The Bandai Intellivision was the Mattel-licensed version of the Intellivision released in Japan by Bandai Electronics. It's pretty rare, and I have one. Unfortunately, mine has never worked properly - it's got a stuck high bit in the character generator that corrupts all text and numbers on screen. Join me as I attempt to repair this problem with the help of a donor system and some helpful people at AtariAge. I'll warn you now - it turns into kind of a rabbit hole.
A few answers to some common comment questions I've gotten:
Q: Why not just get a better soldering iron to get the shields off?
A: I do have an adjustable temp soldering station that can get up to 900 degrees F (the Aoyue 469). The problem with taking the shields off is the solder behind the tabs that there's no easy way to suck out. It's not just solder laying across the top. Partly this is down to my own skills, and yes, partly it may be my equipment. But I think mostly it's just a tough desoldering job - many people who have worked on Intellivisions have complained about getting the shields off regardless of equipment, and that's usually on the US model that I didn't have any problem with. The Japanese model is... something else. It's obviously not meant to be serviceable.
Q: Did you replace all the chips in the Bandai system or only the SRAM chip?
A: I did end up putting the Japanese model back to stock except for the SRAM chip, power ribbon cable and sound chip socket. Those are the only new components now in my Bandai Intellivision.
Q: Did you try the Japanese SRAM chip in the US system?
A: Yes. It did the same thing.
Q: Why not use flux and braid/wick?
A: I did! I just didn't include it in the video because it was boringly unsuccessful; it just didn't do anything with that solder under the tabs. Different people have better or worse luck between braid and solder suckers. I happen to do better with suckers. Despite the impression I may give off in the video, this isn't my first time soldering. I have all the normal stuff and I know the right ways to use it; I'm just not as good at it as some who do it every day.
Q: Did you know the sound chip socket is flipped? The notch goes on the other side!
A: I just didn't pay any attention to that because it doesn't matter in this case. I would have bought a socket without that notch if it was the cheapest one that would have worked. What matters is the orientation of the chip on the board, and I have other references for that. In hindsight, I would have paid more attention to the socket orientation (or intentionally bought one without a notch) to cut down the number of comments about it, though.
If you're interested, here's the original thread about this repair on AtariAge: atariage.com/forums/topic/2684...
And if you need it, the Intellivision power ribbon replacement discussion/tutorial: atariage.com/forums/topic/2581...
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