Want to take the 5200 plunge; lend me your knowledge

[zylon]

The Activision carts used a thinner circuit board and make less contact in the machine. Try putting a pack of matches behind one to lean it more and see. Could also try them without the console top on. I had one system that had the top warped just enough to interfere with good contact.

[Andromeda Stardust]

The Activision carts used a thinner circuit board and make less contact in the machine. Try putting a pack of matches behind one to lean it more and see. Could also try them without the console top on. I had one system that had the top warped just enough to interfere with good contact.

Didn't Activision carts also have that "conductive" grease on the contacts that actually hardens over the years and prevents carts from functioning if not vigorously scrubbed off? In most cases the conductive grease was long gone on used carts but it could be an issue with lightly used or brand new (never played) games.

 

Also in addition to cleaning the contacts with isopropyl and cotton swabs, sometimes spraying some electronics contact cleaner into the cart slot and vigorously inserting and removing a cart helps to knock the dust and oxide off the internal connectors.

 

If the Activision carts are indeed thinner than 1st party carts, you could try wedging a folded sheet paper (typically loose leaf or standard weight typing paper thrice folded down to 1/8 size) in front of or behind the cartridge. This has helped protect me against lockup in the past with my old SNES or N64 system which had a loose cart slot - without the shim, the slightest bump or vibration (ie a slight tug on the controller cord) would cause the game to crash. With the shim in place, I didn't have to worry much.

Edited July 24, 2015 by stardust4ever

[+GoldenWheels]

Well another (far more vigorous! I got rough with it!) cleaning has Pitfall 2 and Frogger working.

 

Separate Q: When playing Joust (and I play a LOT of Joust) my ostrich will move fine to the left from a dead stop and from moving in the opposite direction...yet there seems to be a delay in moving to the right in any case. I not only need to move the stick ALL THE WAY to the right, but it is STILL somewhat slow to respond. Do I need to do some adjustments to the controller? The system? or both?

Edited July 27, 2015 by GoldenWheels

[zylon]

Try the same test with Super Breakout if you have it

[+GoldenWheels]

Will do Zylon, thanks. I have played that one since I got the system, and once I adjusted to the EXTREME sensitivity I believe it played fine. But I didn't play it very long since...paddle games with a joystick make my head hurt. Will test it tonight.

[zylon]

Will do Zylon, thanks. I have played that one since I got the system, and once I adjusted to the EXTREME sensitivity I believe it played fine. But I didn't play it very long since...paddle games with a joystick make my head hurt. Will test it tonight.

 

With that game in, start a game, but do not press serve. Just move back and forth and see how the directions respond. You can "fine-tune" it inside at this location.

Edited July 27, 2015 by zylon

[+GoldenWheels]

So I just turn that little wheel (by hand?)? (thank you SO much for the photo as my next question was "what am I actually doing inside the console"!) If a delay going right is my issue, should I start turning it clockwise or counter clockwise?

 

(BTW since that is the left right adjustment, is the larger wheel by the power light the up/down adjustment? I'm fine there AFAIK but I am curious.)

 

I know 0 about "pots" but I know that my controller had the arms or whatever they were at what I read were the correct 6 and 9 oclock positions...do I need to do anything in here as well? Or just work within the console for now?

[zylon]

What you want is the "paddle" at dead center in Super Breakout with controller stick at center or pots at 6 and 9. Adjusting that little one in system moves the centered position. Another good game to use for this is Missile Command. For that one, you want the crosshairs at dead center of screen as well upon hitting START.

[SoundGammon]

I had a bad POKEY chip in my 5200. On Galaxian, fast-slow to the left, but only slow to the right! The adjustment in the system didn't help!

[Charlie_]

I haven't done this in a long time, but I think the easiest way is with the SD or USB carts and Pete's diagnostic rom.

You can use a known good working and assembled controller. Hold the controller all the way to the right. Then adjust the internal pokey knob until the number for that axis just reaches 255. You will then have the full range of motion from the controller. It is also good to make sure the down direction also reads 255 with the axis held all the way down. They should be pretty close. If not the arms on the pots in the joystick may need very slight adjustment themselves.

[+GoldenWheels]

Fellows, do me a favor if you know the guts of the 5200 and look at one I bought, second photo:

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/151768920222?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

 

Check out that second photo. I see that there is no RF cable coming off the board, but I see a port (?) on the board, that appears to be the same spot where the cable comes off my other 5200 (I bought this one for parts/projects). Can I just...plug in a new RF cable there and run it out the back? Is it that simple?

 

Also...the listing says he hasn't tested it in years, I'd figured to at least plug it in and try it (assuming the RF cable is plug and play). But I am worried it will hurt my power supply if the 5200 is bad. Is that a legit worry?

Edited August 10, 2015 by GoldenWheels

[Andromeda Stardust]

Fellows, do me a favor if you know the guts of the 5200 and look at one I bought, second photo:

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/151768920222?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

 

Check out that second photo. I see that there is no RF cable coming off the board, but I see a port (?) on the board, that appears to be the same spot where the cable comes off my other 5200 (I bought this one for parts/projects). Can I just...plug in a new RF cable there and run it out the back? Is it that simple?

 

Also...the listing says he hasn't tested it in years, I'd figured to at least plug it in and try it (assuming the RF cable is plug and play). But I am worried it will hurt my power supply if the 5200 is bad. Is that a legit worry?

It appears the RCA is both the power input and the RF output. You could build a very simple filter circuit to separate the two signals. Get like a pair of 10pF caps and make your own RF air choke with a half dozen loops of magnet wire around a pencil. Use a project enclosure with a perf board inside it. Solder both ends of a shielded coax RCA cable to the perf board and connect them in series with the pair of 10pF caps. Then solder the pair of air chokes you made between the RCA and a regulated 5V power supply. The cap will pass RF to the TV and the air chokes will pass DC from the power supply. I believe positive is center tip and ground is the outer sheath but you will need to double check this. The precise cap and choke values are not critical so long as the cutoff frequency of both is between 0 and 50Mhz. A 10pF cap and a few turns of wire about a 1/4" diameter will be fine. I made such a circuit once to supply 12V power along the coax feed to an amplified TV antenna which had lost the power dongle. It worked fairly well...

 

EDIT: Alternately, if you don't want to build your own filter circuit for the power supply, you can tap into the VCC and GND traces on the 5200 motherboard and use your own power supply. You will need a regulated +5V supply with at least 1 amp rated current. If you want you could install a USB B port on the back and use one of those cheap USB chargers to operate the console. Bear in mind the RCA RF output will still have +5V DC bias. This would allow you to use a Nintendo or Sega brand auto switch with it or simply direct connect it. I'm pretty sure most TVs have filter circuitry to ignore any DC bias present so it won't hurt anything. You just want to avoid RF transformers or anything that might act as a short to DC.

Edited August 11, 2015 by stardust4ever

[+GoldenWheels]

Well Stardust I can't say why you think that as you clearly know way more than me so far as electrical stuff but it wasn't a combined port (this is a 2 port 5200, the 4 port IS like that though, maybe the board appears similar with just slightly different traces?).

 

I plugged in a RCA cord to that little plug last night, plugged in my power supply to the back, and voila! It actually worked. As this "parts machine" is in better shape than my main 5200....I think it's going to be come my main 5200 as soon as I can get a permanent cord in there (I didn't have anything small enough to be able to put the case back on!)

[Andromeda Stardust]

Well Stardust I can't say why you think that as you clearly know way more than me so far as electrical stuff but it wasn't a combined port (this is a 2 port 5200, the 4 port IS like that though, maybe the board appears similar with just slightly different traces?).

 

I plugged in a RCA cord to that little plug last night, plugged in my power supply to the back, and voila! It actually worked. As this "parts machine" is in better shape than my main 5200....I think it's going to be come my main 5200 as soon as I can get a permanent cord in there (I didn't have anything small enough to be able to put the case back on!)

Yeah my bad, the 4 port has the combined power supply.

 

Truthfully, I don't even own a 5200 (but I will someday complete the holy Atari Trinity), although I've encountered circuits that combine DC power and RF signals on a single Coax. This allows for repeaters and signal boosters to carry cable signals over great distances, also used to provide power to receivers in antennas and satellite dishes. The 4-port 5200 uses such a design to provide power to the console. So do the RF auto-switches used by Nintendo and Sega which need DC bias to switch signals (which don't work on Atari consoles because they don't provide a DC bias).

Edited August 11, 2015 by stardust4ever

[+GoldenWheels]

I specifically picked a 2 port when I decided to go 5200....I did NOT want to deal with that switchbox!

 

I certainly have enjoyed the 5200 so far, and it is nice in that it's not an expensive system to get going with. But EVERYTHING I read/was told about the controllers was true. My gosh. Just installed some new Rev 9 circuits last night.