Struggling with Atari 800 + 1050s

[mutil8]

7 minutes ago, Vyvyan B. said:

He could replace the broken pins with a couple of sewing needles as noted in another thread from a few weeks back. I fixed a 400 SIO with a piece of something or other I got at home depot in the electrical section.

This require drilling out old pin and soldering in new pin? Even something as simple as this I probably wouldnt undertake - no soldering iron or soldering skills.  

[Vyvyan B.]

You can clip the broken pin off with a small cutter and then pull what's left out of the socket with small pliers. Then all you need to do is desolder the bit that's left in the board.

[bfollowell]

41 minutes ago, mutil8 said:

This require drilling out old pin and soldering in new pin? Even something as simple as this I probably wouldnt undertake - no soldering iron or soldering skills.  

Yeah, if you don't want to attempt any soldering or desoldering, then shipping your power board to someone for repair, or purchasing a new one are really about your best and only options.

 

[Beeblebrox]

@mutil8 FYI A trusted seller whom I've bought off before (in the States) is selling a working 800 power board for a very reasonable price on ebay right now :

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/130888127552

 

Really nice bloke too.

[mutil8]

25 minutes ago, Beeblebrox said:

@mutil8 FYI A trusted seller whom I've bought off before (in the States) is selling a working 800 power board for a very reasonable price on ebay right now :

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/130888127552

 

Really nice bloke too.

thanks - have spoken with him on the phone a couple times in last 10 days trying to solve my disk problem and find a couple other 8 bit items. And I actually bought de re atari from him back in late 80s when his shop was in the bay area.

placed an email order to him for that exact item earlier - if he doesnt respond ill just buy his ebay listing. 

[Beeblebrox]

2 minutes ago, mutil8 said:

thanks - have spoken with him on the phone a couple times in last 10 days trying to solve my disk problem and find a couple other 8 bit items. And I actually bought de re atari from him back in late 80s when his shop was in the bay area.

placed an email order to him for that exact item earlier - if he doesnt respond ill just buy his ebay listing. 

No worries. Such a nice bloke. I bought pal 800 cpu personality boards and also 800 os/ram modules off him earlier this year. (I am in the UK and the States was the only place I could source them). Very helpfull and genuine guy. That is a pretty good price too for the entire power board. Means at least you can keep your current one as a spare/for parts. 

 

 

[bfollowell]

6 hours ago, Beeblebrox said:

@mutil8 FYI A trusted seller whom I've bought off before (in the States) is selling a working 800 power board for a very reasonable price on ebay right now :

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/130888127552

 

Really nice bloke too.

Yeah, myatari, that's the old B&C Computervisions. That's more or less the same item I linked to earlier, just on the UK ebay site. So, now @mutil8 is set, regardless of which side of the pond he or she's on.

 

[Beeblebrox]

53 minutes ago, bfollowell said:

Yeah, myatari, that's the old B&C Computervisions. That's more or less the same item I linked to earlier, just on the UK ebay site. So, now @mutil8 is set, regardless of which side of the pond he or she's on.

 

no worries, missed that. 

[mutil8]

3 hours ago, bfollowell said:

Yeah, myatari, that's the old B&C Computervisions. That's more or less the same item I linked to earlier, just on the UK ebay site. So, now @mutil8 is set, regardless of which side of the pond he or she's on.

 

Yes he used to be located in bay area of california - where I am to this day. he had a retail store I barely remember driving to a couple times to purchase documentation. still have de re atari I bought from him decades ago.

He relocated years ago to wisconsin or some faraway state - He was telling me he moved all the inventory himself driving back and forth in a truck for days. Holy smokes.

 

As for being set - well I am set for what to do. Sure hope I get this board, can get it installed, and it solves the problem. I have a bad track record with hardware.

You guys have been tremendous help with helping to locate the problem, as well as best solution. Without it I prob would end up scrapping the 800 and buying another machine.

not sure how i missed the bent sio pins for so long - probably because I had sio cord plugged in all the time.

[bfollowell]

48 minutes ago, mutil8 said:

As for being set - well I am set for what to do. Sure hope I get this board, can get it installed, and it solves the problem. I have a bad track record with hardware.

You guys have been tremendous help with helping to locate the problem, as well as best solution. Without it I prob would end up scrapping the 800 and buying another machine.

not sure how i missed the bent sio pins for so long - probably because I had sio cord plugged in all the time.

You shouldn't have much trouble as long as you take your time and pay attention to how everything comes apart. There are some good service manuals for the 400/800 that will help with the disassembly process. Just move slowly and carefully. There is no soldering involved though, so that will simply things for you considerably. Now, there's no guarantee that there aren't other issues, but more than likely, swapping out the power board and getting a new SIO port will take care of all of your issues. At the very least, you'll be a step closer.

 

Good luck.

 

[Beeblebrox]

@mutil8See my 800 Incognito install guide for the steps to disassemble/re-assemble the 800. Actually very easy once you know how. It's linked to in my signature.

 

 

 

 

Edited December 11, 2022 by Beeblebrox

[mutil8]

12 hours ago, Beeblebrox said:

@mutil8See my 800 Incognito install guide for the steps to disassemble/re-assemble the 800. Actually very easy once you know how. It's linked to in my signature.

 

 

 

 

ok will do. since I already took it apart and put back together and have 2 more screws than i started with LOL. 

[mutil8]

Update:

Power board from B&C finally arrived today. Working on disassembling atari 800 and installing the board.

I have noticed an issue with the keyboard and keys sticking when I type - what would be an easy method to clean/solve this?

I did use a qtip and some alcohol around one of the problematic keys while 800 was assembled - help somewhat did not completely solve the issue.

 

 

[Beeblebrox]

It depends on the keyboard. Is it one of the Hi-tek ones ones (yellow or white squares underneath), or a Stackpole variant, or membrane. 

 I have this one which has the yellow squares grid (eg non membrane type) (see image below) 

 

I'd imagine if the keys are sticking it's likely a Hi-tek like mine. The plastic squares underneath each key cap can split in the corners and the key caps will depress to much and jam. Not sure how to fix if they have split.

 

Take a pic of the keyboard taken out and with a keycap removed as they easily come off the Hi-tek keyboards. 

 

If its a membrane type whilst I've fixed a few membranes for 800s I am not sure about sticking keys on membrane types. 

 

 

Edited December 20, 2022 by Beeblebrox

[mutil8]

white square underneath key. trying to get iphone working w pc for pic

[mutil8]

[mutil8]

with key removed the underneath white square seems to depress and rebound freely. with the key snapped in, it sticks a little. this is a key that i had cleaned a little previously.

[mutil8]

new power board installed - however 800 interaction w 1050 drive is exactly the same as before. best I can describe it is that 800 does not seem to recognize the 1050.

 

start up process:

 

turn on 1050 drive. power light comes on, busy light goes on briefly and drive spins briefly.

insert dos 2.5 disk or sparta dos disk. close latch - busy light goes on briefly and drive spins briefly.

turn on 800 with atari basic cartridge installed. basic comes up, 1050 doesnt activate (I believe at this point it should? should at least get boot error?)

typing dos puts me into memo pad.

 

 

[mutil8]

tested w 2 different 1050 drives. 2 different sio cords. dos 2.5 disk sparta dos disk, game disk (frogger). always same result.

sio port on new power board appears to be fine.

[_The Doctor__]

SIO cords could be damaged from bad SIO pins,

drive select switch wrong position or needs cleaning (contact tuner cleaner)

Drives 3086 chip gone bad

800's Pokey or PIA bad? There's a 3086 in the 800 as well when bad can cause sound and color issues to if fails in a certain way

check for a chip between them and the 800's SIO port.

Remember that the last things to plug in are the power cords to the wall. You can blow out the buffer chips otherwise (it does happen)

cleaned and reseated chips and cards in the 800?

Edited December 20, 2022 by _The Doctor__

[mutil8]

1050 drives are both set on 1 (switches to left). tested w each drive individually.

have not cleaned or reseated any chips.

have not paid any attention power cords - certainly did NOT plug into wall last.

really thought replacing the power board would fix the issue as the old board had sio port w bent/broken pins.

 

can i get verified that following procedure should work if all hardware is functioning correctly:

turn on 1050 drive. power light comes on, busy light goes on briefly and drive spins briefly.

insert dos 2.5 disk or sparta dos disk. close latch - busy light goes on briefly and drive spins briefly.

turn on 800 with atari basic cartridge installed. basic comes up, 1050 doesnt activate (I believe at this point it should? should at least get boot error?)

typing dos puts me into memo pad.

 

should I at least get a boot error?

what is the probability that all my disks are bad (20 years ago prior to boxing everythng computer, drive, disks worked fine).

any educated guesses at this point what the most likely problem would be?

 

Originally had just hoped to unbox, hook up, and do a little light assembly programming. even just for a couple nights. 

turned into a real headache and waste of time and cash.

[+kheller2]

Either you have multiple broken 1050s or your Pokey chip is bad. Got a 5200 laying around?

[_The Doctor__]

Even if the disks were bad, you would get a boot error or partial load of something.

Most people here are pretty good at remote help and sorting things out

You disks are more than likely fine.

You have a pretty simple checklist to follow. The Bad SIO pins probably back fed into the 800 or a 1050 and blew out what has been indicated for you to check, good chance it will be one of the items you were advised to check

Edited December 20, 2022 by _The Doctor__

[mutil8]

OK thanks

 

2nd 1050 was recently purchased on ebay - seller claimed tested and working.

have no 5200 or other 8 bit computer to test with.

I guess I can purchase pokey chip and replace if that is next logical step.

May just find a 65 or 130 xe or whatever on ebay and purchase that.

I do have fujinet coming in any day - so that should allow me to save and load source and obj files.

 

Edited December 20, 2022 by mutil8

[Chri O.]

The 1050 has a set of switches in the back that are used for drive ID selection make sure they are set for drive ID 1.