Harmony Help

[+craftsmanMIKE]

Ok, I was playing Berzerk for HSC, turned off console for dinner, turned back on to play after eats, black screen, nothing makes anything happen. Did all normal, and not so normal tests, different cart, console, TV. Same thing black screen. I put the cards in my laptop, and everything is still there. Plugged cart in with USB cable, but it doesn't show up anywhere to do anything with. HELP I will be to busy this weekend to try anything, but will take any and all advice to get my baby back. I miss her already.

[CPUWIZ]

That sounds like hardware failure, you should contact batari, he hasn't been around a lot lately.

[iesposta]

My first Harmony has needed reflashed 3 times since I got it.

All the data is still on my SD card.

You said you tried other carts?? What does that mean?

So is it the console or the Harmony?

[+craftsmanMIKE]

Other carts to make sure it was not the console. The problem is definitely the Harmony cart. I may need to spend a little more time trying to reflash it, but like I said it doesn't show up anywhere on my laptop to do anything with when I plug it in?

[iesposta]

... it doesn't show up anywhere on my laptop...

That is normal. It will not show up anywhere. Only the flashing software will show it is there. The hardest part for me was getting the USB cable because I never had any devices that used that size connector.

[awace]

Whell I think the problem is like my flashback Mod the capacitor keep that charge from the power pack so it dont spark when unplugging the power pack as my flashback I hooked to the output of the 7805 and the cap for the 5v output from the power switch This causes it to be charged ..

 

**************************************THE SIMPLE WAY TO DISCHARGE the 5v cap in Atari2600*************************

turn atari off unplug phono plug power pack plug connector from back of atari (the power going into the atari) turn off atari plug power back into atari w power switch OFF then unplug power pack phono plug power from atari turn on then back off then you can remove carts or insert carts then leaving power switch off plug power pack back into atari then turn on .. this is the proper way to keep a CART from flashing it self to death.

*****************************************************************************************************************************************

Edited July 27, 2013 by awace

[+craftsmanMIKE]

Thanks for all the tips. After reading and rereading the manual a few more times, I think I understand how to reflash it. Gonna give it a try tonight.

[+craftsmanMIKE]

Well, it took some time, but I got it working again. All it needed was a reflash. The wall i kept hitting was the drivers for the FT232R. I figured it out and we are back to gaming!! My PC skills are at about a video pong level, that was the main problem.

[awace]

The A10 line is the line switched in the flashback to the Real carts One time I actually Read a 9316 Spaceinvaders rom witch i thought was encrypted chip but once i had the correct voltages on the correct pins all i had to do is not connect the voltage pins to the eeprom burner and connect the voltages to external power supply then viola connect the a10 line to the a10 line on a 2716 configuration on eeprom burner and viola it read it they just switched around the pins and used differnt voltages back then Sattalite TV and cable boxes was General Instraments claim to fame but since i had done that the flashback to me was cool trying to get my own homebrew hackomatic iii carts to read was cool to I learned a 2732 makes a 8k atari rom..

Have Fun and Once i get a Harmnoy cart I will let you know Cause Ill probalbly need that FT232R Driver and info on it lol.

[alexlow8]

Hi guys, got my Harmony cart today and was stoked. I Loaded an SD card up with ROMs and was set to spend the evening re-living some long lost titles, when I ran into a slight problem. My New Harmony cart wont go into the cartrige slot of my woody??? something was spilt on the package during transit, (smells like coconut oil) but it didnt appear to get on the cart or instruction booklet, so I don't think this is the cause of the problem. There isn't anything wrong with my 2600 cart slot, I have several titles which all work just fine.

 

Ed.. I poked around with it a bit and found the edge connector was ever so slightly mis-aligned with the slot in the cover. All Sorted now.

Edited September 25, 2013 by alexlow8

[RickR]

Hi guys, got my Harmony cart today and was stoked. I Loaded an SD card up with ROMs and was set to spend the evening re-living some long lost titles, when I ran into a slight problem. My New Harmony cart wont go into the cartrige slot of my woody??? something was spilt on the package during transit, (smells like coconut oil) but it didnt appear to get on the cart or instruction booklet, so I don't think this is the cause of the problem. There isn't anything wrong with my 2600 cart slot, I have several titles which all work just fine.

 

Ed.. I poked around with it a bit and found the edge connector was ever so slightly mis-aligned with the slot in the cover. All Sorted now.

My Harmony cart is the same...a little misaligned and hard to get in. Glad you got it working!

[Thomas Jentzsch]

My Harmony cart is the same...a little misaligned and hard to get in.

Fortunately you probably never ever have to change it again.

[RickR]

Fortunately you probably never ever have to change it again.

I purchased a 2600jr a few months later -- not because of this, but I had never seen one before --, and it doesn't have the little dust flap thingy on the cartridge slot. Problem solved.