[Original 1977 Atari Owner's Manual C010777 scanned and restored]

Thanks to my good friend Robert, I was able to obtain and scan an original 1977 Atari 2600 owner's manual. This is the one that originally shipped with the heavy sixer and has no mention of a channel selector switch. It was in pretty rough shape. There was writing on one page and I think somebody used it as a coaster at one point. So I had to do some restoration work.

 

Here are some raw scans (reduced) to show what I had to work with.

 

For some strange reason, this particular manual was not available online anywhere! So here it is now for all to enjoy!

 

Atari 1977 Owner's Manual_200dpi.pdf

 

 

Darryl

[Injection Mold Cart Shells]

I will buy some clear shells when they become available.

 

Darryl

[Activision Patch Letters]

Found it! It's low resolution, but good enough to read.

 

 

Darryl

[Help Troubleshooting Atari board REVB C010433]

It's unlikely the mainboard is bad. Maybe dirty sockets?

[Sears Tele-Games cleanup & tune-up]

Very clean! Nice work.

[Activision Patch Letters]

Can somebody please post a scan of the Barnstorming letter? I just earned the patch today. Man! That was tough.

 

Darryl

[Help me fix a flaky River Raid II]

Thank! I see it now. I am blind.

 

Darryl

[Simple DIY composite video mod]

I'm gonna go for it too, but I have to collect some parts first. Looks promising!

 

Darryl

[Help me fix a flaky River Raid II]

Wow! The mod did it!

 

Thank you guys SOOO much for the assistance! I am so thankful for this community.

What mod. I haven't seen anyone suggest a mod yet. Are you talking about re-flowing the solder?

 

Darryl

[Diagnose and repairing a dead 2600 4sw/vader pal]

BTW, here is the link to my AV mod issue. http://atariage.com/forums/topic/265301-composite-video-mod-whats-wrong/

 

Darryl

[Diagnose and repairing a dead 2600 4sw/vader pal]

Hey! You don't need a TIA after all! Congrats!

 

I always thought that pot was for color saturation. But you give me hope! I will play with that now after I switch back to the original resistor values. I notice you have similar ghosting that I encountered. I wonder what causes that?

 

My console is a 4 switch NTSC model, BTW.

 

Darryl

[“Late” Heavy Sixer CX-10 Joystick?]

I have one of those too. My others did not work; this one does. FWIW, I did fix one of the other ones by using the best parts of both. See in the CX10 Disassembled thread.

 

Darryl

[Diagnose and repairing a dead 2600 4sw/vader pal]

Forgot about the composite mod. I am struggling getting a good picture on a composite mod as well. Look up my thread. Someone suggested some different resistor values and it helped but didn't solve it.

 

Darryl

[Heavy Sixer Serial Number Thread]

I am not an Atari historian, but I have read that the heavy sixer was only produced for one year starting in 1977. So it stands to reason that a good many of them were produced in 1978... especially if they started making them in September.

 

Darryl

[Diagnose and repairing a dead 2600 4sw/vader pal]

Did that giant heatsink (on the 7805) come on your unit? I love that! Also check the coax cable.

 

Darryl

[best S-video mod for a 6 switcher, not looking for RGB]

I hear good things about Bryan's UAV mod. But I haven't installed mine yet.

 

Darryl

[Diagnose and repairing a dead 2600 4sw/vader pal]

Yes! CPU. Congrats on socketing the chips. Not a task for the novice. I forgot the Vaders were soldered in.

 

TIA could be bad, but not sure about this one. How is sound?

 

How's the 7805? Replaced it yet? Check the color/bw switch. dirty?

 

 

Darryl

[Heavy Sixer Serial Number Thread]

It's a heavy sixer. Pretty one too. Don't peel off the sticker.

 

Darryl

[Diagnose and repairing a dead 2600 4sw/vader pal]

One of the chips needs replacing most likely. CPU is most common (middle) followed by TIA (front). I've seen RIOT (back) go bad too, but only once. All three had the same looking screen.

 

Darryl

[CX10 disassembly photos]

I decided to desolder the contact switches and clean and reshape them. After removing them, I discovered some of the contact switches were just not in very good shape. The mashed ones weren't pretty, but it was the cracked ones that concerned me a little. So I decided to remove the contact switches from my other CX10 and choose the five best ones for this restoration. In the mean time, I will have to try to find replacement contact switches.

 

Here is the underside of the board after desoldering the contact switches.

 

Here is the top side after removing the contact switches. I cleaned the contacts on the board.

 

Here are all ten contact switches. I put the best ones on the top row and the worst ones on the bottom row.

 

New contact switches soldered into place.

 

Finished restored board with new contact switches soldered in place.

 

Here it is all cleaned up and put back together. And the good news... it works 100% now!

 

 

 

Darryl

[Why did Atari remove the 6 switches on the 2600?]

The Vader consoles got even cheaper by not socketing the chips.

 

Darryl

[Restoring a Sunnyvale Light Sixer]

Cool! I googled a little bit about vinegar used as a later paint remover. Going to experiment with this!

[CX10 disassembly photos]

Here are some more photos and new part numbers.

 

Rubber boot part number C010710

 

This internal plate in white has a slightly different part number. C010714-C

 

And here is the different style circuit board. These have the triangular dome contact switches. Looks like it is not made by Atari, as there is no Atari logo on it. There is only the text "Santa 88". However, it has an Atari-style part number on it. C011655-3

 

The good news on this CX10 is that it works completely. So I guess the triangular dome contact switches are superior to the rectangular ones.

 

 

Darryl

 

 

[Restoring a Sunnyvale Light Sixer]

Anybody have tips on how to get this paint off?

 

 

I tried paint thinner to no avail. Guessing it's latex. Are there products that won't melt my plastic?

 

 

Darryl

[Sunnyvale Light Sixer uses Heavy Sixer internals?]

The Sunnyvale L6er is the same as a heavy, you mean?