Hey Look, Another "HELP!" Thread

[jesusc]

I picked up one of the $99.99 Gamestop VCSess, along with the ram and ssd that ETA Prime suggested. Then I let it all sit unopened until yesterday. (I can't be the only one that wants something until he has it and then other things become more important...can I?) Yesterday I installed everything, did the bios rollback (thanks to the guide in post 474 on page 14 of that other thread), and things seemed alright except...I couldn't get the system to pair with a Series X controller. Bluettooth is on, that stupid symbol is mockingly blinking in the lower left corner of the screen.  I tried plugging it in via USB on the front of the unit and there'd be a message stating a controller was plugged in, but no matter how many times I pressed any and all of the buttons nothing would happen. After futzing around with it a bit, I plugged it in to one of the rear USBs, and then it worked! Only so long as it was plugged in. So then I was trying to check out the VCS vault. I spent several minutes trying to figure out how to access the games. I'd click on the vault and I'd get a screen that said Atari VCS Vault, rating, compatibility, and an update button. Click the update button and a "waiting to download" progress bar would appear...and nothing happens after that. I turned it off for the night, and went back to it this morning. Now it's telling me that it can't connect to my wifi. Ok, I'll plug in an ethernet cord. It says it's connected but when I click on the vault I'm still met with nothing to do except press the update button, which again gives me the waiting for download bar that doesnt do anything for about 20 minutes and then goes back to nothing but the Update button (and now a rate button). Oh, and the USB keyboard I had plugged into the other front USB stopped working until I plugged it into the other rear USB port. 

 

I've tried power cycling, reinserting the OG ram, checking the wifi wire connections (which I never disconnected in the first place, I just removed the wifi card while upgrading the internals and plugged it back in when finished- and it was connecting to wifi and the atari controller fine after that) and the few other suggestions an hour of googling offered. Anyone have any fresh ideas? Are the servers down? Do I need to buy a t-shirt that says I bought an Atari VCS 800 and all I got were two controllers I wasn't much interested in anyway?

[zzip]

Is it possible the front USB port is flaky?

 

I had trouble pairing a PS4 controller wirelessly until the system was fully updated.    So make sure you have all the updates.

[jesusc]

It says it's fully updated. OS version is 20220415.13941 Build P#1492. Bios is 1.0.24. Wondering if I should try rolling it back again?

Edited September 29, 2022 by jesusc

[RadiATIon]

Firstly, can you check that the wires of the wifi/bluetooth module are not damaged and reconnected to the wireless module?

 

Then, if it still does not work I advise you to test by putting the vcs back in its factory state by putting back the original memory and if it still does not work better, by removing the ssd, then finally by putting the ATARIOS back in its factory output configuration too. As a last resort there will remain the possibility of reflashing the bios and the AtariOS. If this still does not work, it will be necessary to activate the legal guarantee.

Edited September 29, 2022 by RadiATIon

[Mockduck]

I don't think at this point I'd dig too deeply back into the hardware, although checking to see if you accidentally caused some issue with the wireless seems like a good idea, and maybe check the front USB ports as well.

 

From what I read:
 

1. You are having an issue connecting a Series X controller over Bluetooth in AtariOS on a self-upgraded VCS.

2. The Series X worked in AtariOS when connected over a back USB port, but not when connected to a front one. 

3. VCS Vault Volume 1 in the VCS Store is asking to be Updated, and updating it is not working. 

 

Here's my thoughts:

 

1. I would not be surprised if the new Series X controller, similar to the new PS5 Dualsense, has some issues connecting over Bluetooth. I know the Xbox One generation and PS4 generation controllers are generally working fine, although in general the VCS' somewhat poor Bluetooth means you may be better off connecting wired over USB. I have in the past used a DS4 controller over Bluetooth without issues other than it sends the audio to the controller rather than over HDMI, which could be either a good thing or a bad thing depending on what you are wanting to do with the audio. 

2. I would contact customer support with this one. It could be that you can't update to the newest version until your OS is updated, so maybe check to make sure your VCS is updated rather than rolled back (maybe)? Could be they need to unlock it for you for some reason. There is another free game to check out, Unsung Heroes, try downloading that as another test candidate and see how things go.

[jesusc]

Thanks for all the recommendations, especially the ones that I already stated I already performed.  

 

I rolled the firmware back again, and it connected to my wifi with no troubles. It's currently updating (is the number inside the rolling circle the number of updates it needs to do? If so, there's 83 of them). This time I'm not hooking anything foreign (meaning nothing that wasn't originally included with the unit) to it in order to see if maybe it was something with the wired keyboard I was using or the Series X controller causing conflict.

Fingers crossed!

[jesusc]

Same deal. Everything (VCS companion, VCS Vault, and Chrome) says waiting for download and nothing's downloading. Going to have to contact Atari Support I suppose.

 

[jesusc]

Because I'm hard headed, I still haven't contacted anyone. What I did do is remove the ssd and put the orginal ram back in and then rolled back the firmware. I connected it to my wifi and let it update and when it was finished, same dang thing. Cant use any of the preinstalled apps as they just say waiting for updates that never occur. So I rolled the firmware back yet again, and instead of letting it connect to the internet I skipped that part of it. VCS vault is fine and I can play games through it. Definitely some weirdness going on! 

Edited September 30, 2022 by jesusc

[stirrell]

1 hour ago, jesusc said:

Because I'm hard headed, I still haven't contacted anyone. What I did do is remove the ssd and put the orginal ram back in and then rolled back the firmware. I connected it to my wifi and let it update and when it was finished, same dang thing. Cant use any of the preinstalled apps as they just say waiting for updates that never occur. So I rolled the firmware back yet again, and instead of letting it connect to the internet I skipped that part of it. VCS vault is fine and I can play games through it. Definitely some weirdness going on! 

Just out of curiosity, are you able to set up a hotspot on your phone and try to connect through that? Just wondering if it would be worth testing on a network that is not your default home network to rule out funkiness in how the VCS is interacting with your internet service.

[jesusc]

I haven't tried that yet, but I did start using ethernet instead of wifi as one thread suggested, in which the person was having the same issues as I. That person inevitably had to RMA their machine, so I'll probably have to do the same. I opened a ticket with Atari. 

[jesusc]

In case anyone cares, Atari support contacted me and gave a link to an OS to flash to the system. I didn't copy down the exact firmware name, but it had a date of August 2022. That did the trick. The system is fully updated and I'm able to use all the pre-installed apps. 

Edited October 5, 2022 by jesusc