christineka Posted February 12, 2009 Share Posted February 12, 2009 So, I now have power. I cleaned all of the games and the spot where they go in the machine. I plugged in all of the large sized games (I'm not trying the converter thingy yet) I got black (actually, more brownish) screens for all games, except Qbert which gave me a red screen. I tried wiggling the cartridges. What else can I try to get the games up and working? Christine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Mitch Posted February 12, 2009 Share Posted February 12, 2009 It almost sounds like one (or more) of the RAM chips died. Mitch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
christineka Posted February 12, 2009 Author Share Posted February 12, 2009 It almost sounds like one (or more) of the RAM chips died. Mitch That's a bummer. At least I got this thing free. Are the RAM chips replaceable? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigO Posted February 12, 2009 Share Posted February 12, 2009 The description pretty much matches the behavior of my (free, broken) 5200 when I got it. The RAM chips on my 4 port were socketed. I had spare parts so it was easy to swap out the chip. Before I got my pile o' spare 5200 parts, I confirmed that the problem was a RAM chip by picking one chip and swapping it with other chips and observing that the failure happened differently. Depending on how the game used RAM moving the bad RAM to a different place caused the program to fail at a different point (at least that was my logic for why my method worked to help me find the bad chip). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Mitch Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 The RAM chips are in sockets and are replaceable but if you've never worked on electronics you may want to find someone to help you. It's been awhile since I messed with 5200 RAM but from what I remember it was not too expensive. Best Electronics carry the RAM chips if you decide to replace them. Mitch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
christineka Posted February 13, 2009 Author Share Posted February 13, 2009 SO, your saying I should make my dh do this? Okay. I'll tell him to play with the atari for me:) Thanks! Christine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
christineka Posted February 13, 2009 Author Share Posted February 13, 2009 Dh says you have to solder these ram chips on. Is that correct? If so, I may look around for a working system instead. He is never going to solder anything. He is a computer geek by profession and can do this stuff if he wants to, though. Christine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CPUWIZ Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 This picture shows where the 8 RAM chips are located, they should be socketed (they were pulled in this picture). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigO Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 Dh says you have to solder these ram chips on. Is that correct? If so, I may look around for a working system instead. He is never going to solder anything. He is a computer geek by profession and can do this stuff if he wants to, though. Christine I don't know if there are versions of the board with soldered chips, but the 4 I have looked at all have their RAM chips in sockets which means they can be extracted and reinstalled without soldering. The socket is soldered to the board, the chip plugs into the socket. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cybercylon Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 Dh says you have to solder these ram chips on. Is that correct? If so, I may look around for a working system instead. He is never going to solder anything. He is a computer geek by profession and can do this stuff if he wants to, though. Christine I don't know if there are versions of the board with soldered chips, but the 4 I have looked at all have their RAM chips in sockets which means they can be extracted and reinstalled without soldering. The socket is soldered to the board, the chip plugs into the socket. They might have switched to soldered chips at some point to cut down on cost, but I wouldn't know. If they are indeed soldered and your husband won't fix it... probably worth just trying to find a working system. If you can be patient, you can get a good deal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GameGirl420 Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 I have minor trouble shooting problems with 2 games...Moon Patrol and Gremlins...I noticed I have to press down extra hard on the cartridge in order to make the games work, but it's not so bad because once I get a connection it stays that way. Is it because the Moon Patrol and Gremlins were only made for the 4-port?? Mine's a 2-port but I have no problems getting them to work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Mitch Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 I have minor trouble shooting problems with 2 games...Moon Patrol and Gremlins...I noticed I have to press down extra hard on the cartridge in order to make the games work, but it's not so bad because once I get a connection it stays that way. Is it because the Moon Patrol and Gremlins were only made for the 4-port?? Mine's a 2-port but I have no problems getting them to work. It sounds like you need to clean the contacts on those two games with isopropyl alcohol. Mitch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GameGirl420 Posted February 15, 2009 Share Posted February 15, 2009 Clean the games?? Yea it's weird I always have to fidget with those carts to make them work. thanks for the advice.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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