Gunstar's Blogs

Nice job, I have the same console, one of the few I even have the box with as roughed up as it is but my console and accessories are in great shape and I love the look and style of it! 

I have the same console, but mine powers on just fine, but it has no video, just a few lines on the left hand side. I have taken it apart just like you did and cleaned it inside and with 91% alcohol and Qtips. But it still does the same thing. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. My S/N is AW0012909 and it says made in Hong Kong.

The first thing I would try in trouble shooting is to make sure the cartridge slot and cartridges edge connectors are well cleaned. Then replace the video cable to see if it is broken. Any known working audio/video RCA cord will do. If that's not it, next I would try replacing the 6507 and TIA chips, if they have sockets and you have spares or some you can borrow from another working 2600 that is also sockets. If that isn't possible or that easy, then skip that trouble shooting step for now, and turn your attention toward the RF modulator. Make sure the switch is working correctly and make any adjustments possible, make sure all connections/wires are soldered good. And I'd ask how you feel about doing an A/V mod to it and removing the modulator. If all of that is done then it's time to look at replacing the 6502 and TIA chips and/or any of the small support IC's like 74LSxx types and others. I also recommend replacing all capacitors with new ones, something I will be doing to my VA2 soon, even though it;s working, when I do an A/V mod to it.

Thanks, I had an extra Atari 2600 laying around so I took the 6507 chip out of it and put it in the Sears Video Arcade ll and guess what, it worked. But now I have another problem, I can't get the controllers to work. I plugged them in every port and nothing. If you have any advice about this I would greatly appreciate it. 

Thanks,

David

On 8/4/2022 at 5:57 PM, David1970 said:

Thanks, I had an extra Atari 2600 laying around so I took the 6507 chip out of it and put it in the Sears Video Arcade ll and guess what, it worked. But now I have another problem, I can't get the controllers to work. I plugged them in every port and nothing. If you have any advice about this I would greatly appreciate it. 

Thanks,

David

Sorry, I read this response by the 5th at least, but I was apparently in a hurry or got distracted, and then eventually forgot to reply. 

 

The fact is, I'm much more knowledgeable about 8-bit computers (especially Atari, but all of them in general-and the 5200 since it's essentially an Atari 400 computer) and so I don't recall off the top of my head how the 2600 reads the joystick/paddle lines. I'm used to a Pokey chip handling most I/O and secondly a PIA chip (in Atari and most other 8-bts) to do or help with I/O. So I will get back to you on this one, as I don't know if the 6507 or TIA reads the controller ports, of if it's done by a non-central-chip circuit that may use one or more 74LSXX series IC's and/or transistors to handle port reads. 

 

So sorry, I'll have to yet get back to you on this, I just wanted to reply since it's been so long and you probably thought I ignored you.