Problems loading games

[Fr0st]

Hey, so I recently picked up a boxed 7800, and now have two. They are both mint in box, the new one I got looks like it was never used, everything packed neatly in it's original packing.

 

I've never really used my 7800, mainly because of the size of it, it doesn't fix too easily on the desk I have everything set up on, and I use my 2600 Jr. more than anything, so I have always left it in the box. Plus I've only ever had two or three games, and also had the 2600 variants.

 

So on getting this new one, I decided to hook it up and play a few 7800 games. First I tried a copy of Joust which definitely worked last time I tried it. On both 7800's it wouldn't load up, the pack-in Asteroids game just kept coming up.

 

Then I tried Battlezone, no problems. I have about eight or nine sealed 7800 games, two of which are copies of I think Barnyard Blaster, so I opened one of them to see would it play. Same thing, both consoles booting to the Asteroids game.

 

Now Joust definitely worked for me last time I tried it, which could be two years ago now. Anyone any ideas what could be wrong?

 

Cheers

[Blue Azure]

My guess is "old age" is starting to settle in, unless the cartridge isn't seating properly. This can be an issue from time to time, this point forward. From your post I surmise you have a PAL 7800 unit (wish I had one) because I think I'm about the only one in the US that has an on-board BIOS/Asteroids installed on a NTSC machine, and it works great. Basically the problem is simple. Either your BIOS is defective which is extremely unlikely (is U7 a ROM or an EPROM a device with a window on it?), or your edge connectors on the games are tarnished, or the cartridge edge connector isn't making contact at all. The BIOS has a firmware switch which determines if you have an external 2600 cartridge or an external 7800 cartridge and switches to those if the tests pass either way, or it kicks off in internal cart mode, which is happening to you. I would swab the edge connector on the cartridge with alcohol first to see if that works, but allow it to dry thoroughly before plugging in. The next step is to pull the cart PC board but this will damage your label where the screw is, unless you heat the label and carefully peel it back to access the screw and then reheat to re-affix the label when done. The heat reactivates the adhesive properties of the label. I hope it's the tarnish problem, but it could be the cart plastic is incompatible with your machine, not allowing it to seat fully. And I know of no way to verify the cart is making contact unless you take the 7800 console apart and do ohming tests to see if resistance measurements change when the cart is installed. This methodology is a bit beyond the average 7800 user I think - I don't even do that. I just pull the game boards and run without plastic.

 

Try these things and let us know what happens. Thanks for the question.

[iesposta]

I take a thin single sheet of cardboard cut it down and put alcohol on it and insert it and remove it from the cartridge slot to help clean the pins. I also then take a large pin hatpin and you can grab the tops of the contacts and push them toward the center of the connector on the top and the bottom so that they have more spring to make better contact.