Old Newbey with Vic-20

[Quimbyf]

Hi,

So I'm Old and nostalgic, so I bought a couple of VIC-20's from a hospice shop, good cause and all that, they came with plenty of games, a 16K and 8K expansion RAM etc so good deal all in all.

One machine is 1st gen with the 2pin PSU and when I try and "boot" it with an expansion RAM in nothing happens just standard memory 3k.. that's for both 8 and 16k modules. Also Adventure Land won't work (SYS 32592) so I'm guessing that it might be the board rather than the RAM packs.... could be they are all fubared.

I'm waiting for a new PSU for the other machine as it's the one with the DIN connection, which I don't have, so until then I can't really test if it's the expansion packs.

Is there anything I can do whilst I wait for the other PSU.

Thank you all in advance, and if this has been asked before (I couldn't find it) please feel free to direct me to that post.

[Boray]

Try to clean the cartridge's connectors thoroughly with methylated or isopropyl alcohol.

[Quimbyf]

Thanks Boray,

I've tried that with iso....I remembered that from my days with IBM 8088's how it often fixed the Token Ring cards... no luck.

[highinfidelity]

You say it came with "plenty of games". Do all other games play well, except Adventureland?

[srowe]

I'd take a very close look at the expansion socket. If you have corrosion on the pins then cleaning with alcohol won't help. If you have a meter I would suggest taking the motherboard out of the case, opening up one of the cartridges and checking each of the lines in turn.

[Quimbyf]

Highinfidelity,

Ok the "Plenty of games" was tapes mainly with 2 memory Cartridges, and two game cartridges. I tried all the Cartridges none work.

Srowe,

Well success, the expansion slot looked totally clean, all connections are clean, but ..........

I got a soft brush in there and lots of cotton came out, it didn't see it before, even when I shone a torch on the contacts, but the brush must have moved these bits of fluff out of their hiding places. (possible from years of hibernation) , gave it another go over with Iso Alcohol and hey presto.....

Adventure land worked....

8K Memory worked.......

16K memory Worked..........

Haven't tried star battle yet, looks like that needs a good clean too, but I guess if I clean it it should be fine.

I love old tech, alcohol, brush, the occasional shake.........

Now where's my old BASIC books...... Yahooooooooooooooooooooo

Thank you all.

[highinfidelity]

Glad it worked! Another VIC back in track!

[Boray]

Congrats!