Brian R. Posted June 15, 2007 Share Posted June 15, 2007 (edited) Hello, AA. Been a while since I been around these parts, but I haven't given up on Atari yet. But enough of that, onto the story... Was at the car wash tonight and noticed an ImageWriter II sitting at the top of a steel trash can by the vacuum cleaners. I thought that was odd. When I took a closer look, I noticed that black wedge we're all familiar with - a two-port 5200, battered, dirty, paint speckled, sitting under that two-ton printer. There were also a couple thoroughly trashed controllers and a power supply unit. The AV cable was still connected to the console. Well, my heart went out to the poor little thing... well, OK maybe not little. I have a working four-port, but figured what the heck, take it home and see what happens. It's been years since finding any Atari stuff, to say nothing of "dumpster diving." It cleaned up rather well. Even the paint specks came off. Looks about as good as my four-port. Now, the questions: = I opened it up and gave the top half a bath. But I can't get the board out of the bottom half. The back of it lifts up, but something seems to be securing it in front. Is there a screw or something under there? = I'm hesitant to use the power supply I found with it. Will my four-port power supply work with a two-port? If so, and if I do, any chance of doing something bad to my power supply if the stray console is f'd up? I won't be able to tinker with it anymore until maybe Tuesday next week (19th). So I'll look forward to reading your thoughts when I get back. Edited June 15, 2007 by Brian R. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
classics Posted June 15, 2007 Share Posted June 15, 2007 = I opened it up and gave the top half a bath. But I can't get the board out of the bottom half. The back of it lifts up, but something seems to be securing it in front. Is there a screw or something under there? Nice job saving another Atari from the dump. There are two thin black pegs that go through holes in the front of the PCB, they are a little hard to see but once you find them it will be clear where you need to lift in the front to free it up. = I'm hesitant to use the power supply I found with it. Will my four-port power supply work with a two-port? If so, and if I do, any chance of doing something bad to my power supply if the stray console is f'd up? The power supplies are the same. You _probably_ wont hurt the old power supply if the new unit is not working, unless there is a short in the power supply section, which is pretty rare. Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SINGLE TOOTH Posted June 15, 2007 Share Posted June 15, 2007 Awesome find!!!! Tell us if it works...Im betting it does. Did you take the controllers too? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian R. Posted June 15, 2007 Author Share Posted June 15, 2007 Awesome find!!!! Tell us if it works...Im betting it does. Did you take the controllers too? Yeah, I got the controllers. They're more of a mess than the console was. I saw those little black pegs. I didn't think that was all that was holding it in. I'll give it another go next week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Climber Posted June 15, 2007 Share Posted June 15, 2007 Here is the stray I brought home, found him about a mile away..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bones Posted June 15, 2007 Share Posted June 15, 2007 (edited) Damn, don't see stray dinosaurs every day. Edited June 15, 2007 by bones Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigO Posted June 15, 2007 Share Posted June 15, 2007 = I'm hesitant to use the power supply I found with it. Will my four-port power supply work with a two-port? If so, and if I do, any chance of doing something bad to my power supply if the stray console is f'd up? And here I thought I was fortunate getting one nearly free ('cept for the postage) from a generous AA member. Interesting approach. I'd be much more hesitant to attach any of my known good parts to a mystery machine. If something in the console shorted and fried the power supply, it's likely still there. I don't see anything to lose by just firing up what you found as a unit. Good luck. Now where's that crossed-fingers emoticon? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JB Posted June 17, 2007 Share Posted June 17, 2007 Good luck. Now where's that crossed-fingers emoticon? '_' .x-- Somethin' like that? I'm not quite sure how to do horizontal faces, but equally unsure how to do vertical gestures( but it's so USEFUL to be able to go .-^-- at someone!). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Climber Posted June 17, 2007 Share Posted June 17, 2007 Damn, don't see stray dinosaurs every day. Yeah, too bad my dog ate him Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ovalbugmann Posted June 17, 2007 Share Posted June 17, 2007 (edited) I'm hesitant to use the power supply I found with it. Will my four-port power supply work with a two-port? If so, and if I do, any chance of doing something bad to my power supply if the stray console is f'd up? The power supplies are the same. You _probably_ wont hurt the old power supply if the new unit is not working, unless there is a short in the power supply section, which is pretty rare. If the power supply you found with the unit is the correct one, for the 5200 then why not give it a try? I would be worried about a wrong power supply shorting out the console not the other way around. Try it. If it doesn't make the unit power up then try your good PS unit. If something in the console shorted and fried the power supply, it's likely still there. I don't see anything to lose by just firing up what you found as a unit. Yes fire it up. You won't know if it works, or what, if anything is damaged until you do. Until then your just guessing why it was in the trash without trying it. Please let us know if it works. I wish I would find an Atari, that must be cool, hope it works. Edited June 17, 2007 by ovalbugmann Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian R. Posted June 20, 2007 Author Share Posted June 20, 2007 (edited) Well, wow. I'll try to summarize this up. It seems the two-port console pulled from the trash works, but it may have a problem. It puts out a clean, clear image and sound, maybe even better than my four-port. But I've had a couple times where after running it for a short time, the screen will turn to gray static - not like when it's off, a lighter shade and not the same pattern. The power light stays on. If I turn it off and on, it won't work. If I remove the power cord from the console and plug it back in, it may or may not work. At first I used the power supply I found with it. Thinking the problem might be the psu, I used the one I use with my four-port. It happens with either one. My four-port doesn't crap out like this. I've also noticed occasional horizontal "snapping" static lines on the screen sometimes during gameplay. Also, not evident on the four-port. I used Koffi and PacMan to test the two-port out. While playing PacMan, it will award a ridiculous number of points for no reason - like not long after starting a game, it gives you 100,000 points and the extra life. This doesn't happen on my four-port. I wish I knew someone nearby who could give the console an electronic checkup... The biggest surprise of the evening is that not one, but BOTH of the controllers I found with the console... get this... sit down... they WORK! The sticks work, the number pads work and... most importantly... the start-pause-rest buttons work!!!! This is important for me because the buttons on my pristine rebuilt controller seem to have finally crapped out. At first, trying to run a game on the two-port, I couldn't get it to start using my rebuilt controller/Wico setup. So I tried my four-port and couldn't get a game started on that one, either. So just for giggles I plugged in one of the ratty controllers from the trash and it worked. Then tried the other, and it worked too! They looked so bad I almost left them in the trash can. But they cleaned up very nicely. The silver strips on both actually had the protective plastic coating, which was brittle and discolored. I was able to remove those and clean the silver off to like-new. They're as good as I could get 'em on the outside. I won't risk opening them, because I can't get one of those things back together. Just for the controllers, this was a great find. Wouldn't mind having the console in perfect working order, too. Edited June 20, 2007 by Brian R. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SINGLE TOOTH Posted June 21, 2007 Share Posted June 21, 2007 Yeah, Im glad you took the controllers. Even if they dont work, im sure someone on the forums would have taken them. At least dont let them go to a landfill. It's even better that they work. Sucks about the system. Surley someone knows the problem.\ At least pac-man awards you tons of points! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atariman Posted June 21, 2007 Share Posted June 21, 2007 Yeah, I'm sure that if you can't find someone to fix it for you, there would be many a person on these boards who would be willing to take in a 5200 that is... erm... "differently abled". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SINGLE TOOTH Posted June 21, 2007 Share Posted June 21, 2007 by the way, what kind of controller rebuild did you do? the gold plated one? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian R. Posted June 21, 2007 Author Share Posted June 21, 2007 by the way, what kind of controller rebuild did you do? the gold plated one? IIRC, I got my rebuilt controller through Best Electronics some time ago. It's been finicky for a long time. Maybe they're doing it differently now, I don't know. This one just didn't last long, and that was a disappointment. To think, two original controllers discarded in the trash work better than a rebuilt controller from a few years ago. The crapping out problem with the console is one thing. That could be any kind of component problem, I guess. But what could go wrong in the console that would result in a PacMan cart randomly awarding 100,000 points??? That's just bizarre. And I know for a fact it's the console, because it doesn't happen on the four-port I've had for a long time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atariman Posted June 21, 2007 Share Posted June 21, 2007 If it was a rebuilt one from awhile ago, it is very possible that it wasn't the all-gold plated innards. Last time I checked, they now have gold-plated flex circuits along with replacement buttons (all with gold dots) which I would imagine should last a very long time (no corrosion). I ordered some new fire and start/reset/pause buttons last time (they should be in any day now) and I'm hoping that they last! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian R. Posted June 22, 2007 Author Share Posted June 22, 2007 If it was a rebuilt one from awhile ago, it is very possible that it wasn't the all-gold plated innards. Last time I checked, they now have gold-plated flex circuits along with replacement buttons (all with gold dots) which I would imagine should last a very long time (no corrosion). I ordered some new fire and start/reset/pause buttons last time (they should be in any day now) and I'm hoping that they last! I'll keep that in mind if I find myself in need. As long as I've got one with a working start button, I'm OK. Problem is, I suck at getting these controllers back together. If I open it up, odds are it won't go back to one piece correctly. That said, do we have anyone electronically inclined who could check out this two-port I've got, determine what's wrong with it, and fix it up, for cost and return shipping? It's not a priority for me, as I've got a working four-port, but I wouldn't mind getting this two-port in working order. (Obviously, I'd only send the motherboard.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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