Looking at the pics you posted, it looks like there might be some damage to a couple of traces toward the top of the board. If you've got the gear, I'd say check all the traces for continuity first and if those check out, use a soldering iron to reflow all of the solder joints just to make sure you don't have a cold/cracked joint. It could be that the ROM has gone flaky over the years, but with some of the traces and solder joints looking suspicious, I'd go with those first as they're the easiest to fix.
^ Thank you. Bradley at Best Electronics did specifically say "cold joints" as a common problem with later-produced 5200 games. Had no idea what that means, so I guess I need to Google.
Somebody has offered to give this a go, specifically re-flowing. Will post the results here once that gets underway!
I bought some sealed 5200 games as well that I need to play. Good to know that this might be an issue when I eventually get to them. Curious to hear your results.
On the second picture on the bottom left by the 18 there's some contact missing and the one right by it has a bit of trace coming up,and the contact by the CA0215 40 doesn't look that great,might be messed up as well.
Best would just use a multimeter and check for any broken traces.
I've got a bad copy of 5200 Ms. Pac-Man. Wish it was regular Pac-Man instead.
I took it apart and checked everything. It appears that one of the ROM chips is simply dead. It behaves very similarly to yours: sometimes shows the game name on the BIOS splash screen but doesn't make it to the game's actual title screen.
I checked everything with my meter and reflowed all the solder connections. No shorts, no breaks, and it still doesn't work.
I've got a bad copy of 5200 Ms. Pac-Man. Wish it was regular Pac-Man instead.
I took it apart and checked everything. It appears that one of the ROM chips is simply dead. It behaves very similarly to yours: sometimes shows the game name on the BIOS splash screen but doesn't make it to the game's actual title screen.
I checked everything with my meter and reflowed all the solder connections. No shorts, no breaks, and it still doesn't work.
That's exactly what happened here. You can check my feedback for the name drop, but a guy great with a soldering iron gave it a careful look, and tried bridging possibly questionable traces and determined that it was a dead chip.
Since loose copies of Gremlins don't turn up frequently for decent prices (like loose copies of Midnight Mutants on 7800...), in a moment of desperation, I sent a message to the Venezuelan ebay seller that I bought my NIB copy from. I was very honest about the fact that I knew it wasn't their fault, but plead for a cheaper "beat box" copy, or a loose copy, regardless of physical condition, so long as it played. Was willing to pay.
Despite telling them in very concrete terms that I wouldn't retaliate either way (left positive feedback before I tested it, as it was truly NIB and in great shape), they not only sent me a loose copy of the game, but also loose copies of Berzerk and Pengo (all 5200), all games I wanted, absolutely free. Their logic was that the FedEx rate they used allowed for the weight without an increased cost, and that those games were super-common down there. When I say "absolutely free", they wouldn't accept any money even for shipping.
During all of this, ebay's AI locked my messaging abilities because they thought we were doing an off-ebay transaction. So for about two weeks, I had no idea if they were actually sent. My message with the shipping address was blocked. Completely in the dark, and facing a move (so if there would have been a customs delay, there's a very good chance I'd never receive it at all). The seller shipped to my paypal address from our transaction months prior, after getting radio silence on their end, and it arrived!
After two weeks I received all three games, working flawlessly. I dug up the paypal email of the seller and thanked them again, offering to send them compensation yet again. No reply (maybe non-monitored, no idea...)
So, happy ending for me. Dead Gremlins cart just sitting around. It's a former NIB copy, so aside from a stray mark from opening the damn thing, it's got a great label. If anybody has a use for it, PM me
Nice! I had misgivings about ordering some Atari stuff from that same seller due to the, uh, situation the country has with various goods and government overreach. What would you want for your non-functioning Gremlins? I had eBay shut down my PMs for 24 hours recently for hitting some daily messaging limit I wasn't aware of. The thing is, counseling my UltraHDMI and Hi-Def NES buyers takes hundreds of messages! Ever hear Jason of GameTechUS talk about how many messages he and his clients exchange?! Some buyers have exchanged 50 message with me before they even buy!
eBay, man. eBay. *shakes head*
Did I ever share my 5200 cartridge disassembly video?
I use the same tool to disassemble Neo-Geo AES carts without damage.
Nice! I had misgivings about ordering some Atari stuff from that same seller due to the, uh, situation the country has with various goods and government overreach. What would you want for your non-functioning Gremlins? I had eBay shut down my PMs for 24 hours recently for hitting some daily messaging limit I wasn't aware of. The thing is, counseling my UltraHDMI and Hi-Def NES buyers takes hundreds of messages! Ever hear Jason of GameTechUS talk about how many messages he and his clients exchange?! Some buyers have exchanged 50 message with me before they even buy!
eBay, man. eBay. *shakes head*
Did I ever share my 5200 cartridge disassembly video?
I use the same tool to disassemble Neo-Geo AES carts without damage.
Will definitey watch your video in a bit. Opening these carts is a bit terrifying since at some point it seems like you just have to force it (on the 1st party carts at least). I'm not excited to do it again anytime soon.
Send me a PM and we'll work something out. Haven't been on NA as much as I just bought a house, and have a hectic week ahead of me, so give me a few days to reply!
Comments
Somebody has offered to give this a go, specifically re-flowing. Will post the results here once that gets underway!
Best would just use a multimeter and check for any broken traces.
I took it apart and checked everything. It appears that one of the ROM chips is simply dead. It behaves very similarly to yours: sometimes shows the game name on the BIOS splash screen but doesn't make it to the game's actual title screen.
I checked everything with my meter and reflowed all the solder connections. No shorts, no breaks, and it still doesn't work.
I've got a bad copy of 5200 Ms. Pac-Man. Wish it was regular Pac-Man instead.
I took it apart and checked everything. It appears that one of the ROM chips is simply dead. It behaves very similarly to yours: sometimes shows the game name on the BIOS splash screen but doesn't make it to the game's actual title screen.
I checked everything with my meter and reflowed all the solder connections. No shorts, no breaks, and it still doesn't work.
That's exactly what happened here. You can check my feedback for the name drop, but a guy great with a soldering iron gave it a careful look, and tried bridging possibly questionable traces and determined that it was a dead chip.
Since loose copies of Gremlins don't turn up frequently for decent prices (like loose copies of Midnight Mutants on 7800...), in a moment of desperation, I sent a message to the Venezuelan ebay seller that I bought my NIB copy from. I was very honest about the fact that I knew it wasn't their fault, but plead for a cheaper "beat box" copy, or a loose copy, regardless of physical condition, so long as it played. Was willing to pay.
Despite telling them in very concrete terms that I wouldn't retaliate either way (left positive feedback before I tested it, as it was truly NIB and in great shape), they not only sent me a loose copy of the game, but also loose copies of Berzerk and Pengo (all 5200), all games I wanted, absolutely free. Their logic was that the FedEx rate they used allowed for the weight without an increased cost, and that those games were super-common down there. When I say "absolutely free", they wouldn't accept any money even for shipping.
During all of this, ebay's AI locked my messaging abilities because they thought we were doing an off-ebay transaction. So for about two weeks, I had no idea if they were actually sent. My message with the shipping address was blocked. Completely in the dark, and facing a move (so if there would have been a customs delay, there's a very good chance I'd never receive it at all). The seller shipped to my paypal address from our transaction months prior, after getting radio silence on their end, and it arrived!
After two weeks I received all three games, working flawlessly. I dug up the paypal email of the seller and thanked them again, offering to send them compensation yet again. No reply (maybe non-monitored, no idea...)
So, happy ending for me. Dead Gremlins cart just sitting around. It's a former NIB copy, so aside from a stray mark from opening the damn thing, it's got a great label. If anybody has a use for it, PM me
Wanted to update this thread.
eBay, man. eBay. *shakes head*
Did I ever share my 5200 cartridge disassembly video?
I use the same tool to disassemble Neo-Geo AES carts without damage.
Nice! I had misgivings about ordering some Atari stuff from that same seller due to the, uh, situation the country has with various goods and government overreach. What would you want for your non-functioning Gremlins? I had eBay shut down my PMs for 24 hours recently for hitting some daily messaging limit I wasn't aware of. The thing is, counseling my UltraHDMI and Hi-Def NES buyers takes hundreds of messages! Ever hear Jason of GameTechUS talk about how many messages he and his clients exchange?! Some buyers have exchanged 50 message with me before they even buy!
eBay, man. eBay. *shakes head*
Did I ever share my 5200 cartridge disassembly video?
I use the same tool to disassemble Neo-Geo AES carts without damage.
Will definitey watch your video in a bit. Opening these carts is a bit terrifying since at some point it seems like you just have to force it (on the 1st party carts at least). I'm not excited to do it again anytime soon.
Send me a PM and we'll work something out. Haven't been on NA as much as I just bought a house, and have a hectic week ahead of me, so give me a few days to reply!