Atari XEGS Back Screen?

[Crickster]

Hey everyone I'm new here and new to the 8-bit Atari computer scene, so I thought I'd start out with an Atari XEGS. The system itself starts up with the little green light turning on but nothing shows and it just turns black. I don't have the original RF cable and am using a substitute.

If someone can tell me what cable should go where and that kind of stuff it would really help out. Sorry if I sound kinda noobish it's just that I've always wanted to mess around with one of these and now that I can I'm kinda confused.

 

Thanks for looking!

[atariksi]

Hey everyone I'm new here and new to the 8-bit Atari computer scene, so I thought I'd start out with an Atari XEGS. The system itself starts up with the little green light turning on but nothing shows and it just turns black. I don't have the original RF cable and am using a substitute.

If someone can tell me what cable should go where and that kind of stuff it would really help out. Sorry if I sound kinda noobish it's just that I've always wanted to mess around with one of these and now that I can I'm kinda confused.

 

Thanks for looking!

 

If you use RF output, it connects to the coaxial input on the TV. Better to use the A/V (audio/video) output and set to line input on your TV/VCR. See if that gives a black screen.

[Crickster]

Thanks for the quick reply, both AV out and RF out show black screens.

[jaybird3rd]

Thanks for the quick reply, both AV out and RF out show black screens.

The last black-screened XEGS that I saw had a bad CPU and RAM. I happened to have spares of both, so I was able to repair it. Not sure if yours has the same issue or not, but it's the first thing I would check. Unfortunately, the chips in the XEGS are mostly soldered in place, so swapping them out isn't as easy as it would be if they were socketed.

[atariksi]

Thanks for the quick reply, both AV out and RF out show black screens.

 

Check the serial number on the bottom-- if it starts with A181... it most likely has socketed RAM and ROM. If it's like A179..., you need soldering/desoldering to repair RAM/ROM/CPU/etc.

 

Another thing, you can turn on machine with START key pressed and if you hear BEEP from TV, you can eliminate most of trial-and-error "which chip is bad" dilemna.

[Crickster]

 

Check the serial number on the bottom-- if it starts with A181... it most likely has socketed RAM and ROM. If it's like A179..., you need soldering/desoldering to repair RAM/ROM/CPU/etc.

 

Another thing, you can turn on machine with START key pressed and if you hear BEEP from TV, you can eliminate most of trial-and-error "which chip is bad" dilemna.

The serial number starts with A182 and I did try the Start key like you said and no sound came out. I am not skilled enough with a soldering iron to repair this myself so should I just throw it out, or could somebody here repair it?

[jaybird3rd]

The serial number starts with A182 and I did try the Start key like you said and no sound came out. I am not skilled enough with a soldering iron to repair this myself so should I just throw it out, or could somebody here repair it?

I can repair it, or I can send you a spare XEGS that I have if it can't be repaired. PM me if you're interested.

[atariksi]

The serial number starts with A182 and I did try the Start key like you said and no sound came out. I am not skilled enough with a soldering iron to repair this myself so should I just throw it out, or could somebody here repair it?

I can repair it, or I can send you a spare XEGS that I have if it can't be repaired. PM me if you're interested.

 

If you do repair it, post what was wrong. I think that model also may have socketed RAM/ROM given the serial #.