Atari 800 --space bar non-working

[+discotronic]

Hello all, I have an Atari 800 with a bad keyboard. I think? The space bar doesn't work. I took it apart to see if I could locate any loose connections and no luck. An ideas? Anyone out there have an extra keyboard they would be willing to sell for cheap? Also, will the keyboard from an 800xl work with the 800.

[DanBoris]

I had this problem more then once back when I originally had my Atari 800. Inside the switch under the spacebar are two little copper contacts the stick up out of the circuit board on the bottom of the keyboard. When the key is up these contacts are held appart, when the key is pressed the come together and make contact. After a lot of use one of these contacts will often break off. The space bar is one of the most used keys so it tends to happen there more often then anywhere else. You could replace these contacts but you would have to salvage one of an existing keyboard.

 

The keyboards on the 800xl and 800 are different, and I don't think they are interchangable.

 

You might want to check with Best Electronics (408-243-6950), they carry a wide selection of Atari replacement parts.

 

Dan

[betaphile]

Yes the contact does break off we repaired our useing two paper clips wire them to the circuit borad directlyand use a third attached to the space bar to short the connection any similar setup should work It's less complicated that soldering a new swich and ours has worked fine for years now.