Atari Superman Posted February 10, 2022 Share Posted February 10, 2022 For Christmas this year, as a present to myself, I bought an Atari VCS from atarivcs.com and a RetroN 77 from hyperkinlab.com. I placed both orders on Friday afternoon, December 31. On Tuesday, January 4, the RetroN 77 was at my door. I've been playing it happily ever since. The Atari VCS? Problems all the way down. Here for your entertainment are my conversations with Atari VCS Support. ME Wednesday, January 5: Hi, I’m writing about order #xxxx, which was placed on Dec 31. The status on the site says “Awaiting Payment” but payment was sent instantly at the time of purchase through Klarna. Please advise. Thanks — Atari Superman ATARI Friday, January 7: Hello Atari Superman, Thank you for contacting us. We apologize for the inconvenience this has caused. Unfortunately, our system didn't automatically process the payment made by Klarna at the moment the order was placed. I have manually submitted the order and our warehouse will now process your order. Best regards, Atari VCS Support. ME Wednesday, January 12: Hi, thanks for the info and for taking care of that stuck order. Now it looks like it might be stuck on “Awaiting Fulfillment” status. Did you know when it might be shipping out? The confirmation email said within 72 hours. Thanks again ATARI Thursday, January 13: Hello Atari Superman, We hope you are well. We apologize for the delay in our response. Our warehouse team has processed your order and has queued your order for shipment. We will get in touch with you as soon as we have the tracking number. Best regards, Atari VCS Support. Thursday, January 20: Hello Atari Superman, We hope you are well. Our warehouse team processed and shipped out your order on January 14. The UPS tracking number for your package is: xxxxxxxxx However, your package is showing no progress of delivery and our warehouse will be filing a claim to UPS. We should have an update on the status of your package in the next couple of hours and if needed our team will ship out a new package to you. We appreciate your patience and understanding. Best regards, Atari VCS Support. ME Thursday, January 20, 11:59 AM: Thanks for the update. I really appreciate you being proactive about this. Please let me know when you have more info. If I don’t hear back I’ll be in touch. Thanks again — Atari Superman [The next couple of hours pass.] Thursday, January 20, 5:30 PM: Hi again, do you have any new details on this order? ATARI Friday, January 21, 9:15 AM: Hello Atari Superman, Thank you for your response. Our warehouse team was informed by UPS that the package is scheduled for delivery on Friday, January 21 between 10:30 A.M. - 1:30 P.M. Best regards, Atari VCS Support. ME Friday, January 21, 2:32 PM: Hi xxx, this has not been delivered. According to the tracking number it was never out for delivery. I can confirm that the UPS truck has been to my building — a delivery was left for my next-door neighbor — but no delivery was made for this order. Will need this problem to be solved and will need an accurate tracking number. Thanks — Atari Superman ATARI Monday, January 24: Hello Atari Superman, We apologize for the inconvenience. We have sent a request to our team to get an accurate update on your order. We should have more information for you in the next 12 hours. Best regards, Atari VCS Support. ME Monday, January 24: Hi xxx, I’m sorry, but this has gone past being an inconvenience. This is not going to be good enough. I need a new order to be shipped out immediately, with a valid tracking number. If somehow two orders arrive, I will return the second one. This has gone on long enough. I have an email that says the order will be shipped within 72 hours. It has been weeks. The time has come for better answers. Please place the new order and send the new tracking number. Thank you — Atari Superman Tuesday, January 25: Hi, I need an update today or this order gets canceled. ATARI Tuesday, January 25: Hello Atari Superman, We hope you are well. Our warehouse team has processed and shipped out your order. The UPS tracking number for your package is the following: xxxxxxxxx Once again we apologize for all of the inconvenience caused. Best regards, Atari VCS Support. ME Tuesday, January 25: Got it, xxx. Thanks for your help. [The Atari VCS arrives on Tuesday, February 1. I don't get a chance to set it up until Saturday, February 5.] Saturday, February 5: Hi, I have connected the Atari VCS to my TV. If I go to General Settings > Update, it says that Operating System needs an update. When I try to update it, I get "Downloading New Update 1/4" for about 1 second, and then I get "Update Failed. An error occurred while checking for update. Please try again. Version - 20210826.135839.production Build - P#1205" It gives me a Retry button, but retrying the update just keeps giving me the exact same error no matter how often I click it. I have noticed another very strange issue with the wireless connection. The VCS seems to be "attacking" my 5G network. I have a 2G and a 5G network on the same router. Whenever I try to go to the VCS store, for example, the 5G network "overloads" somehow...it just gets knocked out. This happens whether I'm connected to the VCS over 5G or 2G. My other devices, including my computer and phone, which are also connected to 5G, are kicked off the network and can't get back on. The network vanishes completely from the list of available networks on the Atari VCS as well as all other devices. I must manually restart my router to get the 5G network back. ATARI Monday, February 7: Hello, Thank you for your message. Let's first address the update issue, please manually flash the box with an OS image from a USB stick. It can take a bit of time to download and write the file to the USB drive but is otherwise a very straightforward process. Please follow the instructions in the Google Document inside this folder: xxxx The file listed as "atari-flasher" is the OS image, just right click it and hit download, then follow the steps in the document to flash the VCS. Once done, let us know your version. Kind regards, Atari VCS Support ME Monday, February 7: Hi xxx, thank you for the info. The atari-flasher process seems to have cleared up the update problem. My current version is 20211014.083614.production Build - P#1271 with no new OS or firmware updates listed. There were updates to all four factory-installed software apps, which I downloaded and installed, again apparently without issue. However, the issue where the VCS seems to knock out the 5G WiFi network for all devices has persisted. The network is restored only by manually rebooting the router. Even if the VCS connects on 2G, as long as the 5G network is available, it will be knocked out for all devices. Any ideas? — Atari Superman ATARI Tuesday, February 8: Thank you for continuing to help us diagnose your issue. In order to understand your network connection can you please reply back with the following information so we can send more details to our engineers: 1. Who is your internet service provider? 2. Can you run an internet speed test via this link- xxx 3. Make and model of your router? 4. Can you take a screenshot of the following: System->Network->Wifi and System->Network->Ethernet Once you complete the speed test please take a screenshot and attach that screenshot and one of your system information to this email thread. We will wait to hear back from you. Atari Support [I do all this and send the requested information back. At this point I realize that I have not yet played the VCS. All my free time has been spent trying to get it to work.] ME Tuesday, February 8: Hey xxx, I just got done playing the VCS for the first time since hooking up the box. I am using Ethernet instead of Wi-Fi. I was in VCS Vault for about 30 mins. When I quit the game to go back to the OS, the screen went completely black. I had to restart. I’m feeling like this unit has some serious issues and would like to replace it. [Actually I got the black screen of death twice on Tuesday night, both times when trying to exit VCS Vault after more than a couple minutes.] ATARI Wednesday, February 9: [No response.] 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari_JaguarVCS Posted February 10, 2022 Share Posted February 10, 2022 Well that seems like a bit of a rollercoaster ride. I really hope they get you out a new unit ASAP as it should update and work straight out of the box!. I’ve been lucky with mine, collectors edition had it for just over 1 year now with absolutely no issues other than some server issues a few month back but all cleared up now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColecoGamer Posted February 10, 2022 Share Posted February 10, 2022 (edited) Boy, I must have been lucky with my VCS. It arrived on time and the wifi worked out of the box, and the updates downloaded without issue. I really hope you get that issue resolved regarding your VCS. Its a great machine based on my personal experience. Edited February 10, 2022 by ColecoGamer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RadiATIon Posted February 10, 2022 Share Posted February 10, 2022 Just now, ColecoGamer said: Boy, I must have been lucky with my VCS. It arrived on time and the wifi/updates downloaded without issue. I really hope you get that issue resolved regarding your VCS. Its a great machine based on my personal experience. +1 I can confirm that with 2 Atari VCS who do the job. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leonard Smith Posted February 10, 2022 Share Posted February 10, 2022 Jesus. Glad I've held off on buying one of these. These server / update / network issues really don't inspire much confidence in the console and the company behind it. I'll wait and see. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColecoGamer Posted February 10, 2022 Share Posted February 10, 2022 45 minutes ago, Leonard Smith said: Jesus. Glad I've held off on buying one of these. These server / update / network issues really don't inspire much confidence in the console and the company behind it. I'll wait and see. Your caution is well-founded. Like I said in the post above - I was lucky NOT to have any issues with my VCS. I can only assume that faulty consoles are ending up in the hands of paying customers. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justclaws Posted February 10, 2022 Share Posted February 10, 2022 Well, most of the saga seems to have been the UPS shipment, from what I read. It certainly sounds as though your home router does not like the VCS, but there's nothing special about the VCS network wise, and the software for the network is based on standard Linux, with a standard network component. Connectivity to Atari servers can be affected by lots of things, but for sure, if your router does not like the VCS, and regularly disconnects it, that's going to cause you problems with updates. It may also be due to your ISP, who may be blocking access to certain cloud providers, or your ISP network may be blocked as a result of other unrelated users who are on the ISP network. Rebooting your router could get you a new IP which avoids that, or you might get the same IP address. It would be great if Atari could build more trouble-shooting into the box! For me, I have now Atari VCS Collector and Onyx editions, in different locations, with one at home in NL. They also run reliably, updated no problem. The Atari servers are in the USA, and I am in The Netherlands, with a 50 Mbit ADSL connection, and friends have 200 Mbit connections. WIFI and Ethernet both reliable. I very much doubt the hardware is faulty. The black screen on leaving the game is a pure software problem, but of course should never happen. I would suggest disconnecting your machine from the network totally, before you start the system, and trying Atari Vault again, and seeing if you get the same problem, just as a control test. I think something is happening with the network in the background which causes the bug. Of course, I don't mean leave the machine disconnected - it's just to test if without it, no black screen. When that AtariOS update comes along, finally, you could download it and flash the machine again the same way as before, and then you can see if the problem goes away. I heard "coming soon" for months. I can imagine your frustration - I've had similar problems with so many products over the years, from so many manufacturers, I sometimes think I'm cursed, so I've so very happy with my VCS systems. ? Bugs in games though, I've found a few, ha ha! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Djmicklovin Posted February 10, 2022 Share Posted February 10, 2022 15 hours ago, Atari Superman said: For Christmas this year, as a present to myself, I bought an Atari VCS from atarivcs.com and a RetroN 77 from hyperkinlab.com. I placed both orders on Friday afternoon, December 31. On Tuesday, January 4, the RetroN 77 was at my door. I've been playing it happily ever since. The Atari VCS? Problems all the way down. Here for your entertainment are my conversations with Atari VCS Support. Had mine for over a year now, it has worked flawlessly so far. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atarick Posted February 11, 2022 Share Posted February 11, 2022 4 hours ago, Leonard Smith said: Jesus. Glad I've held off on buying one of these. These server / update / network issues really don't inspire much confidence in the console and the company behind it. I'll wait and see. I mean, the network stuff was a rough 2 week stretch but for most users it's been fine since. I have sent 2 help tickets in during my ownership and they've responded promptly both times, with an update. I can't speak for all of course, but I do think at least on the network issues they got through it for now. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoCalAttorney Posted February 11, 2022 Share Posted February 11, 2022 Chrome has not worked on my VCS since at least New Years Day and nothing will download from the app store. This the third time it has happened, though the last time the OS completely crapped out on me. It has been two weeks since Atari said the would be sending me a label to return my system. No label yet. I am very frustrated and should not have purchased this thing. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari Superman Posted February 11, 2022 Author Share Posted February 11, 2022 I also suspect that there's some sort of network tug of war going on and that it might be related to the black screening, which happened for the third time tonight. Also the classic joystick controller has gone unresponsive inside the Options > Controls menu of two different arcade games in the Vault, Pong and Black Widow, if I'm remembering right. The first time it happened was on Tuesday, and I just attributed it to user error/frustration. But it happened again tonight, so I'm ruling out user error. Atari contacted me today and asked me to delete the Vault cache(?) under System > Storage > Other Saved Data. But since the controller locked up and then the unit black-screened after I deleted this file, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that it didn't work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leech Posted February 14, 2022 Share Posted February 14, 2022 On 2/10/2022 at 2:09 PM, ColecoGamer said: Your caution is well-founded. Like I said in the post above - I was lucky NOT to have any issues with my VCS. I can only assume that faulty consoles are ending up in the hands of paying customers. Hmm, I'd kind of think the opposite is true, that we are the normal ones, and Atari Superman is just UNLUCKY. Sorry about the issues dude, my VCS has been working well for the past year. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari Superman Posted February 20, 2022 Author Share Posted February 20, 2022 leech, you are correct. Just hooked up a different VCS to my network, and it's working perfectly. The one I had to threaten them to send me is defective. They currently don't seem to want to believe that, and I don't know what else I can do to convince them except maybe go after the money I gave them. Their customer service is responsive enough unless they owe you a refund or a replacement, and then it's close ranks, obfuscate, and stall and hope that the customer goes away. I get the sense that every sale counts with these guys and they can't afford to lose too many of them. The Atari brand deserves better. Once this finally gets sorted out, I do look forward to playing this thing. And I can say no wrong about the RetroN in the meantime. If anyone's on the fence, don't be. It's been the closest thing to Atari in the living room than actually wheeling out the Atari. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoCalAttorney Posted February 20, 2022 Share Posted February 20, 2022 9 hours ago, Atari Superman said: leech, you are correct. Just hooked up a different VCS to my network, and it's working perfectly. The one I had to threaten them to send me is defective. They currently don't seem to want to believe that, and I don't know what else I can do to convince them except maybe go after the money I gave them. Their customer service is responsive enough unless they owe you a refund or a replacement, and then it's close ranks, obfuscate, and stall and hope that the customer goes away. I get the sense that every sale counts with these guys and they can't afford to lose too many of them. The Atari brand deserves better. Once this finally gets sorted out, I do look forward to playing this thing. And I can say no wrong about the RetroN in the meantime. If anyone's on the fence, don't be. It's been the closest thing to Atari in the living room than actually wheeling out the Atari. Sadly, Atari's customer service is absolutely horrible. I have never had so much trouble with a piece of technology and it has been more than 3 weeks since they approved my RMA. On Friday, they apologized and said I should be getting a return label "today". And of course, still no label. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari Superman Posted February 20, 2022 Author Share Posted February 20, 2022 Yeah it's unreal. Hope that gets sorted for you soon. Ironically(?) the one thing that seems to work fine on my bad box is Chrome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoCalAttorney Posted February 20, 2022 Share Posted February 20, 2022 3 hours ago, Atari Superman said: Yeah it's unreal. Hope that gets sorted for you soon. Ironically(?) the one thing that seems to work fine on my bad box is Chrome. I am not going to hold my breath. I am beyond frustrated with Atari's horrible follow up and lack of communication. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris+++ Posted March 31, 2022 Share Posted March 31, 2022 There's already an Atari VCS. It was released in 1977. The current Atari name-owner should have come up with a new console title. My fruitless and probably unoriginal venting will now conclude. Thank you for your time and indulgence. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leech Posted March 31, 2022 Share Posted March 31, 2022 9 minutes ago, Chris+++ said: There's already an Atari VCS. It was released in 1977. The current Atari name-owner should have come up with a new console title. My fruitless and probably unoriginal venting will now conclude. Thank you for your time and indulgence. I mean there was a Scarface in 1932, they should have picked a different name for Scarface in 1983. Originality is not mankinds strongest ability. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris+++ Posted March 31, 2022 Share Posted March 31, 2022 2 minutes ago, leech said: I mean there was a Scarface in 1932, they should have picked a different name for Scarface in 1983. Originality is not mankinds strongest ability. A great point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mockduck Posted April 2, 2022 Share Posted April 2, 2022 I guess I don't really understand the complaints, sounds like Atari shipped the console in a reasonable amount of time given the OP had a payment/card issue, and then pro-actively even resolved a shipping issue as it was occurring, then even managed to fix a pretty nasty OS update issue within 48 hours? The "VCS is attacking my 5G" thing sure sucks, but that too doesn't really sound like a VCS-specific issue; probably a MAC address conflict or something with the router. I mean, sure, it's unfortunate that you had a personal payment issue, a cruddy UPS experience, and an OS update issue, but how fast would you have expected them to resolve your issue compared to the business day or two it took? 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zzip Posted April 4, 2022 Share Posted April 4, 2022 On 3/31/2022 at 6:42 PM, Chris+++ said: There's already an Atari VCS. It was released in 1977. The current Atari name-owner should have come up with a new console title. My fruitless and probably unoriginal venting will now conclude. Thank you for your time and indulgence. A lot of us didn't like the name, it started off as AtariBox. But I get it for marketing reasons. VCS brings back nostalgia. They also gave the VCS model numbers of 400 and 800. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+sramirez2008 Posted April 4, 2022 Share Posted April 4, 2022 22 minutes ago, zzip said: They also gave the VCS model numbers of 400 and 800. The 400/800 differentiates between the 4GB/8GB RAM models. I purchased my 800 from Best Buy during the initial price drop and did not see any 400s. I would think the 800s have superseded the 400s by now. I wasn't thrilled with calling it the VCS either, but I understand why they did it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SabertoothRetro Posted April 4, 2022 Share Posted April 4, 2022 6 minutes ago, sramirez2008 said: The 400/800 differentiates between the 4GB/8GB RAM models. I purchased my 800 from Best Buy during the initial price drop and did not see any 400s. I would think the 800s have superseded the 400s by now. I wasn't thrilled with calling it the VCS either, but I understand why they did it. I don't think they ever actually released the 400 SKU. My understanding is that they upgraded all IGG backers who ordered one to the 800. The 400s were never available at retailers. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zzip Posted April 4, 2022 Share Posted April 4, 2022 1 hour ago, sramirez2008 said: The 400/800 differentiates between the 4GB/8GB RAM models. I purchased my 800 from Best Buy during the initial price drop and did not see any 400s. I would think the 800s have superseded the 400s by now. I wasn't thrilled with calling it the VCS either, but I understand why they did it. I don't think the 400 ever got released, I just don't think it was an accident that they chose the 400/800 naming 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leech Posted April 4, 2022 Share Posted April 4, 2022 Just now, zzip said: I don't think the 400 ever got released, I just don't think it was an accident that they chose the 400/800 naming Yeah, I think they decided that it was likely cheaper for not needing a different SKU, plus packaging, etc than it was to just include the 8gb stick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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