New VCS - Very disappointed!!!

[Tinman]

I just got my VCS and connected it all up and… nothing really works.

 

It says it’s connected to the Internet (I used Wifi at first and then setup Ethernet), but I cannot create a user.  I get an error that says, “Failed to fetch data” each time I try.

 

I also cannot run any software updates.  I get another error that says, “Update failed”.  Nothing shows up on the Home Screen and nothing in the Games or Apps screens either.  I can see the Store, though.

 

I was really looking forward to playing some Atari this evening, but I cannot.  I’ve tried restarting it.  I cannot reset to factory defaults because that requires me to login with a user I cannot create.

 

This really sucks.

[Atari_JaguarVCS]

I believe what your experiencing has to do with the Atari server issues that have been on going since around last month!. Once the servers are working you should be able to create an account and set up your system properly id advise you to reboot the console and retry even leave it for a few and try again and it’ll eventually work, not the ideal solution but it’s about all you can do untill it’s fixed I’m afraid. 

[Tinman]

1 minute ago, Atari_JaguarVCS said:

I believe what your experiencing has to do with the Atari server issues that have been on going since around last month!. Once the servers are working you should be able to create an account and set up your system properly id advise you to reboot the console and retry even leave it for a few and try again and it’ll eventually work, not the ideal solution but it’s about all you can do untill it’s fixed I’m afraid. 

I appreciate the advice!  I will keep trying.

[Mockduck]

Unfortunately Atari has been having server struggles for weeks now, but once you get in you should be quite happy.

[Tinman]

9 minutes ago, Mockduck said:

Unfortunately Atari has been having server struggles for weeks now, but once you get in you should be quite happy.

I’m sure I will be, but this is a terrible out of the box experience.

[+swlovinist]

Atari needs to fix this situation.  

[stirrell]

I have never experienced problems as bad as others on this forum. A few errors here and there and Store and Friends not loading. Tonight the Store and Friends seemed snappier than it has in quite some time. I hope that others are seeing an improvement too.

 

But, yes, this definitely needs to get fixed. And it would be nice if Atari would do something for those that had opened tickets with them because of this known issue. I feel bad for those who had such a miserable experience out of the gate on such an expensive item.

[Mockduck]

I don't know there is much Atari can do if it is the typical holiday DDoSing that seems to be the culprit. 

[+Stephen]

48 minutes ago, Mockduck said:

I don't know there is much Atari can do if it is the typical holiday DDoSing that seems to be the culprit. 

It has to be all the new Netflix Moms and the countless others experiencing gaming like never before.

[Atari_JaguarVCS]

I really hope the servers don’t act up on Xmas day, I can imagine there’s going to be a lot of unhappy new owners out there if they do which is a shame as it’s a great console that’s been very reliable untill last month.

[stirrell]

I don’t know how feasible it would be but it would be nice to make the system less dependent on an internet connection in the future. That way, if the server is down, the system could still get to the Dashboard in a reasonable amount of time and allow access to the downloaded games. As it is there are screens you get stuck on while it tries to connect and there is no way to bypass them.

[justclaws]

Yes, awfully frustrating, and a really bad first experience for you. The outsourced Atari support team
sometimes don't give the right answers, but between them, and fellow owners, things will improve. ?
At least once you've got an account, bought games don't require a network connection, they're local.

To be clear, for months, everything server-side went very well. (I got my 1st VCS in January 2021.)
Then, around the start of the Black Friday week, things started to be problematic... with these errors.

and Atari definitely have a new update for the machine, with new features, coming, but it's hampered
in being released by these server problems, which look, to myself and other VCS owners who work in
IT systems, as being DDOS attacks, or seriously overloaded systems (and that seems to be for USA).

Personally, I'd rather see Atari release smaller incremental updates, rather than these monthly updates
which end-up being 3-monthly updates, but introducing new services is tough these days, I know that.

[zzip]

13 hours ago, Mockduck said:

I don't know there is much Atari can do if it is the typical holiday DDoSing that seems to be the culprit.

Seems like it started around the time we started seeing the Black Friday discounts?  I wonder if they didn't scale up their server capacity to handle the new users

[Tinman]

Atari’s tech support did respond to my ticket confirming what you all have said.  That it’s a known issue and that they’re working on it.  They also said I needed to keep rebooting my VCS and re-trying.  I’ve been doing that, but no luck so far.  Not sure if it would make a difference trying it in the middle of the night rather than during the day when more people are likely using theirs.

[ColecoGamer]

On 12/23/2021 at 4:31 PM, Tinman said:

Atari’s tech support did respond to my ticket confirming what you all have said.  That it’s a known issue and that they’re working on it.  They also said I needed to keep rebooting my VCS and re-trying.  I’ve been doing that, but no luck so far.  Not sure if it would make a difference trying it in the middle of the night rather than during the day when more people are likely using theirs.

Yes, I recommend setting it up during the middle of the night. I had no issues when setting up my VCS about a week and a half ago, shortly after midnight EST.

Edited December 25, 2021 by ColecoGamer

[mario64]

On 12/22/2021 at 5:35 PM, Tinman said:

I just got my VCS and connected it all up and… nothing really works.

 

It says it’s connected to the Internet (I used Wifi at first and then setup Ethernet), but I cannot create a user.  I get an error that says, “Failed to fetch data” each time I try.

 

I also cannot run any software updates.  I get another error that says, “Update failed”.  Nothing shows up on the Home Screen and nothing in the Games or Apps screens either.  I can see the Store, though.

 

I was really looking forward to playing some Atari this evening, but I cannot.  I’ve tried restarting it.  I cannot reset to factory defaults because that requires me to login with a user I cannot create.

 

This really sucks.

Agreed. Unfortunately the VCS is an extremely buggy product, both hardware and software. 

[nopaybob]

 afraid to open & hook mine up ?

[Atarick]

59 minutes ago, mario64 said:

Agreed. Unfortunately the VCS is an extremely buggy product, both hardware and software. 

I can't say this was my experience but yeah, that would be frustrating as all get out. I'd say give it till first update. If it still glitches out, give Atari hell. I luckily had like 7 months of solid performance and the lags corrected for me, but yes, it would be irritating. Keep us posted.

[nopaybob]

1 hour ago, nopaybob said:

 afraid to open & hook mine up ?

Same as OP, updated failed, can't create account, can't buy games, can't get on chrome, all I get is "something went wrong , please try again later" BS!

[nopaybob]

I'm able to download updates now, This things finally starting to work

[zzip]

On 12/25/2021 at 9:11 AM, mario64 said:

Agreed. Unfortunately the VCS is an extremely buggy product, both hardware and software.

Hardware is pretty solid if running an alternative OS.   Issues seem to stem from Atari's online servers.

[Rob Merritt]

On 12/26/2021 at 3:01 PM, zzip said:

Hardware is pretty solid if running an alternative OS.   Issues seem to stem from Atari's online servers.

That’s been my experience. The system and the os are outstanding. Connecting to the servers have not. 

[AlecRob]

Did you finally get your VCS running?

[Djmicklovin]

On 12/28/2021 at 3:49 PM, Rob Merritt said:

That’s been my experience. The system and the os are outstanding. Connecting to the servers have not. 

I’ve had flawless performance since I got my VCS in early January 2021 up until black friday. I guess Atari didn’t have the server capacity prepared or didn’t expect to have all the extra traffic from the holiday sales. I’m glad they’re getting more aggressive though with deals and discounts to start moving these things off shelves and grow their user base and market share. 

[flickertail]

My wife and my mother went halfsies on VCS for my Christmas present. On the 26th, I could barely get it to work, and on the 27th, I couldn't get the Atari store to load... but ever since the 28th, I haven't had a problem.