exxos's Atari, Amiga & retro forum

raspberrypioneer wrote: 23 Jul 2025 17:24

rubber_jonnie wrote: 23 Jul 2025 13:09 As I recall updating the firmware was a bit of a pain, and one actually ended up with an inverted screen when I did it! Worth a try though.

Found the problem after tinkering with the display code which can be made to display to my TFT screen but it would be a fair job to convert it all. I found my TFT is not a supported ILI9431 type after all, despite the documentation. It uses an unsupported UC8230 chip. Sadly a brick wall this time! :(

Ahh damn, but at least you have an answer now.

rubber_jonnie wrote: 23 Jul 2025 19:08 Ahh damn, but at least you have an answer now.

Circling back to the Intellivision for a bit where this chat started, :lol: - I've been trying out more games and found a couple of things which will be handy to cross-check with you if poss. When I start the Intellivision, I get a flickery TV screen for a couple of minutes, gradually improving before it settles down. It's perfectly normal after that. Do you get something similar? It didn't happen initially when I first got this all working - main worry it's a sign of something about to pack in! :shock:

The vast majority of games I've tried work very well but I noticed one in particular which is odd - Space Battle (my first computer game!) works fine until I 'go to battle' with the 'white' colour squadron. When this happens the screen flickers madly and the game is unplayable. The only difference compared to the 'blue' or 'yellow' squadron is the white screen border (same battle game just the border colour changes for each squadron). Not sure how familiar you are with this game - I wonder if you get the same problem. Suspect my TV, possibly the game itself?

raspberrypioneer wrote: 01 Aug 2025 17:25
Circling back to the Intellivision for a bit where this chat started, :lol: - I've been trying out more games and found a couple of things which will be handy to cross-check with you if poss. When I start the Intellivision, I get a flickery TV screen for a couple of minutes, gradually improving before it settles down. It's perfectly normal after that. Do you get something similar? It didn't happen initially when I first got this all working - main worry it's a sign of something about to pack in! :shock:

the screen is only iffy on my workbench monitor these days when it can't seem to settle on a TV standard, so via composite/RetroTink/HDMI to my TV it seems fine now. However before I did the recent mods to it it did have flickering sometimes and tearing at the top, also sometimes no colour. Mostly fine now though.

raspberrypioneer wrote: 01 Aug 2025 17:25 The vast majority of games I've tried work very well but I noticed one in particular which is odd - Space Battle (my first computer game!) works fine until I 'go to battle' with the 'white' colour squadron. When this happens the screen flickers madly and the game is unplayable. The only difference compared to the 'blue' or 'yellow' squadron is the white screen border (same battle game just the border colour changes for each squadron). Not sure how familiar you are with this game - I wonder if you get the same problem. Suspect my TV, possibly the game itself?

Have you got a download link and I'll give it a try.

I just tried Space Battle and don't see any issues other than me not knowing how to play it!

rubber_jonnie wrote: 01 Aug 2025 21:25 the screen is only iffy on my workbench monitor these days when it can't seem to settle on a TV standard, so via composite/RetroTink/HDMI to my TV it seems fine now. However before I did the recent mods to it it did have flickering sometimes and tearing at the top, also sometimes no colour. Mostly fine now though.

It's more annoying while waiting for it to settle down that anything else (so far), I'll try another TV then perhaps open it up and check voltages.

rubber_jonnie wrote: 01 Aug 2025 21:25 Have you got a download link and I'll give it a try.

Thanks, might be related to above. The game is in this archive collection. Easy game to pickup - on the start radar screen, press enter to target the batch of aliens to engage, then press 1, 2 or 3 for blue, white and yellow squadrons to deploy them. When the squadron reaches the aliens, press 7, 8 or 9 to battle them with either blue, white and yellow squadrons. Then use disc to move, side buttons to fire. Avoid the red 'eyes' (enemy fire). :D

raspberrypioneer wrote: 03 Aug 2025 09:09
It's more annoying while waiting for it to settle down that anything else (so far), I'll try another TV then perhaps open it up and check voltages.

I can't recall, did you remove your modulator or disconnect it with your comp mod? Mine definitely improved on my TV after that even though my workbench display still didn't like it. It's possible my Retrotink is latching onto the signal better after that.

raspberrypioneer wrote: 03 Aug 2025 09:09 Thanks, might be related to above. The game is in this archive collection. Easy game to pickup - on the start radar screen, press enter to target the batch of aliens to engage, then press 1, 2 or 3 for blue, white and yellow squadrons to deploy them. When the squadron reaches the aliens, press 7, 8 or 9 to battle them with either blue, white and yellow squadrons. Then use disc to move, side buttons to fire. Avoid the red 'eyes' (enemy fire). :D

I'll try it again later now I have some guidance :)

rubber_jonnie wrote: 03 Aug 2025 10:02 I can't recall, did you remove your modulator or disconnect it with your comp mod? Mine definitely improved on my TV after that even though my workbench display still didn't like it. It's possible my Retrotink is latching onto the signal better after that.

I removed it, mainly to reuse the space where the RF connection was for the DIN connection - I'll do some checking of that too. I upgraded the Pirto2 firmware to the latest version but I don't think its that.

rubber_jonnie wrote: 03 Aug 2025 10:02 I'll try it again later now I have some guidance :)

It's quite difficult on the fastest option (press the disc for that on the main menu or 1, 2 or 3 for slower speeds). Pretty good game (more from a nostalgic point of view)! :D

OK, Space Battle. Feels like a budget Star Raiders to me, though it has some really nice touches, but I managed to play it ok and shoot down some bad guys too :)

However I didn't have any of the screen issues you mentioned with the white squadron (Or any squadron for that matter) so I suspect it's either a TV thing or that mine is fixed up going through the Retrotink, so composite to HDMI.

I did also try one of these:


Available for about £7 on Amazon and though the colours were off, with heavily saturated greens that looked awful, the game was playable, though I was still terrible at it despite your instructions :)

Are you going direct to composite? Or using an HDMI upscaler? The Retrotink does seem to calm things down when composite is 'iffy'.

Apologies for the long delay in responding - a few distractions here including a long holiday! Anyway, I've finally had time to try a few more things and report back.

I thought the screen flickering problem on start up (lasting 4-5 minutes before it settles down) must be a fault somewhere so I went hunting, starting with measuring the voltages. I found the 5v to the RF modulator (now going to the composite mod board) was measuring about 1.9v! I'm pretty sure I had checked this at 5v before I applied the mod, so that is puzzling, however I changed it to get 5v from the same place you have (some pics below). This makes a difference - I get the screen flickering problem still but it lasts around half a minute. I found this boosts the colour as well. The video quality is very good (for composite). I tried the Space Battle game which was failing and it now works too! :)

I tested the console for a couple of hours (playing games ofc :lol: ) and it works perfectly. I still think there is something not 100% causing the short screen flickering on start up. I might do some more digging for that but it isn't too much of a problem.

Glad to see you got over the line :)

It is a weird thing with these machines that flickering. I don't believe it's capacitors and my voltages are all good, but at least it's resolving quicker now.