Hardware Reset

[MiCV2]

Hi,

 

I'm missing a hardware reset on the GD7800 cartridge. Sometimes NTSC or A2600 programs hang and I have to turn off the A7800 console. A real reset button would protect the hardware. Can I do a real reset in the console (mainboard) that works 100%? Mainboard is PAL, Rev.3. Where on the mainboard could I attach the reset button, CPU?

 

Best regards 

[+-^CrossBow^-]

Not sure if this helps, but the Backbit pro has a reset to menu button on that doesn't use the normal console reset. Pretty sure all it does is ground pin 13 off the 4013 chip that handles the power on/off of the console. That is how it is on the NTSC 7800 anyway. The extra wire to have this features isn't required since most folks would just power the console on/off manually to switch games but it is an option that is there. So it might be possible to do something similar on the PAL consoles?

 

I will state that the reset function from the backbit cartridge working that way could be unique to the cartridge. There are also two dedicated reset pins on the 4013 that could be looked at also.

 

[Stephen Moss]

18 hours ago, -^CrossBow^- said:

Pretty sure all it does is ground pin 13 off the 4013 chip that handles the power on/off of the console. That is how it is on the NTSC 7800 anyway.

Doesn't pin 1 handle the power On/Off & pin 13 is the reset line? It would make no sense to power off the console as that is not a reset and if you were gong to power off anyway then you may as well use the power switch.

Also pulling pin 13 directly to ground is a brute force way of doing it, if there is nothing to limit the current draw from the pin it will eventually fail so if it was me I would put a 1K resistor in the Reset line just after pin 13 and pull the side not connected directly to pin 13 down to ground.

18 hours ago, -^CrossBow^- said:

There are also two dedicated reset pins on the 4013 that could be looked at also.

Surely pulling the Reset (pin 4) of the 4013 high would power the console off, once off the only way of changing that would be to then be to...

1. Release the high in pin 4
2. Pull the Set pin (6) high, and then low to restore normal On/Off operation and then press the power button (seems a bit clumsy to me)

Also pulling the Reset (pin 10) high does nothing if Set is already high which it would be after power on thus you would need to manipulate both the Set & Reset pins of the 4013 as follows using a DPDT Switch momentary switch...

 

        Col 1          Col 2

Row 1   +5V            Gnd         Reset Condition (NO switch connections)

Row 2   R (pin 10)     S (pin 13)

Row 3   4013 Pin 2     C67/R48     Normal operation (NC switch connections)

 

 

[+-^CrossBow^-]

@Stephen Moss Guess I need to grammar better. When I stated Pin 13 from the 4013 and then said it controls the on/off status of the console, that was meant in generalizing what the 4013 IC is used for and not in stating what Pin 13 was used for. That is why that statement came after I named the 4013 IC?

 

The rest is just what I pulled up from looking at the pinouts on the 4013 and I was only providing some info to the OP on things to look at in more detail. 

 

Pin 13 is the pin used on the 4013 that an extra wire has to be attached to if someone with a BackBit Pro cartridge wants the reset back to menu to work. If they don't like that wire hanging out of their console, then a physical power on/off is required. I've not looked in detail, but I think that wire just attaches directly to a header pin soldered onto the adapter that goes to ground on the cartridge port. @evietron can provide more details on how she is accomplishing that since it is her design. I don't personally use the extra wire because again, I'm not a fan of the wire hanging out of my console exposed like that since it is the male connection end and thus exposed when not in use. For me I have the 7800 pretty much within arms reach anyway when playing it so powering the console off/on to reset back to the game menu selection isn't that big a deal to me.

 

But I appreciate the insight and detail Stephen! Should give more than enough info that @MiCV2 was looking for.

Edited June 26 by -^CrossBow^-

[MiCV2]

Hello, the Atari 7800 is new for me. The GD7800 cartridge is a great addition. I just noticed that a real reset switch would be nice. If I start an a2600 game, I have no way of getting back into the menu. I always have to turn the console off and on again. That can't be good for the old chips. I'm surprised that no one has done that in their a7800, a small hidden hardware reset button 🤷‍♂️

[+-^CrossBow^-]

47 minutes ago, MiCV2 said:

Hello, the Atari 7800 is new for me. The GD7800 cartridge is a great addition. I just noticed that a real reset switch would be nice. If I start an a2600 game, I have no way of getting back into the menu. I always have to turn the console off and on again. That can't be good for the old chips. I'm surprised that no one has done that in their a7800, a small hidden hardware reset button 🤷‍♂️

Well the Backbit Pro cartridge does have a back to game menu reset on the cartridge. Not sure exactly how it works, but it does require a separate wire to be installed on the console and then attached onto the adapter board that the BBPro uses for the 7800. But, that adapter will play both 2600 and 7800 games and the reset to games menu does work on both. But again, I'm pretty sure it is just initiating a quick power off/on cycle on the console to do this.

 

Not sure on 2600 games, but the 7800GD does have an on screen menu you can pull up while playing games and there is an exit game option that will take you back to the game menu selection without having to power the console off/on? Does that not work when playing 2600 games? I honestly don't know since I only have 7800 games loaded up on my 7800GD.

 

[MiCV2]

13 minutes ago, -^CrossBow^- said:

Not sure on 2600 games, but the 7800GD does have an on screen menu you can pull up while playing games and there is an exit game option that will take you back to the game menu selection without having to power the console off/on? Does that not work when playing 2600 games? I honestly don't know since I only have 7800 games loaded up on my 7800GD.

Back to menu doesn't work with a2600 games.

Edited June 26 by MiCV2

[genfuyung]

On 6/25/2024 at 9:03 AM, -^CrossBow^- said:

Not sure if this helps, but the Backbit pro has a reset to menu button on that doesn't use the normal console reset. Pretty sure all it does is ground pin 13 off the 4013 chip that handles the power on/off of the console. That is how it is on the NTSC 7800 anyway. The extra wire to have this features isn't required since most folks would just power the console on/off manually to switch games but it is an option that is there. So it might be possible to do something similar on the PAL consoles?

 

I will state that the reset function from the backbit cartridge working that way could be unique to the cartridge. There are also two dedicated reset pins on the 4013 that could be looked at also.

 

How do you hook the hook around that pin? I can't do it. Pins too big.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

22 minutes ago, genfuyung said:

How do you hook the hook around that pin? I can't do it. Pins too big.

I didn't use the quick connect clip on mine. I soldered a wire directly to the IC leg. But that is only on my lab 7800. On my main 7800 I didn't do this and just power cycle the console off/on each time I want to change games. The cart remembers where you left off on the menu screens anyway so it really isn't that big of a deal.

 

[genfuyung]

6 hours ago, -^CrossBow^- said:

I didn't use the quick connect clip on mine. I soldered a wire directly to the IC leg. But that is only on my lab 7800. On my main 7800 I didn't do this and just power cycle the console off/on each time I want to change games. The cart remembers where you left off on the menu screens anyway so it really isn't that big of a deal.

 

My problem is the cart won't work at all. It just gives me some lines on the screen. Evie suggested hooking up the reset button and trying that to see if it would get it to work but I can't get that hook around the pin. The colecovision doesn't recognize the cart until after you reset the console so I guess the theory was that the 7800 might be the same. Really bummed I can't get it to work.

[Jinks]

I had an issue with a side 2 cart on a 600xl. Turns out I had it in backwards after months of testing. They are backwards to the 7800 and 2600. Luckily the smoke fairies never appeared. 

 

[+-^CrossBow^-]

1 hour ago, genfuyung said:

My problem is the cart won't work at all. It just gives me some lines on the screen. Evie suggested hooking up the reset button and trying that to see if it would get it to work but I can't get that hook around the pin. The colecovision doesn't recognize the cart until after you reset the console so I guess the theory was that the 7800 might be the same. Really bummed I can't get it to work.

Do you have a modified BIOS installed by chance? The BBPro doesn't work on consoles with modified BIOS unless the reset cap is replaced with a higher value one to slightly delay the console's boot up.

 

[+batari]

On 6/25/2024 at 6:03 AM, -^CrossBow^- said:

Not sure if this helps, but the Backbit pro has a reset to menu button on that doesn't use the normal console reset. Pretty sure all it does is ground pin 13 off the 4013 chip that handles the power on/off of the console. That is how it is on the NTSC 7800 anyway. The extra wire to have this features isn't required since most folks would just power the console on/off manually to switch games but it is an option that is there. So it might be possible to do something similar on the PAL consoles?

 

I will state that the reset function from the backbit cartridge working that way could be unique to the cartridge. There are also two dedicated reset pins on the 4013 that could be looked at also.

 

I looked at this, and I want to say to anyone reading this, do not ground pin 13 on this chip. Pin 13 is an output and it should never be shorted to ground. If you ground pin 13, you will send far more than the maximum design current through the chip and can damage it.

 

If you absolutely must use a reset button, don't connect it directly to this pin. Cut the trace leading out of the IC, or pull up pin 13 of the IC, and install a small series resistor between this pin and the trace (or pin 12 of U12, which is where the trace ultimately goes) and connect the reset switch to pin 12 of U12. That will make the reset circuit 100% safe.

[genfuyung]

1 hour ago, -^CrossBow^- said:

Do you have a modified BIOS installed by chance? The BBPro doesn't work on consoles with modified BIOS unless the reset cap is replaced with a higher value one to slightly delay the console's boot up.

 

Nope just a stock 7800

[+-^CrossBow^-]

11 hours ago, batari said:

I looked at this, and I want to say to anyone reading this, do not ground pin 13 on this chip. Pin 13 is an output and it should never be shorted to ground. If you ground pin 13, you will send far more than the maximum design current through the chip and can damage it.

 

If you absolutely must use a reset button, don't connect it directly to this pin. Cut the trace leading out of the IC, or pull up pin 13 of the IC, and install a small series resistor between this pin and the trace (or pin 12 of U12, which is where the trace ultimately goes) and connect the reset switch to pin 12 of U12. That will make the reset circuit 100% safe.

I don't know for sure that is what the cartridge does. I just know that on many of her adapters for the various systems, that they require a wire to be attached from an IC leg within the console and the other end plugs into the adapter of the BBPro. The 5200, 7800, 2600, CV, and others all have such a setup. In many cases, that wire isn't required and it is only needed if you want the ability to use the button on the BBPro to reset back to the game menu vs powering the console off/on. But powering the console off/on usually works just as well but there are some edge cases where it doesn't and those wires might be needed.

 

It would be best for @evietron to respond directly on how the reset is being handled in the case of the 7800 adapter.

 

Just noticed that a previous reply from @Stephen Moss stated the same as you did. I could look at the adapter in more detail, it could be she has that resistor already in place on the adapter side to handle that. 

 

Updated... guess I should have just done this in the first place. I've got my scope connected to the reset wire going into the BBpro adapter. When the console is powered on, I'm showing 4.3 high on pin 13. When you press the reset on the cartridge it drops to 0. The reset wire is NOT attached to ground at all. So essentially what is being done is simply killing the voltage from pin 13 within the adapter it seems. The same is done on the 5200 adapter in that she interrupts the main input voltage going into the 5200 console through the cartridge port on the 2 port units since they have raw input voltage on the port for the VCS adapter to work. On 4 port units there is a reset wire similar to what is in place for the 7800 and that reset wire on the 5200, also attaches to the 4013 in a similar manner only it is attached to pin14 in the case of the 5200.

 

@evietron refers to this on the 5200 side as the Hard Reset (2 port), and soft reset (4 port). Seems a soft reset is being done on the 7800 as well. It is a different reset from powering cycling the console however because when you use the return to menu button with the wire attached, it takes you straight back to the menu but does reset the console as I see the 7800 graphic loader come up first before the menu. But if you power cycle the console instead, then you see the 7800 graphic loader, and then the BBPro title screen before the menu of games comes up.

 

 

[genfuyung]

2 hours ago, -^CrossBow^- said:

I don't know for sure that is what the cartridge does. I just know that on many of her adapters for the various systems, that they require a wire to be attached from an IC leg within the console and the other end plugs into the adapter of the BBPro. The 5200, 7800, 2600, CV, and others all have such a setup. In many cases, that wire isn't required and it is only needed if you want the ability to use the button on the BBPro to reset back to the game menu vs powering the console off/on. But powering the console off/on usually works just as well but there are some edge cases where it doesn't and those wires might be needed.

 

It would be best for @evietron to respond directly on how the reset is being handled in the case of the 7800 adapter.

 

Just noticed that a previous reply from @Stephen Moss stated the same as you did. I could look at the adapter in more detail, it could be she has that resistor already in place on the adapter side to handle that. 

 

Updated... guess I should have just done this in the first place. I've got my scope connected to the reset wire going into the BBpro adapter. When the console is powered on, I'm showing 4.3 high on pin 13. When you press the reset on the cartridge it drops to 0. The reset wire is NOT attached to ground at all. So essentially what is being done is simply killing the voltage from pin 13 within the adapter it seems. The same is done on the 5200 adapter in that she interrupts the main input voltage going into the 5200 console through the cartridge port on the 2 port units since they have raw input voltage on the port for the VCS adapter to work. On 4 port units there is a reset wire similar to what is in place for the 7800 and that reset wire on the 5200, also attaches to the 4013 in a similar manner only it is attached to pin14 in the case of the 5200.

 

@evietron refers to this on the 5200 side as the Hard Reset (2 port), and soft reset (4 port). Seems a soft reset is being done on the 7800 as well. It is a different reset from powering cycling the console however because when you use the return to menu button with the wire attached, it takes you straight back to the menu but does reset the console as I see the 7800 graphic loader come up first before the menu. But if you power cycle the console instead, then you see the 7800 graphic loader, and then the BBPro title screen before the menu of games comes up.

 

 

Can you put in idiot friendly terms what I need to do to make this reset happen for the 7800 adapter if I'm unable to wrap the hook from the red button around pin 13?

[+-^CrossBow^-]

19 minutes ago, genfuyung said:

Can you put in idiot friendly terms what I need to do to make this reset happen for the 7800 adapter if I'm unable to wrap the hook from the red button around pin 13?

Take a pic of the reset wire you received. The ones I have are spring loaded and when you press down on it from the top, it brings out 2 little prongs. Those just easily go around the leg of the IC and when I let go, it springs back in and holds the wire onto the leg.

 

Here is what the spring test lead connector on mine looked like. Not sure if she is still using this style but all of the adapters I've gotten with reset wires have this same spring test lead clip.

 

 

Again this is spring loaded and you press the two halves together to expose the little prongs that spring out on the bottom:

 

From there you just hold it open and move the little prongs so that they go around the IC leg on pin 13 of the 4013 like you see here:

 

Here that is from the other angle if that helps?

 

Of course the other end, just plugs into the female connector that is on the adapter board itself:

 

I just took those pics from my test unit 7800 so if you need any other pics or better details just let me know.

 

[+batari]

3 hours ago, -^CrossBow^- said:

I don't know for sure that is what the cartridge does. I just know that on many of her adapters for the various systems, that they require a wire to be attached from an IC leg within the console and the other end plugs into the adapter of the BBPro. The 5200, 7800, 2600, CV, and others all have such a setup. In many cases, that wire isn't required and it is only needed if you want the ability to use the button on the BBPro to reset back to the game menu vs powering the console off/on. But powering the console off/on usually works just as well but there are some edge cases where it doesn't and those wires might be needed.

 

It would be best for @evietron to respond directly on how the reset is being handled in the case of the 7800 adapter.

 

Just noticed that a previous reply from @Stephen Moss stated the same as you did. I could look at the adapter in more detail, it could be she has that resistor already in place on the adapter side to handle that. 

 

Updated... guess I should have just done this in the first place. I've got my scope connected to the reset wire going into the BBpro adapter. When the console is powered on, I'm showing 4.3 high on pin 13. When you press the reset on the cartridge it drops to 0. The reset wire is NOT attached to ground at all. So essentially what is being done is simply killing the voltage from pin 13 within the adapter it seems. The same is done on the 5200 adapter in that she interrupts the main input voltage going into the 5200 console through the cartridge port on the 2 port units since they have raw input voltage on the port for the VCS adapter to work. On 4 port units there is a reset wire similar to what is in place for the 7800 and that reset wire on the 5200, also attaches to the 4013 in a similar manner only it is attached to pin14 in the case of the 5200.

 

@evietron refers to this on the 5200 side as the Hard Reset (2 port), and soft reset (4 port). Seems a soft reset is being done on the 7800 as well. It is a different reset from powering cycling the console however because when you use the return to menu button with the wire attached, it takes you straight back to the menu but does reset the console as I see the 7800 graphic loader come up first before the menu. But if you power cycle the console instead, then you see the 7800 graphic loader, and then the BBPro title screen before the menu of games comes up.

 

 

My assertion has not changed. The reset switch here is still forcing a high output low, and this is worse on a CMOS chip such as the 4013. Calling it "killing the voltage" does not change what is being done here, and it's no different than shorting to ground, and this can damage the chip.

 

Nobody should attempt this mod without adding in a resistor like I said. You cannot simply put the resistor on the adapter side (it wouldn't work anyway), it has to go in series between pin 13 of the 4013 and pin 12 of U12 (I think, a 74LS32), with the reset switch then connected to pin 12 of U12. Plus, since pin 13 of the 4013 and pin 12 of U12 are connected via a trace on the board, this trace either needs to be severed or a leg lifted on one of the ICs so that you are no longer forcing a high output low, but safely sinking a small amount of current through a resistor when the reset is triggered.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

26 minutes ago, batari said:

My assertion has not changed. The reset switch here is still forcing a high output low, and this is worse on a CMOS chip such as the 4013. Calling it "killing the voltage" does not change what is being done here, and it's no different than shorting to ground, and this can damage the chip.

 

Nobody should attempt this mod without adding in a resistor like I said. You cannot simply put the resistor on the adapter side (it wouldn't work anyway), it has to go in series between pin 13 of the 4013 and pin 12 of U12 (I think, a 74LS32), with the reset switch then connected to pin 12 of U12. Plus, since pin 13 of the 4013 and pin 12 of U12 are connected via a trace on the board, this trace either needs to be severed or a leg lifted on one of the ICs so that you are no longer forcing a high output low, but safely sinking a small amount of current through a resistor when the reset is triggered.

Understood. I don't actually use this myself, but in some cases there are some 7800s that seem to refuse to boot up the BBPro carts unless that wire is in place first. Any 7800s with modified BIOS installed like the common Asteroids included one that both TBA and Best Electronics offer or the KiloParsec BIOS will not work with the cartridge without the wire. However, it is possible to replace the reset capacitor with a higher value (4.7µf) and that will allow the BBpro to boot up and run without the reset wire. It is likely something similar could be done on those 7800s that just don't want to start up without that wire even with stock BIOS but I've not had one of those 7800s come to me personally to test and confirm.

 

The reset wire being discussed here is from the manual that is provided with the BackBit Pro from @evietron herself, so I would think she has tested for this and created a safe way of doing what is being done.

[genfuyung]

1 hour ago, -^CrossBow^- said:

Take a pic of the reset wire you received. The ones I have are spring loaded and when you press down on it from the top, it brings out 2 little prongs. Those just easily go around the leg of the IC and when I let go, it springs back in and holds the wire onto the leg.

 

Here is what the spring test lead connector on mine looked like. Not sure if she is still using this style but all of the adapters I've gotten with reset wires have this same spring test lead clip.

 

 

Again this is spring loaded and you press the two halves together to expose the little prongs that spring out on the bottom:

 

From there you just hold it open and move the little prongs so that they go around the IC leg on pin 13 of the 4013 like you see here:

 

Here that is from the other angle if that helps?

 

Of course the other end, just plugs into the female connector that is on the adapter board itself:

 

I just took those pics from my test unit 7800 so if you need any other pics or better details just let me know.

 

Thanks for helping. Mine is similar it's just red and instead of two little prongs coming out of the bottom, it's one piece that I would say is shaped like a J hook. I'll post a picture when I get home. Thanks again.

[+batari]

1 hour ago, -^CrossBow^- said:

The reset wire being discussed here is from the manual that is provided with the BackBit Pro from @evietron herself, so I would think she has tested for this and created a safe way of doing what is being done.

No, this is not safe, regardless of what the manual says or regardless of testing that didn't fry the 4013 right away.

 

My guess is that on most consoles/computers, a similar mod would be perfectly safe, as they either actually have a reset button to tie into that is safe to ground out, or otherwise the connection is open drain/open collector. But this is not the case with the 7800.

 

If all you want to do is delay the console booting, I would look at the collector of Q13. It's an open collector, so it should be safe to ground, and doing so should halt the CPU until the line is released/floated. I haven't tried this - it's just a recommendation for potential safe way to solve the boot problem without requiring an unsafe mod.

 

[genfuyung]

2 hours ago, -^CrossBow^- said:

Understood. I don't actually use this myself, but in some cases there are some 7800s that seem to refuse to boot up the BBPro carts unless that wire is in place first. Any 7800s with modified BIOS installed like the common Asteroids included one that both TBA and Best Electronics offer or the KiloParsec BIOS will not work with the cartridge without the wire. However, it is possible to replace the reset capacitor with a higher value (4.7µf) and that will allow the BBpro to boot up and run without the reset wire. It is likely something similar could be done on those 7800s that just don't want to start up without that wire even with stock BIOS but I've not had one of those 7800s come to me personally to test and confirm.

 

The reset wire being discussed here is from the manual that is provided with the BackBit Pro from @evietron herself, so I would think she has tested for this and created a safe way of doing what is being done.

View from front and side of the piece that comes out when you press the plunger down. And a picture of the chip I'm trying to attach it to since it looks a bit different than yours 

 

There's just no way to get this little hook to stay on that pin. Even if I basically force it, it's touching one of the pins next to it and comes loose from just the pressure of the plunger coming back up. The design of the two little pinchers that comes out look great, but I can't figure this book out.

Edited September 14 by genfuyung
Added photo of chip

[evietron]

Hi all, and thanks to Crossbow for contacting me personally. I checked the datasheet and did some searches to be sure, but the advertised source current for the 4013 is < 5mA, which is equivalent to having a built-in 1K resistor (although the internals are probably much different). Certainly having a resistor on the cart couldn't hurt and is a good idea for the next hardware revision. I've had the reset wire hooked up to my 7800 personally and never had any issues.

 

As for the hook, I used to offer the fork style clip, but switched to the hook style clip because it is better for hooking to the leg of a resistor, and doesn't come off so easily. Believe it or not, I've been able to twist the hook around just that leg and have the plastic part of the hook insulate that pin from the next one. But I understand that it's not that straightforward for everyone. FWIW I've refunded genfuyung's 7800 adapter since they were having trouble with it and went though all the troubleshooting steps I recommended. Generally the reset wire is not required for startup if you have a good enough capacitance in the reset circuit (some caps die down over time). Also I'm not 100% confident in the stock power supply being able to fully power BackBit (I've modified mine to have a barrel jack like the 5200).

 

If I ever make a dedicated 7800 cart, I will use FPGA and avoid the reset circuit issue entirely by catching the IRQ.

 

 

[genfuyung]

2 minutes ago, evietron said:

Hi all, and thanks to Crossbow for contacting me personally. I checked the datasheet and did some searches to be sure, but the advertised source current for the 4013 is < 5mA, which is equivalent to having a built-in 1K resistor (although the internals are probably much different). Certainly having a resistor on the cart couldn't hurt and is a good idea for the next hardware revision. I've had the reset wire hooked up to my 7800 personally and never had any issues.

 

As for the hook, I used to offer the fork style clip, but switched to the hook style clip because it is better for hooking to the leg of a resistor, and doesn't come off so easily. Believe it or not, I've been able to twist the hook around just that leg and have the plastic part of the hook insulate that pin from the next one. But I understand that it's not that straightforward for everyone. FWIW I've refunded genfuyung's 7800 adapter since they were having trouble with it and went though all the troubleshooting steps I recommended. Generally the reset wire is not required for startup if you have a good enough capacitance in the reset circuit (some caps die down over time). Also I'm not 100% confident in the stock power supply being able to fully power BackBit (I've modified mine to have a barrel jack like the 5200).

 

If I ever make a dedicated 7800 cart, I will use FPGA and avoid the reset circuit issue entirely by catching the IRQ.

 

 

Didn't mean any offense by this post. Evie was awesome and worked with me through email last night back and forth for a while to try to get this working. And did get the colecovision one working. I just felt like it was something I just wasn't comprehending that was causing it, so wanted to post here for help 

[genfuyung]

19 hours ago, -^CrossBow^- said:

Take a pic of the reset wire you received. The ones I have are spring loaded and when you press down on it from the top, it brings out 2 little prongs. Those just easily go around the leg of the IC and when I let go, it springs back in and holds the wire onto the leg.

 

Here is what the spring test lead connector on mine looked like. Not sure if she is still using this style but all of the adapters I've gotten with reset wires have this same spring test lead clip.

 

 

Again this is spring loaded and you press the two halves together to expose the little prongs that spring out on the bottom:

 

From there you just hold it open and move the little prongs so that they go around the IC leg on pin 13 of the 4013 like you see here:

 

Here that is from the other angle if that helps?

 

Of course the other end, just plugs into the female connector that is on the adapter board itself:

 

I just took those pics from my test unit 7800 so if you need any other pics or better details just let me know.

 

What if I just clip the whole plunger off, strip the wire, and then solder the wire to the pin?