Video Probem - black or wavy lines

slayer123 · January 18, 2003

I recently bought two atari 2600's at a flea market. One of them works prefectly.

The other one turns on but i get either a blank picture or i get a blank picture with white wavy lines going up and down.

Its kind of reminiscent of a those old tv's where the picture wouldn't look right until you adjust the vertical control knob.

I know my games work because i tried them in the other 2600 and they work perfectly

Anyway, I have some technical background so if any of the atari experts out there have any ideas on why i would be getting either a blank screen or a blank picture with white wavy lines going up and down, I"m up for some suggestions.

I've tried cleaning the connector port where the catridges would plug into but it seems near impossible to clean them all the way.

Thanks in advance.

Ben

CPUWIZ · January 18, 2003

I've had a similar problem once, turned out to be the power switch was bad.

slayer123 · January 19, 2003

Thanks for the response. Is there anywhere on the net i could possibly download the schematics for the 2600 and do you know by chance how many volts i should be reading from the power switch? Thanks again.

Ben

CPUWIZ · January 19, 2003

Since you don't have a location marked in your profile, I am going to presume you need the NTSC schematics. I don't know the voltage reading of the top off my head.

http://www.atariage.com/2600/archives/sche...tics/index.html