Intellivision I Controller Curiosities

[InsaneDavid]

Alright, I don't have a whole lot of background with the Intellivision and I haven't been inside one in years. Today I picked up an Intellivision I system in a lot with some other items at a local flea market. I cleaned the system up and tried it out where I got absolutely nothing except a slight change in the no signal scramble. I opened the system up and near completely rebuilt the RF circuitry, which fixed the previous problem - I get clear video and sound.

That brings me to the current problem which effects the controls. Both control pads were totally unresponsive, even to the point that they won't get passed the title screen for Mattel games. I opened the system back up and played around with the connections. In one test I had only Player 1 connected and I got some functionality except it's not correct.

I was using Astrosmash to test:
The control disc is totally unresponsive.
The side fire buttons work as intended.
The keypad buttons work incorrectly, buttons 1 and 7 both cause the cannon to move to the left, button 7 makes it fire at the same time. All other buttons are unresponsive.

Now if I connect the Player 2 controller I get absolutely no response from either controller at all. I checked out each controller and while they're worn they both look fine inside. Yes, I also made sure to check where the controller membrane contacts the leads that interface with the wires. The "one controller odd input, two controllers nothing" is what has me stumped.

Also while I'm pretty sure I have the controllers connected properly, what is the proper way to connect each controller? (which pin toward the board would be a fine explanation)

Anyone have any ideas or has had a similar problem? I know that the best way to troubleshoot would be to test with a confirmed working set of Intellivision I controllers but I don't have any other Intellivision I parts.

[FABombjoy]

If both controllers exhibit the same weird symptoms when either is plugged into the #1 port, you might suspect failure of U6 (AY-3-8914). I'd make sure all the voltages are in spec first, but it probably got static fried at some point.

[omnedon]

Before jumping to IC failure, your best bet would be to test the controller in a working Inty, to make sure you don' have some MPCB failure or assembly issue.

Also, the molex connectors for the controller 'port' are not marked. They could be inverted. You will get some (screwy) functionality with them plugged in upside down.

[InsaneDavid]

If both controllers exhibit the same weird symptoms when either is plugged into the #1 port, you might suspect failure of U6 (AY-3-8914). I'd make sure all the voltages are in spec first, but it probably got static fried at some point.

Controller #2 gives me zero response, even when plugged into the #1 port alone. I think I'm going to end up buying a single functioning Intellivision I controller to help nail down the problem.


Also, the molex connectors for the controller 'port' are not marked. They could be inverted. You will get some (screwy) functionality with them plugged in upside down.

That's the thing, if I plug controller #1 into port #1 one way I get the screwy input, if I flip the connector over I get nothing. Controller #2 remains totally unresponsive. I just remembered that I never tried Controller #1 in port #2. (was late last night) I'll do that in a bit, if it exhibits the same symptoms then I suppose it'll almost certainly be a controller issue. I noticed the end of the controller socket is shaped something like this...

___
.....l__
______l

Does that little ridge part face up (as shown) or down?

The issue of having a controller connected to both ports causing the (incorrect) input from controller #1 not to function at all is where I'm hung up. Is there any kind of interconnect between the two controllers?

[FABombjoy]

If one or both controllers are completely AFU internally, plugging them in may cause the controller chip to flip out and not know what to do with itself.

[InsaneDavid]

Before jumping to IC failure, your best bet would be to test the controller in a working Inty, to make sure you don' have some MPCB failure or assembly issue.

Also, the molex connectors for the controller 'port' are not marked. They could be inverted. You will get some (screwy) functionality with them plugged in upside down.

Turns out that after some heavy refurb work I got the controllers responding correctly. For prosperity the cables that fan off the controller plugs need to face up to be connected correctly.


If one or both controllers are completely AFU internally, plugging them in may cause the controller chip to flip out and not know what to do with itself.

I think that's what was happening. Controller #2 was pretty bad inside, I suppose that it could have been locking up all inputs by having multiple poor / stuck connections.

Controller #1 works great, 100%. Controller #2 works alright, it's missing one of the four side buttons and the three remaining ones are pretty rough. The keypad works fine and the control disc works for all directions except straight left. Are there any suppliers for MPCB's or fire buttons?

Either way I played about 300k in Astrosmash without any problems, thanks for the help!

[Sethusoid]

Hmm, I'm having a similar problem. Games from Imagic all work fine, but all Mattel games won't go past the title screen. Could this also be a controller issue?

[FABombjoy]

That sounds like a possible EXEC ROM failure. Imagic (and other 3rd party games) bypass the internal EXEC ROM, but Mattel games use it to display the title screen, among other things.

[Sethusoid]

Hmm, well I opened the system up anyways, and lo and behold, unplugging the second controller worked lol. I opened the controller up and even though it was pretty clean inside, I cleaned it up anyways, but plugging it back in seems to stop controller one from working, but strangely, only for the Mattel games. Weird.

[Retrogamenerd]

I have been having similar issues as some of you have experienced. I have an itellivision I that I got cheap off Ebay. However when I put any game in the games will play fine for a few moments, but then most of the controller functions will stop and other buttons such as number 1,4, and 7 will work like the D-Pad. I have taken the controller apart everything looks good. I have disconnected one controller and used one at a time with the same results. Can anyone help?