 

Minor amusement: There's some 2 feet of wire connecting the AC adapter to the power switch because Mattel didn't think power switches belonged on the left half of the machine.

[Brad2600]

Try a hammer?

 

Just kidding.

 

I'm not too fond of the INTV design..mostly my biggest gripe is the controllers.

[video game addict]

I've got a working one you can have. It's got one trashed controller, otherwise its in decent shape. It's an original INTV 1 Just whatever the shipping costs are and its yours.

[Ze_ro]

A while back when I was less knowledgable, I had a "broken" ColecoVision. It displayed garbage on the screen, and I assumed that the RF modulator inside the unit was to blame. So, I opened the bugger up and took a look. As with your INTV, the RF modulator was soldered quite securely into place... I eventually got enough solder off, and pried apart the metal to the point where I could inspect the actual circuitry.

 

I couldn't find anything wrong.

 

So, I packed everything back up as well as I could, tried it out again (Of course, it wasn't fixed... but I was happy to see that things weren't any MORE broken than before). At that point, I stuck it in the basement for a year or so.

 

Eventually I read something on the internet about older video game systems (In particular, the Atari 2600) not working properly with automatic RF switches like those used for NES's... I then realized that I had been hooking my ColecoVision up using the automatic switch that came with my Jaguar. I slapped my forehead and picked up a manual RF switch and hooked things up... and it worked! My ColecoVision was finally working properly and displaying a picture... however, when it got to the blue skill select screen, it immediately went into the game without me pressing anything, and my character immediately started moving to the right. I disconnected the controller, but the character still moved on it's own. In my efforts to try to fix something that wasn't actually broken, I had likely caused the damage that broke the joystick circuitry in the system. That's a lesson I won't soon forget.

 

Incidentally, I was experimenting with this "broken" CV, and I found that using Genesis joysticks allowed me to actually play the game without characters automatically moving. Of course, things were a little tricky without the number pad (for some reason, mashing the D-pad and buttons on the Genesis controller actually ended up causing numerous number pad presses, but you could never rely on this). A few weeks of using the CV like this, and the video circuitry died out completely. Sigh...

 

--Zero

[JB]

I've got a working one you can have.  It's got one trashed controller, otherwise its in decent shape. It's an original INTV 1 Just whatever the shipping costs are and its yours.

Nah. I wanna make this one work.

 

Thanks for the offer, though.

[King Atari]

I hear that INTV 1's, or at least early models, have a tendency to overheat, so be careful of that, too.

[JB]

I hear that INTV 1's, or at least early models, have a tendency to overheat, so be careful of that, too.

Yah. 3 chips have simple heatsinks. Kida scary for a machine of the era to NEED those.

 

And I'm sure being stuffed in a steel box next to the AC adapter didn't help matters.

 

...

 

I've also heard that the CPU they used was really prone to failure to begin with.