Mr.FoodMonster Posted August 8, 2004 Share Posted August 8, 2004 Did it play on your 2600? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saikyo Posted August 8, 2004 Share Posted August 8, 2004 So Tempest, did it arrive yet? Yes it did. However for some reason I cannot get it to dump properly so I am sending to a fellow collector so he can dump it. Expect an update soon. Tempest Oh please dont say it's dead! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dykesr Posted August 8, 2004 Share Posted August 8, 2004 Oh we must know temest were you able to play it while you had it?? RD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted August 8, 2004 Share Posted August 8, 2004 Oh please dont say it's dead! He didn't say so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattyXB Posted August 8, 2004 Share Posted August 8, 2004 Now I have read so much about this Prototype, but see no pictures yet. Has someone a Cartridge Scan, that we can see how it looks like? Or have I miss this in this thread somewhere? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted August 8, 2004 Share Posted August 8, 2004 No I did not play it on a real 2600. Sadly my 2600 is currently being repaired and my 7800 is being modified. I tried to get it working on my Colecovision with the 2600 adapter and that did not work. However I wouldn't read too much into that as my Coleco 2600 adapter is REALLY fussy with what it plays and doesn't play. I've had many prototypes not work on it. I suppose there is a small chance its dead, but at this point it looks more like a dumping problem (won't bore you with the details, but I'm only dumping half the eprom). It is also possible that there is minor corruption in the code, but that too can be fixed. I'll post more information soon. At this point I'd list Meltdown as "Needing a little help" and not "Dead". I'm very optimistic. A picture? Sure! Tempest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
video game addict Posted August 8, 2004 Share Posted August 8, 2004 No I did not play it on a real 2600. Sadly my 2600 is currently being repaired and my 7800 is being modified. I tried to get it working on my Colecovision with the 2600 adapter and that did not work. Only one 2600?! I thought everybody kept like 5 or 6 of them, 4-switcher, 6-switcher, heavy-sixer, Sears, Jr, Sears II, I think I've got just in one closet. And what no VCS adapter for 5200? I'd use that before I would the CV expansion.. I never liked the CV thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keilbaca Posted August 8, 2004 Share Posted August 8, 2004 Still looking for Sears video arcade 2... I hope meltdown works, you paid a hell of a lot for it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godzilla Posted August 8, 2004 Share Posted August 8, 2004 I'm just glad he actually got it, so now we know that at least he got something for his money. Best of luck with the rest of the process. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saikyo Posted August 8, 2004 Share Posted August 8, 2004 I'm just waiting now for the results, I'm really nervous, I feel like I'm on tenderhooks! But I'm not the one who should be nervous! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted August 9, 2004 Share Posted August 9, 2004 Well I'm petty much convinced at this point that it's a simple dumping problem and possibly some very minor corruption of the data. I've had my dump analyzed by a pro and he said that it's skipping every other section (or rather its copying the same section twice). So hopefully this will all have a very happy ending. Tempest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted August 9, 2004 Share Posted August 9, 2004 I've had my dump analyzed by a pro I just realized that this line sounds really bad when taken out of context... Tempest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CPUWIZ Posted August 9, 2004 Share Posted August 9, 2004 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saikyo Posted August 9, 2004 Share Posted August 9, 2004 Well I'm petty much convinced at this point that it's a simple dumping problem and possibly some very minor corruption of the data. I've had my dump analyzed by a pro and he said that it's skipping every other section (or rather its copying the same section twice). So hopefully this will all have a very happy ending. Tempest So all that happened is that the dumper overdumped the ROM? or something different? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted August 9, 2004 Share Posted August 9, 2004 So all that happened is that the dumper overdumped the ROM? or something different? No it sounds move like it's not switching sections. It dumps one section and instead of dumping the next it stays on the same section. Then after that it moves on. I don't know how EPROMs work exactly but it sounds like its dumping one pin and when it tries to go to the pin on the other side it 'sticks' and redumps the same pin. After that it thinks its dumped both pins and moves onto the next set. Tempest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saikyo Posted August 9, 2004 Share Posted August 9, 2004 Hmm weird! Do you think the dumper may be malfunctioning? Maybe if you tried to dump a normal game we could see where the problem lies! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+-^CrossBow^- Posted August 9, 2004 Share Posted August 9, 2004 Sounds more like the game uses a bankswitching method that isn't being specified when you try and dump it? I know that I had a similar problem with Activision's shuttle when I was dumping it to confirm the existence of NTSC FE bankswitched shuttles out there... I finally had to get a new dumper executable that could do FE bankswitching... Not saying this is the problem, but if there are two eproms on your proto, then perhaps it isn't implementing the correct bankswitching needed to read them both? Maybe, I need to layoff the radioactive cheerios for a while... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted August 9, 2004 Share Posted August 9, 2004 Not saying this is the problem, but if there are two eproms on your proto, then perhaps it isn't implementing the correct bankswitching needed to read them both? Nope. Only one 4K EPROM. Tempest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Tomlin Posted August 9, 2004 Share Posted August 9, 2004 Maybe a bad address line somewhere? Hopefully it wasn't damaged when it was (ahem) opened. Actually, even that wouldn't be much of a problem. The real problem would be if somehow one of the address lines on the chip itself was damaged, either due to static or some other problem. If I had a copy of the dump, I could probably figure out which address line you would need to check with an ohmmeter. Hopefully you won't have to go to the trouble of having the chip desoldered to read it. The good news is that this isn't a symptom of bit rot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted August 9, 2004 Share Posted August 9, 2004 The real problem would be if somehow one of the address lines on the chip itself was damaged, either due to static or some other problem. How possible is such an on chip problem? And would it be fixable somehow? The good news is that this isn't a symptom of bit rot. Yup, that's how I see it too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Tomlin Posted August 9, 2004 Share Posted August 9, 2004 In the past, I've had at least one EPROM lose an address line due to plugging it in backwards. Of course you can't program it properly after that. More likely the problem here is a bad connection outside the chip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted August 9, 2004 Share Posted August 9, 2004 In the past, I've had at least one EPROM lose an address line due to plugging it in backwards. Of course you can't program it properly after that. I wonder if that could be the problem. Maybe the guy plugged it in backwars when he slapped it back in? What do you mean you can't program it properly after that? Does that mean if this was the case you'll never be able to get the data off? Tempest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saikyo Posted August 9, 2004 Share Posted August 9, 2004 In the past, I've had at least one EPROM lose an address line due to plugging it in backwards. Of course you can't program it properly after that. I wonder if that could be the problem. Maybe the guy plugged it in backwars when he slapped it back in? What do you mean you can't program it properly after that? Does that mean if this was the case you'll never be able to get the data off? Tempest Either that or when you tried to dump it you positioned the EPROM in the dumper backwards. All I can say is I hope that you CAN get the data off it because if you can't, then R.I.P Meltdown 2600 version. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted August 9, 2004 Share Posted August 9, 2004 Either that or when you tried to dump it you positioned the EPROM in the dumperbackwards. Nope I had it in my dumper in the proper position. I know how to dump eproms. Tempest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eckhard Stolberg Posted August 9, 2004 Share Posted August 9, 2004 I wonder if that could be the problem. Maybe the guy plugged it in backwars when he slapped it back in? What do you mean you can't program it properly after that? Does that mean if this was the case you'll never be able to get the data off? The EPROM can't be damaged from being plugged backwards into the socked on the game board alone. You'd also have to use game, so that an inproper voltage could be applied to the wrong pin. I suppose Bruce only damaged his EPROM, because he tried to program some data onto it. For that you'd have to apply a much higher voltage to a special pin. If that accidentally goes into one of the address lines, that might cause some damage. A scenario like this seems highly unlikely in your case. But if one of the address lines was really dead, then you wouldn't be able to properly address all the data on the chip anymore. Half of it would be lost. If you suspect such a problem anyway, you could test the address pins with an ohmmeter like Bruce suggested. Do you have a multimeter? Ciao, Eckhard Stolberg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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