Intellivision Fix Project

[retroPete]

Good afternoon,

I've been trying to get the family Intellivision working for a while now.

 

First I replaced a few capactiors on the power supply as the AC Voltages coming out of the transformer were not correct. There was a forum I used that specified what voltages were to be at what pin. This didn't fix the console.

 

 

I'm using a Nintendo RF switch from the console to the coax input on my TV (I read on another forum that this would work).

 

I've attached a picture of the screen when the console is on. The screen doesn't blink or roll, just an unchanging screen of colourful patterns.

 

Any advice would be appreciated. I'm thinking there may be something wrong with the motherboard inside the shielded box.

 

Thanks,

-Pete

[mr_me]

You said the patterns are unchanging but I wanted to doublecheck that there is no response from controller input. Don't forget to press reset. How many different cartridges have you tested and how does it look with no cartridge? It could be one of the major chips such as the cpu, stic, exec, ram. It could be as simple as a bad connection needing some cleaning or minor repair, or it could be a chip needs replacing. Did you remove the metal shield and inspect the main board. You can find a copy of the service manual here. https://console5.com/wiki/Intellivision. Your attachment didn't work.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

Good afternoon,

 

I've been trying to get the family Intellivision working for a while now.

 

First I replaced a few capactiors on the power supply as the AC Voltages coming out of the transformer were not correct. There was a forum I used that specified what voltages were to be at what pin. This didn't fix the console.

 

 

I'm using a Nintendo RF switch from the console to the coax input on my TV (I read on another forum that this would work).

 

I've attached a picture of the screen when the console is on. The screen doesn't blink or roll, just an unchanging screen of colourful patterns.

 

Any advice would be appreciated. I'm thinking there may be something wrong with the motherboard inside the shielded box.

 

Thanks,

 

-Pete

 

I don't see the attached pic of the screen?

 

Also if the AC voltages off the transformer aren't correct to begin with, then the rest of the power and components aren't going to matter. The transformer has to be replace first and producing proper voltage before you can go further. Unless I misunderstood?

[retroPete]

Thanks for the links to the manuals! Sorry about the bad attachment. It should be displayed now. The controllers don't do anything. Reset seems to work. When pressed, the screen goes black and then back to the colourful snow. It's not a static image, it's like regular snow but colourful. I've tried 4 or 5 different games. I haven't tried it with no game. I haven't checked out the main board yet as opening that shielded box will be a pain.

 

As for the voltages. Referring to section 7.4 at http://www.intvfunhouse.com/faq/intv_faq7.phpthe desired voltages from the transformer are:

 

Yellow Lead to Blue Lead - 18 VAC
Green/Yellow lead to any Green - 9.25 VAC

Green Lead to Green Lead - 18.5 VAC

 

I measured:

 

Yellow Lead to Blue Lead - 16.35 VAC
Green/Yellow lead to any Green - 8.7 VAC

Green Lead to Green Lead - 17.38 VAC

Which are a little low. I also checked the test points from here: https://console5.com/wiki/File:Intellivision-I-Power-Supply-Test-Points.png

The desired voltages at test points:

TP1 Ground

TP2 +5V

TP3 +12V

TP4 +16V

TP5 -2.1V

TP6 +5.65V

I measured from TP1:

TP2 +4.94V

TP3 +11.91V

TP4 +19.14V

TP5 -2.074V

TP6 +5.74V

Which I would think are close enough. Except maybe TP4. That's kinda high.

Over the weekend I'm going to clean the contacts with alcohol (maybe a fine organic lager from Oregon.... HA!) and maybe open the shielded box to check out the main board if I'm feeling ambitious.

Cheers!

 

[imstarryeyed]

Do not use the RF box from Nintendo, just use a standard little RF to RCA adapter available all over the place. the RF box creates way to interference to get a picture to troubleshoot. In addition do your troubleshooting on a standard def picture tube TV, as some HD TV's will never be able to sync to an Atari or Intellivision... The moral here is.. when troubleshooting, simplify, simplify..

 

I insist that my staff at our game store use this method and we find it makes things a lot easier to troubleshoot.

 

I wish you great luck in troubleshooting your unit and hope you can find the issue very soon!

[mr_me]

Thanks for the links to the manuals! Sorry about the bad attachment. It should be displayed now. The controllers don't do anything. Reset seems to work. When pressed, the screen goes black and then back to the colourful snow. It's not a static image, it's like regular snow but colourful. I've tried 4 or 5 different games. I haven't tried it with no game. I haven't checked out the main board yet as opening that shielded box will be a pain.

 

As for the voltages. Referring to section 7.4 at http://www.intvfunhouse.com/faq/intv_faq7.phpthe desired voltages from the transformer are:

 

Yellow Lead to Blue Lead - 18 VAC

Green/Yellow lead to any Green - 9.25 VAC

Green Lead to Green Lead - 18.5 VAC

 

I measured:

 

Yellow Lead to Blue Lead - 16.35 VAC

Green/Yellow lead to any Green - 8.7 VAC

Green Lead to Green Lead - 17.38 VAC

 

Which are a little low. I also checked the test points from here: https://console5.com/wiki/File:Intellivision-I-Power-Supply-Test-Points.png

 

The desired voltages at test points:

 

TP1 Ground

TP2 +5V

TP3 +12V

TP4 +16V

TP5 -2.1V

TP6 +5.65V

 

I measured from TP1:

 

 

TP2 +4.94V

TP3 +11.91V

TP4 +19.14V

TP5 -2.074V

TP6 +5.74V

 

Which I would think are close enough. Except maybe TP4. That's kinda high.

 

Over the weekend I'm going to clean the contacts with alcohol (maybe a fine organic lager from Oregon.... HA!) and maybe open the shielded box to check out the main board if I'm feeling ambitious.

 

Cheers!

 

Your colourfull patterns look like static ie no signal. Even without a cartridge and no program running the Intellivision should produce a solid black image.

 

The TP4 voltage is unregulated so it depends on load.

[nick3092]

TP4 is unregulated, so it can run a little high. A transformer is linear, so the higher your home voltage is (and it varies greatly across the country despite 120 being the target, and can even vary throughout the day) the higher that unregulated 16v will be. I wouldnt worry too much about it.

 

This may not be the cause of your issue, but my 2 cents is to stay away from autoswitching RF boxes for any console that didnt come with one. Your best bet is to get an RCA to type F converter and ram the signal straight in the TV.

 

The consoles that had those auto switch boxes had a little extra power built into the RF output to trigger the switch box. Intellivisions were not built that way.

 

Edit: I agree with mr_me. Looks like static. So it could very well be the auto switch box not triggering properly as I mentioned above.

Edited September 22, 2017 by nick3092

[IMBerzerk]

Best bet to test on a new TV (LCD) is to get an RCA to ANT conversion connector. They're available locally everywhere. And cheap.

 

That does not look like an Intellivison issue, as mentioned above, that looks like a display issue with your TV.