14 replies to this topic

[rippinsurf85]

I have a question and was not sure what forum to use. I purchased the 2 listed games from Atari-Age but have not received a reply to my emails about the games. When I put the cartridges into my system, there are horizontal lines running through across the screen. Does anyone have suggestions on what I can do? All my other games function properly. Thanks in advance.

[AtariBrian]

when did you email about them having problems ?

[iesposta]

Does it look like this?
This is on my 7800 with serial number X...
It plays just fine on my new, older 7800 Serial Number A1...

Attached Thumbnails

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[PacManPlus]

@rippinsurf85: Is there any way you can take pics like iesposta did so we can see what you mean? Thanks

[sqoon]

This is an issue with some 7800 TIA chips not being compatible with all cartridge boards. AA needs to send you both games on different version PCB's and the problem will be fixed. The risk of buying games on recycled PCB's.

[rippinsurf85]

Thanks for the responses. Does anyone know how to contact AA directly about game issues like this aside from email? I just want to return them and get new ones if that is an option. Is there a way to have AA send the same games on different version PCBs?
@AtariBrian: I emailed a couple of times about the games not working properly around March 19 shortly after receiving the 2 games in the mail. Normally, they have responded in a timely fashion but this time I have not seen anything from them.
@PacManPlus: The screen shot looks almost identical to iesposta's image.
@iesposta: My 7800 system has a serial number of A3, so based on your knowledge would this series have issues like mine?
@ sqoon: This may be the issue; thanks!

[CPUWIZ]

Recycled PCB's? WTF? AFAIK, those games ship on my PCB's, which are brand new and gold plated.

[iesposta]

CPUWIZ, on Tue May 15, 2012 7:12 PM, said:

Recycled PCB's? WTF? AFAIK, those games ship on my PCB's, which are brand new and gold plated.

Thanks for that info CPUWIZ.
I own 3 home brew 7800 games. Beef Drop, Moon Cresta, & Scramble.
On my 7800 Ser X ( last run of 7800s ) Beef Drop has scrambled lines, Scramble crashes after 'scrambled' Atari splash screen, Moon Cresta is perfect.
On my 7800 Ser A1 every cart is perfect. (That's why I haven't returned them.)

A Ser A3 is the second to last production run of 7800s, so the A3 and X are the newest hardware and in this case have hardware problems which as of now, I haven't been able to figure out.

[CPUWIZ]

I don't know about those games, I think Beef Drop is on a Ballblazer PCB, no?

[jwierer]

I had a 7800 that would work fine with all stock games, but would not work well with a handful of homebrews. I finally bought a different one off eBay and all of them worked fine. In my experience, swapping out the PCB boards didn't make a difference. I recycled different PCBs and burned my own EPOMs just to test it out with the same result.

BTW there is a pokey and non-pokey version of Beef Drop.

-Jeff

[iesposta]

CPUWIZ, on Tue May 15, 2012 9:12 PM, said:

I don't know about those games, I think Beef Drop is on a Ballblazer PCB, no?

Recent purchase from Atari Age store. The board says 2006 CPUWIZ.

[CPUWIZ]

Wow, you have another rare console then, there are a handfull of MOBO's that don't like something about my PCB's, when it comes to certain programming. I need to check that game on one of the trouble MOBO's I got from someone here. Is the sold BIN available? Shame, I hardly have time to keep monitoring all of these things, thanks to everyone who is polinting stuff like this out to me.

[iesposta]

CPUWIZ, on Tue May 15, 2012 10:49 PM, said:

Wow, you have another rare console then, there are a handfull of MOBO's that don't like something about my PCB's, when it comes to certain programming. I need to check that game on one of the trouble MOBO's I got from someone here. Is the sold BIN available? Shame, I hardly have time to keep monitoring all of these things, thanks to everyone who is polinting stuff like this out to me.

Do you really think it is your board and not the newer TIA?
It is just Beef Drop VE, probably this.
http://www.atariage....areLabelID=2783

[rippinsurf85]

Thanks for the responses. Maybe purchasing a different series 7800 as iesposta suggested is my best option here to see if the games will play without issue.

[sqoon]

I apologize for my earlier assumption about recycled boards, but do stand by my comments about compatibility issues between TIA and some game PCB's.