ColecoVision Start Up Error

[virtualvintagepdx]

Alright, hopefully someone will be able to help me with this problem. This seemed like the best community to find help and as such, I thank everyone in advance for it!

 

I just bought a ColecoVision for $26. It came with 2 trackball controllers and 10 games... Main reason I bought it was that it came with a loose copy of Dragonfire and I wanted to test to see if it worked. I plugged it in yesterday and popped one of the 10 games in and got a really weird problem (see image the attached files) the moment I turn the system on.

 

I've already cleaned it, mainly to find that there was a ton of dust there and that, apparently, someone had already gone through it before. I tried all 10 games and the ONLY thing that was different was that the system would display the appropriate Copyright dates. So it seems to me that the system's getting the information from the games (normal screen without a game inserted says © 1982. With Dragonfire in it says © 1984 and so on) but nothing's happening.

 

I don't have too much knowledge about fixing systems and what not, not to mention a terrible lack of patience with it. I know how to open systems, clean them, and identify obvious problems but this is beyond me. I've searched Google for hours with no results, not even a similar mention.

 

I use the giant brick AC adapter and have a coaxial plug to plug the A/V cable into and it works on my TV... Though no sound is coming through either (then again, I've never been passed the opening screen.)

 

If no one knows what to do or what I should do with it; then should I just sell it for parts? And is there another system that can play ColecoVision games because I would really rather test them out than sell them "As-Is" and turn this potential problem into someone else's... Plus you don't get nearly as much for selling "As-Is" items.

Edited November 11, 2012 by virtualvintagepdx

[opcode]

I would say you probably have a bad BIOS...

[SKELETOR68]

I myself have no clue, but YURKIE may know, Welcome to the forms.

[ApolloBoy]

You might wanna try cleaning the inside of the power switch, sometimes you'll get graphical glitches like that because the RAM isn't getting all three voltage rails.

[virtualvintagepdx]

How do you go about getting to the inside of the power switch? It looks like someone already went in and soldered the metal casing around it and I can't get it off without causing damage. I also don't know how to solder/desolder.

[adamcon]

I personally think that the memory chips are the problem. We had (actually son) a CV unit with similar problems and and he dug up how to put new memory chips in it

[+5-11under]

How do you go about getting to the inside of the power switch? It looks like someone already went in and soldered the metal casing around it and I can't get it off without causing damage. I also don't know how to solder/desolder.

http://www.atariage.com/forums/topic/163446-diy-modifications-for-colecovision/