Itellivision Graphics Problem

[okame]

I got a used Intellivision at a pawn shop a few days ago, and it was working fine for a bit, then the graphics glitched on me. I tried a few things, and the games were fine, but they glitched out again, midway through a game. Can anyone tell me if it's a problem with the system, or if there's a trick to getting the games to work when they glitch out?

[goldenband]

I got a used Intellivision at a pawn shop a few days ago, and it was working fine for a bit, then the graphics glitched on me. I tried a few things, and the games were fine, but they glitched out again, midway through a game. Can anyone tell me if it's a problem with the system, or if there's a trick to getting the games to work when they glitch out?

That sounds like you could have the well-known overheating problem. Is it an original-model Intellivision, i.e. not an Intellivision II, III, Sears, or Super Pro model? If so, then quite a few of them suffer from this, unfortunately, and I'm not aware of a straightforward fix though a repair is possible.

Of course this assumes you've cleaned the contacts on all your games with isopropyl alcohol, etc., but they probably wouldn't boot to begin with if that were an issue.

[okame]

That sounds like you could have the well-known overheating problem. Is it an original-model Intellivision, i.e. not an Intellivision II, III, Sears, or Super Pro model? If so, then quite a few of them suffer from this, unfortunately, and I'm not aware of a straightforward fix though a repair is possible.

Of course this assumes you've cleaned the contacts on all your games with isopropyl alcohol, etc., but they probably wouldn't boot to begin with if that were an issue.

I always clean the contacts on my games, so that's not the problem. It's a model I unit, but I don't think overheating is a problem, since I barely played it for 5 minutes the first time it happened. Is there a way of fixing this problem without taking it apart? I have absolutely NO technical knowledge of the inner workings of electronic devices, and it's the only one I've seen since I owned one as a kid, when they first came out.

[Steve W]

It doesn't take very long before some of those old processors overheat. I have an Intellivision computer module add-on, and it will only work for about thirty seconds before the screen blacks out because of overheating. It's a shame, my favorite Intelly game is Mind Strike, I wish I could play it again.