They are lighter and run cooler. Because of the differences in boards and some chip ID numbers, I will list the two versions separately in the chips vs symptoms portion of this article. There are other versions but these two represent the majority of the existing boards. Chips with symptoms shown are considered more common failures. The last part of this article will tell how to troubleshoot problems and offers some diagnostic procedures you can do with little or no test equipment.
Careful observation is important.
As with other Commodore computers, the easiest way to test suspected chips is by installing them one at a time in a working board. Minimum equipment for board rework includes a vacuum desoldering iron, volt-ohmmeter and basic hand tools. The VIC20 opening screen should appear within about four seconds after power up.