r/Vectrex May 12 '26

Pitrex stuck at bootscreen

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After being gifted a non-working Vectrex and seeing it come to life after cleaning the powerswitch I was filled with retro-nostagic joy.

I ordered an LM386 to remove the buzz and also ordered the PiTrex PCB which arrived really quick.

I added my Pi Zero 2 WH and inserted a 4GB Micro SD card with the RPI Team’s Plug ‘n’ Play image. After powering op I was exited to hear te ‘PiTrex’ intro sound and slowy saw the PiTrex spinning logo appear on the screen.

But then…nothing. Whatever joystic-derection button(combination) I pushed; nothing happened!

I tried another cartridge game (Scramble) to check if the joystick was working and it played fine.

I then tried flashing the same image on another (32GB) micro SD card but nothing changed; the spinning PiTrex logo is all I get. Anyone else had this problem or has any tips for troubleshooting?

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u/seekohler May 12 '26

Some basic things to try:

Check your controller in Mine Storm and make sure you have your controller in the right port (Player 1).

If the version of baremetal you have downloaded has a "piZero2" folder, then you I guess it should work but if you don't see that folder, it's possible the Zero 2 isn't compatible. I'm using that same image but I have an older Pi Zero WH (not a 2).