14 replies to this topic

[Vectrex-Atari]

I got a Jag from the flea market today and Im having problems with it.

I plugged it in when I got home and turned it on. The screen started acting funny and then heard a pop inside the jag. I took the top off and the C134 capacitor in the lower right corner has popped its top.

what caused this to happen? I am using a sega power supply since I couldnt find and original. Its rated 9V 1.2A.

[Thunderbird]

Vectrex-Atari said:

I got a Jag from the flea market today and Im having problems with it.

I plugged it in when I got home and turned it on. The screen started acting funny and then heard a pop inside the jag. I took the top off and the C134 capacitor in the lower right corner has popped its top.

what caused this to happen? I am using a sega power supply since I couldnt find and original. Its rated 9V 1.2A.

I hope the polarity of the Sega supply is the same. If the plug has + and - reversed, it will blow up the jag!

[Vectrex-Atari]

Correction, I zapped it. I used the wrong power supply. I accidentally used a NES PS.

Is there a way to fix it? If I replace the blown cap, could it fix it?

Or do I have to sell it as parts now? I got it for 30 bucks with 2 controllers and Tempest 2000.

[Thunderbird]

I think the power supply is toast in the Jag. Getting it fixed will likely cost more than a new unit.

[jaysmith2000]

Vectrex-Atari said:

Correction, I zapped it. I used the wrong power supply. I accidentally used a NES PS.  

Is there a way to fix it? If I replace the blown cap, could it fix it?

Or do I have to sell it as parts now? I got it for 30 bucks with 2 controllers and Tempest 2000.

I think you're hosed on this one.....

[t.skid]

It's sad, there's one less Jaguar...
I'm sorry for you

[liquid_sky]

i dont, your the one that used the wrong power supply

[LinkoVitch]

I'd have a go at fixing the blown components, probably not more than a few pence (cents) if you do it yourself.

Guess a TV repairman could probs fix it, but I bet that would cost you more.

I think it sounds like you have nuked the power reg circuitry in the system, hopefully this would have destroyed itself before letting any of the evil juice escape into the more sensitive parts of the jag. Go on have a stab at fixing it.. your not likley to do any more damage!

[Thunderbird]

LinkoVitch said:

I'd have a go at fixing the blown components, probably not more than a few pence (cents) if you do it yourself.

Guess a TV repairman could probs fix it, but I bet that would cost you more.

I think it sounds like you have nuked the power reg circuitry in the system, hopefully this would have destroyed itself before letting any of the evil juice escape into the more sensitive parts of the jag.  Go on have a stab at fixing it.. your not likley to do any more damage!

I don't know where you live, but it must be nice to have completely stocked electronics stores on every street corner!

Here in the backwards, United States, we have to order parts from companies like Jameco, and Digi-Key and then have them ship the parts to us. They often have a minimum order or a $5.00 - $10.00 processing charge for small orders.

By the time we add up shipping and the price of parts and the processing charges, we are looking at $20.00 or so for a simple voltage regulator or capacitor.

If you factor in the labor involved in changing the parts, then you really are looking at a waste of money. I see used Jag consoles selling for under $20.00 on ebay. Lots of 'em in Europe... I think that is where most of the unsold stock wound up.

best bet is to get a replacement.

Or, find one on enay with a busted case or something and do a swap.

Look at it this way, if he gets one on ebay, he can find one with the right power supply!

[LinkoVitch]

Simple components like Capcitors and Voltage Regulators are easy to come by, most hobbiest electronic stores carry them (Tandy, RadioShack). And they don't cost a lot. Yeah if you get them mail order it will cost more, obvioulsy.

The point of doing it yourself means you don't actually have to pay yourself to do it, so although it takes your time, you are getting a service for free, and it's a damn site more fun, than just throwing the unit in the bin and spending another $20 on another one. Thats just wasteful. I would rather at least have a quick stab at fixing it myself, for the challenge alone.

Quite a lot of electronics can be fixed if you just spend some time looking at the fault, and a little web searching, thats how I fixed and wrote my Jag CD transport guide. If I had followed your method, I would have had to spend a lot more money, and the guide wouldn't have been written. I have had several people email me and thank me for it, and the number of hits it got was awesome when AA put it in the news (cheers guys). Just shows that quite a lot of people out there are more than willing to have a stab at fixing things.

[Paolo]

Thunderbird said:

I don't know where you live, but it must be nice to have completely stocked electronics stores on every street corner!

I understand your statement. US is a *huge* country and you can find a lot of different situations, going from highly populated square feets to lowly populated square miles.

Here in Europe the thing is generally different. Each country is small in respect to an US state, and since we didn't born as a federation, each one strieves to be autosufficient (is that the right word?). This thig leads to a higher density of almost everything, even in the smaller cities.
So, althoug we are always a bit late in technology in general, there is a lot of room for hobbyists for their experiments.
Hopefully one day they will become professionals, and they'll go to the States where somebody will fund their innovative ideas...

Hey, what were we talking about?

Cheers.
Paolo

[Thunderbird]

LinkoVitch said:

Simple components like Capcitors and Voltage Regulators are easy to come by, most hobbiest electronic stores carry them (Tandy, RadioShack).  And they don't cost a lot.  Yeah if you get them mail order it will cost more, obvioulsy.

The point of doing it yourself means you don't actually have to pay yourself to do it, so although it takes your time, you are getting a service for free, and it's a damn site more fun, than just throwing the unit in the bin and spending another $20 on another one.  Thats just wasteful.  I would rather at least have a quick stab at fixing it myself, for the challenge alone.

Quite a lot of electronics can be fixed if you just spend some time looking at the fault, and a little web searching, thats how I fixed and wrote my Jag CD transport guide.  If I had followed your method, I would have had to spend a lot more money, and the guide wouldn't have been written.  I have had several people email me and thank me for it, and the number of hits it got was awesome when AA put it in the news (cheers guys).  Just shows that quite a lot of people out there are more than willing to have a stab at fixing things.

We have Radio Shack and whatnot here all over the place, but they have moved far away from the hobby people and generally stock a lot of junk: cell phones, CD players, PC's, toys, etc. The parts section is generally littered with cables and connectors and switches, etc. an there's very little components present. If you want those you have to ORDER them from radioshack.com. <BLEEHCH!>

I worked as a technician for years, so I know how to troubleshoot and fix things easily. As a rule of thumb if you use the wrong voltage, the whole board was generally toast.

We invented our own school of thought. Most people say circuits run on "electrons" or "holes" moving around. Our science says that electronic circuits run on smoke. This holds true because the circuit never works right "once you let the smoke out of the chips".

[LinkoVitch]

And I thought it was naff in Warrington!

Arn't pooters ace... At the low level of programming (assembly) you make strange and wonderful things happen by basically shifting numbers around in memory, and mixing a few together. If you go down lower, the whole thing works on 'holes' wandering around inside the machine.

Really is amazing when you think about it (Like standing in the middle of a machine room in a large FM building and trying to imagine the number of packets going through the cables! ble wmy mind..)

[Vectrex-Atari]

Im gonna try replacing the capacitor before getting a new one. I cant seem to find any other components discolored or burned. The cap popped when I turned it on. Maybe its the first to get blown.

[Stone]

U38 (I think it is) is power regulation (it's right around that burned cap in the lower left, next to the pad ports, iirc). You could order a new one from best (www.best-electronics-ca.com) if it still doesn't work after you swap out the cap.

Personally, I'd buy a new one. But then I'd also have checked the power supply polarity first

Stone