(sending again from a different email address as I don't think my first
email got through, apologies if this is a duplicate)
I have a VT100 that I was working on a while back and then set aside for a
bit. I have started to look at it again. I have noticed that the Video Shift
Register, a 74S299, gets very hot, I can smell the heat and the chip gets
almost too hot to touch, reaching almost 40 celsius. I have a working VT102
for comparison and the same chip there does not get so hot (it reaches about
30 celsius). I have already tried replacing the chip, but the new one gets
equally hot.
I looked at the signals the chip is receiving and the one that stands out as
different is the CLK input (pin 12). It looks like this:
https://rjarratt.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/vt100-74s299-clk-s
ignal.png. On the VT102 it looks like this:
https://rjarratt.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/vt102-74s299-clk-s
ignal.png. It is much spikier on the VT100 and I was told at one point that
this could be the cause of the hot running for the chip. Is that a
reasonable assumption?
Assuming the spikes are the cause of the hot running. I am trying to see why
there is a difference. I have noticed that on the VT102 there is a 68R
resistor between the DC011 which produces the signal and the 74S299. You can
see this as R86 in the VT101 printset
https://bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/terminal/vt101/MP-01066-00C_VT101_Family_Field
_Maintenance_Print_Set_Apr82.pdf (p47 of the PDF). The VT100 printset dated
Feb 82
https://bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/terminal/vt100/MP00633_VT100_Schematic_Feb82.p
df shows an inductor L8 being used (PDF p17), but my VT100 does not have
this and so must be described by the March 80 printset
https://bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/terminal/vt100/MP00633_VT100_Mar80.pdf (PDF
p17).
Could the absence of L8 explain the spikier DOT CLK signal and the hotter
74S299?
Incidentally, I suspect that the flyback transformer on my VT100 has failed.
If anyone has a flyback transformer going spare, especially in the UK, then
I would love to hear from you.
Thanks
Rob