Help Needed with A3000 Flicker Fixer

[magnetic]

Hi guys

I just got an A3000D in and the VGA out (flicker fixer) doesnt work with NTSC modes - the screen is just mostly garbage of green and black - however for some reason the Productivity mode comes up pretty decent though squiggly.

I tried adjustin the pot adjustment for the flicker fixer but that did not help, also changed out the AMBER chip but same problem.

Any ideas what to do next or what chips/components to check? I noticed the batt had slight leakage but i cleaned up most of the slight corrosion that was there..

Any help is appreciated as an a3k without flicker fixer is useless.. and its rather weird the productivity modes display.

tia
magnetic

[x56h34]

Perhaps your VGA monitor is sucky as far as ~30hz frequency goes? I have a monitor which is so sensitive that A3000's PAL flicker fixer output (or for that matter any flicker fixer adpater) doesn't work, yet NTSC does, just because it's slightly more hz than PAL. Something like 30.x vs 31.x, IIRC.

Try a different monitor.

[magnetic]

Thanks for the reply..

Nah, I have another A3k which works fine with this monitor...

 :-?

magnetic

[DamageX]

Is it only NTSC modes that don't work or haven't you tried PAL? The flicker-fixer must have some RAM to store the data for one field... go to the palette prefs and cycle through different colors to see if any of them display correctly. Also look for repeating patterns of corruption on the display as that could be another hint to the problem.

If you can't get it to work you should consider selling it cheaply to me.

[Zac67]

The battery's pretty close to the Amber circuit - so most probably the acid has eaten away some of it. Even if it doesn't look like it, there's a good chance for damage.
It's weird though that PAL works and NTSC doesn't. Productivity bypasses Amber, so if the circuits are somewhat functional you have no trouble with that.
Sorry to tell you, but you have to look into the acid damage more deeply (maybe only the socket?).

[magnetic]

Thanks for the reply guys. I havent tried PAL yet. Just the productivity mode. Besides the actual Amber chip what chips/circuits control the flicker fixer?

Also, if anyone wants to buy it I can sell it for $150

tia
magnetic

[vic20owner]

 

[magnetic]

Anyone else with any suggestions??

please

magnetic

[Zac67]

I thought you had successfully tried PAL, but misunderstood your post. I'm almost 100% sure the circuit and/or Amber socket is damaged and you should take a good look at it (or have it taken).

[magnetic]

Zac
Thanks, but which circuit specifically?

magnetic