Atari 2600 Help Needed

[Nats46]

I had a topic on a different forum, and I haven't got a fixable answer yet.

 

The 2600 has different colors on the screen when different games are in. They are mostly random, though. The cartridge in sometimes will determine the colors on the screen. There are often lines that are vertically coming down from the screen, and sometimes it shows a black screen. Please help me!

[BDW]

I had a topic on a different forum, and I haven't got a fixable answer yet.

 

The 2600 has different colors on the screen when different games are in. They are mostly random, though. The cartridge in sometimes will determine the colors on the screen. There are often lines that are vertically coming down from the screen, and sometimes it shows a black screen. Please help me!

Pictures, please!

[A.J. Franzman]

Some problems just can't be diagnosed remotely.

[Nukey Shay]

It appears it's not reading the cartridge *at all*. Powering up with no cartridge produces the same effect that is described.

[pags35]

I had a topic on a different forum, and I haven't got a fixable answer yet.

 

The 2600 has different colors on the screen when different games are in. They are mostly random, though. The cartridge in sometimes will determine the colors on the screen. There are often lines that are vertically coming down from the screen, and sometimes it shows a black screen. Please help me!

 

Your best bet is to get a copy of the Atari 2600 Field Service Manual to try and diagnose the problem or give us some more information. It is difficult without pictures and being able to actually run test on the system. But the manual is pretty helpful if you take a look at it and have a basic multimeter for testing.

[Cliff Friedel]

Not sure if you tried this, but I figured I would put down some basic things you could try.

 

I would say the first thing you want to try is just to clean the carts and the port, then try them. Just take some 91% alcohol and a q-tip and, using a small flat screwdriver, push back the protector for the cart. Then clean the board edge. On the cartridge port itself, it is a little harder since you have to get inside of it to clean. Using something like a really thin screwdriver with some alcohol soaked cloth may work. Just make sure it doesn't end up staying in the port. Also, make sure it is dry before you turn on the machine.

 

On another note, if you want to test the cartridges you have, you could always use another atari and try them in it. You could also take a known working cartridge from another collection and try it in yours too. That way, you can at least isolate where the problem is.

 

Not sure how much this will help, but I figured I would put it up anyway.

[A.J. Franzman]

Taking a stab in the dark, I would guess either a bad RIOT IC (or possibly installed backwards), or a bad chip select / A12 line, or power line to the cart port.