ColecoVision Question

[kps67]

Ok, I've seen the repair items for ColecoVision, but this one's got me plexed. Or perplexed. Whatever.

Anyway, the screen comes up fine but the intro wording is off in some areas by one letter. Like Nintendo comes up Oiotendo. I'm thinking it's a chip problem because the switches all seem fine and the sprites are ok, except that there are (in some instances) quite a few of them - duplicates, I mean.

Any idea? Is the system hosed and I should just get another one? Or should I venture forth into the realm of surgical CV repair?

[zektor]

Ok, I've seen the repair items for ColecoVision, but this one's got me plexed. Or perplexed. Whatever.

Anyway, the screen comes up fine but the intro wording is off in some areas by one letter. Like Nintendo comes up Oiotendo. I'm thinking it's a chip problem because the switches all seem fine and the sprites are ok, except that there are (in some instances) quite a few of them - duplicates, I mean.

Any idea? Is the system hosed and I should just get another one? Or should I venture forth into the realm of surgical CV repair?

I had the same problem years ago. It ended up being a mixture of a dirty cart port...and dirty carts. Get ahold of a universal cleaning kit to get the cart slot clean, and invest in some q-tips and 91% isopropyl alcohol and rub down the cart contacts. I can almost guarantee that this will fix your problem.

[kps67]

I had the same problem years ago. It ended up being a mixture of a dirty cart port...and dirty carts. Get ahold of a universal cleaning kit to get the cart slot clean, and invest in some q-tips and 91% isopropyl alcohol and rub down the cart contacts. I can almost guarantee that this will fix your problem.

Sweet! That's easy - I'll do that tomorrow. Thanks!

[zektor]

Sweet! That's easy - I'll do that tomorrow. Thanks!

No prob. If you cannot get ahold of a cart slot cleaning kit, you can do what I did:

Get a discount card (like a CVS/A&P/Drug Fair...etc discount card...not a credit card with roughness) and cut it long ways to the size of the cart slot.

Wrap a cleaning cloth (like the one that came with the PSP...not a paper towel or anything) around the edge of the card tightly and coat the edge with the alcohol. Now, insert and remove into the cart slot a few times.

The old card/cloth trick did it for me in time of need when I didn't have a cleaning kit present and worked just as well. Good luck and post your results

[kps67]

Didn't work - and I noticed that the screen does that even without a cartridge in it. The words are all jumbled even then.

Any other thoughts? Short of throwing it against the wall? I doubt that'll help. Did nothing for my Windows PC...

[Greg2600]

Isn't there a somewhat common problem with CV's where the graphics are somewhat scrambled, that is caused by a faulty power supply? It was a cheaply made console, unlike Atari or later Nintendo or SEGA's offerings.

[kps67]

Yeah I saw the threads on that, but that seemed to be more severe than what I'm experiencing. The games are playable, just out of whack a bit. I'll take some snapshots and post them so you can see. I did spray some di-energy lubricant (or whatever it's called) under the power switch but that didn't do anything.

[Steve W]

It sounds like a problem I was having with my first Colecovision. There's all sorts of things it could be. Bad video memory chips, bad on/off switch, bad cartridge slot. It could be anything. I only got one console out of four to actually work, and that one will graphically glitch until I press the reset button. Then it'll work fine for some unexplained reason.

[zektor]

Well, you can open it (if you have not already) and thoroughly clean the mainboard and see if that helps. I have gone through a few CV's with this exact problem and it always was just dirt...

But, as stated earlier, in a worse case scenario it could be a bad chip somewhere. You may have to bite the bullet and grab another one.

[kps67]

Well, you can open it (if you have not already) and thoroughly clean the mainboard and see if that helps. I have gone through a few CV's with this exact problem and it always was just dirt...

But, as stated earlier, in a worse case scenario it could be a bad chip somewhere. You may have to bite the bullet and grab another one.

Is the best way to clean a motherboard just with the airspray? I'm terrified of damaging a transistor or capacitor or something...

[doubledownon11]

If it's graphical, it's usually either the power supply, cartridge slot, on/off switch, VDP or video ram chip(s). If you don't have access to replacement ICs and board-level repair experience, you may want to look for a new console.

[Steve W]

Here's a weird side story... I wanted to get a Colecovision for the Spectar homebrew by Scott Huggins, so I bought one from someone on Atari Age (that didn't work). I had never seen one in the wild before, so that was my only course of action. Then, after buying one, I started coming across them in the wild all the time. I ended up buying three more until I found a boxed one that worked reasonably well. Once I had one and didn't need another, I never saw another in a thrift or flea market again. The same thing happened with the Atari 7800. I decided to pick up another as a backup for my original, and I started running across them in the wild like crazy. I ended up buying four of them until I decided to stop picking them up. Once I made that decision, they stopped showing up in the wild.

What's the point of that story? Start looking around for more Colecovisions. You might just start finding more of them if you look hard enough.

[Zoyx]

Just bought a CV off of ebay... same problem. Found this old thread. Did some cleaning of the carts, and that didn't help, so will start look at the on/off switch and power. We'll see how it goes.