7800 Dark Chambers cartridge

[segasaturn]

I recently got the Dark chambers cartridge for the 7800 and I can't for the life of me get it to work/play. I mean Dark Chambers is a common enough game to buy a new one if it's broke, but that's the thing: I don't know if it is. There is static on the screen when I power it up, but no atari logo. I cleaned the cartridge and the 7800 port as best I could and no luck. Any ideas? Cartridges are supposed to be durable, and honestly I've never come into a bad cartridge before/one that doesn't work. Can cartridges fail just like disc media?

[MAC-42]

My Pole Position II cart, over a couple of months, started getting flakey. It eventually conked out in the middle of a game and never came back. Tough as they are, they can go bad--my daughter's Genesis Gauntlet IV cart never did work correctly, for instance. I, too, picked up a copy of Dark Chambers recently and mine works well. Sad to say, my first bet would be a bad cart. Someone please correct me if I'm overlooking something.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

I've got a Tapper for the 2600 that is dead as dead can be.

 

However, the Gauntlet IV can be saved! Tengen just made really crappy PCBs for many of their Genesis releases. Gauntlet IV and sadly Storm Grinder are two of the worst for this. Here is what you do to fix Gauntlet IV:

 

First get the right gamebit you need to safely open the cart and take the PCB out.

Now buy a crappy condition but working Pit Fighter for the genesis.

Rip the Pit Fighter cart apart and take out the PCB from that.

You will noticed that while Pit Fighter is a crappy port on Genesis it was published by Tengen also. However, the PCB was made by Sega.

Now...de-solder the Gauntlet IV ROM off the old PCB.

De-solder the Pit Fighter rom from its PCB.

Solder the Gauntlet IV ROM onto the Pit Fighter PCB making sure you have the rom in the right direction.

Put the new Gauntlet IV PCB into your Guantlet IV case.

Place into your Genesis and enjoy!

 

Oh..and make sure you recycle the old PCB and Pit Fighter rom!

 

Grind Stormers and Dragon's Revenge carts can be fixed in the same manner. I'm sure there are other carts that make good donor PCBs, but Pit Fighter is a crap game on Genesis (Crap game really..), and usually pretty cheap to find loose.

[segasaturn]

So you guys just recommend getting a new one?

[7800]

This may totally not even be related but, I had a Pole Position for 5200... and that would exhibit the same symptoms as MAC-42's 7800 Pole Position. I took mine apart and noticed it was corroded and bubbling around the traces. I'm thinking the cart was subjected to some serious moisture over the years.

 

Also, I just bought a NOS sealed in damaged box Ballblazer... and the first time I fired it up, the sound was full of static. It cleared up after I pulled it in and out a few times.

 

Games that sit for a while in the wrong environment tend to have potential for issues.

[Brian R.]

I've got more than 400 carts in my collection, from 2600 to Jaguar. It has been very rare that I've come across a cart that doesn't work, they are very durable. Getting a bad one is so rare I don't let that stop me from buying cartridges sight unseen. But yes, you can on occassion get a dead one - but I'd think that's far, far less often than optical discs.

Edited April 10, 2014 by Brian R.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

The tapper cart is the only one I've bought that hasn't worked for the 2600. I've gotten several Genesis games that have failed over the years. Like my Dragon's Revenge and Gauntlet IV. They worked for years and then when I stored them for about 2 years and fired them back up...nothing. Again, it was the PCB as swapping out the roms got them working again. I'd try the same for my Tapper, but that is a glob and not a masked rom. ugh.

[MAC-42]

However, the Gauntlet IV can be saved!

By the way, I haven't had a chance to thank you for this advise yet. It's good to hear that this might be fixable in a pretty trivial way.