15 replies to this topic

[chriswhit]

I have cart #1 that doesn't work. When I turn on the system I hear a noise then nothing. I cleaned the system and the cart and it didn't help. My other carts work great. I believe the rom chip must have died some how. Is there a way to get a copy of the rom? can i fix it with an eprom? Where can I find info on this system? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Gorf]

chriswhit, on Tue Dec 15, 2009 10:34 PM, said:

I have cart #1 that doesn't work. When I turn on the system I hear a noise then nothing. I cleaned the system and the cart and it didn't help. My other carts work great. I believe the rom chip must have died some how. Is there a way to get a copy of the rom? can i fix it with an eprom? Where can I find info on this system? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I might have the one Coleco Telstar arcade still around. Not sure what number it was. But if it was indeed a #1,
I'll see about making a copy...that might be a long while till I get out in my garage to actually dig it up though.

[chriswhit]

Thanks I'm in no rush. I still have a bit of research to do and information on these systems seems scarce. At least now I know it's possible to get rom and possibly fix it. I've been looking for cart #4 as it is the only one I don't have. My friend said I could borrow his cart#1 to dump the rom but I never messed with these. If it were an atari 2600 or 7800 it wouldn't be a problem as I recently modded my 7800 into a cart dumper with some help from some great people here. I have 3 of these systems now. Can one be modded to dump carts or is there another way? I hate to mod one as rare as they are. I'm hoping to keep a spare and possibly sell one. Again thank you.

[Retro Rogue]

chriswhit, on Wed Dec 16, 2009 1:33 PM, said:

Thanks I'm in no rush. I still have a bit of research to do and information on these systems seems scarce. At least now I know it's possible to get rom and possibly fix it. I've been looking for cart #4 as it is the only one I don't have. My friend said I could borrow his cart#1 to dump the rom but I never messed with these. If it were an atari 2600 or 7800 it wouldn't be a problem as I recently modded my 7800 into a cart dumper with some help from some great people here. I have 3 of these systems now. Can one be modded to dump carts or is there another way? I hate to mod one as rare as they are. I'm hoping to keep a spare and possibly sell one. Again thank you.

It's not a ROM chip inside, they are self contained dedicated games. Similar to what Atari was going to do with it's Game Brain, the console itself is just used for power, display, and game controls - basically an empty shell. Each of the Telstar Arcade carts have all the actual game circuitry on the cart in the form of single a chip micro-controller/rom combo, the MOS tech MPS-7600.

Edited by wgungfu, Wed Dec 16, 2009 2:30 PM.

[chriswhit]

wgungfu, on Wed Dec 16, 2009 2:28 PM, said:

chriswhit, on Wed Dec 16, 2009 1:33 PM, said:

Thanks I'm in no rush. I still have a bit of research to do and information on these systems seems scarce. At least now I know it's possible to get rom and possibly fix it. I've been looking for cart #4 as it is the only one I don't have. My friend said I could borrow his cart#1 to dump the rom but I never messed with these. If it were an atari 2600 or 7800 it wouldn't be a problem as I recently modded my 7800 into a cart dumper with some help from some great people here. I have 3 of these systems now. Can one be modded to dump carts or is there another way? I hate to mod one as rare as they are. I'm hoping to keep a spare and possibly sell one. Again thank you.

It's not a ROM chip inside, they are self contained dedicated games. Similar to what Atari was going to do with it's Game Brain, the console itself is just used for power, display, and game controls - basically an empty shell. Each of the Telstar Arcade carts have all the actual game circuitry on the cart in the form of single a chip micro-controller/rom combo, the MOS tech MPS-7600.

Thank you for the info. This helps me better understand the system. That must be why there is no black screen when the broken game is inserted.

[Retro Rogue]

chriswhit, on Wed Dec 16, 2009 2:51 PM, said:

Thank you for the info. This helps me better understand the system. That must be why there is no black screen when the broken game is inserted.

Maybe one of the traces or a soldering point went bad, have you tried opening the cart?


Marty

[chriswhit]

wgungfu, on Wed Dec 16, 2009 6:12 PM, said:

chriswhit, on Wed Dec 16, 2009 2:51 PM, said:

Thank you for the info. This helps me better understand the system. That must be why there is no black screen when the broken game is inserted.

Maybe one of the traces or a soldering point went bad, have you tried opening the cart?


Marty

Yes everything looks good inside

[Retro Rogue]

[quote name='chriswhit' date='Wed Dec 16, 2009 9:24 PM' timestamp='1261016681' post='1899413']
Maybe one of the traces or a soldering point went bad, have you tried opening the cart?


Marty
[/quote]

Yes everything looks good inside
[/quote]

If other carts run ok, then it can't be the console itself. It's got to be something with the cartridge chip. I would triple check the soldering, contacts, and even leads.

[Gorf]

wgungfu, on Wed Dec 16, 2009 2:28 PM, said:

It's not a ROM chip inside, they are self contained dedicated games. Similar to what Atari was going to do with it's Game Brain, the console itself is just used for power, display, and game controls - basically an empty shell. Each of the Telstar Arcade carts have all the actual game circuitry on the cart in the form of single a chip micro-controller/rom combo, the MOS tech MPS-7600.

Yeah I was not sure what was in there.

[Retro Rogue]

http://pong-story.co...leco_arcade.htm

[Gorf]

wgungfu, on Thu Dec 17, 2009 1:24 PM, said:

http://pong-story.co...leco_arcade.htm

To think I threw mine out years back thinking it was not worth anything. I understand that recently they
have gone for some big bucks on E-whore.

[chriswhit]

I have a half dozen of these systems now one of them is apart. My digital camera broke but my friend has one if anyone is curious I'll get some close ups of the guts.

[Gorf]

chriswhit, on Mon Dec 21, 2009 1:48 AM, said:

I have a half dozen of these systems now one of them is apart. My digital camera broke but my friend has one if anyone is curious I'll get some close ups of the guts.

I'd love to see the schematic for this system. I'd even like to try and re-fab one with some upgrades.

[Sean39]

Gorf, on Mon Dec 21, 2009 9:47 PM, said:

chriswhit, on Mon Dec 21, 2009 1:48 AM, said:

I have a half dozen of these systems now one of them is apart. My digital camera broke but my friend has one if anyone is curious I'll get some close ups of the guts.

I'd love to see the schematic for this system. I'd even like to try and re-fab one with some upgrades.

Hi My name is Sean

I have that System too. All I have is Cartridge 1.. I would love to have the other three Cartridges for it.

Anyways I did not know if anyone knew of anyone who would want to sell Cartridges 2 through 4. I really need them

Sean

[the-topdog]

I have fixed a couple of these carts by re-flowing the solder points. Sometimes micro-fractures or separation that you can't necessarily see is the culprit. So just by hitting each contact with a hot soldering iron and re-flowing the solder, you can most likely get it operational again. You can get more info about these units over at http://www.geekvinta...star-arcade.php ... they are one of my favorite consoles.

Edited by the-topdog, Fri Jan 15, 2010 9:32 AM.

[chriswhit]

the-topdog, on Fri Jan 15, 2010 9:30 AM, said:

I have fixed a couple of these carts by re-flowing the solder points. Sometimes micro-fractures or separation that you can't necessarily see is the culprit. So just by hitting each contact with a hot soldering iron and re-flowing the solder, you can most likely get it operational again. You can get more info about these units over at http://www.geekvinta...star-arcade.php ... they are one of my favorite consoles.

Thanks that's good to know.