Need some advice on making a cart work

[lonesome_pa]

Hope someone can give me a few pointers on this. I have a game that I have cleaned extensively with rubbing alcohol. It didn't work. I even then removed the board (the screws were already exposed), gave it a more thorough cleaning with rubbing alcohol, and still didn't work. But yet, all my other games work fine. Usually alcohol turned any other non-working game to working. Is there another way to clean it, or is there a way I can find out what's wrong with the game itself? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[Paul Slocum]

My last resort is always to VERY lightly sand the contacts, then clean them again.

 

-Paul

[Pitfall Harry]

Since you've already taken the circuit card out, there are a few more things you can try:

 

1. Sometimes the oxide buildup is more than rubbing alcohol alone can penetrate. Try cleaning the contacts by rubbing them vigorously -- both sides -- with a soft pencil eraser. Then Test.

 

2. If the pencil eraser trick fails, closely examine the circuit traces which connect the metal contacts to the ROM chip for shorts and for breaks.

 

A short is usually a manufacturer's defect, a solder blob which inadvertantly connects two ROM leads or two circuit traces. It should be obvious by inspection if you have a short. But if you are uncertain and your game is not rare, you may want to open up another cart of the same title and compare the circuit cards. You should be able to cut away the excess solder with a pocket knnife. If that proves difficult, you may need to use a desoldering tool.

 

If you have a circuit break, you will need to repair it either by touching it up with solder or by soldering a small wire shunt to bridge the gap.

 

3. Try cleaning the contacts very lightly with fine steel wool or fine grade sandpaper.

 

4. As a last resort, take out your soldering iron ant lightly retouch all of the ROM chip solder joints.

 

If all of the above steps fail, give it up for dead. Every once in a great while, that's just the way it is.

 

Ben

[lonesome_pa]

I re-inspected the board, and from what I can tell (using a magnifying glass) there are no breaks or shorts. Everything "appears" to be in working order. The eraser did take off a little more from the contacts, but only a little. I'll try testing it again when I get home. If it still doesn't work, oh well, I'll call it a lost cause.

 

Maybe someone has some uses for a non-working cart?? Hmmm... a possible new topic..... I use my no-longer working cd's as coasters or frisbees. LOL Thanks for the advice.

[Paul Slocum]

If someone has a use for working or nonworking cartridge boards, I've got about 50 sitting here.

 

-Paul

[+-^CrossBow^-]

Well Depending on the game. I have had a few that appeared to be dead. But upon further checking I would find out that some part of the traces on the carts pcb had flaked off requiring a little trace work to repair. Also it is actually possible for some carts to die. Games done with Eproms could actually die as most Eproms only have shelf lives of like 15 -20 years. Which would be now.

 

Look at the chip on the PCB if is has a little white sticker on the top of it...then it most likely contains an Eprom onboard. If it does not and we are certain that the game has worked at one time. Then start checking the traces on the PCB. Also look to see if there are any resistors or capacitors on the PCB. Some games do contain these additional components which can occasionally go out.

 

Well..that is all I have...

 

BTW...what game is it?

[lonesome_pa]

The game is Kaboom! by Activision. The chip is still covered by the shielding and I can't see enough under the shielding to see if there is a sticker. All there is on the board is the chip and the shielding. From what I can tell, all the contacts are clean (they are shiny) and the traces are in tact.

[Cassidy Nolen]

Most of the Activision titles are the first to zone out on 2600s, due to the fact the PCB's are just a little thinner. I have a Boxing game that does the same thing. Do you have an extra Atari you can test it on?

 

Sometimes, I have to jiggle it to get it to work. No jokes.

 

Cassidy

[lonesome_pa]

I don't have any other "working" units. Just ones for parts. I'll try the "jiggle" thing.

[StanJr]

Yeah, I've got a Chopper Command that has to be almost all the way out of the console to work. Activision games sometimes require a lot of jiggle.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

Yeap..Activision PCBs are thinner than Atari and other manufactures games are. You will need to crack open the 2600 case and using a flat bladed jewlers screwdriver...carefully reform the contacts on the VCS towards the middle. Over time they form further and further apart resulting in thinner PCB games not coming up when stuck into the units.

 

I have to this with my 7800 several times a year. For some reason, the 7800 contacts are horrible about this. In fact I have this to blame for my F-14 getting trashed. I had an F-14 Tomcat for the 7800 and loved the game. About a week or so after I got it...it wouldn't come up anymore. So I took it back to Toys R Us and exchanged it for F-18 since they were out of F-14 games.

 

I was only about 12 or 13 at the time and didn't know about the contacts and such. Then I learned 12 years later when I took my 7800 outta storage that lots of other games wouldn't work on it either. Only 12 years later I am tech and now how to figure crap out. So I immediatly noticed the difference in thickness on the games and thus dedeuced that it had to be the contacts on the 7800 cart connector and not the games themselves.

 

Now if only I could find F14 again take on Ruskies in the night sky over the Nimitz!!!

 

Anybody with a spare F-14 for the 7800?!