7800 motherboard joystick port (securing the pins behind the connector with glue)

[CommodoreDecker]

Is it possible or desirable to secure the pins in place with glue or epoxy so they don't get pushed backwards??

 

History: So I took apart a 7800 I bought online, in order to add the composite mod circuit...  I found that a pin on the joystick port had been bent back, somehow, and I can't explain it. But the pushed back pin would explain why the right button (pin #5) never worked. I carefully got the pin back in place, and the games I tested now use the right button functionality.  Hyperspace and shooting stars is a lot more fun when the button works...   Indeed, I had no idea there was a problem until I tried out Ninja Golf... 

 

Thanks!

 

[+DrVenkman]

It should never be necessary to "secure" the pins of the connector as you suggest. Obviously someone can (and did in your case) shove something in there to damage things, and one can yank a pin backwards from inside the case pulling it back into the machine, but that's just abuse. You can't protect against that, nor should you have to. I've got easily 2 dozen Atari computers and consoles sitting around me as I write this and only one of them has ever had a damaged controller jack - one of my 1200XLs had had something jammed up into the port, maybe in storage or maybe by an idiot-child at some point, but it's literally a <$10 fix: desolder the old jack, install new jack, problem solved (hopefully for my lifetime at least).

[CommodoreDecker]

Yikes. I was lucky in being able to put the pin back into place without breaking the metal lead. It could have been pushed back by accident if plugging in the joystick connector in just the right way, I'd guess. For anything deliberate, I'd have expected something different. Yeah, if it happens again I'll just replace the connector.  Everything else works - well, the RF modulator sometimes blinks out then in but the composite mod should take care of that issue.

[CommodoreDecker]

LOL!  Another 7800 (backup hardware unit) I ordered arrived and both the top (pins 1, 5) were halfway seated backwards (almost the same length for both, but when opening the unit one pin was somehow bent a little to the side - making fixing a little more difficult). There was nothing else altered or damaged to suspect abuse and this issue always seems to be in the left port only.  This must be a not uncommon problem with the 7800 and people shoving in the controller connectors without care, or something.

[CommodoreDecker]

Update: I successfully de-soldered the broken joystick port and tested the desoldered holes for conductivity to the opposite end of the circuit board and all lit up as expected so the remaining step is a piece of cake, once I find the part. Where can a replacement be found? The Atari Best-electronics store didn't seem to have any but I'll email them too. (Much thanks!)

 

I still can't believe a well-renowned eBay site would let through a unit, one of many they've retrofitted and sold, go through with this problem.  But this venture has given me the confidence to take my other 7800 and add the composite mod (which I bought elsewhere in advance but was worried I'd lack the dexterity to do the work.)

 

 

[+DrVenkman]

B&C’s eBay store (seller name ‘myatari’) used to sell them for like $10 for a pair, new old stock repair parts. You can usually also find used ones desoldered from a dead machine being parted out for spares. 

 

EDIT: Ah, here you go. I bought a pack of these a couple years ago to fix a 1200XL with some broken off pins in the second controller jack.

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/ATARI-Joystick-Connectors-4-DB-9M-PCB-2600-7800-800-NEW-NO-display-package-/131406521512?hash=item1e987064a8