Controller Port Issue of Oddness

[Bloodcat]

Yes. I have had a 5200 for years but as many have had, I could never get the S/P/R buttons to work.

 

And laziness plus Best Electronics being very oldschool always made it a backburner thingie.

 

Well was looking about on Gamegavel and won a boxed Wico Command Controller for a solid price.

 

Got it in, hooked it up. No luck.

 

However.. GORF starts with the Fire button and I was then able to play!

 

This lead me to do the usual controller cleanup. Eraser, isopropyl alcohol.

 

One of my controllers was a REV 9 with the gold contact S/P/R buttons. No workie.

 

I have a trackball. Made sure it was all clean and even put the SPR in it. Still, no workie. (But can sort of play GORF with it.)

 

Could something in the 4 port A5200's first port be broken so it doesn't read any of the buttons but still recognizes analog stick and fire button inputs?

 

If so is there a fix I can do instead of buying another 4 port machine?

 

I need to make use of my Wico stick that looks like it wouldn't be out of place in a 50 Shades of Grey chapter.

 

And all these games I have owned since the early 00s when X Entertainment had an article on Gremlins:

 

[timg]https://sphotos-b.xx...616329288_o.jpg[/timg]

 

Think of my games Atari Age! Help me play legit Berzerk and Gremlins!

[ApolloBoy]

There's some 4052 logic chips near the controller ports, try replacing those first as they're multiplexer chips for the controllers. Failing that, you can try reflowing the solder joints for the controller ports.

[+DamonicFury]

There's some 4052 logic chips near the controller ports, try replacing those first as they're multiplexer chips for the controllers. Failing that, you can try reflowing the solder joints for the controller ports.

 

I think I would personally reverse that... try reflowing the solder on the controller ports first. It is entirely possible that the solder joint for the Start button could be broken, while the others could be intact enough for the controls. Haven't had that issue with a 5200, but I have seen it on a Sega Genesis (it was the primary fire button that wouldn't work on that console, everything else worked fine.) Reflowing the solder (and adding just a touch more in spots) did the trick.

[AtariBrian]

Is it possible one of the pins is bent or broken in the controller port . .

[Bloodcat]

I will maybe take a run down to Radio Shack (You have questions? They are bloody CLUELESS!) next week and get myself a new soldering iron and some proper toxic solder and give sdamon's idea a try first. Then Ataribrian's as a second, and Apollo with the AWESOME Area 88/UN Squadron avatar's as a third.

 

I haven't soldered since 92-93 so I may as well buy a new iron. And thanks to the retro thread on Something Awful I found a GREAT comic book styled tutorial on soldering to bring me back up to speed. ( http://mightyohm.com/blog/2011/04/soldering-is-easy-comic-book/ )

 

I can always try AB's option by just swapping out the P3 or 4 port with 1 if I need to. I put the gold SPR button in the trackball which will be good for it anyhow.

 

Worst comes to worst I can always just buy a parts 5200 on the bay or get some bits from Best or maybe 4Jays or one of the other Atari sellers and try the various options out. Might end up getting extra games cheap that way too!

(I think I need a new PSU for my 7800 as well because it doesn't even turn on and someone on Facebook said the PSUs are very fragile on that machine. Might as well take care of it all at once!)

 

Heh. I really want to get my Color Computer collection going and I am eyeing a TI 99 too so its kind of pushing me back here to get older stuff going better first.

 

Retrogaming is a HELL of a drug...

[zylon]

I'd look for small cracks in the traces leading to/from the port as well. I've had similar issues on a SMSII and a Gemini. 5200 ports are not the hardiest of the era.