Garbage Characters Sears Super Video Arcade

[yell0w_lantern]

I bought this machine a couple of years ago after my last Intellivision died. I already had a Cuttle Cart and some other game cartridges. Only the Cuttle Cart worked on the machine which I attributed to dirty contacts on the carts and because I would occasionally get garbage characters on the top and bottom of the Cuttle Cart menu after trying the other carts, I figured the Inty contacts were getting kind of dirty. I cleaned the carts and tried to clean the contacts on the console then put them away.

 

Well, I dusted off the Inty after about 1 year and tried my Pac-man cart. For the first time ever it started up no problem! I played a level then decided to go for Demon Attack and a couple other carts but the old problem resumed immediately - blank screen. I reached for the CC and the garbage characters appeared at the top and bottom. Reseating the CC a few times did not help like it had in the past. I blew on the CC and the machine. I tried Deoxit. Nothing has helped. When I start games on the CC, the title screens are fine but the actual game graphics are garbage.

 

Does anyone know what might be wrong? Is the console dying? Does anyone repair these things?

Edited October 21, 2012 by yell0w_lantern

[yell0w_lantern]

Update:

Looks like something besides dirt. Unit worked fine with Cuttle Cart 3 for several minutes then garbage characters reappeared after turning unit off and on. Perhaps it is overheating?

Edited October 22, 2012 by yell0w_lantern