New Vic 20 owner here.

[Jeff-20]

Welcome, friend.

[Gigabite]

I've finally fired up the vic..and came across this...i'm using a composite cable. for some reason it's a dark grey instead of white. i hope is not a bad IC...

WP_20140802_19_01_11_Pro by Gio_16bits, on Flickr

[Mike]

No worries. The dark grey (which should normally be bright white) indicates the luma base voltage is slightly off. That happens quite often.

Inside the metal casing that houses the VIC, there's an adjustable resistor (R29 in the original model with large PCB, 2-prong supply; R10 in the CR model with small PCB, DIN supply), try adjusting it with small turns remembering the original setting.

Do *not* turn the capacitor trimmer inside that housing, as that one governs the master clock (and also the colour carrier frequency).

[Vic20-Ian]

Great news. You will soon be up and running!

2 of my Vic's had this problem, quickly adjusted and have a great picture now.

[Gigabite]

What would be the most common hardware issues I may come across?

[Gigabite]

thanks for the help!
WP_20140803_21_27_31_Pro by Gio_16bits, on Flickr

[joshuadenmark]

Nice steady picture

[metalfoot76]

That's a very LCD picture!

[Gigabite]

Nice steady picture

the vic 20 I got my hands on, was never really used at all. Though the box went through hell, everything on the inside was intact.

here's a few more pics of the box and other things that came with it.

https://flic.kr/s/aHsk1riKHr

[Gigabite]

I think I may just buy a datasette for now, since glob knows when the Final Expansion 3 will ever be back in production.
I've been looking at a datamaster cassette player for sale online recently. It's still in the box with all of the original papers. Right now it's selling for 13.00 USD which also includes shipping fees. But the seller is listing it as "used untested". Is it worth buying it without knowing it may not work?

[Vic20-Ian]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/COMMODORE-C2N-C ... 1c4428f0c0

[Gigabite]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/COMMODORE-C2N-C ... 1c4428f0c0

i've been eyeing that. I hope I can win it...

[Peter]

Welcome Gigabyte!

May i suggest:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Beige-SD2IEC-Co ... 4d0c56ddc8

[Gigabite]

Unfortunately, I did not win the auction.. But i came across another listing that was buy it now. I offered 16.15 usd and they accepted it. I will eventually get a FE3 whenever it comes back in stock, but i'll try things old school for now.

[joshuadenmark]

There will be more FE3 just wait a while and they will restock, alway does