Absolutely love your videos Vince, your so honest with your repairs and happily admit when your struggling. Wife was in the room while watching this video and said you should re-title the video to “Atari Jaguar slowly fixes itself while repair man pokes at it”
The coil in the rf modulator that was misshapen was done at the factory to fine tune the inductance to adjust the output frequency/amplitude. The screw you were messing with is a core to the main coil is the main method to adjust the frequency which is why it affected the reception. Capacitors in digital electronics are mainly used for noise filtering and decoupling. In RF circuits they are also used with inductors (coils) to create tank circuits that amplify the RF signal and to block dc voltages from crossing between stages ( probably why you found a path to ground on both sides of that capacitor).
Why on earth would you use RF when you have composite or better still ........RGB Scart. It's so simple plug and play and then you know for sure it's actually working or not. Not to mention the superior sound and picture quality.
When I seen the Jaguar, I knew this fix would be weird. I'm not disappointed. I'd definitely chalk this as a win, the Jaguar is such a freak of nature.
Vince, really love your content man. I remember you made a poll a couple of days ago about which videos people prefer to watch, I just want to give you some feedback as an average viewer: I think the best way to describe your videos with regards to why some people prefer watching your videos is simple -- tech porn. It's as simple as that. You have this niche corner that ONLY your videos can provide and that's the analytical/troubleshooting of game systems/electronics. People like myself gravitate to these videos because they are well narrated, people can relate to you because it's not TOO techy and isn't deep enough to where people will get lost in the terminology. Yes there are a lot of "let's fix/try to fix" vids out there on UA-cam, but you have this je ne sais quoi about your videos that make them distinct from the rest. I can see you getting to 750k by the end of the year, if not 1mil subscriber. Keep it up mate, don't ever change your format, people like myself have subscribed because your vids are exactly what I want to watch sitting infront of my computer on an afternoon sipping on a pint/coffee at home.
Hey Vince- I just wanted to say thanks for all of the content you provide. It's been infinitely helpful during these weird times. Watching one of your videos always hits the reset button for me so I just wanted to let you know how much it's appreciated. Friendly reminder that what you do does make an impact and makes people lives better.
54:00 - cheap because it's the game that shipped with the console! The gamepad was a nice idea, there was an overlay for the keypad which helped identify what the buttons did...
Who leaves hateful comments on someone trying to learn how to fix something people in the repeal Community should be supportive of people trying to be a part of the community because the more people how to become a part of the community the more different Viewpoint we will have and different ways of looking at problems I've been repairing electronics for a while but there's always something new I can learn something new even from someone who just started out
People mad that even the broken console prices are rising. They don't want people doing this so they can keep getting insane deal pricing on broken things that are easily fixable
I tested 3 jags a couple of weeks ago, none of them were working. I basically cleaned the board a few times with ipa. Still nothing, tried to see if continuity between the board & the pin connector. All fine. I ordered an av out cable & all worked everytime. It puzzled me at the time & still does. I think at the end you mentioning about PAL signal does play into on these boards. The ones I have don't have the same alterations as your board. Superb video btw 👍
With how you went about doing things, turning the Jaguar on and off, leaving it on, leaving it off repeatedly, i think it might have been a bad capacitor after all, reforming itself up to the point where things actually started working again. Capacitors can do that at times when they're powered on for long enough. Apart from that i have no real clue how it's working now when it didn't before *lol* Not my favorite console, but it's always nice to save old hardware ^_^
L is an inductor, coil not capacitors. If it starts playing up again I would suggest you reflow the chips as a dry joint on one of the pins could make it not boot and if you put pressure on the chip say while you were cleaning the game slot. it could make the pin contact.
Thanks PDS, I really should have recognised that 'L' means inductor and not capacitor. Yes I will keep an eye on it and if it fails again I will revisit and reflow :-)
Interesting fact about the Atari Jaguar: when Atari went bankrupt, they sold the Jaguar molds to a dental camera company. If you look it up, you'll see pictures of the flipped silver Atari Jaguar, it's exactly the same, which is hilarious to me. Also, the AVGN video on it is pretty informative.
Yay more retro stuff! I had an Atari Jaguar growing up. Only had one game though: Alien vs. Predator. That start up music with the roar and the little tune is super nostalgic. Now that I started game collecting I've got a few more games for it. The homebrew scene for the Jaguar has gotten pretty popular recently as well.
Bear in mind the technology of televisions back when the Jaguar was designed. Usually tuned by turning mechanical tuning dials of some description, not something run by microcontroller. I imagine it'll work just fine on your old TVs that use manual tuners (eg the boombox TV). Analogue tuners on modern TVs... Not convinced they're a priority. I mean, none of the reviewers will notice it; and few consumers will notice if the analogue tuner isn't great.
@@ChrisArmstrong194 Pretty sure those are the actual RAM chips. 8 of them, 8 bits each, giving 64 bits. One of the designers said, the machine isn't really 64 bits in any meaningful sense, they did it to get more bandwidth out of cheap consumer RAM chips. 64 bits out of 8 chips is more data at once than 32 bits out of 4 chips. But only a couple of parts in one of it's chips can actually handle 64 bits, mostly the rest of them use 32. The machine has 5 processors, each designed heavily around one or two particular functions. It was apparently an utter mess to program cos you've got these 5 CPUs with no obvious way of getting them to work together to produce a result. The design was apparently compromised from the usual corporate sort of bullshit, but even if it came out as the designer intended, I've no idea what they were going for. It's an odd machine, underpowered compared to the Playstation and Saturn, and what power it had, nobody knew how to use. Bizarre. Most of it's games were ports from the Amiga, which used a 68000 as it's main CPU. In the Jaguar, the 68000 is the *least* powerful chip it has, a designer said "we only put it in there to read the joysticks", it was included to give programmers something they were used to. But sadly it meant that they ported code from the Amiga or Megadrive, and mostly ignored the Jag's other hardware, which made it look pathetic running outdated games that didn't use it's power. But software houses weren't willing to put the full effort into learning it, because it hadn't sold enough to justify the investment.
Vince I've watched you since your broadband instructional videos, long time ago, and your my Sherlock Holmes of electronics my friend! Through the powers of deduction, you fix these issues!
I was just watching a wii u trying to fix video from 2018 and man, you've really came such a long way. Gives me hope as I've started small electronics repair. Love your videos and thanks for all the help!
Going from memory the Jaguar was released prior to the holiday season in America only (well specifically a New York 'test' market). Europe was meant to get it before the Christmas period as well, but due to manufacture issues it didn't happen. As the Jag was the hottest new hardware at the time (believe it or not!) quite a few places were importing them at astronomic mark ups so it could well in theory be that this console is an import. In theory if you had a another working Jag you could probably turn that pot on the modulator to tune it to the same signal as the good Jag. Cybermorph is the cheapest game because it was the pack in launch game and most consoles came with it (although a few later issues came with no game or Alien vs Predator). The Cartridge slot on the Jag is a bit finicky to say the least, and will often red screen at the best of times, usually it is just dirt. It could be that just inserting the cart enough times and the cleaning you did, did enough to clean it out.
The Jaguar was released in the UK, I remember as my mate had 1 and was able to buy games for it because I brought it off of him when he'd done with it. he wasn't the kind for importing stuff, just buying the latest and greatest at the time and then flogging them off cheap when he'd done with them!
@@h4x0rm1k35 Ah yep it did come eventually a few months later (I have two PAL consoles and the CD add on!), a shame really as I think the uptake in Europe would have been a lot better than the sales it eventually received with America as the launch market, given Atari's success with the Atari ST and is relatively low base in the US. When I got it I was actually blown away by Cybermorph believe or not, the whole goraud shaded 3D world space shooter was a bit unusual in those days... although I had come from an ST and a SNES.
Consoles and computers that tune in on RF required tuning to a different channel once channel 5 launched. This passed without much fanfare so many people missed it. This is why you're having trouble tuning it on RF.
I also think it was a dirty cardridge connector. Which also caused a short (maybe with a slightly high resistance or impendance). After cleaning it it was better, the ipa makes a better connection, as it evapuates the connection got bad again. The RF Signal seem to be ok. I live in germany and when I connect a console via RF, I always had (analog TV here is gone) to tune in the Channel by my own. The same with old analog TV Signals. We do not have Channels with fixed RF bandwiths, every channel has the same. To get our TV channels we had to tune in the right frequency. most TV have an automatic Channel finder which goes to all frequencys and stops if the Image is ok.
The first thing I do when I get an old computer/game console/etc. is take it apart and give any PCBs a good clean with electrical contact cleaner. Then if there are any card slots, edge connectors, RAM slots, etc. I hit those with just a little DeoxIT. I can't tell you how many "defective" components I've brought back to life just by giving them a proper cleaning. After I clean everything up I start checking other components, RTC battery, capacitors, etc. By cleaning the whole board first you rule out any minor shorts due to contamination (liquid, flux, debris, etc.) and DeoxIT is great for making sure you have good contact between any game carts, add on cards, controllers, etc.
Forget about the RF. You should just bypass the obsolete RF circuitry and wire the composite video output straight to the RCA jack. Then add a small headphone jack for the audio out somewhere.
Yep I remember those slotted games were a real problem where the receptical would be the issue from corrosion and or Oxidation to soldering joint problems because of the force it takes to insert and remove the cartridge . you've fixed it by cleaning it wayda go there Vince... Also You probably have a NTSC model where you have PAL for tuning the RF is set to NTSC which is why your TV doesn't work on RF out put
Those caps on top of that chip on the right look like tantalums. Those are well known for being terrible. They can sometimes fail open circuit, sometimes they become a dead short and explode. I would suggest replacing them. Not sure if they'll cause intermittent issues like you're experiencing.
my personal guess would be the switch is ground connected, and there is a 5v rail (LED to switch), and a 12v rail leading to the switch. so when the switch was pressed it would light up the LED, but dirt or something stopping the 12v rail from connecting to the switch. hense why the LED came on, but the console didn't fully switch on. and also why it is working all the time at the end of the video.
The Atari Jaguar if I remember rightly actually came with Cybermorph. It was a particularly crap game and no wonder that it was so cheap. If you can you should track down a copy of Tempest 2000. Tempest 2000 was a real psychedelic showcase for the system in both sound and visuals. However it is quite rare and expensive,but in my opinion one of the few games that can be considered really worthwhile getting.
the definition of insanity, doing the same thing over again and again, and expecting different results... and then the atari jaguar board said HOLD MY BEER.
Afaik, the UK used PAL-I, whereas most of the rest of western europe used PAL-B, this might explain the compatibility issues. The inductor that's spread apart in the tuner is part of a finely tuned LC tank oscillator. Physically moving the inductor actually changes the oscillation frequency so it's set by hand and then glued/laquered to keep it in place.
You're correct, the "screw" should be intended for fine tuning the signal. The c64 had a similar rf-modulator as far as I know. Maybe one of the crystals used to give the rf frequency is out of sync or non working.
I know this is an old thread, but I found the set up instructions for the Jaguar, and it said that PAL-B connects to VHF and PAL-I connects to UHF (tho does not say which channel). Of course, if there's only 1 antenna port, it doesn't matter...
Hell yeah! I've been waiting for another video. Another obscure item also. Nobody is doing board repair on a Jaguar. Very cool video IMO. I recall when jaguars came out. The ads put so much hype on them and they sucked, i guess. I've never seen one in person. It was something to do with saying they were a 64bit console. Again, awesome video.
Good video thanks Here in OZ we have VHF and UHF TV band and I believe in the UK VHF band was discontinued in the 70''s ? Your UK TV is picking up a ghost/harmonic image of the vhf modulator in the unit on UHF.I had the opposite problem once with a UK pong game I purchased in the UK. Changing to Australia on the TV is changing the tuning range to include VHF.The output of the modulator would be between 54 -225 mhz (AU ch 0 to 12) I think the bridged cap would ber for DC blocking on some units.
The Jaguar did have an issue, a very dirty cart slot. This is why the 74AC244 Octal Buffer chip was getting very hot. The Jaguar cart slot can show many issues, from no screen, to red screen, to corrupt graphics and more. The RF Modulator issue is strange as the C100186 I believe is a PAL modulator for the XEGS game system and not the Jaguar, so I am guessing that could have been swapped out by someone. I am wondering now is this started out as a French system with no modulator, and someone added the C100186 to give it an RF signal. That could also be related why the capacitor was missing.
Two things... it's cheaper for a company to bodge a couple wires to fix an issue than remanufacture a whole new board hence the factory "mod" as you said. Secondly DSP stands for Digital Signal Processing otherwise known as "digital signaling" which can be a number of things, access for peripherals to the cpu/components of the devices logic. It could be a digital video output from the devices DSP "Digital Signal Processor", it could also be a means for the factory to test the unit and its various functions.
Umm not that i dont appreciate every single video you put out good sir, but.... how am i spose to work this morning with a new My Mate Vince Video !!!! Thanks sir !
Happy with a 2.5 - 3hr version of videos as well :) Maybe a "Long Version" ? Sorry i know you are always slammed bringing us the already amazing content :) and its much appreciated !
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I LOVE your videos. Find myself shouting at my mobile saying do this and do that, even though I know only a quarter of what you do. My wife laughs at me. 😂 😂 😂 😂 I'm half way through this one. Gonna watch the rest now! 😊
375/5000 Maybe it was a combination of different problems. Cold joints, dirty contacts in the cartridge or a dirty power button (and you "cleaned" it by turning the console on and off 200 times), sometimes it happens that they get dirty and do not conduct the proper current. You could try to lightly tap the console or better yet, the pcb with a pencil to see if it has any false contact
375/5000 Maybe it was a combination of different problems. Cold joints, dirty contacts in the cartridge or a dirty power button (and you "cleaned" it by turning the console on and off 200 times), sometimes it happens that they get dirty and do not conduct the proper current. You could try to lightly tap the console or better yet, the pcb with a pencil to see if it has any false contact
Things to do with a non-working system: 1. Check for physical damage. 2. Check for shorts. 3. Measure voltages (supply rails across the board). 4. Isolate fault to a subsystem.
I used to get customers who brought their TV's over from continental Europe and wanted them converted. In all cases the picture would tune in perfectly but no audio. The conversion was fairly easy, just replacing some ceramic filters and a slight tuning. Have a look if you can what it's actually tuned to on the TV. I'm thinking this might be a VHF modulator. Your test TV may disable this when set to UK which would explain why it tunes in when you change country. UK only used VHF for 405 line transmissions and abandoned it for TV use in 1985 when they closed down 405. Other countries (including the Republic of Ireland with PAL-I) continued to use VHF for analogue transmissions. I suspect this console isn't a UK model. By the way the coils and parallel capacitors form a tuned circuit so you will always read a short on that capacitor because of the coil in parallel. The separated turns is how they fine tune that circuit and disturbing that would have a negative effect, which is why they stuck that glue there.
I have repaired NES, SNES, Genesis, etc. I have fixed a lot of these old consoles. Never had a Jaguar. But I can 100% Confirm that sometimes a thorough deep cleaning is enough to fix a console (Resoldering the pins is also a good idea as well) I don't believe it was so much the corrosion preventing the pins from connecting though. I believe that something was shorting out underneath the slot. This would explain why it was messing up so often and not booting even when you shorted those two pins. The short could have been small enough to let it begin to boot then error out at the red screen as well. When you cleaned it you removed all kinds of dirt that had built up over the years. Also The system likely started working after it had a good while to dry out. Maybe it would be a fun idea to create a way to keep dust out to prevent this from happening again. Many of these die out and no one really takes the time to just deep clean them. I have a feeling that most of the Retro systems that get tossed out as defective or fried just need a deep clean. I say that because I have only ever had 1 NES that was Legit dead in 12 years of repairing them and I'd say half of them just need cleaning and soldering. Great video mate! Also The UK and Ireland use a higher frequency than The rest of Europe. Most of the older consoles are just spec'd to have the higher frequency and generally work but several are not compatible. Newer tv's just kind of work with whatever you put in (A lot of them can detect the frequency and tune in which is why the TV you tried last looked cleaner I'd guess).
Quick google search says that pin 14 is a 'key' pin, along with pin 13. Pin 16 goes to either a 27C101 (eprom) or a 74hc244 (Octal Buffer / Line Driver). Console5.com has the schematic, archive.org does too.
Your Logik TV panel came from Australia, yet the rest of the TV originated in the UK. I would think the mainboard or logic board would be the determining factor on whether it would display UK or Aussie frequencies (yes, both PAL). This makes me think maybe not. Considering your other TV displays it...
Using a scope (as you mentioned you have one) instead of prodding and re-soldering is a much better way of finding the underlying fault(s) and repairing it properly. Much more educational too.
For the 1st couple years the jaguar did come with that game included. Forgot exactly when but they did eventually sell the system without it at a discount. Got my jaguar new n still have it, even played that game a fair bit. the keypad had notches on the edges for a plastic overlay for selecting weapons n such ingame. You can probably look them up online.
Hi Vince, quick question if you don't mind? What's the mains input voltage range as stated on the back of your soldering station/power supply please? Is it 220V? Cheers
Hi vince two possible explanations for the fix 1> a capacitor in the reset circuit has reformed its self 2> the on off switch has a set of reset contacts that were dirty. As others have said the modulator is not for the UK.
Cheers Rob, a lot have mentioned the power switch in the comments, maybe it was just dirty contacts!!!! If only I had thought of that I could have saved a wasted day :-)
Ohhh, I was wondering what you meant until I watched the vid back :-) That is to clean the solder of the soldering iron. You can use it instead of a wet sponge to clean the tip of excess solder :-) Some people prefer it as it doesn't cool down the tip as much as a wet sponge :-)
***Addendum*** If you find out what channel and what Format the RF Box outputs you could set another Device to the same channel and then Tune the TV to it, then plug in the Jaguar and tune the "IF Pot" "the one that you screwed" Not stuffed up mind you - Just TUNED to another channel" So it displays also at that channel.. Just bare in mind that "StillCloser" Below is correct about the various formats and having said that it may be easy to actually change some components to your Jaguars RF Box to output your regions Pal.. of course you will need to open up an RF box with your region to copy from..
Don't forget the boot screen easter egg. Hold down the Pause button on your Jaguar pad wen you turn on your Jaguar, and when the rotating cube appears, you can press up, down, left and right to change the speed, size and direction of rotation.
UK is PAL I, Mainland Europe (excl. France) and Australia are PAL B/G. This is indeed probably an European machine. If you connect this jaguar to a TV that only supports PAL I, then even if you'd get an picture you wouldn't get audio.
"I'm kinda curious if this was brought over from another country..." *Sticker label clearly says USA, where NTSC is the standard. Oh Vince! Never change! This was a very interesting video. I would have given up on it 20 minutes in!
This is not a USA Jaguar - the system had a red power LED in the US. The power light was changed to green in the EU - I think there's some law that requires red lights to mean a fault condition.
The Jaguar controller will work in the Atari Falcon030 if you are lucky enough to have one of those. That is one of the first units made..... I can see you even have the analog to digital chips but they were never used so unless you write your own game that uses them... those caps across the RAM chips could indeed be original bodge connections. Keep in mind you are dealing with a multi layer PCB and whomever was in there could have damaged the board layers. The problem is certainly with the cart connections. They are not self cleaning either. Just so you understand that. definitely replace those logic chips that were overheating. I'm sure they are damaged at this point. Use the edge of a defunct credit card with an old clean t-shirt dipped in contact cleaner. Shove it in and out carefully. Cut a strip of that old card to fit in the smaller area of the keyed connector and do the same. Make sure you clean the cartridge edge connector thoughly. I'm typing these as I watch so if you solved it already, at least keep this in mind for future reference. IPA is never the best thing to use to clean any metal surfaces. It's corrosive.... De-ox spray is the best.
Great video! What soldering iron/multimeter do you use. I'm interested in fixing a few of my own consoles etc. I've had a look on your website and your email channel but can't see anything (incase you have already mentioned this). Cheers Vince. Take it easy
What I think the reason it is not always loading is all to do with the cleaning of the cart, isopropyl is slightly conductive so you need wait for all of it to evaporate. So if you try run it while wet with isopropyl it could be causing issues with the signals between game cart and console
The problem was the dirty/corroded cartridge connector. Had same problem with my n64. Sometimes game works perfectly when you have the pins lined, if not its black screen.
I've never heard of this console. Anyway, intermittent errors makes me think of bad joints, dirty contacts and/or heat problems. The cartridge connector looked suspicious indeed. There might be a lifted trace or something there, or some flux residue, as discussed. The seller also wrote something about flux residue, I think. Flux and liquid residue can be conductive, so when I see that I'm thinking it's always a good idea to clean it off straight away. The hot chip is also suspicious. Even if it's supposed to get warm, adding a heat sink could prolong its life. Oh, and it's probably best not to put solder on connector pins since you can never get it off again.
Cybrermorph! A game that's much better with a broken screen! Now if you can break the sound... "Where did you learn to fly?" *sigh* Always fun videos, thanks. FWLIW: To me your frustrating issues smell of cheapness on Atari's part - cut a corner here and there to save pennies on components and this can often be the result. A particular problem with analogue TV - I bet a replacement RF box would work better, if made by somebody more reputable.
Thanks for the vid 👍 and I have not long fixed one myself 😊 but be aware that the dc socket is centre - and the outer ring is + or bad things will happen 😟 maybe fit the diode that’s missing by the dc plug 🤔 I will do it one day 😏
Ive had things mysteriously fix themself on multiple occasions. I had a VCR completely dead after taking it apart magically start working again. I also had a heater do it once, actually on multiple heaters. I was once given this mp3 player that was water damaged from being left out in the rain. it was completely dead for weeks. After me giving up on it and getting frustrated with it thinking "what do I got to lose?" I started throwing it and wacking it and kicking it and it also magically came back to life and never ever gave me problems and never stopped working and worked very reliably for many years after that. Once my PSP randomly stopped powering on and then just fixed it'sself somehow and is still working perfectly. Think it was from a failed softmod. Needless to say it is softmodded and although the optical drive is dead on it it it still works great for playing emulators. I also fixed a stereo once by cleaning the circuit board with alcohol.
one way to test a cap, is warm it with soldering iron, disconect the earth on your iron, if fitted. a cap will work when warmed, resistors can change in value, when warmed or cooled, ic chip can work again when froze, so get ya self some plumbers frezze spray. i had an lg lcd tv stuck in a loop logo screen then boot again, it needed an updated system, frezzing the chip, made it work long enough to install the new system software, after the chip came to room temp, the tv worked fine.
The RF modulator used on all VCR's in the UK was around CH 36 UHF The Atari looks the have a similar unit you should put the tv into auto tune mode to find its signal.Other fault was probably dirty /bad contact on the games socket
Makes me want to try out at fixing mine again after sitting in with my old school consoles for 20 years. Someone put a wrong power supply in it, blowing the internals around the port
Absolutely love your videos Vince, your so honest with your repairs and happily admit when your struggling. Wife was in the room while watching this video and said you should re-title the video to “Atari Jaguar slowly fixes itself while repair man pokes at it”
Haha, thank you and what a brilliant comment :-)
Vince you are the best youtuber in the world I love you so much tysm for your efforts you put into your vids
The coil in the rf modulator that was misshapen was done at the factory to fine tune the inductance to adjust the output frequency/amplitude. The screw you were messing with is a core to the main coil is the main method to adjust the frequency which is why it affected the reception. Capacitors in digital electronics are mainly used for noise filtering and decoupling. In RF circuits they are also used with inductors (coils) to create tank circuits that amplify the RF signal and to block dc voltages from crossing between stages ( probably why you found a path to ground on both sides of that capacitor).
Cheers Jeffery :-)
@@Mymatevince love your work and I am only 13 😁
Why on earth would you use RF when you have composite or better still ........RGB Scart. It's so simple plug and play and then you know for sure it's actually working or not. Not to mention the superior sound and picture quality.
"where did you learn to fly ?!"
Henry Zerbst AVGN from 2009
@@connorkotara4868 haha yes.
I just came to the comments to type this but you got there first!
I don't get it, could it anybody explain, shortly?
I was about to say that lol.😲
When I seen the Jaguar, I knew this fix would be weird. I'm not disappointed. I'd definitely chalk this as a win, the Jaguar is such a freak of nature.
Vince, really love your content man. I remember you made a poll a couple of days ago about which videos people prefer to watch, I just want to give you some feedback as an average viewer: I think the best way to describe your videos with regards to why some people prefer watching your videos is simple -- tech porn. It's as simple as that. You have this niche corner that ONLY your videos can provide and that's the analytical/troubleshooting of game systems/electronics. People like myself gravitate to these videos because they are well narrated, people can relate to you because it's not TOO techy and isn't deep enough to where people will get lost in the terminology. Yes there are a lot of "let's fix/try to fix" vids out there on UA-cam, but you have this je ne sais quoi about your videos that make them distinct from the rest. I can see you getting to 750k by the end of the year, if not 1mil subscriber. Keep it up mate, don't ever change your format, people like myself have subscribed because your vids are exactly what I want to watch sitting infront of my computer on an afternoon sipping on a pint/coffee at home.
Hey Vince- I just wanted to say thanks for all of the content you provide. It's been infinitely helpful during these weird times. Watching one of your videos always hits the reset button for me so I just wanted to let you know how much it's appreciated. Friendly reminder that what you do does make an impact and makes people lives better.
Thank you Zach :-)
54:00 - cheap because it's the game that shipped with the console! The gamepad was a nice idea, there was an overlay for the keypad which helped identify what the buttons did...
Who leaves hateful comments on someone trying to learn how to fix something people in the repeal Community should be supportive of people trying to be a part of the community because the more people how to become a part of the community the more different Viewpoint we will have and different ways of looking at problems I've been repairing electronics for a while but there's always something new I can learn something new even from someone who just started out
People mad that even the broken console prices are rising. They don't want people doing this so they can keep getting insane deal pricing on broken things that are easily fixable
bla bla bla bla
love to see old school repairs like this vince i can see you fixing many retro systems
I tested 3 jags a couple of weeks ago, none of them were working. I basically cleaned the board a few times with ipa. Still nothing, tried to see if continuity between the board & the pin connector. All fine.
I ordered an av out cable & all worked everytime. It puzzled me at the time & still does. I think at the end you mentioning about PAL signal does play into on these boards.
The ones I have don't have the same alterations as your board.
Superb video btw 👍
With how you went about doing things, turning the Jaguar on and off, leaving it on, leaving it off repeatedly, i think it might have been a bad capacitor after all, reforming itself up to the point where things actually started working again. Capacitors can do that at times when they're powered on for long enough. Apart from that i have no real clue how it's working now when it didn't before *lol* Not my favorite console, but it's always nice to save old hardware ^_^
I loved my Atari jaguar. bought it with doom and wow what an eye opener. what a jump from megadrive graphics. Great video Vince..
I bought 2 consoles and 2 copies of doom brand new and had to wait 3 months for the special link lead from atari.
L is an inductor, coil not capacitors. If it starts playing up again I would suggest you reflow the chips as a dry joint on one of the pins could make it not boot and if you put pressure on the chip say while you were cleaning the game slot. it could make the pin contact.
Thanks PDS, I really should have recognised that 'L' means inductor and not capacitor. Yes I will keep an eye on it and if it fails again I will revisit and reflow :-)
I had this exact issue with a Jaguar from November '93. I touched up all of the joints I could, no issues since.
Interesting fact about the Atari Jaguar: when Atari went bankrupt, they sold the Jaguar molds to a dental camera company. If you look it up, you'll see pictures of the flipped silver Atari Jaguar, it's exactly the same, which is hilarious to me. Also, the AVGN video on it is pretty informative.
‘ What I’m wondering is....’ I wait for this every video now..keep em coming Vince!
Yay more retro stuff! I had an Atari Jaguar growing up. Only had one game though: Alien vs. Predator. That start up music with the roar and the little tune is super nostalgic.
Now that I started game collecting I've got a few more games for it. The homebrew scene for the Jaguar has gotten pretty popular recently as well.
Bear in mind the technology of televisions back when the Jaguar was designed. Usually tuned by turning mechanical tuning dials of some description, not something run by microcontroller. I imagine it'll work just fine on your old TVs that use manual tuners (eg the boombox TV). Analogue tuners on modern TVs... Not convinced they're a priority. I mean, none of the reviewers will notice it; and few consumers will notice if the analogue tuner isn't great.
It would be interesting to know if the "overheated" chip is cooler when the console is working vs when it didn't.
I suspect the chip is part of the cause, perhaps add some cheap Aluminium gpu ram mini heat sinks on those hot chips?
@@ChrisArmstrong194 Pretty sure those are the actual RAM chips. 8 of them, 8 bits each, giving 64 bits. One of the designers said, the machine isn't really 64 bits in any meaningful sense, they did it to get more bandwidth out of cheap consumer RAM chips. 64 bits out of 8 chips is more data at once than 32 bits out of 4 chips. But only a couple of parts in one of it's chips can actually handle 64 bits, mostly the rest of them use 32. The machine has 5 processors, each designed heavily around one or two particular functions. It was apparently an utter mess to program cos you've got these 5 CPUs with no obvious way of getting them to work together to produce a result. The design was apparently compromised from the usual corporate sort of bullshit, but even if it came out as the designer intended, I've no idea what they were going for. It's an odd machine, underpowered compared to the Playstation and Saturn, and what power it had, nobody knew how to use. Bizarre.
Most of it's games were ports from the Amiga, which used a 68000 as it's main CPU. In the Jaguar, the 68000 is the *least* powerful chip it has, a designer said "we only put it in there to read the joysticks", it was included to give programmers something they were used to. But sadly it meant that they ported code from the Amiga or Megadrive, and mostly ignored the Jag's other hardware, which made it look pathetic running outdated games that didn't use it's power. But software houses weren't willing to put the full effort into learning it, because it hadn't sold enough to justify the investment.
Vince I've watched you since your broadband instructional videos, long time ago, and your my Sherlock Holmes of electronics my friend! Through the powers of deduction, you fix these issues!
I was just watching a wii u trying to fix video from 2018 and man, you've really came such a long way. Gives me hope as I've started small electronics repair. Love your videos and thanks for all the help!
Toss the RF box in trash and glue in place a 3.5mm jack for AV out!
Brilliant…. I have two Jaguars, one working Jag CD and pretty much every released Cart, all boxed. It’s a Labour of love.
What an oddball fault Vince. You are a Saint not have started swearing. When I get these sorts of fixes my wife throws me out of the house! 🤣
Going from memory the Jaguar was released prior to the holiday season in America only (well specifically a New York 'test' market). Europe was meant to get it before the Christmas period as well, but due to manufacture issues it didn't happen. As the Jag was the hottest new hardware at the time (believe it or not!) quite a few places were importing them at astronomic mark ups so it could well in theory be that this console is an import. In theory if you had a another working Jag you could probably turn that pot on the modulator to tune it to the same signal as the good Jag. Cybermorph is the cheapest game because it was the pack in launch game and most consoles came with it (although a few later issues came with no game or Alien vs Predator). The Cartridge slot on the Jag is a bit finicky to say the least, and will often red screen at the best of times, usually it is just dirt. It could be that just inserting the cart enough times and the cleaning you did, did enough to clean it out.
The Jaguar was released in the UK, I remember as my mate had 1 and was able to buy games for it because I brought it off of him when he'd done with it. he wasn't the kind for importing stuff, just buying the latest and greatest at the time and then flogging them off cheap when he'd done with them!
@@h4x0rm1k35 Ah yep it did come eventually a few months later (I have two PAL consoles and the CD add on!), a shame really as I think the uptake in Europe would have been a lot better than the sales it eventually received with America as the launch market, given Atari's success with the Atari ST and is relatively low base in the US. When I got it I was actually blown away by Cybermorph believe or not, the whole goraud shaded 3D world space shooter was a bit unusual in those days... although I had come from an ST and a SNES.
I used to work for UK retailer Silica when this was launched and we used to sell them. Also if I recall it was avalable pretty close to Xmas.
Consoles and computers that tune in on RF required tuning to a different channel once channel 5 launched. This passed without much fanfare so many people missed it. This is why you're having trouble tuning it on RF.
I also think it was a dirty cardridge connector. Which also caused a short (maybe with a slightly high resistance or impendance). After cleaning it it was better, the ipa makes a better connection, as it evapuates the connection got bad again. The RF Signal seem to be ok. I live in germany and when I connect a console via RF, I always had (analog TV here is gone) to tune in the Channel by my own. The same with old analog TV Signals. We do not have Channels with fixed RF bandwiths, every channel has the same. To get our TV channels we had to tune in the right frequency. most TV have an automatic Channel finder which goes to all frequencys and stops if the Image is ok.
The first thing I do when I get an old computer/game console/etc. is take it apart and give any PCBs a good clean with electrical contact cleaner. Then if there are any card slots, edge connectors, RAM slots, etc. I hit those with just a little DeoxIT. I can't tell you how many "defective" components I've brought back to life just by giving them a proper cleaning. After I clean everything up I start checking other components, RTC battery, capacitors, etc. By cleaning the whole board first you rule out any minor shorts due to contamination (liquid, flux, debris, etc.) and DeoxIT is great for making sure you have good contact between any game carts, add on cards, controllers, etc.
Thanks for the tips :-)
Forget about the RF. You should just bypass the obsolete RF circuitry and wire the composite video output straight to the RCA jack. Then add a small headphone jack for the audio out somewhere.
Yep I remember those slotted games were a real problem where the receptical would be the issue from corrosion and or Oxidation to soldering joint problems because of the force it takes to insert and remove the cartridge . you've fixed it by cleaning it wayda go there Vince...
Also You probably have a NTSC model where you have PAL for tuning the RF is set to NTSC which is why your TV doesn't work on RF out put
Those caps on top of that chip on the right look like tantalums. Those are well known for being terrible. They can sometimes fail open circuit, sometimes they become a dead short and explode. I would suggest replacing them. Not sure if they'll cause intermittent issues like you're experiencing.
Clueless nonsense - those are common leaded axial ceramic capacitors.
my personal guess would be the switch is ground connected, and there is a 5v rail (LED to switch), and a 12v rail leading to the switch. so when the switch was pressed it would light up the LED, but dirt or something stopping the 12v rail from connecting to the switch. hense why the LED came on, but the console didn't fully switch on. and also why it is working all the time at the end of the video.
The Atari Jaguar if I remember rightly actually came with Cybermorph. It was a particularly crap game and no wonder that it was so cheap. If you can you should track down a copy of Tempest 2000. Tempest 2000 was a real psychedelic showcase for the system in both sound and visuals. However it is quite rare and expensive,but in my opinion one of the few games that can be considered really worthwhile getting.
the definition of insanity, doing the same thing over again and again, and expecting different results... and then the atari jaguar board said HOLD MY BEER.
Where did you learn to fly?
You could have saved days of work, just blow into the cartridge, that fixes everything 😄
Afaik, the UK used PAL-I, whereas most of the rest of western europe used PAL-B, this might explain the compatibility issues.
The inductor that's spread apart in the tuner is part of a finely tuned LC tank oscillator. Physically moving the inductor actually changes the oscillation frequency so it's set by hand and then glued/laquered to keep it in place.
You're correct, the "screw" should be intended for fine tuning the signal. The c64 had a similar rf-modulator as far as I know. Maybe one of the crystals used to give the rf frequency is out of sync or non working.
I know this is an old thread, but I found the set up instructions for the Jaguar, and it said that PAL-B connects to VHF and PAL-I connects to UHF (tho does not say which channel). Of course, if there's only 1 antenna port, it doesn't matter...
The semi-angry rant at the end of the video is absolute gold, thank you
Another great vlog from Vince,
bad power switch contacts? constant on/off cleaned them?
Hell yeah! I've been waiting for another video. Another obscure item also. Nobody is doing board repair on a Jaguar. Very cool video IMO. I recall when jaguars came out. The ads put so much hype on them and they sucked, i guess. I've never seen one in person. It was something to do with saying they were a 64bit console. Again, awesome video.
Cheers Mike :-)
Good video thanks Here in OZ we have VHF and UHF TV band and I believe in the UK VHF band was discontinued in the 70''s ?
Your UK TV is picking up a ghost/harmonic image of the vhf modulator in the unit on UHF.I had the opposite problem once with a UK pong game I purchased in the UK.
Changing to Australia on the TV is changing the tuning range to include VHF.The output of the modulator would be between 54 -225 mhz (AU ch 0 to 12) I think the bridged cap would ber for DC blocking on some units.
Excellent job mate. Now grab your self a copy of tempest 2000 and Rayman (or a jag everdrive and the roms, i don't judge) and enjoy your jag :)
Hi vince which multimeter do you use in your video would you recomend it or witch would you recomend for a beginner
I can't solder to save my life, but I can clean well, and it's fixed all my console issues so far!
The Jaguar did have an issue, a very dirty cart slot. This is why the 74AC244 Octal Buffer chip was getting very hot. The Jaguar cart slot can show many issues, from no screen, to red screen, to corrupt graphics and more. The RF Modulator issue is strange as the C100186 I believe is a PAL modulator for the XEGS game system and not the Jaguar, so I am guessing that could have been swapped out by someone. I am wondering now is this started out as a French system with no modulator, and someone added the C100186 to give it an RF signal. That could also be related why the capacitor was missing.
That little screw in the tuner is an intermediate Frequency Transformer. Part of the tuning circuitry.
Could it be a dry joint (s) on the board that just need reflowing?
Two things... it's cheaper for a company to bodge a couple wires to fix an issue than remanufacture a whole new board hence the factory "mod" as you said.
Secondly DSP stands for Digital Signal Processing otherwise known as "digital signaling" which can be a number of things, access for peripherals to the cpu/components of the devices logic. It could be a digital video output from the devices DSP "Digital Signal Processor", it could also be a means for the factory to test the unit and its various functions.
I wish I had as much patience as you. It's definitely frustrating to fix something without knowing what you did to fix it.
Hi Vince have you ever considered making a repro cart for the Jaguar?
Umm not that i dont appreciate every single video you put out good sir, but.... how am i spose to work this morning with a new My Mate Vince Video !!!! Thanks sir !
Happy with a 2.5 - 3hr version of videos as well :) Maybe a "Long Version" ? Sorry i know you are always slammed bringing us the already amazing content :) and its much appreciated !
Haha, sorry Paul :-)
Cheers for the videos Vince, something to look forward to during lockdown.
Yes some more retro gaming fixing :D
Hi Mymatevince I am 20 years and I have invented a iPhone charging ps4 controller board I would like to send you one to see how you like my design I use iPhone so when I need to charge my controller I can never find a micro usb cable so I thought how good would it be to have a iPhone charger ps4 controller. And I feel like you’re the perfect person because you like soldering smd so I will send you a clean board so you can solder the components on you self for a video and have a good product at the end and if anyone will want me to release them for sale can use leave me a comment and subscribe if use what a video but can please don’t see this as a advertisement I really just think it would help a lot of people and if you don’t mind me sending you one MyMateVine can you tell me how I can send you one thanks please reply and say if you do or don’t want one
Great video Vince, perhaps you do a revisit on this where you clean up the entire board.
Vince you are the best youtuber in the world I love you so much tysm for your efforts you put into your vids
I LOVE your videos. Find myself shouting at my mobile saying do this and do that, even though I know only a quarter of what you do. My wife laughs at me. 😂 😂 😂 😂 I'm half way through this one. Gonna watch the rest now! 😊
375/5000
Maybe it was a combination of different problems. Cold joints, dirty contacts in the cartridge or a dirty power button (and you "cleaned" it by turning the console on and off 200 times), sometimes it happens that they get dirty and do not conduct the proper current. You could try to lightly tap the console or better yet, the pcb with a pencil to see if it has any false contact
375/5000
Maybe it was a combination of different problems. Cold joints, dirty contacts in the cartridge or a dirty power button (and you "cleaned" it by turning the console on and off 200 times), sometimes it happens that they get dirty and do not conduct the proper current. You could try to lightly tap the console or better yet, the pcb with a pencil to see if it has any false contact
Things to do with a non-working system:
1. Check for physical damage.
2. Check for shorts.
3. Measure voltages (supply rails across the board).
4. Isolate fault to a subsystem.
Without schematic, how do you know which voltage should be where?
I used to get customers who brought their TV's over from continental Europe and wanted them converted. In all cases the picture would tune in perfectly but no audio. The conversion was fairly easy, just replacing some ceramic filters and a slight tuning. Have a look if you can what it's actually tuned to on the TV. I'm thinking this might be a VHF modulator. Your test TV may disable this when set to UK which would explain why it tunes in when you change country. UK only used VHF for 405 line transmissions and abandoned it for TV use in 1985 when they closed down 405. Other countries (including the Republic of Ireland with PAL-I) continued to use VHF for analogue transmissions. I suspect this console isn't a UK model.
By the way the coils and parallel capacitors form a tuned circuit so you will always read a short on that capacitor because of the coil in parallel. The separated turns is how they fine tune that circuit and disturbing that would have a negative effect, which is why they stuck that glue there.
I have repaired NES, SNES, Genesis, etc. I have fixed a lot of these old consoles. Never had a Jaguar. But I can 100% Confirm that sometimes a thorough deep cleaning is enough to fix a console (Resoldering the pins is also a good idea as well)
I don't believe it was so much the corrosion preventing the pins from connecting though. I believe that something was shorting out underneath the slot. This would explain why it was messing up so often and not booting even when you shorted those two pins. The short could have been small enough to let it begin to boot then error out at the red screen as well. When you cleaned it you removed all kinds of dirt that had built up over the years. Also The system likely started working after it had a good while to dry out. Maybe it would be a fun idea to create a way to keep dust out to prevent this from happening again. Many of these die out and no one really takes the time to just deep clean them. I have a feeling that most of the Retro systems that get tossed out as defective or fried just need a deep clean. I say that because I have only ever had 1 NES that was Legit dead in 12 years of repairing them and I'd say half of them just need cleaning and soldering.
Great video mate!
Also The UK and Ireland use a higher frequency than The rest of Europe. Most of the older consoles are just spec'd to have the higher frequency and generally work but several are not compatible. Newer tv's just kind of work with whatever you put in (A lot of them can detect the frequency and tune in which is why the TV you tried last looked cleaner I'd guess).
Quick google search says that pin 14 is a 'key' pin, along with pin 13. Pin 16 goes to either a 27C101 (eprom) or a 74hc244 (Octal Buffer / Line Driver). Console5.com has the schematic, archive.org does too.
Your Logik TV panel came from Australia, yet the rest of the TV originated in the UK. I would think the mainboard or logic board would be the determining factor on whether it would display UK or Aussie frequencies (yes, both PAL). This makes me think maybe not. Considering your other TV displays it...
46:11 Tells me its Regional locked when you switch it off UK its OK.
Using a scope (as you mentioned you have one) instead of prodding and re-soldering is a much better way of finding the underlying fault(s) and repairing it properly. Much more educational too.
I once did some work for a PC manufacturer that had me replacing BIOS' on site with IC's that had a resistor jumping 2 pins.
For the 1st couple years the jaguar did come with that game included. Forgot exactly when but they did eventually sell the system without it at a discount. Got my jaguar new n still have it, even played that game a fair bit. the keypad had notches on the edges for a plastic overlay for selecting weapons n such ingame. You can probably look them up online.
I have a Jaguar console with the av I like it nice system very awesome video.
Hi Vince, quick question if you don't mind? What's the mains input voltage range as stated on the back of your soldering station/power supply please? Is it 220V? Cheers
Fantastic Channel Mate I Know It`s 3 yrs Old But, Reignite Your Channel Mate!! YOUR GREAT!:)
Hi vince two possible explanations for the fix 1> a capacitor in the reset circuit has reformed its self 2> the on off switch has a set of reset contacts that were dirty.
As others have said the modulator is not for the UK.
Cheers Rob, a lot have mentioned the power switch in the comments, maybe it was just dirty contacts!!!! If only I had thought of that I could have saved a wasted day :-)
Hi Vince, what is the golden egg in the top left of the blue mat for?
Ohhh, I was wondering what you meant until I watched the vid back :-) That is to clean the solder of the soldering iron. You can use it instead of a wet sponge to clean the tip of excess solder :-) Some people prefer it as it doesn't cool down the tip as much as a wet sponge :-)
Wait. What about the two swapped chips that weren't identical after all? Were they close enough to do their job?
***Addendum***
If you find out what channel and what Format the RF Box outputs you could set another Device to the same channel and then Tune the TV to it, then plug in the Jaguar and tune the "IF Pot" "the one that you screwed" Not stuffed up mind you - Just TUNED to another channel" So it displays also at that channel..
Just bare in mind that "StillCloser" Below is correct about the various formats and having said that it may be easy to actually change some components to your Jaguars RF Box to output your regions Pal.. of course you will need to open up an RF box with your region to copy from..
Cheers for the tips Koala :-)
Don't forget the boot screen easter egg. Hold down the Pause button on your Jaguar pad wen you turn on your Jaguar, and when the rotating cube appears, you can press up, down, left and right to change the speed, size and direction of rotation.
Nice, I will try this. Thanks for sharing it :-)
UK is PAL I, Mainland Europe (excl. France) and Australia are PAL B/G. This is indeed probably an European machine. If you connect this jaguar to a TV that only supports PAL I, then even if you'd get an picture you wouldn't get audio.
"I'm kinda curious if this was brought over from another country..."
*Sticker label clearly says USA, where NTSC is the standard.
Oh Vince! Never change!
This was a very interesting video. I would have given up on it 20 minutes in!
This is not a USA Jaguar - the system had a red power LED in the US. The power light was changed to green in the EU - I think there's some law that requires red lights to mean a fault condition.
Well done these are the one you always remember and is always a nightmare , still great video 👍😊
Thank you Anonymous :-)
will the output rf be vhf? is your tv vhf/uhf i see c55 or something on your screen while in rf...
The Jaguar controller will work in the Atari Falcon030 if you are lucky enough to have one of those. That is one of the first units made..... I can see you even have the analog to digital chips but they were never used so unless you write your own game that uses them... those caps across the RAM chips could indeed be original bodge connections. Keep in mind you are dealing with a multi layer PCB and whomever was in there could have damaged the board layers. The problem is certainly with the cart connections. They are not self cleaning either. Just so you understand that. definitely replace those logic chips that were overheating. I'm sure they are damaged at this point. Use the edge of a defunct credit card with an old clean t-shirt dipped in contact cleaner. Shove it in and out carefully. Cut a strip of that old card to fit in the smaller area of the keyed connector and do the same. Make sure you clean the cartridge edge connector thoughly. I'm typing these as I watch so if you solved it already, at least keep this in mind for future reference. IPA is never the best thing to use to clean any metal surfaces. It's corrosive.... De-ox spray is the best.
Did you have the controller plugged in every time??
Great video! What soldering iron/multimeter do you use. I'm interested in fixing a few of my own consoles etc. I've had a look on your website and your email channel but can't see anything (incase you have already mentioned this). Cheers Vince. Take it easy
Hey UAE managed to be usefull for once, great job Vince
What I think the reason it is not always loading is all to do with the cleaning of the cart, isopropyl is slightly conductive so you need wait for all of it to evaporate. So if you try run it while wet with isopropyl it could be causing issues with the signals between game cart and console
The problem was the dirty/corroded cartridge connector. Had same problem with my n64. Sometimes game works perfectly when you have the pins lined, if not its black screen.
I've never heard of this console. Anyway, intermittent errors makes me think of bad joints, dirty contacts and/or heat problems. The cartridge connector looked suspicious indeed. There might be a lifted trace or something there, or some flux residue, as discussed. The seller also wrote something about flux residue, I think. Flux and liquid residue can be conductive, so when I see that I'm thinking it's always a good idea to clean it off straight away. The hot chip is also suspicious. Even if it's supposed to get warm, adding a heat sink could prolong its life. Oh, and it's probably best not to put solder on connector pins since you can never get it off again.
DSP is a Digital Signal Processor. Great video btw!
My Jag has just started doing this. Will give it a deep clean soon
Hi what iPa cleaner do you use?
Cybrermorph! A game that's much better with a broken screen! Now if you can break the sound... "Where did you learn to fly?" *sigh*
Always fun videos, thanks.
FWLIW: To me your frustrating issues smell of cheapness on Atari's part - cut a corner here and there to save pennies on components and this can often be the result. A particular problem with analogue TV - I bet a replacement RF box would work better, if made by somebody more reputable.
Thanks for the vid 👍 and I have not long fixed one myself 😊 but be aware that the dc socket is centre - and the outer ring is + or bad things will happen 😟 maybe fit the diode that’s missing by the dc plug 🤔 I will do it one day 😏
Ive had things mysteriously fix themself on multiple occasions. I had a VCR completely dead after taking it apart magically start working again. I also had a heater do it once, actually on multiple heaters. I was once given this mp3 player that was water damaged from being left out in the rain. it was completely dead for weeks. After me giving up on it and getting frustrated with it thinking "what do I got to lose?" I started throwing it and wacking it and kicking it and it also magically came back to life and never ever gave me problems and never stopped working and worked very reliably for many years after that. Once my PSP randomly stopped powering on and then just fixed it'sself somehow and is still working perfectly. Think it was from a failed softmod. Needless to say it is softmodded and although the optical drive is dead on it it it still works great for playing emulators. I also fixed a stereo once by cleaning the circuit board with alcohol.
Had the exact same thing years ago with VHS recorders. Try manual tuning instead of automatic tuning.
I think the screw thing in the box at 42:00 is an adjustor for the signal
Hello love your vids keep up the good work
I found an adapter that lets you use atari jag controllers on pc via usb. I think you have a pal jaguar... you have a ntsc tv?
one way to test a cap, is warm it with soldering iron, disconect the earth on your iron, if fitted. a cap will work when warmed, resistors can change in value, when warmed or cooled, ic chip can work again when froze, so get ya self some plumbers frezze spray. i had an lg lcd tv stuck in a loop logo screen then boot again, it needed an updated system, frezzing the chip, made it work long enough to install the new system software, after the chip came to room temp, the tv worked fine.
Great job in cleaning BOTH "The Game cartridge" and Game consoles "Cartridge Slot".. APU Dropped a like..
The RF modulator used on all VCR's in the UK was around CH 36 UHF The Atari looks the have a similar unit you should put the tv into auto tune mode to find its signal.Other fault was probably dirty /bad contact on the games socket
Makes me want to try out at fixing mine again after sitting in with my old school consoles for 20 years. Someone put a wrong power supply in it, blowing the internals around the port
RF? did you set it to channel 3?