[Sam9938]

Ok I need some serious help. Got a coleco and the games I put into it run fine and play great but the expansion #1, when I put atari games into it it displays them at the wrong horizontal or vertical sync level, half the game is on top of the screen and half on the bottom and it just flickers like that type of thing. It is different for each game. I noticed that when I move the joystick when playing it flickers and shakes a little worse while a direction is pressed. buttons from the controller work fine and the games play, just cant see them really, any help would be great, thanks.

Also, if anyone knows where I can find a schematic that would be helpful too


I found that if I press on the board of the expansion to the top left a little the picture shifts slightly.

This post has been edited by Sam9938: Fri Nov 20, 2009 8:54 PM

[chriswhit]

Try cleaning all the connections where the module plugs in to the system and both ends of the module. If that doesn't work then I'd guess a loose connection in the module or system going to the module. If you know someone else with a Coleco try it in there system after cleaning then at least you will know if there is an issue with your console or the module. There may even be a region protection issue If the carts are pal version and your system is a ntsc version although I am unsure if that matters on a coleco system as I don't have any pal games to see what happens when I power it up. I hope this helps. Have a great holiday

[TI99Kitty]

chriswhit, on Mon Dec 7, 2009 12:02 AM, said:

Try cleaning all the connections where the module plugs in to the system and both ends of the module. If that doesn't work then I'd guess a loose connection in the module or system going to the module. If you know someone else with a Coleco try it in there system after cleaning then at least you will know if there is an issue with your console or the module. There may even be a region protection issue If the carts are pal version and your system is a ntsc version although I am unsure if that matters on a coleco system as I don't have any pal games to see what happens when I power it up. I hope this helps. Have a great holiday

American ColecoVision console play PAL carts normally -- i.e., you can plug a CBS ColecoVision cart into a CV made for the U.S. and it will play normally (despite what it says on the back of the box, and in the instruction manual). However, I can't speak for NTSC carts on PAL consoles, or whether Atari 2600 carts made for one format will play on a machine of another format. It may be that a PAL Atari cart won't display properly on a NTSC console (or vice versa).

I'll also echo the advice about cleaning all the connectors, as it may just be a tarnished connector, either at the cartridge port on the expansion module, or at the connection to the CV's expansion port.

Also, if you know someone with a 2600, try your game carts on their machine. It's not likely that all of the carts are bad, but this way you can rule that out. Besides, if you bought them used, it is possible that the person who sold you the carts got rid of them because they didn't work.