-^CrossBow^-

Speaking of Atari Blast, does it not work with FujiNet? I've tried three different downloads of Atari Blast to run on my 130xe and it will start to load up and I sometimes see the initial AtariBlast screen that shows the sectors under it..but then it just locks up with a solid tone usually playing at that point? My Uno won't load it due to the size of the image so my FujiNet is the only way. I have Atari Blast for my 5200 so I do have a way to play it, but was curious to check it out on my 130xe.

You can leave it in place and it will not affect the operation of the UAV. It will also be fine with the power conversion mod as well. In fact, with the UAV in place, the VCS adapter would still work, but ONLY output video/audio through RF at that point. Speaking of, not sure which guide you might be using, but you do NOT have to remove the RF cable that is soldered to the board. Once you remove that inductor along side it between the cable and the RF modulator, you have removed the voltage that flows through it and it can then be used as a normal RF cable at that point.

As @RB5200 stated that is for the VCS adapter modification on the 4 ports. Also worth noting that most AV mods disable the ability to use that adapter so the mod that was done in this case, isn't likely to be of use to you unless you design to do something different like the UAV and leaving the RF modulator in place. Off topic, but I've always wondered why they didn't just do all of this on the bottom side of the PCB? the crimping off the wiring that you can see over time from the RF shield pinching and cartridges? I recently got a 4 port with the modification in place and redid all of the stuff on the bottom to avoid any issues with it in the future. But I do wonder why they didn't from the beginning? It isn't any more difficult than top side since you still have to remove the RF shielding regardless?

Is this IK EE different from the other versions I've seen out there? I have one of the newer releases of IK that I think has a 2023 date on it, and it only plays mono on the left through my 130xe with the stereo switched on. Yoomp has never been an issue and always detects the stereo on my setup and Pang also detects it on my 130xe (Although the game itself ins't playable on my NTSC console). But it does at least start and I can hear the title music etc.

All of the boxes and labels in the store have removed the Jaguar and Lynx logos from them as well. Might the back orders be also due in part to having to get new boxes and manuals..etc. done?

But you have been using the standard FW all along right? Seems that once you update to the UCA version it won't go back. Or at least mine just throws invalid File errors when I try to run the v18 update on my cart. But I'm pretty sure I was able to apply the latest UCA update without issue that has v17 in it. Who knows?

Not sure about that, but I can tell you that @SpiceWare's old Parrot Demo that uses Bus stuffing, refuses to work properly on any 7800 that has that timing circuit in place. With it enabled, the code is running but the screen is a scrambled mess. As soon as you clip the capacitor lead and disable that circuit, the parrot comes into view instantly. So I actually use that demo to get a pretty accurate measure of a 7800 having that circuit in place or not.

I went back and tested with my lab 7800. That is an A3 model and it has the timing circuit disabled and no issues with those 3 games. I even played some Xenophobe and everything was fine. I'm still bad at the 2600 version but it played without issues as did the other games. So that is both an A1 that doesn't have the extra circuit at all and an A3 that does but disabled working fine with the UCA FW 2.17. So yeah, if a version with the new v18 stuff added comes out, I'm going to give that try to see if the Supercharger stuff is better as that build addresses.

I'm up for testing as this would have been really nice over the past month or so while I was literally doing over a dozen consoles. That said, I'm concerned anytime I see pot trimmers on a board? Because, it means some dialing in is required and that can vary greatly from display to display. So my concern is trying to install and set something like this up for another person, adjust it looking good on my AV setup, but then they complain when they receive it because it looks over saturated or washed out...etc? What has been the initial feedback on that so far? Because I can tell you that most of my clients that receive services from me are NOT willing to open up their consoles to have to tweak anything.

So as promised I pulled out my daily driver 7800 and fired up Xenophobe, Phoenix, and DigDug on it. Far as I know I have the UCA 2.17 build. All three games load up and play just fine for me. The ONLY issue I had was that at some point in Xenophobe I suddenly couldn't fire off any shots anymore? But then after I got hit by one of the aliens and fell down, I could shoot again? So I'm not exactly sure what happened there but it only happened just the once. Either way, all three games loaded up fine and I was able to play through them. My daily driver 7800 is a an A1 series unit. I do NOT know which CPU I have in there as I actually stuck heatsinks onto all four of the main chips a few years back before I took any pics of it for archives. So... yeah, no idea which Sally I have in it but I've never really had any compatibility issues with any games. Loads up Robot Tank and my Super Charger works on it too.

Oh..okay I understand now. I honestly don't know as I only have about a dozen roms loaded on my UNO since I mainly use it in the lab to service consoles. But I can try and load those up into it and see what I get? I also have more than a few 2600s on hand right now that I can see if there is any difference in those games. Will be a bit later though before I can get to trying that out.

My UNO 2600 was also purcased from TBA a number of years ago. I do have the 2.1.7 UCA FW on mine and it has worked without issue? The problem now, is that since it is running the UCA, it won't take this new v18 build as it just gives an Invalid File error when trying to run it. So I have to wait until the UCA build is updated with v18 in it. Are you not able to get any version of the UCA FW working on yours? I'm pretty sure I did the initial update listed for it, and then was able to do further updates thereafter just running the file off my SD card?

Well for me it is a bit more complex. I only ever used RF back in the day as I didn't get any console newer than the 7800 before going to PC gaming. It wasn't until I got back into retro gaming in the late 90s early 00s that started to pick up and play on the systems I never had after the 7800. But here is the thing. At that time, I was still using CRTs for all normal TV viewing in the house and on my computer. Once the ITC moved to its current home, that is when I started to upgrade all of the AV stuff to large flat panels in the rooms to watch shows and movies on. I also got rid of the 32" CRT I'd been using in the game room up to that time to a new 48" flat panel. And the first time I saw how the old systems looked on it, I was... well I couldn't handle it LOL! The one that really really made me decide to see if there were better options to get better video output from my consoles was the Genesis when trying to play Shadowrun. The text was unreadable through composite on my LCD and nothing I did could correct that. So... It became the first console in my collection to get an AV upgrade. Installed a hand done s-video board I made into it and I just do NOT see myself ever going back to anything less. For me RF on newer displays even when it can lock in and tune into the signal, is just muddy, constantly looks like it is going in and out of focus, and much too dark. As I also have more modern systems that can take advantage of a modern display and NO room for more than a single large flat panel, I have no reason, nor drive to put anything back onto CRT for normal use. I do have a small PVM in the lab I use for composite and color calibration stuff. But I do NOT use it for normal gaming as the display is quite small (8") and growing up, I was playing 2600 on a color 19" Magnavox so a smaller CRT doesn't appeal to me either. I want to sit back 6 - 10ft away on the couch in the game room and play my games on a nice large display that I can see clearly and just enjoy it all. And for me, my consoles with various AV upgrades in them is how that works for me. So I can only say that I can understand why folks still prefer to use CRTs for their classic consoles. But for me personally, I will always prefer the near emulation quality output I get from all of them now.

Guess that is why it comes up with invalid file when I tried to run it recently? Will there be an update to the UCA version soon?

Which update did you run? I tried to run the .BIN that was in the official post and my UNO just says invalid file when I try to run it? I have the UCA firmware loaded up in mine so not sure if that part of the issue now or what? Is there a newer UCA version that has the v18 build in it yet?

Not sure of a source for the rubber boots that go around the controller, but the rest of the buttons can be purchased new from the link provided in this post as if you get the complete kit it comes with a new Start,Pause,Reset button set, two new fire buttons sets, and a new keypad.

Interestingly a few years ago I had a 5200 sent to me for services and it arrived with pretty much every section of plastic haven't been broken in the process. The box sounded like LEGOs when it was picked up. I took video of my opening the box when I received it and notated in the video everything that I found broken in shipping. Apparently the owner of the console had placed $300 in insurance on their console. They only had to provide my video and a few detailed pics to file a claim with their local post master. They had a check from the PO in about a week for the entire Insurance amount. So while I've not had to file a claim myself, it didn't seem to be that big of a process for my client to get it all taken care of on their end?

Is it possible... that buyer might have swapped out the internals? I mean, you can have pictures of the outer case and SN sticker all you want. But if you don't have records of the inside of the system, then it would be difficult to know if the buyer swapped the guts.

The hokey is only replicating the audio portions of the Pokey. it doesn't do any of the serial communication stuff as again, that was all specific to POKEYs being used in the Atari computers and the 5200. The Hokey doesn't even have all of the pins on them as a normal POKEY since again, it only needs what is needed for the audio portion to work that it simulates. So even if you had an issue with your HOKEY I don't think it would prevent the game from working and would just be silent when the music would kick in. The crashing you are experiencing with the game, I do NOT believe is related to the HOKEY side of things and is likely just something with your cart. Again, Al can replace it out as he has offered and go from there.

Maybe... I actually have a pokey I pulled from a 5200 that is bad in that controller functions no longer work off that chip. However, the audio and random number generator are fine on it, so I put it into a ballblazer and it works and sounds fine? So I'm pretty sure in the case of the 7800 games, that really only the audio stuff in the Pokey is being used. So if the pokey weren't working at all, it would likely be silent or possibly messed up sounds. But it could also be messed up enough to actually cause issues with the game loading too I suppose. Then again...I thought all of the 7800 Petscii cartridges have HOKEYs in them? Pretty sure mine has a HOKEY installed in it and I bought mine at Portland Expo last year.

Yes...it plays a sound as the text comes onto the screen during this part. I think that part is TIA. Also, as @Albert correctly stated, most games that use POKEY are only using it for music/sound. And so they will come up and still work minus the audio even if the Pokey is removed. I've a few Ballblazer carts that prove this.

I've seen something similar to this before although not in the way I was seeing with a recent 4 switch console I was servicing. As part of diagnostics I will use Paul Slocum's excellent Test Cart program as it should some primary colors, shows the current state of all switches minus power of course, but also has a basic graphical view of each controller and small block on the bottom that will move left/right when you plug in paddles to test those too. So all in all a nice utility to know that all controller functions are working properly on the console. Well, on this one, player 1, player 2, and player 4 paddle controls would move from left to right and back turning the paddle as you would expect. But player 3 paddle control would just site on the left side, and then after a point when turning the paddle, it would suddenly just be on the right. No movement of any kind. Just one sec on the left, and then next thing you know it is on the right. So it was acting more like a digital control vs analog. It wasn't the paddles since I used the same set to test player 1 and 2 and that was working fine. Going through the service manual will yield some interesting stuff to help isolate this, but unless you have the diagnostic controller plugs and the 2.6 diagnostic rom, you aren't going to be able to see exactly what you need to see. But lets review that.. If you have the diagnostic plugs, plugged into the controller ports and the diagnostic rom up and running with the controller matrix screen up. Then you use an Oscilliscope to probe the paddle lines off the TIA pins 37,38,39, and 40. They represent player 4, 3, 2, and then player 1 on pin 40. Well, what you should see on your scope if you have it set to the right settings, is something like the picture below from the service manual: However, when I probed pin 38 that is for the player 3 paddle line. I was getting a flat line. Well, actually I was showing a flat line of about 1v but the point is...not pulse like you see in those pictures. (And btw...I was seeing that same pulse line on my o'scope for the other paddles). Well honestly there isn't much in the way of electronics from the controller port to the TIA where the paddles are read and handled. In fact, there is really only 1...just 1 component in the middle of the mix from the controller port to TIA. At least on the 4 switch and above units this is the case. That one component is usually a small ceramic disc, or poly capacitor that doesn't usually go bad. So I first checked that the traces from pin 5 of the player 2 controller port to that cap (C220) was good. It was, and then checked from the cap to pin 38 of the TIA. That too pinged out good. So I went ahead and replaced the capacitor just to see if anything changed. Sadly.... no. What did fix it? Well, if you've gotten this far and read my description of the very simple circuit from port to TIA... it should come as no surprise that is was the TIA itself. This is even more sad considering how rare these IC chips are now becoming and there isn't any projects I'm aware of to make new ones or something to replace the TIA. But yeah... if you find the paddle lines aren't working, chances are that it is the TIA chip itself that has failed if the actual traces are good. Apparently this was less of an issue with earlier 2600s as they used buffer ICs to help control this and therefore the TIA was more protected. Just more cost cutting at work as the console lived on... View the full article

Yeah...I've been here... awhile you could say! *just realized I've been a pretty active member here for nearly half of my life. Not sure if that is a good thing or?

Oh yeah quite normal. And depending on if you are running a 7800 game or 2600 game, then the Maria or the TIA will get very warm as well. That is because the maria (Largest IC on the board just above the CPU), handles the graphics for the 7800 games and the TIA (other 40 pin above the RIOT on the other side) handles the graphics for 2600 games. I actually have heatsinks on all four of those ICs in my personal 7800 console.

Interesting to see that late made A1 unit but either way. As everything you try is doing this, then I would start with the CPU and then the RIOT. The CPU is the 40pin chip in the lower left and the RIOT is the 40pin chip directly right of that on the other side of the board. Also, in looking at the bottom PCB pic, verify that NONE of those leads off the components are touching anything else. Many times, those weren't clipped as they should have been from the factory and then later when handling the PCB and laying it on the work bench...etc. The leads can bend and start shorting on stuff they shouldn't be. So yeah, go along and trim off any long leads and double check the solder joints as a few of them look like they could use a little more solder on them. I would do this before looking to replace any ICs, just to rule out something simple. The voltage readings look fine in this case.