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Halloween PCB wont stay in place


mulciberxp

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First time posting. I just came into possession of a Halloween cart (standard label) but it has a problem, the PCB is loose and rattles around. I opened the cart up last night hoping to get it resituated, but it just doesnt want to stay locked in to place unless I flip it over so that the chips are facing the unlabled side of the shell. (When I opened it the chips were facing the labled side of the shell). Not sure which orientation is the correct one. Dont want to test it and accidentally ruin it either. Hoping someone here knows.

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99.9% Sure that the chip go UP on the Label Side of the cart. I have a Halloween cart that I just picked up, end label only and didn't realize that they don't have screws in the cart. I was going to open mine an verify. But looking into the open end of the cart the angled traces go toward the right edge of the cart if the label side is up and you are looking at the open end.

 

I am sure someone else will pop in and verify.

 

I found a Fast Food cart just like that. I have passed on it twice. It is priced at $15 which is a little high IMO and very high if the PCB is sliding around and not secure.

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It's a common problem for those "Apollo style" boards to jar loose in the cartridge cases. it is merely plastic pegs & tabs that keep the board aligned. There are several things you can do, some less evasive then others, to center & maintain the board centered inside.

 

And yes, 99% of the time, an Atari 2600 cart, when inserted into the console, will have the chip(s) on the board facing upwards; towards your television.

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  • 1 month later...

Thanks for the replies! I thought it might not be an isolated issue. I've seen a couple people post about their Halloween carts behaving this way, but haven't seen them say how they fix it. Any suggestion on getting it to stay in place would be greatly appreciated!

Definitely not an isolated issue...I had the same problem with mine when I first got it. As I recall, I simply took the cartridge apart, reseated the PCB carefully on the pegs, and pressed the two halves of the cartridge together really firmly as I put it back together. That seems to have done the trick, although I'll confess that the cartridge hasn't exactly been handled or played very much since then.

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It's a common problem for those "Apollo style" boards to jar loose in the cartridge cases. it is merely plastic pegs & tabs that keep the board aligned. There are several things you can do, some less evasive then others, to center & maintain the board centered inside.

And yes, 99% of the time, an Atari 2600 cart, when inserted into the console, will have the chip(s) on the board facing upwards; towards your television.

M-Network is the other way around, I remember David Akers (work colleague) telling me proudly all about it, when the chip is on the other side, much less routing is required.

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Definitely not an isolated issue...I had the same problem with mine when I first got it. As I recall, I simply took the cartridge apart, reseated the PCB carefully on the pegs, and pressed the two halves of the cartridge together really firmly as I put it back together. That seems to have done the trick, although I'll confess that the cartridge hasn't exactly been handled or played very much since then.

 

That's a bummer. I've tried that already and it didn't take much wiggling to jar it loose again. I acquired it a few months ago and haven't even tried to play it yet. I'm thinking I'll re-mount it and then put a small piece of rubber inside to create some added pressure between the peg and the top half of the shell.

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