Vectrex Help Needed

[Harmik]

Hello I just got a new in the box never been opened Vectrex today. I opened it up plugged it in and got squiggly lines my heart sank, but I knew this could happen being new and never opened and all. Then I thought well nobody can fix it here in Australia may as well open it up have a look. I don't know how to repair monitors but I know a bit about them and thought well the unit seems to be ok game sound works. Maybe something is out of adjustment I know if you adjust a monitor to far left or right it can do strange things, so I opened it up started to adjust a pot did not help went to look for another pot, and just happened to look at the screen and it was ok.

So it might have needed to warm up or maybe I did something, seems ok now is this a known thing? Also the screen seems to be off to one side a bit, I can stretch it left and right and up and down when the start up screen is on, but unless I do it way to much when the game starts it seems to use the whole screen anyway. Is there a measurement it is supposed to be, I mean the start screen where it says Vectrex and the lines blink around it.

Also is there any way to move the whole screen to the left a bit I can only see two pots, I can see some other different looking pots but I did not want to touch them as I know if you adjust some things in monitors you can never get it right again without the right equipment.

If anyone here knows anything that might help that would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

Harmik

[SubaruBrat]

Ah, nice find!

Yes to most of your questions in a moment, but first let me mention one important thing. The vectrex is NOT a raster scan monitor like 99% of every other monitor, it is a X-Y monitor that draws each line point to point instead of a sweeping scan. The reason for vector was at the time pan and tilt and zoom were just not practical in raster given the processing power and graphics chips. So, vector could do what raster could not. XY is why your vectrex does what it does.

Second thing, get a vectrex multicart, they are out there and they ROCK. You will avoid wear and tear on your cart slot and get every game right away. There is the Sean Kelly multi cart that is software based and a german one that is jumper based for game selection.

Ok on to your questions. As it is a XY and not raster the monitor works completely different. Also, some distortion and off center behavior is typical of Vectrex but certainly not total dysfunction. Several things could have caused your initial problem, the caps are totally discharged and unconditioned as well as 18 years past their typical lifespan. The electrical connection through the pot may have been lost due to age, etc. So marking then tweaking a bit might fix it.

The best solution is to look at the manuals, if you have basic video game troubleshooting experience nothing in them should be too alien.

Here is the troubleshooting guide http://www.playvectrex.com/shoptalk/vecguid.pdf

And here is the schematics manual http://www.playvectrex.com/shoptalk/vecman.pdf

Oh and if you hear a HUMMMMMMM that is normal and fixable if desired.

I will probably talk about this one in tech Q&A

[Harmik]

Hay thanks for your help, first the unit is working very well and I am verry happy with it, very clean and shiny being new. I have seen some of the multicarts and will get one of them. The Raven's Retro Nest 72 in one looks like a good one, but I also want to get all the originals for the boxes and overlays. I have read the tech help but could not find the pot I need to adjust to move the screen left and right, its not a big deal as when the game starts it seems to use the whole screen and only seems to be out by a very small amount. One one side the ship will go half way off the screen before fliping to the other side, and on the other its as soon as the tip of the ship touches the side. not a big deal at all but if I can easily fix then why not.

I knew about the Vectrex buzz and there are different methods on the net to fix it I need to find the best or right way and maybe do that. Although It dose not bother me all that much, I know it had something to do with a grounding issue with the manufacture, that was not in the prototypes according to Jay Smith. So I wonder whether units for Australia did it as well, as they would have been a different production run, and slightly different design with the 240w power supply.

Thanks again for your help

[SubaruBrat]

It won't necessarily be a pot, and sometimes all the adjusting in the world won't fix things when you have bad or weak caps. Ala the famous cap kit for monitors. You MAY have to replace several caps. I would suggest reading over the vecman.pdf doc and following the alignment procedure. You can get the test cart in some of the multicarts, I am sure the Sean Kelly has it. I am not sure about the jumpercart. I am at work now and can't look until I get home.

[otaku]

I almost feel the sound it makes is part of its character and like it but it annoys the hell out of other people if I keep it around I may go in and fix it (the noise)

[teknohed]

Hi Gang!

Good news, I picked up a Vectrex today at the San Luis Obispo Swap Meet for 10 bucks!

This thing is in great physical condition, the controller seems to be a-ok and the screen is clear of any burn in.

the bad news, the display has an issue. Specifically the entire display has collapsed into a vertical line, meaning that it displays the vectors, but collapese the entire thing into one long line in the center.

Been looking online and it looks like it might be some of the ICs on the board that control the beam deflection. Namely the so called R304 or R301 chips.

A lot of people have posted about cracking the case, reseating the ICs and trying again and having that work.

Anyone have any ideas?! I really want to get this baby up and running!

The system also camed with an unboxed copy of clean sweep...anyone know if that's a good find or just some common junk that every kid with a vectrex had?

[SubaruBrat]

Sounds fixable. R in schematics denotes a resistor, not a chip. They are labeled by colored bands which you can find the chart for easily on the web. At just a few cents each they are cheap enough to find and replace. My money would be on a dried up or failed electrolytic capacitor. In schematics these are marked C. Could be a failed driver transistor as well.

[teknohed]

Sounds fixable. R in schematics denotes a resistor, not a chip. They are labeled by colored bands which you can find the chart for easily on the web. At just a few cents each they are cheap enough to find and replace. My money would be on a dried up or failed electrolytic capacitor. In schematics these are marked C. Could be a failed driver transistor as well.

Good information. I'm going to crack it open today and get the dust out with some compressed air and reseat all the ICs. Some of the forums on the Vectrex use groups have indicated that this solved this issue for some other users. If tha doesn't work I'll start looking into replacing capicitors. I guess the capacitors have a tendency to dry out in these machines. I'll keep everyone posted.

[miner2049er]

Hope it's faster than repairing a pinball....................

[teknohed]

I have done some digging around the use groups and there are a few competing theories:

Some conclude that it might be a badly seated IC (IC 302 which controls the beam's "deflection") other's suggest replacing the 6522 video chip. Here are some links to forum posts relating to the vertical line issue that I'm having:

http://groups.google.com/group/rec.g...5dc957931926d6

http://groups.google.com/group/rec.g...1f096c7cc8d773

http://groups.google.com/group/rec.g...0a04b7256f4d1d


Also, here are some links to the to the Vectrex Service Manual. The schematics for the Vectrex can be found towards the end of the PDF:

http://www.vectrex.nl/docs/vecman.pdf
http://www.vectrex.biz/Vectrex_service_manual.pdf

I have also backed up this manual to my google docs just in case the PDFs get pulled for some weird reason:

https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=...ZjJkODM5&hl=en

https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=...NTNlODcz&hl=en

Also I found a trouble shooting guide:

http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0...ZDVmZDQy&hl=en

This section of the guide may describe the solution to the problem I'm having:



I'm going to try to get a you tube up of the problem.

so being optomistic and assuming I'm going to get this thing working, does anyone know a good place to buy a multicart and an extra controllre (doesn't ahve to be an original Veccy controller, just something that will work with vectrex. can you plug in another 9-pin contorller, like a c64 or Atari controller?)