peedenmark7

You are correct...checked the pins & cleaned them... I ended up calling best and they clued me into the cable pin issue... I pulled the ext. cable out of the chain and the trak-ball works flawlessly ! does anyone know if a correctly wired cable exists for the trak-ball ? best also mentioned that because there is a chip that needs to fire up in the trak-ball that if a 5200 has a weak motherboard , even with a correct cable it may not work especially the longer it is, or the further you get away from the console as it loses signal or something.. they also suggested that i coil up the cable to mimic a short cable,as apparently this is a trick atari techs used to do. it however made no difference as i still had no cursor movement. You learn new stuff every day !

The wife says we can do that on our computer or her lap top, so seems I'll eventually go down this path. can we download games here and what is the average cost to do so , and are there there sources for games as well?

if the game doesnt boot up , why wouldnt you just buy another one? mine boots up just fine

http://www.best-electronics-ca.com/ NOTE: extension cables will not work with CX-53 trak-ball

One hardware difference is the 2600 switch for Color/BW is the pause button on the 7800. They are identical electrically, but you would have to hold it down to function correctly for a 2600 cart. And some carts physically don't fit right in a 7800. (Miner 2049er maybe?) I have found that activision carts do not fit well into the 7800, and sadly those are my fave games for 2600. my keystone kapers and both pitfalls are like pulling teeth in and out of the 7800. I believe that coleco carts also do not fit well into the 7800.. maybe I should think a bit more before offing both.. as it stands I believe the jr will be the one to go. I did get an RGA game brain last week , it brought with it some on screen RF interference to both 2600's I have. I have no interference on either 2600 without the game brain. I plugged the game brain into the 7800 and had NO issues whatsoever. maybe the rf cables on the 2600's are going to pot [no torrid]? I dont use an Atari tv switch and I know that the little RF adapter I use has no RF inhibiter circuitry in it wouldnt that then be an issue on the 7800 as well as I dont have a torrid cable for my 7800 either? havent given the harmony cart much thought as i dont have the abilty [at this time] to put games on to the multi cart. or better said I just dont fully understand how all of that works. I'd especially like some kind of multi cart for the 5200. I'd love to venture down the harmony, cuttle cart ,etc. path as to be honest I wanna play games not dedicate closet space for hundreds of boxed systems and games. I got back into atari gaming for the c-380 only. 5 months later I have almost every 5200 item made, a host of 7800 and 2600 stuff... Its easy for this hobby to get out of control !!!' Though I will say I'm having more fun today with it, than I did as a kid

It's amazing how many items listed on ebay as "rare or collectible" receive poor packaging care. seems as soon as a seller knows its sold, the rarity aspect takes a back seat. With what we sometimes pay for an item one would think it should be delivered by a golden carrier pigeon. I cant tell you how many shipping douches Ive encountered over the past few months buying atari alone. I bought a boxed miner 2049'er for the 5200 a while back and the goof taped to and wrapped brown packing paper over the cart box and sent it.. needless to say the box was f'd when I got it. I bought 4 boxed sealed 7800 games that a guy stuffed into a padded envelope,way too small for the qty. of boxes... but he saved some money shipping them, then got them right back because the boxes were crushed beyond description. they want top dollar for an item , but then cheap out or add handling fees , and you still get damaged goods,I could go on and on about poor packing. I've shipped lots of things worldwide, and have found , if you take a little extra time to pack correctly as you would want it packed, your buyer will be much happier in the end getting an item exactly as pictured.

short rainbow, serial # AT860846067

Ive given it some thought and because I have a 7800 , I dont think I need the 2600's at all. I'm mainly a 5200 guy anyway, and the 2600 games I like/collect, can be played on my 7800.

ended up getting a RGA game brain for shigrins.. works real nice with 2600 games on my 7800. It's nice not having to remove game after game. I tried it on my 2600 darth and there is a ton of RF interference, has to be a bad cable...you move it and it gets worse..does it whether I use the brain or not. I'll order a new cable for it. Will try it on my Jr. this weekend, that I know has a good cable.

I'm just gonna buy best elecs light gun thanks for the info guys !

a friend is giving me a sega light phaser #3050. will this function the 7800 light games ?

I bought a NEW boxed 5200 trak-ball a couple months back and am finally getting round to using it. its visibly unused but upon hitting the start button on centipede, the cursor moves all the way to the right and I cant move it at all.. the ball and bearings move freely, all fire buttons work. anything I can clean ? EDITED: okay, found something... I am using best electronics 12' extension cable. I unplugged the cable and ran the trak ball direct into port 1 [4 port]and it now works fine. wondering if anyone else has experienced this issue with this cable ? It works fine with all of my cx52's also worthy of mention, the trak-ball cosmetically matches my 2 port having the textured finish not smooth glossy plastic like the 4 ports. were there any changes made in the consoles or trak ball units that affect compatibility ?

I have a few atari high score booklets, obviously I dont write in them

I have a few atari high score booklets, obviously I dont write in them

My hang up with the Jr. is as you take or place cartridges in the unit its as though the whole console flexes to a degree.. It would stand to reason that as the prices came down so did the quality of the components. The jr is a short rainbow AT prefixed serial number... I have it at our cottage for grins, the thing looks/works like new... the vader looks much better built, board dated to '80 I think, dont recall the rev. #....183 is stamped on it thats all, nice I got all the paperwork with it... Hell,I may just keep 'em both, neither takes up much room in the closet Boy, for a guy that only wanted to get 5200 stuff...I have far too much 26 and 78 stuff already.

Been having to buy entire systems for certain games of late and am ending up with a few more 2600's than I need. I have a mint 2600 JR and I just got in a 2600 vader. I dont want or need both as if i even play the 2600 games they go into my my 7800, but I would like to keep one 2600 for grins. That said, I like the looks of the JR. as it matches my 5200/7800, but the console looks so flimsy and fragile, I am wondering if i should off the JR. and keep the vader until I find a minty heavy 6. any thoughts?

zylon is correct on the adjustment. for instance playing gyruss, I had controller movement from 6-12 o'clock and it was glitchy sweeping back down from 12 to 6. I had NO movement from 12 to 6 or vice versa. I went through every frigging controller I had and encountered the same thing. I also made that little adjustment on the 4 port and now have no issues whatsoever. about half of the games I got with the 4 port I already had. there's some good ones and really common ones, though because its perceived as rarer, doesnt mean its great playing thats for sure... bummer is no manuals with what i didnt have, so i 'll be scrounging for those as some of the games Ive never played.. got a real nice dust cover and a bunch of controllers along with as well. the list is: Zaxxon frogger 1 & 2 qbert popeye gyruss gorf star wars the arcade game star wars return of the jedi pitfall 1 & 2 congo bongo bounty bob strikes back ms. pac man kangaroo space invaders super breakout star raiders pac man pole position river raid real sports baseball,football,soccer dig dug space dungeon astro chase joust defender missile command centipede jungle hunt countermeasure mr do's castle mario bros, galaxian montezumas revenge

I have a buddy that has combat 2 and talks this thing up like its a big deal, wasn't this a pirate cart a few years ago?

just picked up a really clean 4 port with a bunch of games , a few really rare ones to boot. all of the controllers were bad but seller took care of things and i rebuilt one to full gold rev 9 specs. I can finally enjoy the 5200 in all of its glory... its been 2 solid days of miner 2049'er. its amazing how your scores jump with a fully functioning controller. did the missile command tweaking inside the console and that made a huge difference in gyruss as well. for fun checked/adjusted my 2 port and saw that it was out of spec as well. never thought about the cosmetic nuances between the 2 and 4 port. I always remembered the 4 port being so shiny, and when I got my boxed 2 port, something seemed wrong... its the controller storage cover and the lower top plate having that textured plastic rather than the 4 port smooth. probably a better idea for long term usage, but I'll take the shiny stuff ! have to say I also prefer the 4 port switch box over the straight in 2 port. one less wire laying around as well. back to playing zaxxon !

put me down as well.

glad I havent bought one then as I dont want any added interference.. I have noticed some games , mainly activision do not fit well into my 7800.

could it be that 2600 games in general utilize nly one button where as some 7800 games use both? I ran into a snag after I got some cx78 joypads , then ordered the 12' extension cable from best , i had full steering , but no firing capabilities. I finally deleted the ext. cable. called best and asked them why they sent me a 2600 cable for my 7800.

seller did take care of me. I believe he is a stand up guy and wasnt trying to dupe anybody, though I would think as a former store owner he would know that they could be junk, and should have listed as such. the rev9 flex circuits in these controllers are indeed some weird hybrid of the rev. 8 with carbon tracers, the pots are total crap .. they are CTS brand which being after a 28 yr guitar repairman I found odd that they were so cheaply made as most guitar guys look for this brand in the vintage circles. they are metal and plastic with a carbon strip glued down for the sweepers to run on, what a joke... one pot was so full of black corrosion it looked like black sand running out of it as I cleaned it... the one I opened needs a new flex circuit and pots for sure... the other I havent even opened but will assume the same.. I'll just get the new parts from best and be done with it. if nothing else I got a NOS controller housing, boot, and no kiddie boogers to contend with All's well that ends well.

IM for 7800 with the C64 sounds would be killer !

Are you sure that your system isn't bad? I have had a few 5200 systems with bad controller ports. It would not shock me to see broken new old stock 5200 controllers but I would expect most of those problems to be fire buttons or other buttons on the controllers. the system is NOS new and my rebuilt controllers function just fine, so i am positive there is nothing wrong with my consoles port. after letting the seller know that there was a problem and NO solution offered, I popped one apart. rev9 flex, but it does not look like the latest rev 9's being offered at best elec. or on ebay. It appears to be a hybrid of the green mylar rev8 with the carbon tracers. these joysticks also carry the later [cheap] pots. everything on the joystick functions perfectly but the movement. I sprayed the pots out and no change. so after having rebuilt a bunch of these joysticks ,[and unless I am doing something very wrong] I am of the mindset that if you want an atari cx-52 box, spend for the box not the joystick inside. I'll admit I wanted a boxed joystick, and paid for as such, but it would be nice if they functioned even after a thorough cleaning. from now on ,I'll stick to rebuilding good clean used ones.... or if the need arises, buy with warranty from best elec.