Whats the first sign a 5200 cart is "dying"

[captcapcom]

I have a copy of Centipede that just today started acting strangely. It began playing fine until I shot the first Spider then froze, hen glitched out. I shut off the system and cleaned the cart thoroughly and tried it again. It gets past the Atari Logo then glitches out and makes a loud hum. Then I tried my copy of Pac Man, and on the Atari Screen it says APACAPACPAC where the name of the game usually is... then freezes and doesn't work.

 

Strangely, these carts worked fine before, and they are the only two carts that behave like this. All my other games are fine so I ruled out it being a problem with the system. My only conclusion is that these two carts are dying out. Are they? and is there anyway they can be restored? I cleaned both carts but they still behave the same way.

 

This only happened one other time with my copy of Joust... when I booted that one instead of it saying "JOUST" on the boot screen it said "!!!!SENPAI!!!" and crashed... but that was only one time and never happened again.

[AtariBrian]

Also clean the cart slot on the system granted it has nothing to do with this problem . Although alot of the activision games do this and you just need to clean the contacts really good and it goes away . Sometimes it takes 3 or more times to clean them good enough . And use 91 percent alcohol or higher and even try deoxit . Dont throw away bad carts so if you get enough they could always be used as homebrews .

[sqoon]

The only 5200 game cartridge I ever had go bad was a copy of Space Invaders. It wouldn't go past the Atari logo screen no matter what I tried.

[shadow460]

I've seen a few of them. Centipede was one, I think there might have been a Q*Bert, and I currently have a Ms. Pac-Man that's through.

 

Sounds like yours either have dirty contacts or faulty soldering.

[bohoki]

use a little steel wool on the contacts

[atariron82]

I've recently experienced the River Raid "red screen of death" during start up. This was after the game had crashed a few times before. This cart is most likely toast, clean contacts and all.

[AtariBrian]

I thought both river raids I had were dead and as I stated above about cleaing the contacts over and over and over . Finally both of them worked . I hope yours isnt dead ... its a great 5200 game !

Edited March 26, 2013 by AtariBrian

[peedenmark7]

The only ones Ive had freak out or go bad are titles by Activision.

[R.O.T.S]

I think you would be lucky to get a sign to be honest, although i am not sure a cart logic,rom code or power related fault is really any better than it being completely dead.Just hope it is carbon deposits on the pins as with most 8-16 bit era game carts.

[robertski]

Alas, we gather here today to mourn the loss of our favorite cartridges. Even though

this is a sad tradgedy, it brings to mind what these games give to us... an ever-loved

challenge, an ofted played friend.. or even a worthy opponent to kick our butts

when we are bored. We challenge them and they challenge us.. and it is wonderous

how a few cents of plastic, a little copper, some proms, and a little paper and glue

can improve our spirits, rekindle our youth, and affect our lives..

 

They will sadly be missed.

[Keatah]

..eh.. Contacts, capacitors, and solder joints - all this stuff will fail before anything else.