I had one of these "consoles" when I was a kid. Before you even switched it on, I knew exactly what the sounds effects were going to be. The reminiscence is strong with this one!
Usually TH-cam "recommended" videos have little interest to me. However, they've come up trumps with this one. Absolutely loved that game as a youngster.Was beginning to think it was a figment of my imagination. Thank you so much for getting it wotking & bringing back great memories...👍
I love this channel so much. Your videos are so relaxing and entertaining at the same time. Easily one of my favorite channels of all time. Keep it up!
I loved this random video. I used to be an electronic technician until my industry died 20 years ago (board jockying, replace faulty parts with new instead of fixing) and seeing the tools and methods in use once more brought a tear to my eye.
Oh my god! The nostalgia factor 100% I remembered that game the second you showed it and the sound hit me as if I played it yesterday. I loved it although it's not a ps5
@@StezStixFix I bought one of these a couple of weeks ago to fix on my channel too! It also came with a Grandstand Puckmonster for £24. I haven't got round to looking at them yet as I've been busy mainly fixing Milwaukee Cordless tools.
@@StezStixFix I commented on your video and then I received a comment from a suspicious, almost you name. Please check the reply to my comment as it looks dodgy and seems to be using your name as its name with a telegram at the end.
Give it time, continue releasing awesome content, and this channel will blow up. Thank you for taking the time to create this awesome material and sharing it with all of us. I don’t know if your familiar with “ASMR” but you have some great unintentional ASMR content which the unintentional ASMR is always the best!!!
The start up sound and music are iconic. I remember them so well from my childhood. I inherited a few other machines like this from my much older brothers when I was a small child in the late 80s and early 90s. They've got to be kicking around somewhere in my childhood home.
I had one of these as a kid and another called one Star Force. Spent hours on them as kids. Nice repair. Mine still worked but just took them apart to give a nice clean/service and all good!
I have also heard graphite powder mixed with acetone and superglue. Im about to try this on my remove in the next couple days. The acetone helps with working time.
You're a good man for keeping our nostalgia alive and well. I'll send you my two broken PS3 60GB. Fix 'em both and keep one of them and send me back the other.
Those soldering money shots always seem to relax me...you are highly entertaining, too! Very well shot repair videos with the right amount of humor. I'm really enjoying your channel!
I used to have one of these when I was a kid (and a Mario's cement factory tabletop)! Absolutely loved Firefox, the amount of colour and sound in it made it feel like something special compared to all the monochrome Game and Watch stuff.
Hello again. As a non-electronics or soldering person, can you please explain what tekno-sorcery is happening at 05:23, where a bit of what looks like KY Jelly and a soldering iron suddenly gets those manky old contacts looking like new again? Ta.
@@MrThunderwing The KY Jelly is soldering flux, which takes many forms but they all mainly prevent oxidation (ie corrosion) when hot metal is exposed to air, so instead of horrid burnt-looking solder joints you get those lovely shiny ones, with the solder obediently flowing where it's supposed to. And honestly, even though I've been using it for decades it does still sort of feel like a magic substance every time.
Interesting choice of music for someone fixing electric stuff indeed... :) And I liked the seemingly casual way of putting a cat in this vid (which made me click thrice on the like button tbh). Merci Monsieur :)
Was recommended this video few days ago by the algorhythm and have since watched dozens of your vids. Really loving them, and especially the more recent ones. Keep going Steve!
for contacts like that you might like to try conductive paint for restoring keyboard contacts, it's very effective and has less issues of it potentially falling off like the copper tape (it will eventually 'wear out' again but how much use are these things going to get now tbh xD )
True, but I bet the rubber plastic button is also getting perished. Sometimes you can't get the conductive paint to stick on when they are perished. Only way foward is to glue a tiny bit of alu foil. Superglue should not be used in electronics as it will leave a white coating from fumes over the pcb and eventually corrode it, its like battery or capacitor leakage but white.
for future reference Steve, for the carbon button pad, there's a trick to cleaning them to make better contact. you take a piece of paper and rub the carbon contact pad on the paper, you should see a small black streak where you rubbed it on the paper to know if you did it right. great video keep up the good work, I have been on a binge watch of your videos today trying to catch up, been too busy this semester with all my classes and my senior project class so I have not been watching, almost done though, one more final project then I am done and off to graduation.
Hey Steve! I've been watching a lot of your videos since I found you on YT last week. Pretty cool indeed. It would be very satisfying if you start giving proper bubble baths to all your retro equipment after you fix it to remove all that dust and grime. Keep up the good work! Cheers froms Dominican Republic
Interesting little tunes on there - the startup tune is from Thunderbirds, then there's the bit of Star Wars, then a little bit of Holst - gameplay seems like it is a bit Star Wars inspired, but the styling of the name Firefox on the box and the game is quite similar to the text on the movie poster for the 1982 Clint Eastwood film of the same name. What an interesting mishmash!
I remember this game, I found it in a charity shop as a little girl for something like 50p or £1 in the early 90s, had loads of fun with it 😁 I wonder where my one is…
This video was randomly suggested to me. Old game consoles are always cool and I was not expecting a repair. What had me hooked for the entire video was the detail of your repair and generosity of your knowledge. Kudos to you and I have subscribed.
You can normally run a rubber over the rubber pad to bring it back to life. Thunderbirds and Star Wars tunes in the game how did they get away with that?
Ooh, I didn't think of that, I'll give that a go on the next one, thanks for the tip! 👍 I know, I think there are some other ripped off tunes in there too! 😳
I had this game as a kid (mid 80's). The music tracks were a mix of Thunderbirds and Star Wars amongst others. Standard Eveready batteries only lasted about 10 or 20 games so I ended up with the AC transformer. I bought this game on eBay about 15 years ago for nostalgia. Also bought the Astro Wars predecessor which I first saw at a school camp in '84. Happy memories!
I specialize in "security technology applications". I am very interested in your "clandestine, battery insertion techniques". They appear to be "magical" in some respect and that knowledge would certainly benefit my industry... Love the vids man! Keep them coming!
Did you win? Yes you did, can I fix it ? Yes you can, well I'm gone. Tip! to make the carbon pads conductive #awesome brother Steve! Pencil clean/white paper Rub the pencil on the paper make a lot of thick dust, then rub the non working pad on that. Put it in the game/machine/console etc.. hey presto button works! 🤓👍🏻
I would have epoxyed the PCB back together and then just used two small pieces of component lead (leftover trimmings from resistors/ capacitors/ diodes). I have fixed very large cracks with tens of traces like that and it gives a good result. I love the green enamel you added afterward I will have to order some of that.
Similar thing with TV remotes - the carbon pad for the "standby" button is always the one that wears out. Trouble is, of course, that the entire keypad is molded from one lump of rubber. If all else fails, I find that a tiny bit of kitkat wrapper superglued to the pad will restore function. Kitkat wrappers seem to work especially well because they're super-thin tinfoil.
I once owned one of these & had hours of entertainment. I remember there were 3 levels of play from easy, medium & hard. Managed to complete the whole stages on levels easy & medium many times but the hard only a few :)
instead of going thru all that trouble to repair the broken trace, it would have been easier and more effective to run a wire between the two solder joints that you were putting the meter on. I know it's less elegant!
It's so funny the difference between "untested" when I order something from the US versus Japan. When I order stuff from Japan untested, half the time it works fine. I like to pronounce it multimeter myself.
True, in most of the world "untested" means not working but i won't say, I have a lot of stuff labeled "junk" from japan that worked perfectly, in one shop they even tested the "junk" labeled item in front of me, of course it worked.
I am really glad to have found your channel. You have a great ability to make stuff I know nothing about, seem interesting and educational,in a good way. Your editing skills are very fun to see also. I was surprised you didn't have hundreds of thousands of subs. Your style reminded me a little of a fellow youtuber @Techmoan. I have followed him for years now. I love the old school gadgets. Your commentary even made my girlfriend giggle while sat at my side playing some crappy shovel ware game on her phone. Keep them coming,you have a gift my friend.
I once bought a lot of two 'untested' oscilloscopes for around £11 plus P&P from ebay and one actually did work, and lasted for years before it went! That was years ago on 'the old' ebay though, you know the one whare normal people used it to get rid of their old junk for a few quide! Who else still remembers that ebay!?
You remind me of my dad when we were kids in the 80s, very handy with a soldering iron! We kids were always breaking these games (Frogger, Astrowars etc) and he'd have to take them apart and re-solder joysticks & buttons and glue bits back together.
NEVER POWER UP ANYTHING THAT RATTLES. And I'd never power up anything like that till I popped it open anyway. Who knows what kind of gunk, corrosion and jury rigged crap you may find in it. But that's just me ☺️
@@StezStixFix Aaaa. Screw Those Clowns. If they want to pay for it. Then they have a say 😏 Just take it apart off camera before you start. Just put a little piece of plastic back in when you're done. People are pretty slow these days. They'll believe Anything. 😂🤣😂 😳 ✌️
Still have mine after nearly 40 years and it always seems to work perfectly once those large batteries have been replaced.....those noise effects bought back memories👍👍🙂
Great job Steve what a cheesy retro game back from the 80's Nice and loud and clunky controls lol i find your channel very satisfying when you repair something and it works!!!!
I have one of these somewhere. No idea whether it works, where I got it from, or why TH-cam recommended this video to me, but I'll have to look for it and test it out.
😂 yeah, TH-cam seem to have gone on a random recommendation spree this weekend. Not that I'm complaining! Hope you can find your Firefox, I reckon there are loads of these things sat in attics! 👍
Dude your channel is blowing up!! So happy for you man!!! I literally died when i head your Holy hand grenade option on patreon. Absolutely hilarious. It is but a flesh wound! *literally no arms or legs*
Great fix! This was a neat piece to see you work on, Steve. The music you commented on was definitely Star Wars, and then the other one the game played was part of “Jupiter” from Gustav Holst’s “The Planets.”
The start of the game (when you turn it on) was the theme song from Thunderbirds (The old Gerry Anderson Supermarionet show). It's so funny that they took so many well known melodies in the game.
Nice, I have an Astro Wars that came from a local op shop. Nothing wrong with it, but also no volume control. You’d think pots were made of gold or something, lol. My NES rattled, fortunately it was only snail pellets.
I just discover yoyr channel. Your videoes are so satisfying and i learn alot from them. Amazing job with the editing and all. I am a DIY guy but have stayed away from small electric so many years. Greetings from Norway and you have got a new subscriber
Same, my brother got this for Christmas one year and we were glued to it. I still remember Christmas Day playing it to death and getting the dreaded call from mum, your dinner is ready. We carried on playing till mum came and took it off us lol, having to eat Christmas dinner before we could play again was a pain I won't forget!
Thanks for the tip!, I have copper tape and i have a stereo remote with a few flaky buttons. Like you, I knew they were carbonised but had no idea how to repair, copper tape is so obvious now!
These older style video games really lent themselves to being opened and had atleast attempts at fixes done on them, back in the day. For the smarter gamer it may had even been the catalyst that got them interested in electronic engineering themed course work in college and when looking for a job. I know thats how things happened with me. Thanks for being such a great resource, me myself and Im sure others, have used your videos to buy, fix and test at least one vintage game we found on ebay that was listed as "untested".
Great fix man. I gotta ask though, do you know about 'fiberglass pens'? They're hard, compressed bundles of fiberglass, in a lipstick-like dispenser. They are stiff enough to abrade away soldermask, corrosion on metals, on traces, etc without damaging the underlying copper foil! I mean, they're just real useful in a general sense, but it's great for removing soldermask, built up crud and corrosion on battery terminals or pcb eyes/pins, and it lets you scrub areas you'd never be able to reach with a piece of sandpaper or a knife. And it's way more gentle than scraping with an xacto blade! Dirt cheap too. Also, I hate to nitpick, but when reworking stuff like this, I tend to use solder sucker/braid to remove all the old solder before putting new solder on. Not so much a problem on old things with leaded solder, but with modern ROHS/lead-free, it's just better habit to have! Also, getting a little can of 'deoxit' spray is even more gentle for those pcb pad switches. Gotta be careful cleaning the carbon sticker (on the membrane side), alcohol tends to rub off a lot of material, so don't soak it. Also, that plastic boss that fell out? Friction stir welding with 3d printer abs filament can fix so many things. It should be illegal how well it works! Great repair man. I'm surprised how nice the screen protector was, usually they're all yellowed and crazed, and require a ton of effort with plast-x plastic polish. That speaker is annoying as shit, I usually cover the grill with kapton or electrical tape, if it's a piezo I put it directly on the buzzer not the case.. I hate the shrillness of it, and tape helps a ton. Definitely subbing tho! Didn't mean to write a dissertation on everything I would have done differently. Repair came out good, that's all that matters! I just try to tell others about tools or tricks I've come across to hopefully save them time, and give them more tools and techniques to use!
I had one of these "consoles" when I was a kid. Before you even switched it on, I knew exactly what the sounds effects were going to be. The reminiscence is strong with this one!
I had firefox too. kept me amused for hours
Yeah I had a Firefox played it forever back in the day!!!
When I finished it, I thought I had broken it. That level end tune was repeated about 30 times. Da da dada da da diddle diddle daaaaaaaaaa.
me too
Me too!
Untested always seems to mean, it was tested and didn't work, and they're afraid to indicate as such for fear of devaluing the item. its annoying.
One could understand it if it had a 63 pin rhombus shaped power plug with 15 different voltages, but a few C cells, come on
@@bsdjunkie1805 Exactly, lmao! lol
Such a small lie is why we all get sick grow old and die Genesis 3:4 ►
I don't think he was surprised.
It's hilarious "Not tested as no game cartridge" then later in the listing "See my other listings for games for this system
I had this game as a boy on the 80’s. So cool to have such a powerful flashback seeing it working again. Well done Steve. Great.
Same!
Me too!
@@attentionaddicts ☝
Me too mate.
Wonderful to see this! Firefox was one of the only games I completed as a kid. Over and over again. My poor parents. 😆
I had it aged 3 or 4. I loved the music! Bits of Planet suite and stuff.
Usually TH-cam "recommended" videos have little interest to me. However, they've come up trumps with this one. Absolutely loved that game as a youngster.Was beginning to think it was a figment of my imagination. Thank you so much for getting it wotking & bringing back great memories...👍
I love this channel so much. Your videos are so relaxing and entertaining at the same time. Easily one of my favorite channels of all time. Keep it up!
Hey, thanks let do! I really appreciate that, and I'm glad you like the channel! 👍😍
Thanks for the copper tape tip. My old DVD remote had a faulty on/off button but this has brought it back to life 👍
If you have no copper tape handy, just rub the button with a pencil. The graphite does the same job.
@Mark Mowadeeb there's a conductive paint that works VERY well if all of these attempts fail
That tape will loose its stickiness and fall off at some point.
I've used glued on aluminum foil for the same purpose to fix the worn out buttons on a remote
I am in awe of people like you who have the patience to fix these things , it looks great fun, I mean the fixing , not the game 👍👍
I loved this random video. I used to be an electronic technician until my industry died 20 years ago (board jockying, replace faulty parts with new instead of fixing) and seeing the tools and methods in use once more brought a tear to my eye.
Oh my god! The nostalgia factor 100% I remembered that game the second you showed it and the sound hit me as if I played it yesterday. I loved it although it's not a ps5
Nicely done Steve and Dave 👍
Thanks Vince! 😁
@@StezStixFix I bought one of these a couple of weeks ago to fix on my channel too! It also came with a Grandstand Puckmonster for £24. I haven't got round to looking at them yet as I've been busy mainly fixing Milwaukee Cordless tools.
@@StezStixFix I commented on your video and then I received a comment from a suspicious, almost you name.
Please check the reply to my comment as it looks dodgy and seems to be using your name as its name with a telegram at the end.
@@bobhopemaryjane2 I got it also. Not sure what they are trying to accomplish. They said I won a gaming device. They misspelled "divice".
I really love your style, dry humour and no hype.
Thanks James, really appreciate that 👍
This kind of content is so addictive. Really love having this playing on one of my screens while I work. Lovely
Never had this one, but I do remember having 'Grandstand Astro Wars'. I think my brother still has it in the original box.
Give it time, continue releasing awesome content, and this channel will blow up. Thank you for taking the time to create this awesome material and sharing it with all of us. I don’t know if your familiar with “ASMR” but you have some great unintentional ASMR content which the unintentional ASMR is always the best!!!
Thanks Bultron, I love a bit of accidental ASMR! Thank you 👍
Did it blow up ? because I just saw this randomly !?
@@NerdGlassGamingPA 🤯
The start up sound and music are iconic. I remember them so well from my childhood. I inherited a few other machines like this from my much older brothers when I was a small child in the late 80s and early 90s. They've got to be kicking around somewhere in my childhood home.
startup sound is the Thunderbirds theme :)
the other one sounds like the Wilhelm Tell Ouverture
@@remko2Ride of The Valkyries and a little Jerusalem at the end.
@@Vamptonius
Ride of the Valkaries, spot on, AKA The Dambuster's theme tune.
I had one of these as a kid and another called one Star Force. Spent hours on them as kids. Nice repair. Mine still worked but just took them apart to give a nice clean/service and all good!
for the carbon-rubber buttons you can use silver conductive paint, it works wonders, a bit tricky to apply tho
I have also heard graphite powder mixed with acetone and superglue. Im about to try this on my remove in the next couple days. The acetone helps with working time.
You're a good man for keeping our nostalgia alive and well. I'll send you my two broken PS3 60GB. Fix 'em both and keep one of them and send me back the other.
Great repair Dave, yes I know it's you that does all the work for no reward, Voice Over Steve told me.
🤣🤣 he actually contributed in this one! 😁
Good fix Steve. I didn't know you could get replacement traces, but they seem more fiddly then just using the enamelled wire.
Thanks Ned! Yeah, definitely fiddly-er! I just wanted to try one out, but I think they'd be better served on a ripped pad on a HDMI port or similar! 👍
Your videos get better each time. I glad I found your channel.
Thanks EaziG! Much appreciated! 👍
Those soldering money shots always seem to relax me...you are highly entertaining, too! Very well shot repair videos with the right amount of humor. I'm really enjoying your channel!
Thanks Septer! 🤩
I used to have one of these when I was a kid (and a Mario's cement factory tabletop)! Absolutely loved Firefox, the amount of colour and sound in it made it feel like something special compared to all the monochrome Game and Watch stuff.
Hello again. As a non-electronics or soldering person, can you please explain what tekno-sorcery is happening at 05:23, where a bit of what looks like KY Jelly and a soldering iron suddenly gets those manky old contacts looking like new again? Ta.
@@MrThunderwing The KY Jelly is soldering flux, which takes many forms but they all mainly prevent oxidation (ie corrosion) when hot metal is exposed to air, so instead of horrid burnt-looking solder joints you get those lovely shiny ones, with the solder obediently flowing where it's supposed to. And honestly, even though I've been using it for decades it does still sort of feel like a magic substance every time.
@@davidf2281 Nice one, good to know, cheers!
Interesting choice of music for someone fixing electric stuff indeed... :) And I liked the seemingly casual way of putting a cat in this vid (which made me click thrice on the like button tbh). Merci Monsieur :)
😁 merci beacoup Esseferio!
Love these old machines amazing how things have changed
Yeah, things have definitely impoved in the technology department! 😁
@@StezStixFix Indeed. They certainly didn't have robotic cleaning cloth's back in the 80's like you use in this clip :)
Was recommended this video few days ago by the algorhythm and have since watched dozens of your vids. Really loving them, and especially the more recent ones. Keep going Steve!
for contacts like that you might like to try conductive paint for restoring keyboard contacts, it's very effective and has less issues of it potentially falling off like the copper tape (it will eventually 'wear out' again but how much use are these things going to get now tbh xD )
Good shout, thanks Sparks, I'll try thst next time! 👍
+1 this. Was just about to comment the same thing. It’s really good stuff. I’ve repaired ancient TV remotes back to perfect working order with it.
True, but I bet the rubber plastic button is also getting perished. Sometimes you can't get the conductive paint to stick on when they are perished. Only way foward is to glue a tiny bit of alu foil.
Superglue should not be used in electronics as it will leave a white coating from fumes over the pcb and eventually corrode it, its like battery or capacitor leakage but white.
I used a "soft" pencil year ago, but that was also temporary
for future reference Steve, for the carbon button pad, there's a trick to cleaning them to make better contact. you take a piece of paper and rub the carbon contact pad on the paper, you should see a small black streak where you rubbed it on the paper to know if you did it right. great video keep up the good work, I have been on a binge watch of your videos today trying to catch up, been too busy this semester with all my classes and my senior project class so I have not been watching, almost done though, one more final project then I am done and off to graduation.
You can then use a graphite pencil and put the graphite from the pencil onto the underside of the contact.
New to this channel, needless to say hooked. Interesting, informative, straight to the point, no in your face background music. I'm all in brother
Thanks Matt! Really appreciate that 👍
Hey Steve! I've been watching a lot of your videos since I found you on YT last week. Pretty cool indeed. It would be very satisfying if you start giving proper bubble baths to all your retro equipment after you fix it to remove all that dust and grime. Keep up the good work! Cheers froms Dominican Republic
Interesting little tunes on there - the startup tune is from Thunderbirds, then there's the bit of Star Wars, then a little bit of Holst - gameplay seems like it is a bit Star Wars inspired, but the styling of the name Firefox on the box and the game is quite similar to the text on the movie poster for the 1982 Clint Eastwood film of the same name. What an interesting mishmash!
I remember this game, I found it in a charity shop as a little girl for something like 50p or £1 in the early 90s, had loads of fun with it 😁 I wonder where my one is…
This video was randomly suggested to me. Old game consoles are always cool and I was not expecting a repair. What had me hooked for the entire video was the detail of your repair and generosity of your knowledge. Kudos to you and I have subscribed.
If you like this sort of thing. I've recently repaired quite a few of these types of games.
You can normally run a rubber over the rubber pad to bring it back to life. Thunderbirds and Star Wars tunes in the game how did they get away with that?
Ooh, I didn't think of that, I'll give that a go on the next one, thanks for the tip! 👍 I know, I think there are some other ripped off tunes in there too! 😳
I have this Firefox F-7 game since my childhood and it´s still working. :) Now I´m 46 years old and this video made me play it again.
I had this game as a kid (mid 80's). The music tracks were a mix of Thunderbirds and Star Wars amongst others. Standard Eveready batteries only lasted about 10 or 20 games so I ended up with the AC transformer.
I bought this game on eBay about 15 years ago for nostalgia. Also bought the Astro Wars predecessor which I first saw at a school camp in '84.
Happy memories!
thanks for the confirmation, the startup was so short i wasn't 100% it was Thunderbirds
And Holst's Jupiter from The Planets, a suite everyone should hear at least once in their lives 🤘
It’s the theme from the A team isn’t it?
I specialize in "security technology applications". I am very interested in your "clandestine, battery insertion techniques". They appear to be "magical" in some respect and that knowledge would certainly benefit my industry...
Love the vids man! Keep them coming!
Hi, I’m new to your channel. Really enjoyed this whole process! What kind of flux are you using when cleaning the solder?
I asked the same question. No answer yet
Lovely to see your subscribers increasing! 10k here we come! ❤️❤️
Thanks Ian, hopefully soon! 👍
Alu foil or copper tape is perfect for those worn out carbon pads. Ive done it many times with my C64 controllers.
wow i had one of these. must of been around '83 ? all those sounds are flooding back into my brain ! thanks for the trip down memory lane dude !
For those pads you can rub on some powdered lead from a pencil. Has saved me many tv remote controls 👍
Thanks for the tip! Someone else mentioned this too, so I'm definitely gonna give it a try on my next one! 👍
Amazing how much better the connections looked after the reflow.
Yeah, they looked better than factory! 😁
Did you win? Yes you did, can I fix it ? Yes you can, well I'm gone. Tip! to make the carbon pads conductive #awesome brother Steve! Pencil clean/white paper
Rub the pencil on the paper make a lot of thick dust, then rub the non working pad on that. Put it in the game/machine/console etc.. hey presto button works! 🤓👍🏻
😁 Ah-ha! Thanks brother Steve, an excellent tip! I'll definitely try that next time. Much appreciated, as always! 👍
You can buy carbon pencil sticks as well.
@@jekylthorn8969 True! good call.
Its very cool that you’re both able to Shazam the batteries in and un-Shazam them out! Very impressed! 🙏🏾
I would have epoxyed the PCB back together and then just used two small pieces of component lead (leftover trimmings from resistors/ capacitors/ diodes). I have fixed very large cracks with tens of traces like that and it gives a good result. I love the green enamel you added afterward I will have to order some of that.
Thanks Simon, I'll give that a go next time 👍
Amazing, I used to have one of these. Hearing those sounds took me right back. Great job repairing it.
Similar thing with TV remotes - the carbon pad for the "standby" button is always the one that wears out.
Trouble is, of course, that the entire keypad is molded from one lump of rubber.
If all else fails, I find that a tiny bit of kitkat wrapper superglued to the pad will restore function.
Kitkat wrappers seem to work especially well because they're super-thin tinfoil.
I know there used to be kits where you could get electrically conductive paint to redo the backs of buttons that wore out.
I once owned one of these & had hours of entertainment. I remember there were 3 levels of play from easy, medium & hard. Managed to complete the whole stages on levels easy & medium many times but the hard only a few :)
Noticed the cat touching store at the end ? 😅 by the way great repair as always 😎
Thanks KoSlow! Yeah, the scratchy-bitey cat made a cameo appearance! I forgot to close the door 😁
Nice repair mate. I think you'll be at 100k subs in no time. Brilliant content.
Thanks Barry, really appreciate that! 👍
@@StezStixFix Congrats on the 100k, well deserved.
instead of going thru all that trouble to repair the broken trace, it would have been easier and more effective to run a wire between the two solder joints that you were putting the meter on. I know it's less elegant!
Thanks Albert, yeah it would probably be more effective but I do like practicing the little trace repairs! 😬
Them pcb's boards are quite fragile and crumbly.
But then he couldn't use the traces he got from off of China 😆
As for the button repair..I've used a pencil to draw on the carbon pad....works a treat !
It's so funny the difference between "untested" when I order something from the US versus Japan. When I order stuff from Japan untested, half the time it works fine.
I like to pronounce it multimeter myself.
😁 yeah, most Japanese things are sold as "junk" without necessarily being tested.
True, in most of the world "untested" means not working but i won't say, I have a lot of stuff labeled "junk" from japan that worked perfectly, in one shop they even tested the "junk" labeled item in front of me, of course it worked.
@@StezStixFix In Japan auctions 'Junk' basically just means old!
there is no greater pride than having something last a long time because you took care of it, but you take it to another level.!!!
I am really glad to have found your channel. You have a great ability to make stuff I know nothing about, seem interesting and educational,in a good way. Your editing skills are very fun to see also. I was surprised you didn't have hundreds of thousands of subs. Your style reminded me a little of a fellow youtuber @Techmoan. I have followed him for years now. I love the old school gadgets. Your commentary even made my girlfriend giggle while sat at my side playing some crappy shovel ware game on her phone. Keep them coming,you have a gift my friend.
Hehe, another great one!, but this game seemed better unrepaired:-)
😁 you're not wrong there, Willy! 🤣
Wow! Loads of memories flashing back watching this. Awesome sound effects.
I once bought a lot of two 'untested' oscilloscopes for around £11 plus P&P from ebay and one actually did work, and lasted for years before it went!
That was years ago on 'the old' ebay though, you know the one whare normal people used it to get rid of their old junk for a few quide!
Who else still remembers that ebay!?
😁 I remember it well, Garry! It used to be a fun place to buy and sell!
Had this as a kid and just hearing the startup music brought back so many memories, thanks.
I pity the parent that gave that game to their child on Christmas morning
Still have my one in box with all the instructions and leaflets, not played it for ages but loved this when I was younger.
I always assume "untested" is code for "does not work" .
You remind me of my dad when we were kids in the 80s, very handy with a soldering iron! We kids were always breaking these games (Frogger, Astrowars etc) and he'd have to take them apart and re-solder joysticks & buttons and glue bits back together.
NEVER POWER UP ANYTHING THAT RATTLES.
And I'd never power up anything like that till I popped it open anyway. Who knows what kind of gunk, corrosion and jury rigged crap you may find in it.
But that's just me ☺️
Yeah, that's definitely good advice. But if I don't try it, I get "you didn't try to power it up, it probably already worked" comments! 🤣
@@StezStixFix
Aaaa. Screw Those Clowns.
If they want to pay for it. Then they have a say 😏
Just take it apart off camera before you start. Just put a little piece of plastic back in when you're done.
People are pretty slow these days. They'll believe Anything. 😂🤣😂 😳 ✌️
@@StezStixFix
And don't worry.
I won't tell anyone I told you that 🙄😏 Enjoy ☺️
I love the accessibility of old (non-micro) electronics... just dive in and solve it yourself - lovely.
I use a paint on carbon to fix rubber pads that works. Eg: remote controls . After a few months if may need recoating, depending on the use.
Still have mine after nearly 40 years and it always seems to work perfectly once those large batteries have been replaced.....those noise effects bought back memories👍👍🙂
Taking photos is such a simple tip so you don’t forget where things go thanks my man 👍
superb. Still got mine from 1985 in its box in the parents loft. Still works.
Great video! 😊
I definitely heard the Star Wars music, but then at the end I was pleasantly surprised to hear what sounded like Holst’s “Jupiter” 😮👏👏👏
Your editing skills are pretty good (almost like watching a electronic/game version of aging wheels), the outro of the video is hilarious.
Subbed.
Thanks Madmax! Much appreciated! 👍
Thank you for sharing this video Steve great job in fixing? See you next time 😉
You are so engaging and pleasant to watch. I enjoy watching your expertise in action
Good to see you repair this Firefox F7 Electronic Game another fine fix there Steve - nice 1 👍
Thanks Chris! 👍
Blasted me right back to the late 80's! Thanks!!
You can repair those pads with silver conductive paint works a treat. Nice work, subscribed.
Great job Steve what a cheesy retro game back from the 80's Nice and loud and clunky controls lol i find your channel very satisfying when you repair something and it works!!!!
This video popped up on my feed and brought back loads of memories! I had that game, hearing those sounds was awesome! Great fix too!
I have one of these somewhere. No idea whether it works, where I got it from, or why TH-cam recommended this video to me, but I'll have to look for it and test it out.
😂 yeah, TH-cam seem to have gone on a random recommendation spree this weekend. Not that I'm complaining! Hope you can find your Firefox, I reckon there are loads of these things sat in attics! 👍
Dude your channel is blowing up!! So happy for you man!!! I literally died when i head your Holy hand grenade option on patreon. Absolutely hilarious. It is but a flesh wound! *literally no arms or legs*
May I please know what was the brand/type of the liquid (flux?) that you poured at 5:19 ?
Nice work as a child I remember these type gaming machines abit basic but brilliant fun in there time 👍👍
I know NOTHING about electronics (I can barely change a plug) but I found this fascinating! Really enjoyed this thank you. 👍
Great fix! This was a neat piece to see you work on, Steve. The music you commented on was definitely Star Wars, and then the other one the game played was part of “Jupiter” from Gustav Holst’s “The Planets.”
The start of the game (when you turn it on) was the theme song from Thunderbirds (The old Gerry Anderson Supermarionet show). It's so funny that they took so many well known melodies in the game.
Nice, I have an Astro Wars that came from a local op shop. Nothing wrong with it, but also no volume control. You’d think pots were made of gold or something, lol. My NES rattled, fortunately it was only snail pellets.
😁 Yeah, surprised there's no volume control on this thing... someone suggested running a resistor on the speaker cable, so i might try that!
I had one of these when I was a kid. Tons of fun. My cousin and I played the crap out of it.
I just discover yoyr channel. Your videoes are so satisfying and i learn alot from them. Amazing job with the editing and all. I am a DIY guy but have stayed away from small electric so many years. Greetings from Norway and you have got a new subscriber
At the end of the day you did "Just use a wire" Steve 😂. Been watching your vids since yesterday and already hooked! Thanks for the content.
I remember playing this light up game under the bed in the dark for the best effects back in the 80s lol.
✌️❤️🇳🇿
Same, my brother got this for Christmas one year and we were glued to it. I still remember Christmas Day playing it to death and getting the dreaded call from mum, your dinner is ready. We carried on playing till mum came and took it off us lol, having to eat Christmas dinner before we could play again was a pain I won't forget!
Thanks for the tip!, I have copper tape and i have a stereo remote with a few flaky buttons. Like you, I knew they were carbonised but had no idea how to repair, copper tape is so obvious now!
Have you considered using Polywatch for the screen scratches. It’s used for removing scratches on acrylic watch crystal/glass
These older style video games really lent themselves to being opened and had atleast attempts at fixes done on them, back in the day. For the smarter gamer it may had even been the catalyst that got them interested in electronic engineering themed course work in college and when looking for a job. I know thats how things happened with me.
Thanks for being such a great resource, me myself and Im sure others, have used your videos to buy, fix and test at least one vintage game we found on ebay that was listed as "untested".
Nice! Golly that was loud. sneaky screw under that joystick. and nice copper tape hack 👍
😁 thanks OB1! Very very loud! 😁
I am a new subscriber and i look forward to going through watching your videos to find out the story of Dave... Very entertaining.
Thanks Rick! 👍
That brings me back to games I had in my childhood.
Thank you, what was that cool chemical that seemed to dissolve and improve the resoldering? Thank you 😊
Great fix man. I gotta ask though, do you know about 'fiberglass pens'? They're hard, compressed bundles of fiberglass, in a lipstick-like dispenser. They are stiff enough to abrade away soldermask, corrosion on metals, on traces, etc without damaging the underlying copper foil! I mean, they're just real useful in a general sense, but it's great for removing soldermask, built up crud and corrosion on battery terminals or pcb eyes/pins, and it lets you scrub areas you'd never be able to reach with a piece of sandpaper or a knife. And it's way more gentle than scraping with an xacto blade! Dirt cheap too. Also, I hate to nitpick, but when reworking stuff like this, I tend to use solder sucker/braid to remove all the old solder before putting new solder on. Not so much a problem on old things with leaded solder, but with modern ROHS/lead-free, it's just better habit to have! Also, getting a little can of 'deoxit' spray is even more gentle for those pcb pad switches. Gotta be careful cleaning the carbon sticker (on the membrane side), alcohol tends to rub off a lot of material, so don't soak it.
Also, that plastic boss that fell out? Friction stir welding with 3d printer abs filament can fix so many things. It should be illegal how well it works! Great repair man. I'm surprised how nice the screen protector was, usually they're all yellowed and crazed, and require a ton of effort with plast-x plastic polish. That speaker is annoying as shit, I usually cover the grill with kapton or electrical tape, if it's a piezo I put it directly on the buzzer not the case.. I hate the shrillness of it, and tape helps a ton.
Definitely subbing tho! Didn't mean to write a dissertation on everything I would have done differently. Repair came out good, that's all that matters! I just try to tell others about tools or tricks I've come across to hopefully save them time, and give them more tools and techniques to use!
I had one of these! the sounds brought back all the nostalgia!
Another cool repair video, how bright & colourful were the displays on these old electronic games ???