Controller Advice

[yelever]

Got my hands on 2 port 5200 and a copy of pacman without a controller but finally managed to get a supposedly working one from ebay and fired up the 5200. Everything seemed ok until it was time to press start and nothing. Tried for about 15 mins turning on and off and both controller ports and it did start which may have been me pressing the button or just a stroke of luck. The game started and pacman went left on his own and no responce from the joystick, tried pressing resest and pause but nothing. I know the contollers have issues but was wondering if there was anyway to test to see if it`s the console it`s self. A friend has a meter if it`s needed.

[TheLunarFox]

Have you tried opening up the controller and cleaning it up? I read up about it on this thread before I even bought the controllers. Might be worth a shot first just to see if you can see anything immediately wrong and rule out the controller before questioning the console.

Edited September 4, 2010 by TheLunarFox

[tz101]

Got my hands on 2 port 5200 and a copy of pacman without a controller but finally managed to get a supposedly working one from ebay and fired up the 5200. Everything seemed ok until it was time to press start and nothing. Tried for about 15 mins turning on and off and both controller ports and it did start which may have been me pressing the button or just a stroke of luck. The game started and pacman went left on his own and no responce from the joystick, tried pressing resest and pause but nothing. I know the contollers have issues but was wondering if there was anyway to test to see if it`s the console it`s self. A friend has a meter if it`s needed.

 

Diagnosing based on what you said:

 

"Everything seemed ok until it was time to press start and nothing." That, and this: "tried pressing reset and pause but nothing." mean one of two things. Either the carbon dots on the back of the rubber buttons are filthy and not getting good connections, or the flex circuit has at least one broken trace leading up to that section of the controller interface.

 

I suggest disassembling the controller housing and cleaning all the contact points on the flex circuit with a pencil eraser and rubbing alcohol. Next, use a cotton swab and alcohol to clean the carbon dot on the back of each and every rubber button, fire, start, numbers, etc.

 

Follow up by holding the flex circuit up to a bright light. Looking through the circuit with a magnifying glass, look for any cracks or missing sections in the circuit traces.

 

Hopefully the circuit has no broken traces, and the cleaning should get the buttons responding again.

 

This: "pacman went left on his own and no responce from the joystick" normally means the pots are in need of replacement. Go to Best Electroics and order the replacements. You will have to call them for pricing, but they are very reasonable. You will need two pots per controller.

 

One last thing: If simply cleaning the contact points on the flex circuit and the carbon dots on the back of the buttons does not get them working well, then the aluminum foil dot trick works wonders. Here is what to do: Use a paper punch to punch out dots from a sheet of good quality aluminum foil. Use super glue to secure one aluminum dot to the back of each and every rubber button. Be sure to press the aluminum dots down securely with tweezers so they do no stick out too far after they dry. After everything is dry (maybe 15 minutes to 1/2 hour) reassemble the controller and all the buttons will work like new.

 

All is easily repairable, and you will have a good-as-new controller soon.

Edited September 4, 2010 by tz101

[yelever]

Ok managed to get most of the buttons to work except the start button and not even aluminum will get it working so wondering if it`s better to buy a refurbished on ebay.

[atariksi]

Ok managed to get most of the buttons to work except the start button and not even aluminum will get it working so wondering if it`s better to buy a refurbished on ebay.

 

For start button, you may want to short pin 4 and pin 7 and see if the pins are consistently working.

[zylon]

Also might want to check controller cable. Could have a broken wire inside.

[TheLunarFox]

Ok managed to get most of the buttons to work except the start button and not even aluminum will get it working so wondering if it`s better to buy a refurbished on ebay.

 

Maybe you should still try contacting Best first. I think they take your old controllers and give you one of their refurbished. It'd probably be cheaper and it sounds like the people who know (points up to one of them) seem to think highly of them. From the linked page above: "Standard Best Electronics reconditioned Atari CX52 Joystick with new Stock Carbon dot Silicone pads $21 (Exchange / Core Required*)". All the other refurbished I'd seen on ebay were close to $40.

[tz101]

Y, people on eBay mark everything up. I have seen the rev. 9 flex circuits that they purchased from Best going for much higher prices. Unfortunately, many 5200 owners do not know about Best Electronics. Another reason I recommend them: They are really knowledgeable and will walk you through everything over the phone if you run into any problems installing their parts. You can't beat that.

[Divya16]

Also might want to check controller cable. Could have a broken wire inside.

 

That's one thing Wico Y cable has issues with. I have bought a couple of Y cables on Ebay that have some breaks that cause certain buttons to malfunction.

[Madaracs]

Got my hands on 2 port 5200 and a copy of pacman without a controller but finally managed to get a supposedly working one from ebay and fired up the 5200. Everything seemed ok until it was time to press start and nothing. Tried for about 15 mins turning on and off and both controller ports and it did start which may have been me pressing the button or just a stroke of luck. The game started and pacman went left on his own and no responce from the joystick, tried pressing resest and pause but nothing. I know the contollers have issues but was wondering if there was anyway to test to see if it`s the console it`s self. A friend has a meter if it`s needed.

 

You may already be aware of this but the world's worst website is also the world's best resource for NOS Atari parts. The other thing they have that I bought was these repair kits. They are reachable by phone and fairly knowledgeable about everything Atari. I bought the replacement parts for my 5200 controllers and repaired them. They work flawlessly. In the long run this saved me money because I probably would have bought controller after controller on eBay to no avail.

 

http://www.best-electronics-ca.com/

 

5200 Controller FAQ

 

Hours of operation are Monday through Friday 1:30pm to 5:00pm PST

 

Telephone: (408) 278-1070

 

Best Electronics

672 Commercial Street

San Jose, CA 95112-1406

Edited September 7, 2010 by Madaracs

[bohoki]

Got my hands on 2 port 5200 and a copy of pacman without a controller but finally managed to get a supposedly working one from ebay and fired up the 5200. Everything seemed ok until it was time to press start and nothing. Tried for about 15 mins turning on and off and both controller ports and it did start which may have been me pressing the button or just a stroke of luck. The game started and pacman went left on his own and no responce from the joystick, tried pressing resest and pause but nothing. I know the contollers have issues but was wondering if there was anyway to test to see if it`s the console it`s self. A friend has a meter if it`s needed.

 

You may already be aware of this but the world's worst website is also the world's best resource for NOS Atari parts. The other thing they have that I bought was these repair kits. They are reachable by phone and fairly knowledgeable about everything Atari. I bought the replacement parts for my 5200 controllers and repaired them. They work flawlessly. In the long run this saved me money because I probably would have bought controller after controller on eBay to no avail.

 

http://www.best-electronics-ca.com/

 

5200 Controller FAQ

 

Hours of operation are Monday through Friday 1:30pm to 5:00pm PST

 

Telephone: (408) 278-1070

 

Best Electronics

672 Commercial Street

San Jose, CA 95112-1406

 

 

geez for the price they are charging for gold couldnt you buy a piece of gold leaf and use the contact glue for the dots

[eightbit]

It's not just the contact dots that are gold. The pcbs are also gold:

 

http://www.best-electronics-ca.com/5200.htm

 

If you trade in a broken controller (in good physical shape) and pay $43 you get one of these completely upgraded and restored controllers. With no trade in, I believe it was $55. That is not a whole lot to pay for what you get. Mine works perfectly, all the time and every time. They are actually so good that I have it planned to buy a second one of these in the future for sure.

[nems]

You may already be aware of this but the world's worst website is also the world's best resource for NOS Atari parts.

 

:lol:

I love Best Electronics, but you are soooo right about their web site design.

Edited September 8, 2010 by nems

[akator]

I traded in 4 non-working 5200 controllers to Best for 4 refurbished ones, and all work perfectly several months later. The cost may seem a little high, but IMO it is well worth it

[Madaracs]

You may already be aware of this but the world's worst website is also the world's best resource for NOS Atari parts.

 

:lol:

I love Best Electronics, but you are soooo right about their web site design.

 

And it's been like that for-ev-ah.

[TrekMD]

I'm going to be sending my 5200 controllers into Best Electronics to get the "gold upgrade." Seems a worthwhile investement!

[Madaracs]

I'm going to be sending my 5200 controllers into Best Electronics to get the "gold upgrade." Seems a worthwhile investement!

 

They're really not hard to replace yourself. And it's cheaper!

[atariksi]

I'm going to be sending my 5200 controllers into Best Electronics to get the "gold upgrade." Seems a worthwhile investement!

 

Even with working A5200 controllers, it's still good to have some other 3rd party controllers for games like Frogger, Pac-man, Miner 2049er, Super Breakout, etc.

 

Trackball works great for Galaxian and Space Invaders and Missile Command.

 

Paddles for SuperBreakout, Kaboom, and some others.

 

Wico Keypad for Frogger in keypad mode. Joystick mode is terrible since you have to keep pressing the fire button.

 

Digital Joystick for Pac-man, Joust, Miner 2049er, and some others.

 

??? for Ms. Pac-man (controller has yet to be invented).

[TrekMD]

I just bought a Wico controller and a trackball for the 5200 having read about the advantages for some some games with those. Thanks!

[bohoki]

I just bought a Wico controller and a trackball for the 5200 having read about the advantages for some some games with those. Thanks!

 

 

hope you get good ones

[TrekMD]

That makes 2 of us!

[tz101]

The Wico's can be problematic if the pots are oxidized.

 

No need for gold plated fire buttons. Just do the aluminum dot treatment and all is good as new.

[TrekMD]

Thanks for the advise. The seller of the Wico said he calibrated and cleaned the stick...so, we'll see when I get it what happens. Here's hoping they work well!

[Ogma]

Within the span of one week, I managed to acquire TWO 5200s, both in the town where I live (one via a private seller via Craigslist and one this morning at a yard sale).

 

The first one came with 24 games (22 in their original boxes) with all overlays. It also came with two controllers, but no switch box or power supply... This lot was $50.

 

Just when I was about to put the money down for a replacement power supply and switch box, I read a listing for a yard sale that mentioned a 5200 and picked up a console with vinyl dust cover, two controllers, power supply, switch box and 10 cartridges (no boxes, in this case) for $45.

 

So I hook it all up a few minutes ago and... Four out of four controllers are non-responsive!!! Ugh...

 

Well, I guess before I do anything drastic, I will take the advice posted here and open them up to clean the contacts, blow out the ancient dust and spiders and see what happens. Two controllers are missing buttons (START on one and a key off the pad on another) so they will likely be sent in to Best for replacement, but the other two seem clean, tight and feel like they SHOULD work. We'll see what happens after I gut them and clean them soon. I'll post the results here for the curious.

[Divya16]

Within the span of one week, I managed to acquire TWO 5200s, both in the town where I live (one via a private seller via Craigslist and one this morning at a yard sale).

 

The first one came with 24 games (22 in their original boxes) with all overlays. It also came with two controllers, but no switch box or power supply... This lot was $50.

 

Just when I was about to put the money down for a replacement power supply and switch box, I read a listing for a yard sale that mentioned a 5200 and picked up a console with vinyl dust cover, two controllers, power supply, switch box and 10 cartridges (no boxes, in this case) for $45.

 

So I hook it all up a few minutes ago and... Four out of four controllers are non-responsive!!! Ugh...

 

Well, I guess before I do anything drastic, I will take the advice posted here and open them up to clean the contacts, blow out the ancient dust and spiders and see what happens. Two controllers are missing buttons (START on one and a key off the pad on another) so they will likely be sent in to Best for replacement, but the other two seem clean, tight and feel like they SHOULD work. We'll see what happens after I gut them and clean them soon. I'll post the results here for the curious.

 

Are they 4-port systems? If so, then the switch box is expensive but for the 2-port the switch box is pretty cheap.

 

Let me guess why the start button is missing. Someone couldn't get the game to start thanks to the non-responsive button and after hard pressing pulled out the button in frustration and eventually put the system up for sale.