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Grandstand Model 5000 Troubleshooting Guide

From RetroTechCollection
GrandStand 5000 Colour 20170413 124245 (gun and controller, cropped)
The pistol and the white throttle controller photographed with a Grandstand 5000. The throttle is used only for the four cycle games.

Fault-finding for the Grandstand Model 5000, the ten-game colour TV game with four motorcycle games, a throttle controller and a light gun.[1][2] No repair report for a 5000 has been found, and no photograph of its board has been published, so its chips are unconfirmed. Its games match two General Instrument chips: the AY-3-8500 for the six paddle and rifle games, and the AY-3-8760 for the four cycle games.[3][4] The values below come from GI's 1978 data for those chips and apply only once you have confirmed the markings on your board. Care and cleaning are on Grandstand Model 5000 General Maintenance.

What should happen at power-on

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With POWER switched ON and an analogue television tuned to the console:

  • With GAME set to PADDLE RIFLE, the slider's PRACTICE, SQUASH, SOCCER, TENNIS, S.L. TARGET and MOVING TARGET positions give bat-and-ball and target games, with the bats on the two pods.[1]
  • With GAME set to CYCLE, the slider's MOTOR CROSS, ENDURO, DRAG RACE and STUNT CYCLE positions give the motorcycle games.[1]
  • In the cycle games the bike and rider start still at the upper left of the screen and move along the first of three tracks as the throttle is turned up, with an engine sound that follows the speed.[4]
  • SERVE on the left pod serves the ball when the SERVE switch is on MANU; GAME RESET on the right pod restarts the game.[1][3]

Expected measurements

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Reference values, if the chips are confirmed
Point Expected Source
AY-3-8500 supply, pin 4 to pin 2 +6 to +7 V [3]
AY-3-8500 clock, pin 17 2.012160 MHz ±1% [3]
AY-3-8760 clock, pin 23 3.58 MHz [4]
AY-3-8760 throttle input, pin 18 An oscillator signal; 50 to 250 kHz in GI's diagram [4]
AY-3-8760 power-on reset, pin 12 100 kΩ to VDD and 0.1 µF to VSS in GI's diagram [4]
AY-3-8760 supply VDD pin 28, VSS pin 14; GI's 1978 sheet gives no voltage [4]

The 5000's own supply label has not been published. Consoles in the same style of case ask for six C cells or 9 V DC at 100 mA;[5][6] read your own label first. The full AY-3-8500 pin list is under test points on the 3600 Mk II.

Symptoms

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Grandstand 5000 symptoms
Symptom Likely cause Action Source
Nothing at all Cells; battery contacts; adaptor polarity; POWER switch Read the base label. Clean the battery contacts and measure the supply at the socket and after the POWER switch. [7][1]
Snow, no picture Wrong channel; set without an analogue tuner; RF lead Sister models in the same case use UHF channel 36. Tune slowly around it. [5][6]
Paddle games work, cycle games show nothing new GAME switch still on PADDLE RIFLE; dirty GAME switch; cycle chip not running Set GAME to CYCLE and clean the switch. Then check the cycle chip's 3.58 MHz clock and supply. [1][4]
Cycle games work, paddle games do not GAME switch; paddle chip not running Clean the GAME switch. Check the AY-3-8500's supply (pin 4) and clock (pin 17). [1][3]
Bike will not move Throttle unplugged or its plug dirty; throttle potentiometer; throttle oscillator Clean and reseat the mini-jack plug. Turn the throttle right down, then up again: after the third track the chip will not move the bike until the throttle has been back to slow. Check for an oscillator signal at the throttle input. [1][4]
Bike surges, stalls or jerks Dirty throttle potentiometer or lead Clean the potentiometer; flex the lead while watching the bike. [4]
One bat jumps or will not move Pod potentiometer or its lead Clean the potentiometer and check the lead where it enters the pod and the console. [1]
SERVE or GAME RESET does nothing Button on the pod; its wires in the pod lead Check the button with a meter, then each wire through the lead. [1]
A setting or game will not select Dirty slide switch or game slider Clean and measure; the AY-3-8500 needs 1 kΩ or less through a closed contact. [3]
Gun never scores Flat-panel television; lens; trigger; mini-jack plug Test on a CRT set; clean the plug and check the lead. [1]
No sound in the cycle games only The cycle chip's sound stage On GI's design the AY-3-8760 drives the speaker through a PNP transistor and a 500 Ω volume control. [4]

Known faults reported for this device

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No fault report for a Grandstand 5000 has been found. The collector who described his 5000 in 2001 listed all ten games and noted only that it came without its gun.[8] The museum's boxed example is described as complete with two light guns.[2]

Things that are not faults

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These follow from GI's description of the AY-3-8760, and apply if your 5000 uses that chip.[4]

  • After the bike reaches the right-hand end of the third track it returns to the start and will not move again until the throttle has been turned down to slow and back up.
  • In DRAG RACE the bike moves at one fixed speed until the throttle is turned down and back up again; each "shift" gives the next speed.
  • In HARD (PROFESSIONAL) mode, turning the throttle up too fast crashes the bike, which flips over with a screech. In EASY mode it does not crash for that reason.
  • In MOTOR CROSS a crash comes from failing to do a wheelie over an obstacle, not from speed.
  • STUNT CYCLE ends after 3 errors in hard mode or 7 in easy mode, and starts again when STUNT CYCLE is selected again. ENDURO allows the same numbers of errors.
  • The picture is dimmer when no game is in progress; the chip lowers the intensity until play starts.

What is realistically repairable

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Repairability of 5000 parts
Part Repairable? Notes
Pods, buttons and leads Yes Ordinary potentiometers, push buttons and multi-core leads.[1]
Throttle controller Yes A potentiometer in a cylinder on a lead with a mini-jack plug.[1]
Slide switches and game slider Usually Clean first; a worn switch needs a replacement that fits the panel slot.
Battery contacts and sockets Yes Clean, or replace like for like.[7]
AY-3-8500 Only by transplant Fitted to hundreds of consoles, so donors exist.[9]
AY-3-8760 or AY-3-8765 Only by transplant The chip in Atari's and Sears' Stunt Cycle and Motocross consoles, so those are possible donors once the 5000's chip has been identified.[9]
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References

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  1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 Photograph by Miguel Durán Uña, File:GrandStand 5000 Colour 20170413 124245.jpg (CC BY-SA 4.0, from Wikimedia Commons; crops on this wiki), examined at full size: the 5000 COLOUR panel with the ten-position game slider, the GAME switch (PADDLE RIFLE / CYCLE), SPEED/CYCLE (EASY/HARD) and SERVE (MANU/AUTO); pods with SERVE and GAME RESET buttons; a black pistol and a white throttle controller, both on leads ending in mono mini-jack plugs.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Centre for Computing History, "Adman Grandstand TV Game Model 5000", CH32311 (retrieved 2026-10-18): boxed, "includes two lightgun accessories with detachable stocks and rifle barrels"; ten games; dated 1977.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 General Instrument Corporation, GIMINI TV Game Circuits, January 1978, pp. 4-7, PDF hosted by Pong-Story (retrieved 2026-10-18): AY-3-8500, six games including two rifle games; VCC pin 4, +6 to +7 V; VSS pin 2; clock pin 17, 2.012160 MHz ±1%; manual serve and reset inputs grounded momentarily; control inputs need 1 kΩ or less to VSS.
  4. ↑ 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 General Instrument Corporation, GIMINI TV Game Circuits, January 1978, pp. 42-47, PDF hosted by Pong-Story (retrieved 2026-10-18): AY-3-8760 "Cycle". The bike starts still at the upper left and moves across track 1 as the throttle is turned, with engine sound following its speed; after track 3 it is reinitialised on track 1 and "there will be no movement until the throttle is reset to a slow speed and then increased". Pins: 12 POR (100 kΩ to VDD, 0.1 µF to VSS); 13 sound, driving a PNP transistor (500 Ω volume control in the system diagram); 14 VSS; 18 throttle, "an oscillator signal" (50-250 kHz in the system diagram); 19 FTC out, which reduces the display intensity when no game is in progress; 23 clock, 3.58 MHz; 28 VDD; 9 PRO/AM option. Drag Race needs "shifting": the throttle returned to slow and turned up again for each higher speed. In hard mode a crash occurs if the throttle is increased too rapidly; in easy mode no crash is allowed. In Motocross a crash comes from not doing a wheelie over an obstacle. Stunt Cycle ends after 3 errors (hard) or 7 (easy) and is restarted by reselecting the game; Enduro allows 3 errors in hard mode and 7 in easy mode. No supply voltage is printed for this chip.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Photograph by José Antonio Ortigueira Amor, File:Grandstand 4600 colour - Back.jpg (CC BY 4.0, from Wikimedia Commons): the Grandstand 4600's base label, "UHF CHANNEL 36 / POWER SOURCE: Use 6 x UM-2 Batteries or by AC Adaptor 9V DC 100mA".
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Ian Hill, "Grandstand 6000", Ian's Retro Museum (collector's site; photographs not freely licensed) (retrieved 2026-10-18): the Grandstand 6000's base label, "UHF CHANNEL-36 / PAL. SYSTEM / POWER SOURCE: Use 6 x UM-2 Batteries, or by AC Adaptor 9V DC 100mA".
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Raphaël Assenat, "APF TV Fun console repair", raphnet.net (retrieved 2026-10-18): an AY-3-8500 console stored with leaking batteries had verdigris on its battery contacts and corroded power and RF connectors, which were replaced.
  8. ↑ Atari-UK collector's page, "Grandstand TV Game 3000, Video Sports Centre, 3600 Mk. III & Match of the Day 2000 Pong Machines" (OoCities mirror of a GeoCities page, 2001; retrieved 2026-10-18): a 5000 Colour with "2 built-in controllers that detatch plus a separate rotary controler for the Stunt Cycle game", ten games, "The machine didn't come with the rifle/gun".
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 David Winter, Pong-Story, "PONG in a Chip" (retrieved 2026-10-18): the AY-3-8500 was used in "hundreds of different game systems"; the AY-3-8760 motorcycle chip was used by Atari and Sears for Stunt Cycle and Motocross, and the AY-3-8765 is its PAL version.


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