Issue with Colecovision games loading (homebrew)

[bumm13]

Just thought I'd post something here since I'm getting a bit frustrated. Recently, I've acquired Hard Had Mack (CollectorVision) and Circus Charlie (Team PixelBoy) cartridges. Hard Hat Mack never starts; it keeps giving me the "please re-insert the cartridge" error screen (yes, I do own the SGM). Circus Charlie (which is almost unobtainium now) just shows a blank screen and makes a constant sound. I cleaned the contacts of Hard Hat Mack with 70% IPA and nothing changed. I can't imagine that these necessarily have the same issue but perhaps something is wrong with my console? I did test an older homebrew (Space Invasion) and it works fine. My recently acquired Choplifter (from the original CV era) also runs fine. Anyone have ideas of what to check? I'm especially bummed about Circus Charlie giving me problems as I paid a lot for it. Thanks!

[rietveld]

running on an Adam or Colecovision?

 

Edited March 23 by rietveld

[bumm13]

ColecoVision (haven't tried the Adam yet).

[rwest]

I don’t have an answer for you, but can add my experience with Ghost and Goblins. I have a bunch of Colecovisions, well because... I tried Ghost and Goblins on an AV modded unit and a F18A chipped unit and it didn’t work on either even though just about all of my original and homebrew games work on them. I grabbed an original Colecovision from the pile and Ghost and Goblins worked great on it. So there has to be some component or chip that isn’t doing some odd thing that certain homebrews need.

 

I would assume that the AV modded one shouldn’t be doing anything different than an RF unit, but there has to be something not quite right in it somewhere. Maybe a glitchy video chip?

Edited March 24 by rwest

[+evg2000]

there have been issues with some HBs and systems that hav3 been modded or fixed. sometimes the ground is connected properly and this can cause issues

[NIAD]

70% should not be used as there is too much water in it. Use at least 90% isopropyl alcohol.

 

If you have another system or ADAM, you need to test on them to know for sure if the cartridge is really the issue.

 

Both if those games should not be adversely affected by a CV system that has an issue with the ground plane… check that there is a screw just above the cartridge connector on the CV PCB. This screw is one of the screws that secured the CV PCB as well as functions as a ground.

 

If all else fails, there have been a number of issues with CollectorVision carts malfunctioning on one system but working on another and I’m sure they test them when manufactured, but no idea if they check them before shipping.