HunterZero

If you haven't already, check that all the DIP40 sockets and cartridge port are good (eg, for the chip socket, the top of the legs have continuity with the pad). And try running the system with both the hand controllers disconnected if you haven't already and see if you can get to the title screen. Make sure the bent over crystal isn't touching the reset button. But I think it's very likely that you have a defective socketed IC. The best way forward is to find a donor parts board, and start swapping socketed chips one by one. In order of likelihood, from my experience these are the chips that could cause black screen (coincidentally, the same order as in the service manual): U2 RA-3-9600 SRAM U4 AY-3-8900 CCIR STIC for PAL Intellivisions (note that the AY-3-8900-1 STIC is the NTSC version. Fun fact: If you swap to the NTSC STIC and swap the X1 4MHz system clock to 3.5795MHz, you get a PAL60 console!) U1 CP-1610 CPU - James

+1 try adjusting the C2 variable capacitor and see what happens, and check capacitor C1.

Corner pins eg pin 1 of the DIP40's are not always the Vcc pin or GND, there are no standards in the pinouts. The GI chips use some strange voltages, especially the CPU, so it's important the 5V and 12V rails are stable. The rail that runs around the edge of the board is common ground, you can use continuity mode on your meter to check which pins of each IC are ground. There is also a single blue wire 2-pin connector, make sure this is connected properly to the power supply. Check continuity of your ribbon cable and be careful with it. Eg, RA-3-9600 RAM chip has +5V Vcc on pin 9, and +12V on pin 10 and -3V on pin 11. Pin 31 is GND. Eg, on the CP-1610 CPU, pin 34 is +5V, 35 is -3V and 36 is 12V. Pin 39 is GND. NB, all the GI branded DIP40's have pin 1 (marked with a notch) on the end of the chip furthest from the cartridge connector. Are you getting a flash when you press the reset button? Is the cartridge slot clean and has no bent pins? Does fully inserting and backing out the cartridge a hair help? Have you tried several cartridges with the same result? The advice I gave on the linked thread apply here too. It definitely could be transistors Q1 and Q2. Definitely carefully clean and resocket all socketed ICs with Deoxit. Check for bad or corroded sockets. Do you have a logic probe or scope? Can you confirm CPU-1610 pins 37 and 38 are pulsing? I have found the SHOEI branded electrolytics on the mainboards of these systems are quite reliable, but it never hurts to replace ancient electrolytic caps. It's a good idea to replace the large filter caps and the 7805 and 7812 voltage regulators on the power supply board too. If the Q1/Q2 replacement doesn't get it going, then the most common IC to go bad that can cause anything from crashing to black screen is the RA-3-9600 SRAM. - J

They will probably make a few extras to cover the rare scenario of faulty carts.

It looks that way, for now. I would guess that they planned to make a certain amount of units, and the entire allocation has sold out in preorder. So unless there's another batch, or they increase the size of the current batch, or someone cancels, then that's it. - J

I hate to be the Debbie Downer... New games running on new hardware will just be "some new games" to me, similar to other new games I can just download to my PC, console or phone. New games on new hardware would not be "Intellivision" games to me, they'd be new games that could run on any modern hardware. I am a little interested to see if they make newer versions of Intellivision classics, but they will be limited to non-licensed games (no D&D games, no Data East games...). I still remember the absolute failure that was the "Intellivision Gen2" kickstarter, it absolutely failed to gain much interest, which doesn't bode well for the whole "new classic games on new hardware" thing. Running the old original games on new hardware is nothing new any more either, I can just run an emulator on my PC or Raspberry Pi or even my phone, and I can use modern controllers with them (even though the controller with its quirky disc, awkward numberpad and terrible side buttons is a huge part of what makes these games feel like Intellivision games). The connection with the original hardware and games is just too tenuous for me to get enthusiastic and for nostalgia to kick in. I'm not going to buy something new just because it has the Intellivision logo on it. Honestly, I can't see how these nostalgia consoles can succeed in today's market. They will never be mainstream, they only have what little nostalgia is left for the original brand and games. - J

I am always excited to see new games running on the old Intellivision hardware, because it's amazing seeing the old hardware being pushed to its absolute limits, to see what can be done when the games aren't limited to 4K or 8K. It requires some real talent to code for such rudimentary hardware. But I just can't get excited about new Intellivision branded hardware. Nostalgia is just not enough to make me want one of these new Intellivision systems, or similar systems like the Atari VCS. They end up just being Linux based boxes with emulators for the original hardware, the only thing they have in common with the original hardware is the name, and the styling of the console case. - J

Could be a dirty IC socket causing intermittent connection issues on a data line pin on the STIC chip. Cleaning and resocketing the STIC would probably fix it. Could also be an issue with the reliability of the "blue jumper wire" connector. If it's working now, I wouldn't touch it unless it does it again. You might find that bumping the console could cause the issue to reoccur, which could imply there's a bad connection or cracked/dry solder joint somewhere. - J

Did you play Marble Madness on the Amiga computer with the mouse? It was a very good conversion, pretty close to arcade perfect. If the Intellivision had an RS-232 serial port, it could conceivably be used to emulate the original game board and run a port of the original code (the game board was based around a Z80A, and AY-3-8910 sound chip), and interface with a serial laserdisc player.

I assume it's an original Intellivision, not an Intellivision II? It sounds like the TV isn't getting an RF signal. Check the channel switch on the bottom of the console, and double check you're using the correct RF lead and that the TV is tuned properly. Check the blue wire +12V power connector (the two pins at the back), as well as power at the board end of the ribbon cable. - J

Karateka would be amazing on Intellivision. And very doable. Flight Simulator, on the other hand... Given the limitations with the Intellivision's graphic features eg background cards, I can imagine that writing even a very basic wireframe graphics engine required for a flight sim would be very difficult. Has anyone done a 3D wireframe engine test on the Intellivision?

In this case, the cost of a couple of replacement transistors, the learning experience during the repair, and the reward of getting an Intellivision is nice shape going again, was definitely worth the effort. In Australia, tested working Intellivision units now go for well over $100, and are coming up for sale less and less, so not easy to get a cost effective replacement. *edit from previous post* So the CPU was NOT running, basically. - J

So glad you got it going! For future reference, those transistors Q1 and Q2 are part of the circuit that clock pins 37 and 38 of the CPU. So the CPU was running, basically. If you have a logic probe or oscilloscope, you can check those pins to verify that the CPU is actually being clocked. You can then see activity on the data pins to check it's actually running. - J

The datasheet has pins 16 and 18 of the color chip marked "N.C.", or no connection. They are unused. Check the CPU is getting clocked first.

Yes and no... A bad GRAM issue could result in the system running with graphics corruption in custom background cards and/or sprites. However all the RAM and ROM ICs in the Intellivision are on a common bus, so it's possible a short in the GRAM could halt the whole system. Do any of the RAM or logic chips get hot to touch? Eg U11, U17? Or U13 U14 U15 U16? (4 5 6 7 8 9 on your diagram!)

The polarised electrolytic capacitors in these things are typically a limited life device, they can degrade with age to a point where they are out of tolerance and cause problems. Intellivisions are more than 30 to nearly 40 years old. You need a capacitance and ESR meter to check them accurately (some multimeters check capacitance, but not ESR). These are expensive, relative to the capacitors themselves which are dirt cheap. For this reason it's quite common to do preventative maintenance on old electrolytics and "shotgun" replace them, as they are cheap (except for the larger ones on the power supply) and easy to replace. That said, the SHOEI branded capacitors that are standard on most Intellivision main boards are quite good quality, and stand up well to age. The transistors can easily be checked out of circuit with a multimeter or cheap Chinese component tester, but again the cost of the parts is so small that they are easy and cheap enough to just replace. Logic chips are harder to troubleshoot, they require information about the pinout of the part, knowledge of the overall circuit schematic and corrrect operation of the IC being tested, and specialised equipment to test, such as at the very least a logic probe, preferably an oscilloscope, or best of all a logic analyzer. These aren't tools a hobbyist typically has in his arsenal, although a logic probe is quite cheap, and there are inexpensive (if less than optimal) options these days even for oscilloscopes. Even the Intellivision service manual recommends just swapping logic chips with known good ones to test them, as doing this is often more reliable and faster than setting up and testing with any of the IC analysis tools. For example, checking for clock pulse at pins 37 and 38 of the CPU will verify transistors Q1 and Q2 are good. A certain amount of experience shows what the common faults are with the Intellivision logic board. From experience (ignoring the ribbon cable, power supply/transformer or cartridge slot connectors), the RA-3-9600 RAM is the most common failure, then the STIC chip, then the transistors Q1/Q2, the sound generator chip and CP1610. Edit - does the logic board still do the same thing with no controllers connected? - J

Yes, the GTE 35391CP is a direct replacement for the GTE 3539UCP. From the datasheet, the only difference between the 1CP and the UCP is that the 1CP is 400ns, the UCP is slower at 650ns. http://www.datasheet4u.com/datasheet-pdf/GTEMicrocircuits/35391CP/pdf.php?id=536339 Might be an idea to socket these if you replace them. - J

Is the board pictured the actual faulty board? Certainly one or both of those transistors Q1/Q2 could be bad. Cheap to replace, may as well just shotgun them. It's possible to check a transistor out of circuit using a multimeter with continuity check, or you can get one of those cheap component tester boards from China that do a reasonable job (check eBay). Check the sockets for the RAM, STIC and CPU chips are good. Easy to check with a multimeter. No need to remove the chips, just touch one probe lead to the top of the leg, and the other probe lead to the other side of the board, or follow the trace to some easy to get at location. Check the cartridge port has no faulty pins as well. A logic probe or oscilloscope will help to diagnose faulty logic chips, and check clocks/crystals. You can check to see if any data/signal/clock legs that should be pulsing are stuck, and trace back through the circuit diagram until you find the source. Multimeter can verify that chips are getting correct power on voltage lines. The fact it flashes says that the video system is running, so it's possibly a component issue around the CPU, or its bus lines to Scratch RAM/Exec ROM. Eg, it could be the U12 scratchpad RAM, which you've marked "3", but I haven't seen one of those go bad before (first time for everything?). Otherwise you are going to have to start checking the diodes and non-polarised capacitors on the board. - James

Out of interest, did you try the RAM chip out of the Bandai unit in the USA motherboard?

Yes, that was me - glad you found the info useful! And I created the Intellivision PCB IC location graphic that you used too. Here's the latest copy... - J

Or was the original RA-3-9600 chip itself toast? If so, this is one of the most common (if not the most common) point of failure that I've come across for Intellivisions. - J

I am assuming this is your repair vid? There aren't many of these Bandai Intellivisions around after all! And you said you were working on a repair vid. Nice work! Good to see it's working again! Looks like all the ICs were fine in the end, which is good as IC spares can be hard to come by. A couple the DIP40 IC sockets were toast. In particular, the RA-3-9600 RAM socket had a bad connection. Looking at the soldering job on the shielding of the Bandai unit, the sodering does look like rework. I wonder if the unit used a motherboard that was taken from the normal 2609 USA production line, and swapped the RF modulator to turn it into an NTSC-J unit? That huge chunk of solder on the cartridge slot is meant to be there, several of the central pins there tie to ground. The RF shielding is grounded to the ground plane that runs around the edge of the boards.

My mistake - The tint control is on the front on the 1702. It's the leftmost dial, next to color (used to have one with my C64 BITD). - James

The red gun looks too bright on your Commodore monitor. Try adjusting the tint control on the back, it should rebalance the red gun with the green gun. - J

I have found that the SHOEI branded capacitors are actually good parts. That said, they are 35 year old electrolytics, so it is a good idea to replace them as preventative maintenance, and I did do this on my units. However all the old capacitors I pulled off the boards actually tested OK, and quality replacements for the larger power capacitor parts do cost several dollars (A$5.89 for the 2200uF 25V, and A$9.35 for the 10000uF 25V upgraded from 16V Nichicon branded from element14.com). I did fix one unit that had one of the 0.1uF non-polarised glass caps at C13 blown (it had catastrophically exploded), that was presenting with a black screen. YMMV... - James