Pitfall working on 2 port.

[0078265317]

Got a cheap 2 port 5200 from ebay delivered on November 29th.  It was untested.  Few light scratches.  And controller door missing.  Also got a VCS adapter in the same box combined shipping.  Untested but works.

 

But on 2 port systems.  There are 3 games pitfall 1 (not 2), k-razy shootout and mountain king that are not supposed to work.

I have pitfall 2 but not 1.  Finally found a copy of pitfall 1 on ebay with box and manual.  Finally came yesterday. 

 

At first I was getting a black screen yesterday in my 2 port.  Then today I tried my 4 port and just a green screen.  2nd try it booted right up.  So its good.  You know activision games sometimes act up.  But its all good now.  Then I tried my 2 port again it it works.  I plugged my masterplay clone and a controller and it played.

 

What is supposed to happen on 2 port systems?  It glitches while playing?  Or hangs on boot?  Or black screen and no boot at all?

 

And if this works the other 2 probably are going to work also?  Too bad ebay prices are so high I will never know.

 

I don't want to open it up to check what bios chip is inside.  Just glad it works.

 

[0078265317]

Just found mountain king loose on ebay 25 bucks.  One with box and manual was starting at 46.  But I don't need all that.  Plus starting so bids will go up.  But this was buy it now and free shipping.  So not bad even loose.  Loose cheapest was 50 few days ago on ebay.  Now I just need to find k-razy shootout.

[0078265317]

So I got Mountain King in the mail today.  It works great.  So what does that mean?  I have one of the special 2 port with original bios?

[masschamber]

someone could have installed the original bios as well, I know I did in mine.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

As we have seen with so many other examples. Depending on when your 5200 was made, it wouldn't surprise me if there are Atari made 2 port units in the wild with 4-port bios chips in them because that is what Atari had on hand at the time and knew it would work.

 

I believe Mitch stated that only real change to the 2-port bios was to add in stuff for a PAL release of the 5200 console. But as that never happened, those changes weren't needed in the end but is what causes issues with those 3 games. I believe all that happens is that you normally get a blank screen when trying to play them.

[0078265317]

[+-^CrossBow^-]

Wouldn't know what year without looking at chips on the inside, but the label would indicate it was prior to the Tramiel buyout and came from the El Paso plant. So could be an early 2-port unit and maybe Atari was still using the 4-port bios in them at that time. 

 

But there is also the possibility that the case or insides were swapped out in its life and the serial number on the bottom may be from a donor 4 port case. The bottom shells on both are the exact same with only the controller port covers being different between them cosmetically.

 

I know I've done this more than once with Genesis systems and on at least one 5200 that arrived for service work with the lower shell in pieces. Had to swap the bottom shell at the client's request.

 

[0078265317]

The bottom half is not the same.  Because 2 ports had the extra hole for ac adapter.  So 4 port bottom would not work on a 2 port.

[0078265317]

But anyhow even if I opened her up there is no way to know if that was factory or some random guy popped in a 4 port bios.  Even if its factory part numbers he could of opened a 4 port and did a swap.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

You are correct that the extra hole exists for the 2 port units. But the spot for the cutout for it has always been on the bottom shell. On the actual 4 port unit there is a small square in that spot where the cutout would be. So all that was needed back then was to cut that out and you could use either or. So yes the shells are the same minus that extra cutout. And if you look at some other threads in this forum, you will see where others have gotten later made 4 port units that appear to have a power mod on them from the factory that no longer required the switchbox. 

 

And yes, in order to know exactly when yours was made or a rough estimate, you would have to open it up and remove the top RF shield so that the chips could be looked at for their date stamps. Whichever chip has the oldest date stamp, you know the console was made around that time afterwards. It is kinda possible to know if yours has been opened before because I've found in most cases that when someone actually takes the RF shield off, they either don't put it back, or they don't normally twist all the tabs back and only do one or two on each side to hold the shield in place. Or they just fold them down flat instead of twisting them as I've been known to do.