Intellivision Repair

HunterZero

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I have an Inty here that blackscreens when you hit the reset button, and before it did that, the sound had gone bad, eg loss of arrow counting sounds in AD&D Cloudy Mountain, and loss of some channels of music.

I am wondering if it's a bad sound chip, or some component around the sound chip? I've had two Intellivisions develop this same sound issue over the years. Is an AY-3-8910A a pin compatible drop-in replacement for an AY-3-8910?

Anyone have a repair guide for the Inty, or can offer some tips for common parts to replace? I'd like to 'rejuvinate' the console.

- James
 
Ok, it looks like the sound chip is an AY-3-8914, and while it's pin compatible, the control registers are different, so 8910 probably won't work correctly...

- James
 
I rebuilt the power supply board in mine, but thats as far as I've gone. There isn't a whole lot inside these systems that are serviceable.
 
I rebuilt the power supply board in mine, but thats as far as I've gone. There isn't a whole lot inside these systems that are serviceable.

Yeah, I noticed that in the service manual, they don't go into much detail regarding troubleshooting the logic board, they just tell you to replace the whole thing.

But from what I can tell, apart from the custom ROMs, the rest of the insides are serviceable.

- James
 
Sounds like the sound chip is dead. I have some boards here I need to part out as I'm out of that chip on my web site inventory.
 
Sounds like the sound chip is dead. I have some boards here I need to part out as I'm out of that chip on my web site inventory.

Yeah that was my guess, I have a lead on an AY-3-8914. If I need any other parts, I'll give you a bell. I might need the smaller board, as the one I have looks a bit corroded. The chips on the Inty I have seem to be coated in horrible blobs of black epoxy goop. These 240V Intys can get pretty hot inside from the power transformer, wondering if that's why I had two Intys develop exactly the same problem with failing sound.

Will probably cost more in parts than the thing is worth, but it's the Inty that I've had since I was a kid, and I want to take on the challenge of fixing it.

- James
 
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Holy necro threads, Batman!

Update -- Finally managed to pull the console from storage and work on it.

Hooked it up, and - nada. Static. So stripped it down and started checking it from the transformer and regulator board. Checked out, but both solder joints on th 2 pin connector were cracked, so reflowed. Checked the nasty ribbon connector (which was falling apart) - The outer 2 wires were broken, so rebuild the connector with hookup wire.

Now the system was powering up, but giving a black screen. I recall the console had sound problems when I put it into storage, so I tried replacing the sound chip with another I had on hand.

Joy, the console starts and I get the title screen! However there's still a logic issue - Most games will play, but have issues. Eg, AD&D Cloudy Mountain will lock up when you enter a mountain. On Demon Attack, some of the enemy sprites are corrupted, and the player ship skips about. On Burger Time the game crashes to a black screen at the end of the first level, or when you lose a life.

So I'm now suspecting possibly a ROM issue. I'd like to get my hands on a test cart to see if that can tell me where the problem is.

- James
 
Actually given that there are sprite problems in Demon Attack, it might even be the STIC chip. Can't rule out RAM problem either.

- James
 
Bingo! Was a RAM problem. Replaced it after finding a dead donor parts system. System now works 100%.

- J
 
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