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Glitchy picture on 7800 games


Room 34

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This is probably addressed in an FAQ or a previous thread somewhere, so I apologize if it's redundant.

 

Does anyone else have problems with 7800 games having glitchy video... you play for a minute or two, and suddenly the picture gets all garbled? I have several carts where this happens: Pole Position II, Jinks, Ms. Pac-Man. And then I have several others where it NEVER happens: Joust, Donkey Kong, DK Jr., etc.

 

WHY does this happen, and is there any way to fix it? I have cleaned the contacts on these carts thoroughly and repeatedly, to no avail.

 

Also, this never EVER happens with my 2600 cartridges in this system (or in my 2600 systems either). Except for Miniature Golf. That does this same kind of thing when you get up around the 7th hole.

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  • 2 weeks later...

My first guess would definitely be cleaning the cartridges, or maybe the cartridge port.

 

Since we're (sort of) on the topic, I also discovered that unless I used a really high quality cable, something in my basement that only operates periodically (possibly the water heater) garbles the picture when any game runs. But just on channel 3. On channel two the system works fine, despite the fact that we have a commercial TV station broadcasting on that frequency locally.

 

Eric

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Then my next guess is to say that your port connectors themselves are the problem. The fact that you say the games work for awhile and then start to get garbled is interesting as it would indicate a possible heat issue. I know that the heat sink behind the cart port connector gets very very warm after a few minutes of 7800 playing. Is it possible that the cart connectors either on the main board...or on the contacts in the connector could be getting so hot that they actually begin to seperate from the cart PCB or mainboard and cause a garbled display to appear? My only problem with this theory is that I would think the problem would come up immediately upon a power off and restart...and not work for another few minutes before doing it again. I think the carts are probably fine...but I am blaming the 7800 cart connector. I know that i have had to clean and actually reform the contacts on mine about a half dozen times since I got it back in 88 or so...

 

Just a thought...

 

:?

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