another 5200 joystick problem

[daafies]

hi all,

 

i was hoping you can help me with somehting. yesterday i got a 5200 from ebay, with "bad controllers". i cleaned the controllers and they didnt look too bad. still when i plug them in, the buttons dont work. i removed the flex circuit and went over it with my multi-meter and it seems OK.

 

then i went online and found this:

 

http://pinouts.ru/Inputs/JoystickAtari5200_pinout.shtml

 

and

 

http://www.atarihq.com/danb/images/5200stik.jpg

 

using this i shorted pins 4 and 7 (start), 4 and 5 ( pause), and 4 and 5(reset) directly on the port 1 on the console (male 15 pin connector) and this also didnt seem to have any effect.

 

i guess the question is, am i correct in thinking that shorting those pins will perform the start, pause and reset? if so, the next thing to check is if the connecter is still soldered ok to the motherboard?

 

thanks!

david

[bohoki]

hi all,

 

i was hoping you can help me with somehting. yesterday i got a 5200 from ebay, with "bad controllers". i cleaned the controllers and they didnt look too bad. still when i plug them in, the buttons dont work. i removed the flex circuit and went over it with my multi-meter and it seems OK.

 

then i went online and found this:

 

http://pinouts.ru/Inputs/JoystickAtari5200_pinout.shtml

 

and

 

http://www.atarihq.com/danb/images/5200stik.jpg

 

using this i shorted pins 4 and 7 (start), 4 and 5 ( pause), and 4 and 5(reset) directly on the port 1 on the console (male 15 pin connector) and this also didnt seem to have any effect.

 

i guess the question is, am i correct in thinking that shorting those pins will perform the start, pause and reset? if so, the next thing to check is if the connecter is still soldered ok to the motherboard?

 

thanks!

david

 

 

yep the top row is a matrix array i'm used to just soldering a pushbutton betwen 4 and 7 on my plugs when i make pc adapters

 

just keep the top row from touching the bottom especially pin 12 in fact controllers don't even wire that one its only used on the tracball

[atariksi]

hi all,

 

i was hoping you can help me with somehting. yesterday i got a 5200 from ebay, with "bad controllers". i cleaned the controllers and they didnt look too bad. still when i plug them in, the buttons dont work. i removed the flex circuit and went over it with my multi-meter and it seems OK.

 

then i went online and found this:

 

http://pinouts.ru/Inputs/JoystickAtari5200_pinout.shtml

 

and

 

http://www.atarihq.com/danb/images/5200stik.jpg

 

using this i shorted pins 4 and 7 (start), 4 and 5 ( pause), and 4 and 5(reset) directly on the port 1 on the console (male 15 pin connector) and this also didnt seem to have any effect.

 

i guess the question is, am i correct in thinking that shorting those pins will perform the start, pause and reset? if so, the next thing to check is if the connecter is still soldered ok to the motherboard?

 

thanks!

david

 

You can't short all of them at the same time as only one of those keys can be read by POKEY at one time. Only maximum of one of the pins 5,6, or 7 should be shorted to pin 7. Even a resistor from the touchpad between different pins causes misreads of the keys.

[daafies]

hi all,

 

i was hoping you can help me with somehting. yesterday i got a 5200 from ebay, with "bad controllers". i cleaned the controllers and they didnt look too bad. still when i plug them in, the buttons dont work. i removed the flex circuit and went over it with my multi-meter and it seems OK.

 

then i went online and found this:

 

http://pinouts.ru/Inputs/JoystickAtari5200_pinout.shtml

 

and

 

http://www.atarihq.com/danb/images/5200stik.jpg

 

using this i shorted pins 4 and 7 (start), 4 and 5 ( pause), and 4 and 5(reset) directly on the port 1 on the console (male 15 pin connector) and this also didnt seem to have any effect.

 

i guess the question is, am i correct in thinking that shorting those pins will perform the start, pause and reset? if so, the next thing to check is if the connecter is still soldered ok to the motherboard?

 

thanks!

david

[daafies]

Thanks guys. No I'm not shorting all at same time. Just the one to eliminate the joystick as the prob..

[bohoki]

hi all,

 

i was hoping you can help me with somehting. yesterday i got a 5200 from ebay, with "bad controllers". i cleaned the controllers and they didnt look too bad. still when i plug them in, the buttons dont work. i removed the flex circuit and went over it with my multi-meter and it seems OK.

 

then i went online and found this:

 

http://pinouts.ru/Inputs/JoystickAtari5200_pinout.shtml

 

and

 

http://www.atarihq.com/danb/images/5200stik.jpg

 

using this i shorted pins 4 and 7 (start), 4 and 5 ( pause), and 4 and 5(reset) directly on the port 1 on the console (male 15 pin connector) and this also didnt seem to have any effect.

 

i guess the question is, am i correct in thinking that shorting those pins will perform the start, pause and reset? if so, the next thing to check is if the connecter is still soldered ok to the motherboard?

 

thanks!

david

 

 

are you sure you counted over the right direction

 

the pins are convienient but sometimes i get mixed up

 

12345678

oooooooo

 

 

which game are you testing it with

for the buttons i test with galaxian since each button is a different level+start so pressing 5 starts the game on level 5

 

i woudl not have taken the flex out of the controller its kind of fragile leave it in place and just rub a penny on the traces to actuate a button

 

most of the carbon disks act like resistors i think the max my system can handle to activate a button is like 12k on some crusty controllers when i plug a meter in to test the button presses sometimes i get a meg of resistance the machine is happy with dead shorts on the matrix but to it one meg may as well be ∞

[daafies]

I've tried galaxian. I'm opening it up and checking inside. Thanks for suggestions!

[daafies]

first of all thanks for all your reply guys.

 

so i did open the system up yesterday and gave it a quick clean. (very dusty). so after i had done that i noticed a lot of modification to the board. for one i saw what i think is a resistor over 2 pins on the pokey chip. and other soldering. after i removed this pokey chip mod the system worked!

 

see here 2 vids i made showing the mods:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPUJItrw7cw

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1v-k8ke0Xk

 

 

do any of you know what this mod is?

 

thanks!

david

 

ps sorry for the poor vid quality

[daafies]

not sure about the pin numbers, but the resistor? was soldered on the first pin from the left, and pin 4 from the right. when looking at it from the front, controller port side.

[atariksi]

first of all thanks for all your reply guys.

 

so i did open the system up yesterday and gave it a quick clean. (very dusty). so after i had done that i noticed a lot of modification to the board. for one i saw what i think is a resistor over 2 pins on the pokey chip. and other soldering. after i removed this pokey chip mod the system worked!

 

see here 2 vids i made showing the mods:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPUJItrw7cw

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1v-k8ke0Xk

 

 

do any of you know what this mod is?

 

thanks!

david

 

ps sorry for the poor vid quality

 

Maybe a modification to allow using Atari 2600 VCS adapter on 4-port Atari 5200.

[bohoki]

not sure about the pin numbers, but the resistor? was soldered on the first pin from the left, and pin 4 from the right. when looking at it from the front, controller port side.

 

i think that was a capacitor on the pokey and electrolytic caps hardly ever last 30 years so it probably had an internal short scrwing up the function it was doing (which i'm not sure of (maybe jitter reduction)

 

well if you can get a game to start whoo hoo

 

 

there is a couple games you can get the game to start without a start button

 

i think robotron and mr do castle

 

back in the old days when my start buttons died i would just play them (until i became more proficient with electronics)

[daafies]

first of all thanks for all your reply guys.

 

so i did open the system up yesterday and gave it a quick clean. (very dusty). so after i had done that i noticed a lot of modification to the board. for one i saw what i think is a resistor over 2 pins on the pokey chip. and other soldering. after i removed this pokey chip mod the system worked!

 

see here 2 vids i made showing the mods:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPUJItrw7cw

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1v-k8ke0Xk

 

 

do any of you know what this mod is?

 

thanks!

david

 

ps sorry for the poor vid quality

 

Maybe a modification to allow using Atari 2600 VCS adapter on 4-port Atari 5200.

 

i think you're right! from what i found online, this seems to be just that. thanks for the suggestion!

[daafies]

not sure about the pin numbers, but the resistor? was soldered on the first pin from the left, and pin 4 from the right. when looking at it from the front, controller port side.

 

i think that was a capacitor on the pokey and electrolytic caps hardly ever last 30 years so it probably had an internal short scrwing up the function it was doing (which i'm not sure of (maybe jitter reduction)

 

well if you can get a game to start whoo hoo

 

 

there is a couple games you can get the game to start without a start button

 

i think robotron and mr do castle

 

back in the old days when my start buttons died i would just play them (until i became more proficient with electronics)

 

ah OK. well, yes with it removed i can now play all my games. so i'm good

 

btw, i went to best electronics and got the 'rev 9' flex circuit and matching gold contact buttons for the controllers. have not put them in yet.

[daafies]

little update on this.

 

so i did put the gold flex circuits and buttons in my controllers a while ago. and that helped. altough i wasnt very happy with it still. occasioanlly button presses werent registered immediately, or only after pressing couple times.

 

but then, last week, it gave out again, now i could only start a game by pressing start on controller 2, and playing the game on controller 1. haha. also on controller one, of all the buttons, only the fire buttons worked.

 

 

now i had read somewhere that occassionally the 5 4052 MUX chips on the board give out. that seemed to explain my problems, so i replaced them and now its working like never before! its very responsive. and just awesome, really. its a bit of a job, with the desoldering and soldering new ones back in, but they're cheap parts and totally worth it.

 

thanks for all your help guys.

david

[OldAtarian]

Be careful how you short the connections. One of mine looks like someone pierced the rubber with a sharp object of some kind and left a deep gouge in the mylar and cut into some of the traces underneath. I seriously doubt this one is going to be repairable without replacing the flex circuit.

[daafies]

Be careful how you short the connections. One of mine looks like someone pierced the rubber with a sharp object of some kind and left a deep gouge in the mylar and cut into some of the traces underneath. I seriously doubt this one is going to be repairable without replacing the flex circuit.

 

I was shorting the pins on the port. That way I ruled out the controllers. Which were in fact also bad

 

Sorry to hear about your controllers. Changing the flex circuits is easy enough. Recommended

[daafies]

To clarify, the latest problem was the muxes in the 5200. The controllers are awesome ever since I retrofitted them

[kamakazi]

It sounds like your problem is solved. But I have to mention that the issues sounded like someone attempted to perform a modification to support the VCS Adapter. They obviously didn't know what they were doing and almost sacrificed the entire mainboard. Glad to hear you got it working.

[daafies]

Agreed

[Scootiecat]

Does anyone know of where I could get a 5200 controller that is inexpensive ($15.00 or less)? Both of mine are not working completely and I am not good with electronics and fixing/modifying them.

[bohoki]

Does anyone know of where I could get a 5200 controller that is inexpensive ($15.00 or less)? Both of mine are not working completely and I am not good with electronics and fixing/modifying them.

 

 

you got to ask how is it worth someones time to fix and verify controller works for that amount

 

i guess you can keep up on ebay

 

i would recommend buying a pc controller to 5200 adapter

 

and buy this

 

eBay Auction -- Item Number: 280603629755

[Charlie_]

Does anyone know of where I could get a 5200 controller that is inexpensive ($15.00 or less)? Both of mine are not working completely and I am not good with electronics and fixing/modifying them.

I'd be happy to clean up the contacts and see if that fixes them. I don't want anything for it, just pay for the shipping. PM me if your interested.

[daafies]

i think you'll be hard pressed finding a working one for that money. they might just need a clean. i would take up on the offer above