Two Wonky 5200s

[ResidentHazard]

Okay, so I recently acquired two 5200 systems and both are a bit wonky. What do I mean by that?

 

One of the systems is apparently not recognizing the Start buttons on the controllers, so no game goes beyond the title screen.

The other, with the exception of Pac-Man and Soccer (not RealSports Soccer), doesn't recognize the fire buttons on the controllers.

 

My current working theory is that, simply, that the systems are dirty and for whatever reason, that's interfering with accurately reading the controllers. I know it's not the controllers themselves because the Soccer game proves that the joystick and fire buttons work just fine as it has no trouble recognizing any controller inputs. Pac-Man, of course, doesn't use the fire buttons, but controls just fine. Frogger, curiously, does not, despite really only controlling like Pac-Man.

 

So, I came to the conclusion that somewhere in there, there's a communication breakdown between cartridge, 5200, and controller.

 

How can I resolve these issues, and if it's just that they need a good cleaning, how do I go about that safely? Any help or questions will be greatly appreciated.

[atariksi]

Okay, so I recently acquired two 5200 systems and both are a bit wonky. What do I mean by that?

 

One of the systems is apparently not recognizing the Start buttons on the controllers, so no game goes beyond the title screen.

The other, with the exception of Pac-Man and Soccer (not RealSports Soccer), doesn't recognize the fire buttons on the controllers.

 

My current working theory is that, simply, that the systems are dirty and for whatever reason, that's interfering with accurately reading the controllers. I know it's not the controllers themselves because the Soccer game proves that the joystick and fire buttons work just fine as it has no trouble recognizing any controller inputs. Pac-Man, of course, doesn't use the fire buttons, but controls just fine. Frogger, curiously, does not, despite really only controlling like Pac-Man.

 

So, I came to the conclusion that somewhere in there, there's a communication breakdown between cartridge, 5200, and controller.

 

How can I resolve these issues, and if it's just that they need a good cleaning, how do I go about that safely? Any help or questions will be greatly appreciated.

 

Frogger on A5200 uses the fire button to move and there's also a keypad mode which is better but you need to a solid working keypad. So how did you get it to start Pac-man to test the other controls if START key is non-working?

 

Most commonly used buttons-- namely START and bottom buttons will fail over course of time as is my experience as well. I use an Atari 2600 touchpad now with a Y cable to hook up a Wico or some other interface.

[bohoki]

what i would to if i were you is unplug the controller and touch pins 4 and 7 with a piece of bent wire like a paperclip , stripped twist tie, a staple

 

but i am kind of jittery so i would cover the bottom row of pins with a piece of tape the top row is safe but the bottom row has +5v and ground and i don't think it is good to short any of the top row with either of those

 

 

so looking at the plug on your machine

 

the top row oooooooo

they are----12345678

 

bottom row ooooooo

 

just keep away from

 

 

 

as usual i am not responsible if you break anything

 

but ive had plenty of experience with controllers i scratch built about 6 and 3 of them are pretty good

 

 

ataris have the most user friendly interfaces

 

my favorite test carts are missile command and galaxian

missile command stick for accuacy

and galaxian for the number buttons cause each number is a level select

oh yea then i use dig dug to make sure top and bottom fire buttons do something

Edited April 26, 2010 by bohoki

[ResidentHazard]

Okay, so I recently acquired two 5200 systems and both are a bit wonky. What do I mean by that?

 

One of the systems is apparently not recognizing the Start buttons on the controllers, so no game goes beyond the title screen.

The other, with the exception of Pac-Man and Soccer (not RealSports Soccer), doesn't recognize the fire buttons on the controllers.

 

My current working theory is that, simply, that the systems are dirty and for whatever reason, that's interfering with accurately reading the controllers. I know it's not the controllers themselves because the Soccer game proves that the joystick and fire buttons work just fine as it has no trouble recognizing any controller inputs. Pac-Man, of course, doesn't use the fire buttons, but controls just fine. Frogger, curiously, does not, despite really only controlling like Pac-Man.

 

So, I came to the conclusion that somewhere in there, there's a communication breakdown between cartridge, 5200, and controller.

 

How can I resolve these issues, and if it's just that they need a good cleaning, how do I go about that safely? Any help or questions will be greatly appreciated.

 

Frogger on A5200 uses the fire button to move and there's also a keypad mode which is better but you need to a solid working keypad. So how did you get it to start Pac-man to test the other controls if START key is non-working?

 

Most commonly used buttons-- namely START and bottom buttons will fail over course of time as is my experience as well. I use an Atari 2600 touchpad now with a Y cable to hook up a Wico or some other interface.

 

I used the same controllers on both 5200 systems (as I have two), and the Start buttons were recognized on one console, but not the other. The console on which the Start buttons recognized, I was able to test Pac-Man. On top of that, on one of the 5200's, I was able to play Soccer (not RealSports Soccer, just plain old Soccer) with my girlfriend with two controllers and everything seemed to work just fine. I'm pretty confident that the controllers are fine, so the communication breakdown is somewhere else.

 

Thanks for the help on this, and sorry it took me so long to get back to this!