CPUWIZ Posted June 28, 2017 Share Posted June 28, 2017 Hello, I have finally, for the first time, got my hands on a HSC circuit board. It isn't functioning properly and I am trying to figure out why. Anyway, not part of this theory. But I looked closely at the connector to the 7800 (A problem other people have had issues with.), what I saw is pure horror in my world. Compare the connector to one of my VersaBoard PCB's, especially look at spacing! I am not surprised at all that some didn't work, the slots on the connector look hand cut. Kind a like using a blow torch to extract SARA chips from DigDug carts. Anyway, enjoy... 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaybird3rd Posted June 28, 2017 Share Posted June 28, 2017 Yeah, that looks pretty bad. I just dug out my HSC, and it has the same hand-cut look, but it's not quite as bad as that. No gold plating, either, which still irks me. The biggest problem with my HSC is that it would never reliably retain the scores. I seem to remember that Curt mentioned an issue with certain HSC boards that would cause the SRAM battery to drain into the console. I don't know if that was the problem with mine; taking the cartridge out of the console when I wasn't using it never seemed to make a difference. I eventually switched over to using the CC2's HSC functionality, which is much more reliable, or else just plain pencil and paper. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CPUWIZ Posted June 28, 2017 Author Share Posted June 28, 2017 The biggest problem with my HSC is that it would never reliably retain the scores. I seem to remember that Curt mentioned an issue with certain HSC boards that would cause the SRAM battery to drain into the console. I don't know if that was the problem with mine; taking the cartridge out of the console when I wasn't using it never seemed to make a difference. I eventually switched over to using the CC2's HSC functionality, which is much more reliable, or else just plain pencil and paper. I was told this one does exactly what you describe. I saw a transistor on the back of the board, hooked up to the battery, that would be my first guess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+-^CrossBow^- Posted June 28, 2017 Share Posted June 28, 2017 The board you all are looking as is I believe #100 of the original HSC run that Curt did years ago. This cart has never retained any information regardless. I at first found the original battery holder was loose and eventually the tab to hold in the battery just broke clean off. So i replaced that, but no difference. This cart will work and retain all highscores for the game you have plugged into it. Until you power the damn thing off. And then when you power back on, it makes you go through naming the cart etc..all over again. So Nothing is being stored on this particular one. Having said that, I've not seen any issues in regards to connectivity in the two 7800s I've used it with. I would think that if the contacts were off or not making good contact, that the 7800 games I've plugged into it, wouldn't work either correct? Oh well. I really appreciate CPU taking a peak at this. Even if nothing can be done to correct it, it at least gives more insight with another engineer looking it over to find things. Yes! I do remember that Curt stated that if the carts were left in the console, that it would drain the battery. And he stated you had to remove the cart from the console when not in use to prevent that. But again, it appears that wouldn't matter anyway? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn Posted June 28, 2017 Share Posted June 28, 2017 Oh well. I really appreciate CPU taking a peak at this. Even if nothing can be done to correct it, it at least gives more insight with another engineer looking it over to find things. Yes! I do remember that Curt stated that if the carts were left in the console, that it would drain the battery. And he stated you had to remove the cart from the console when not in use to prevent that. But again, it appears that wouldn't matter anyway? It's worse than that. Even if you took it out it still didn't hold the charge properly on either of the 2 different ones I've owned. One was better than the other but still. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+-^CrossBow^- Posted June 28, 2017 Share Posted June 28, 2017 It's worse than that. Even if you took it out it still didn't hold the charge properly on either of the 2 different ones I've owned. One was better than the other but still. So even when removed it obviously still drained the battery, and if a transistor is directly connected off of it, that would certainly explain a constant power draw. Guess is needed some sort of electrical switching to engage the cart to be on or off only when the 7800 was turned on. Even then, you still have the slight constant drain off the sram to store the data correct? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn Posted June 28, 2017 Share Posted June 28, 2017 So even when removed it obviously still drained the battery, and if a transistor is directly connected off of it, that would certainly explain a constant power draw. Guess is needed some sort of electrical switching to engage the cart to be on or off only when the 7800 was turned on. Even then, you still have the slight constant drain off the sram to store the data correct? I'm not sure and I forget if there was any rectifier diodes on it or not but I don't think there was. That would be a huge step in helping it not drain. But all that can be thrown out now with NVRAM being so much more accessible and affordable. A new HSC could be produced with better parts populating it and a pcb that isn't some bottom of the barrel cheap POS. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+-^CrossBow^- Posted June 28, 2017 Share Posted June 28, 2017 I'm not sure and I forget if there was any rectifier diodes on it or not but I don't think there was. That would be a huge step in helping it not drain. But all that can be thrown out now with NVRAM being so much more accessible and affordable. A new HSC could be produced with better parts populating it and a pcb that isn't some bottom of the barrel cheap POS. Curt sold an NVRAM variant and I believe even offered a trade in program on the older model towards the NVRAM version. But I didn't know about any of that at the time until much later. I honestly never used the HSC to be honest, other than to try and use for tournaments when I was hosting my convention and to use as a passthru for tigervision carts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Allan Posted November 15, 2017 Share Posted November 15, 2017 Has anybody figured out how to fix these old high score carts? I have one that does the same thing as Crosbow's cart. Allan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+-^CrossBow^- Posted November 15, 2017 Share Posted November 15, 2017 Has anybody figured out how to fix these old high score carts? I have one that does the same thing as Crosbow's cart. Allan No...nothing was found to try and correct this. The cart CPU is talking about in this thread, is in fact my HSC. I just got it back late last week from CPU so I do appreciate him checking it out. But no...mine has never worked properly. Plug it in and power on the system and it will work fine. As long as you have the 7800 powered on. Reset's won't affect it either. But if you power off the console and then turn it back on, it will go through the entire process of having to name the cart and all hi scores that might have been on it previously will be lost for the game you were playing. And that is where it really fails... I can live with the cart naming bit as that was just to make it more personal. But not retaining any actual scores just makes this a fancy pass-through. Even when it works while powered on, you are limited to the high scores only being stored for the current game you have plugged into it. You can't change the games hot so...yeah... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jinks Posted November 16, 2017 Share Posted November 16, 2017 No...nothing was found to try and correct this. The cart CPU is talking about in this thread, is in fact my HSC. I just got it back late last week from CPU so I do appreciate him checking it out. But no...mine has never worked properly. Plug it in and power on the system and it will work fine. As long as you have the 7800 powered on. Reset's won't affect it either. But if you power off the console and then turn it back on, it will go through the entire process of having to name the cart and all hi scores that might have been on it previously will be lost for the game you were playing. And that is where it really fails... I can live with the cart naming bit as that was just to make it more personal. But not retaining any actual scores just makes this a fancy pass-through. Even when it works while powered on, you are limited to the high scores only being stored for the current game you have plugged into it. You can't change the games hot so...yeah... You get to see a high score screen tho? A feature 99.9999% of 7800 owners never will get to enjoy. Really a waste or rom space could have been used for a big donkey $%#^! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Allan Posted November 16, 2017 Share Posted November 16, 2017 No...nothing was found to try and correct this. The cart CPU is talking about in this thread, is in fact my HSC. I just got it back late last week from CPU so I do appreciate him checking it out. But no...mine has never worked properly. Plug it in and power on the system and it will work fine. As long as you have the 7800 powered on. Reset's won't affect it either. But if you power off the console and then turn it back on, it will go through the entire process of having to name the cart and all hi scores that might have been on it previously will be lost for the game you were playing. And that is where it really fails... I can live with the cart naming bit as that was just to make it more personal. But not retaining any actual scores just makes this a fancy pass-through. Even when it works while powered on, you are limited to the high scores only being stored for the current game you have plugged into it. You can't change the games hot so...yeah... Thanks, Crossbow for your response. Yea, it looks like mine is the same as yours. It's a shame. It's too bad someone doesn't make another run of them with an updated design. Allan 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
AtariAge on Instagram
Watch us on YouTube
Chat on Discord
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.