ALLCAPS Posted June 27, 2011 Share Posted June 27, 2011 So I got a four switch woody in January or so and I've noticed the colors have been getting weirder and weirder. At first I only noticed it on Jr Pac Man. The first maze would start up green and then degenerate into a muddy brown the longer I played. Now I'm seeing it with other games. Its mostly a problem with green. It doesn't bother me a whole lot other than with California Games. It looks like I'm playing hackey sack on some strange alien planet. I assume there is something wrong with the TIA. Is this something a simple cleaning might be able to fix or do i need a new chip? If I let it go till the chip is totally dead will it harm the rest of the hardware? Any advice is greatly appreciated! Thank you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tz101 Posted June 27, 2011 Share Posted June 27, 2011 Open the console and adjust the color adjustment screw. All your problems will be solved. The TIA is most likely fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ALLCAPS Posted June 27, 2011 Author Share Posted June 27, 2011 Open the console and adjust the color adjustment screw. All your problems will be solved. The TIA is most likely fine. Awesome. I'll get on that right now. Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zylon Posted June 27, 2011 Share Posted June 27, 2011 Check the solder joints on the voltage regulator and reflow. If that fails, replace regulator and green cap nearest to it. If game starts out fine cold and your symtoms occur after warmup, then replace those parts. Symptoms of cracked solder usually appear as wrong color at startup, then return to normal when warm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christophero Sly Posted June 27, 2011 Share Posted June 27, 2011 Jr. Pac-Man always does that. It's part of the game. Or so I thought... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ALLCAPS Posted June 27, 2011 Author Share Posted June 27, 2011 Check the solder joints on the voltage regulator and reflow. If that fails, replace regulator and green cap nearest to it. If game starts out fine cold and your symtoms occur after warmup, then replace those parts. Symptoms of cracked solder usually appear as wrong color at startup, then return to normal when warm. It's looking like it might be this. I'll look at it again tonight and see what i can see. I played with the color screw, got it to where it looked right, put it all back together, and i was back to where I started. I also noticed a certain area of the board becoming extremely hot while I was fiddling around in there. Is that normal? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zylon Posted June 27, 2011 Share Posted June 27, 2011 That area does get hot as it's a heat sink. Try Kaboom if you have it. When mine started going, the color used to go from green to brown, then red and other colors as it got hotter and worse. If that is bad, continued use will cook your chips. That little regulator and the cap are extremely cheap. Much cheaper than new chips or another system. Nice clean board by the way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benzman66 Posted June 27, 2011 Share Posted June 27, 2011 Most likely the voltage regulator as Zylon said. When it heats up, the colors will change if it isn't putting out the right voltage. A bad cap (green chicklet) usually has no effect on the colors, it just makes the screen all blurry/wavy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mtshark7 Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 Here is my document I made of common fixes for the 2600: Atari 2600 Switch Board Common Replacement Parts: 1. Voltage Regulator: 7805 Voltage Regulator Chip Fixes power off problems. 2. Green Capacitor: 224k Ohm 100v Capacitor Fixes fuzzy video problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenny_McCormic Posted July 1, 2011 Share Posted July 1, 2011 Using too small of a power brick will do that too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ALLCAPS Posted July 3, 2011 Author Share Posted July 3, 2011 Ok, I feel stupid. It appears that the initial problems I had were fixed when I played with the color knob do-hickey. The real problem seems to be the controller I was using. Found a 3 button genesis arcade stick at a garage sale a couple weeks ago. That thing makes the colors go nuts. Damn, that's an awesome controller. Back to the stock joystick I guess. Thanks for the help everybody. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mtshark7 Posted July 3, 2011 Share Posted July 3, 2011 Wow that's crazy I didn't think the genesis controller would do that to the system. Ok, I feel stupid. It appears that the initial problems I had were fixed when I played with the color knob do-hickey. The real problem seems to be the controller I was using. Found a 3 button genesis arcade stick at a garage sale a couple weeks ago. That thing makes the colors go nuts. Damn, that's an awesome controller. Back to the stock joystick I guess. Thanks for the help everybody. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ALLCAPS Posted July 4, 2011 Author Share Posted July 4, 2011 Wow that's crazy I didn't think the genesis controller would do that to the system. I think it has something to do with the lights above the buttons sucking power. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toiletunes Posted July 10, 2011 Share Posted July 10, 2011 It's just one of those weird things. I had the same problem- tried adjusting the color and discovered green and brown live very close to each other. Anyhow, my 7800 has had this issue with Jr. Pac-Man for 15 years. If something was going bad, it would have gone bad by now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SlowCoder Posted July 29, 2011 Share Posted July 29, 2011 Guess what? I've finally run into this exact problem. Put in Space Invaders, tune the color and play for about 10 minutes. The green color slowly shifts to brown. I've replaced the regulator and 22k chicklet cap. And before you get started telling me it's my TV, it's not. I use the same TV to play other 2600's and don't have the problem. What else to check? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benzman66 Posted July 29, 2011 Share Posted July 29, 2011 Guess what? I've finally run into this exact problem. Put in Space Invaders, tune the color and play for about 10 minutes. The green color slowly shifts to brown. I've replaced the regulator and 22k chicklet cap. And before you get started telling me it's my TV, it's not. I use the same TV to play other 2600's and don't have the problem. What else to check? When you adjust the color, are you doing it soon as you power up or waiting for 10-15 minutes for heat up? If you adjust the color soon as you turn on, the color WILL change after the parts get heated up. I always let the systems run 15-30 mins before adjusting the color. If that does not cure your issue, the next thing would be to replace the TIA chip. One going bad will do the color change too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SlowCoder Posted July 29, 2011 Share Posted July 29, 2011 Guess what? I've finally run into this exact problem. Put in Space Invaders, tune the color and play for about 10 minutes. The green color slowly shifts to brown. I've replaced the regulator and 22k chicklet cap. And before you get started telling me it's my TV, it's not. I use the same TV to play other 2600's and don't have the problem. What else to check? When you adjust the color, are you doing it soon as you power up or waiting for 10-15 minutes for heat up? If you adjust the color soon as you turn on, the color WILL change after the parts get heated up. I always let the systems run 15-30 mins before adjusting the color. If that does not cure your issue, the next thing would be to replace the TIA chip. One going bad will do the color change too. The TIA was the next thing to try. I do wait about 5-10 before adjusting color, but in this case when it's cold, the colors are way off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benzman66 Posted July 29, 2011 Share Posted July 29, 2011 Yeah, it is surprising about how far the color can drift between warm and cold. I learned a long time ago to even sometimes wait an hour while the console is on to make the final adjustments. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geffersan Posted July 29, 2011 Share Posted July 29, 2011 (edited) Lol, i wish i'd read this thread last week. Installed an s-video mod board, used my Harmony cart to load up the colour test screen and set it. Checked the test screen again after playing a game and its way of, i mean way of. Took we a while to realise that the colour changes dramatically after warmup. As per prev posts, set the colour after a minimum of 10-15 mins. Edited July 29, 2011 by Geffersan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SlowCoder Posted July 30, 2011 Share Posted July 30, 2011 I, um, apparently have a confession ... I replaced the TIA to no avail. Same problem. So I went ahead and plugged in another console and, to my surprise, it did the same thing. So I took my "problematic" console and hooked it up to my 2 LCDs, and the other CRT. No symptoms. So I guess my TV has decided to get some symptoms of its own. Oh well, maybe this will give me some fuel to get the wife to let me buy a new TV. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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