Atari 2600 - no picture - what to do?

[yuppicide]

Reported I got a 2600 Light Sixer. When you touch switches the color goes b/w or back to color. Very touchy.

 

I went in the bedroom to try putting a new game on to my Harmony cart and now I have no pic at all!

 

I've opened the 2600 up, hoping to turn a potentiometer, but don't know what is what. Is that the little red thing or do I need to take off that metal shield?

 

Here's a pic inside:

 

[yuppicide]

Alright, I opened up that metal shield and saw a white pot on there. I put the machine back together and tried adjusting the pot.

 

Sometimes I can get wavy lines on the screen that move, sometimes a bar or two that doesn't move, and once I got a constant hum.

[yuppicide]

Think I'm gonna go back to the store tomorrow. I notice when I jiggle any of the switches something different will happen on screen.. from weird patterns on the screen to different noises.

[+batari]

Hello,

 

As for your 2600 with a blank screen, before you do anything else, you really should reflash your Harmony BIOS or at least try to program it with a new image, if you're still using single images. If neither work, you should try out with a Combat cart or something. Failing all of that, you could have a broken Harmony.

 

It's worth mentioning that out of the countless Harmony carts I've sold, only one was actually broken and I was able to fix it (a bad solder joint on the EEPROM.) A few that turned out to be a firmware issue that we've since fixed, some turned out to be user error and one was a mystery (blank screen like yours, user reflashed to no avail, but it reflashed fine and worked perfectly once I got it back.)

 

But, if you do need a replacement Harmony cart, let me know, I'll gladly replace it if it does turn out to be bad.

Edited February 8, 2010 by batari

[yuppicide]

Thanks for the information.

 

So far I've only used single images because I can't reflash the Harmony BIOS.. I bought a 4GB SDHC card and this older computer can only read SD. I originally had my game on it which worked a few times. The next day I went to show my Girlfriend and it didn't work, so I tried Atlantis which also didn't work, today I tried mine again with no luck.

 

So, tomorrow I'll either pick up an SD card or an SDHC reader. It'll probably be cheaper for me to get an SD memory card.. 2GB is $9.00 in Wally World, but a reader will cost me more. I'll probably have to eat the cost of the SDHC card and save it for later, since I believe I threw out the packaging and receipt. I emailed a friend whom is filling in for us at work while one guy is on vacation. He is a photographer, so maybe he has one of those 16MB cards that come with some cameras that he doesn't need. I doubt he'll check his email before work, but you never know.

 

I will also go pick up a 2600 cartridge too.

[tetrode kink]

Re: Getting random (usually vertical?) bars on the screen, sometimes random sounds or hums, sometimes just a blank screen?

 

This practically screams loose or bad cartridge slot connections, especially if it is influenced by wiggling of cart or switches. What you describe is what happens if you start up the VCS without a cartridge inserted, so maybe the cart ROM (or Harmony) isn't getting recognized because of a bad or intermittent connection. Maybe do rigorous cart slot cleaning, or look for bad connections of the cartridge connector on the motherboard, in whichever order suits you.

 

-tet

Edited February 9, 2010 by tetrode kink

[yuppicide]

Thanks for the info tet. I didn't know how to get at the cartridge connector, so I didn't go in there yet.

 

The store I got it for warranted it for 30 days, so I'm going back to try one of their carts tonight. If it doesn't work still and they don't have anything to swap it with (or won't for some reason) I'll try your suggestion. Good to know that info for the future anyway.

 

He seems like a nice guy, so I don't have any worries... well my only worry is that I fiddled with the potentiometer inside. I probably should be honest.. system worked on day #1, but switches were buggy, on day #2 it didn't work so I tried adjusting the pot.

 

[tz101]

Reported I got a 2600 Light Sixer. When you touch switches the color goes b/w or back to color. Very touchy.

 

I went in the bedroom to try putting a new game on to my Harmony cart and now I have no pic at all!

 

I've opened the 2600 up, hoping to turn a potentiometer, but don't know what is what. Is that the little red thing or do I need to take off that metal shield?

 

Here's a pic inside:

 

 

Umm, that's the cast aluminum RF shield of the Heavy Sixer you have pictured.

[zylon]

I've only ever had to turn the pot if the color was "off". Usually, when I run into a black screen problem, it's caused by the 6532 chip going bad or game connector. Some of those boards had a small paper dot covering a trace that can short out if the dot falls out, but I've only seen that happen once and on a heavy 6er.

[yuppicide]

Problem solved. I went back to the store and tested it with a Combat cartridge. Powered up immediately and looked great.

[zylon]

Good! Glad it works. Try an activision game as well like Pitfall or Enduro to be sure. I've had failing chips play Atari released games but not Activision without repeated switching on and off.

[yuppicide]

I'm just happy it works because I'm developing my own games and want to try on a real machine.

 

I'm so glad I did try them so far, because bAtari pointed some things out to me that I would have never known.