5200 tech repair question

NoahsMyBro · September 5, 2002

I found an old email address for Dan Kramer and sent the below question to him. I figured he probably would know as much about the 5200 circuitry as anybody else I could find. Unfortunately the email address was (I think) from 1998, and dkatari.com isn't loading, so I don't know if he'll receive it. It might be a simple question, and maybe you guys might know the answer, so I'm posting it here and on the newsgroups as well.

Thanks,

Steve

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.......I have a dead 4-port Atari 5200 I'm trying to revive. I strongly suspect a previous owner connected a 30-watt Atari 800 power supply to the 5200.

The unit doesn't power on. I've so far found a pair of 7805a (transistors? regulators?) components where the schematics specified MJE-210s. I replaced the 7805a-s with a pair of new MJE-210 transistors. The unit still doesn't power up, but if I short the Collector & Base of each of the MJE-210s it will power up. For the most part, it seems to operate fine after that, with one exception - the controller (in jack 1, all I've tried) doesn't seem to be calibrated quite right - in Pole Position I could not upshift (Joystick UP), in Defender I could turn Left, but not Thrust left (wouldn't go far enough left?), and in Missile Command I could move the cursor right, but it would not go all the way to the right side of the screen, stopping maybe 2/3 of the way to the right.

I had the pins on the MJE-210s shorted by simply placing the tips of 2 multimeter probes between the legs. It was not a secure connection, and inserting/removing a cartridge or plugging in a controller obviously caused the power to fluctuate as the probes momentarily made and lost contact. Is it likely the various controller issues were just due to flaky power (like what people coined 'frying' in regards to the 2600) ?

Thanks for any help,

Steve

eggplant_casserole · September 8, 2002

First thing to do would be check the solder joints of the connector to the board. Redo them just in case. Check there's good continuity through the connector - do it by opening the system and joystick if necessary. Did the 7805s look like they were replacements? Perhaps not all models followed your diagram EXACTLY.