Fried 2600??

[Big Boy Jones]

Hello all. This weekend I picked up a bag of 2600 goodies from my local collectibles place. The system I got was a 2600 A from 1980. When I hooked it all up and popped in a cart, all I got was an extremely scrambled screen. BUT, my TV was definitely receiving a signal. Sounds and pictures were changing when I operated the switches and the joystick. I took the whole thing apart and cleaned the circuit board with alcohol swabs and re-connected it. Nothing had changed.

 

Any help? Is this system dead? Should I put it in the closet with my fried Smurfs cart?

[DanBoris]

Be sure to carefully clean the cartridges and the cart socket on the 2600. You may also want to remove and re-insert each of the chips on the 2600 circuit board.

 

Dan

[eggplant_casserole]

Don't worry, this goes nicely with some tomatoes, bacon and waffles

[Cap5750]

I had something similar happen to me on a few systems with a few carts. I think I took a piece of sandpaper to the contacts (on the cart) on one and it worked. However, most involved a quick clearing of any dust particles followed by repeated insert, power on, power off, remove, insert , power on while continuing to wiggle slightly, etc. I've only had one cart that I couldn't get to work right and it appears that it turned out that it is probably a mislabled PAL cart. (Solaris Red Label)

 

Cap