Problem with my new VCS

[CPUWIZ]

Attach a picture of a couple tacos, they might respond quicker.

[+grips03]

Controller is not detected by PC.

[zzip]

9 hours ago, grips03 said:

Controller is not detected by PC.

The controllers have a PC mode,  I think you have to press the start + option buttons simultaneously

[+grips03]

tried that too.

[Bill Loguidice]

On 1/5/2024 at 1:19 AM, RadiATIon said:

You've probably gotten a console that was produced in the first and therefore has one of the very first versions of the atarios. Unfortunately, in this case, your console can't communicate with the server to update itself. For the moment, the only solution is to do it manually.

 

You have just to download the last update image here version 26112023 updated Dec11, 2023:

 https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LPMwc_NeDrGLndBKLlHJ8Ojt25U_ef7Z/view?usp=sharing

 

and copy that on an usb stick with balena etcher. The video with the instructions is here : 

 

 

Thanks for this. I just set up a VCS I got a long time ago and of course ran into exactly this issue. What a chore! But at least it works now. Thanks again.

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

Yeah, just to update my own situation and in case anyone else has a bricked joystick due to the latest update: I've gotten no help. Not through Discord, nor the email support which just keeps asking me to do the same thing I outlined in my original post, only it takes 3-5 days between replies. 

[davpa]

@grips03 and @Ice Cream Jonsey, send me an email with your issues, I'll take care of it.  david.paige@atari.com

[+grips03]

VCS sent back today

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

14 hours ago, davpa said:

@grips03 and @Ice Cream Jonsey, send me an email with your issues, I'll take care of it.  david.paige@atari.com

Thanks! Just sent you an email.

[MikeM_]

OK, so I just ordered myself a VCS 800. Should arrive middle of next week.

First time VCS user, long time High Touch Sys Admin (in other words, I'm familiar with HW, flashing FW, and most of what I've looked up already seems pretty straight forward).

 

Been snooping around here to see what the overall consensus is, and it seems that it's still not 100% working out of the box. Better since December, but still some reported issues.

This thread looked like the right place to chime in.

 

Should I just go straight to flashing with a USB drive out of the box and save myself any possible issues from attempting a network update on 1st boot?

I've already flashed a USB drive with the latest FW version from discord, so it's sitting here as an available option ready to go.

 

Additionally, it sounds like there is a separate BIOS update as well, but if the reports are right, there shouldn't be any issues with performing that over the network afterwards.

Let me know if that is true or not. 

 

Just wondering if there is any benefit to trying it over the network first or not. Looking for the least amount of re-try on setup (as possible) and figure that being prepared for the known issues should save me any frustration. 

 

Thanks,

 

-Mike

 

[RadiATIon]

2 hours ago, MikeM_ said:

Should I just go straight to flashing with a USB drive out of the box and save myself any possible issues from attempting a network update on 1st boot?

I've already flashed a USB drive with the latest FW version from discord, so it's sitting here as an available option ready to go.

 

Additionally, it sounds like there is a separate BIOS update as well, but if the reports are right, there shouldn't be any issues with performing that over the network afterwards.

Let me know if that is true or not. 

Yes, you should connect your USB flash drive with the latest update directly before the console boots for the 1st time. Thus, in 15 minutes maximum, your console will be functional and you will avoid disappointments. And yes you can update the bios afterwards via the internet without any problem. I have 3 VCS at home and in total I have installed 14 of them! So don't worry about doing so, everything will be fine. And above all, there is no added value to be updated by the internet out of the box.

[PowerDubs]

Meh.

 

I say turn it on- give it a chance.  Let it do it's thing...  go do something else- watch a tv show.

 

I'd bet it will be just fine.

[Aragorn7]

14 hours ago, MikeM_ said:

Should I just go straight to flashing with a USB drive out of the box and save myself any possible issues from attempting a network update on 1st boot?

I've already flashed a USB drive with the latest FW version from discord, so it's sitting here as an available option ready to go.

You can and perhaps noting the date on your post, you already have. It certainly doesn't hurt anything, but this advice was offered in December, 2022 and has become the somewhat hidden standard procedure. The new update, however, is supposed to have resolved the former update issues. Why not test it out? I agree with @PowerDubs. You don't really have anything to lose. Go ahead and try updating it and give it ample time to do it's thing. Don't power it off because you think it's taking too long, which can cause file corruption. The worst case scenario is that if your VCS doesn't update, you will then need to flash it (which you were prepared to do anyway), but if it does work, you saved yourself an extra step. Either way let us know how you made out. 

[MikeM_]

Update time. 
 

My VCS arrived a day early so I got to start messing with it about an hour ago. 
 

My plan was to just flash with my usb drive on 1st boot. However, it powered up faster than I was ready for so it went straight to Atari OS before I could start the flash. 
 

OK, guess I’ll try the online update. 
 

it seemed to try, and then failed immediately and went to the sign in screen. It was giving me wi-fi errors as well so I signed in as guest, then initiated a shutdown. I then went ahead and did the update via my usb drive. 
 

the update I had was for the December patch, so once it came back up, it did the March update without issue. My wi-fi was also consistent and good from then on. It also did the bios update to 24. Every step went smoothly and it’s been running well ever since. 
 

So in the end, I’d say that it might have worked, but it seemed to be having a hard time so I just went with what I knew would work.  It was very easy to flash with the drive and to be honest, if I was Atari, I’d just ship a small flash drive containing the latest update with every console and just have the users run that first. 

 

next step will be hw upgrades and playing with PC mode. So far, so good. 👍🏼 

[zzip]

14 hours ago, MikeM_ said:

the update I had was for the December patch, so once it came back up, it did the March update without issue. My wi-fi was also consistent and good from then on. It also did the bios update to 24. Every step went smoothly and it’s been running well ever since. 

14 hours ago, MikeM_ said:

next step will be hw upgrades and playing with PC mode. So far, so good.

 

Have you tested the BIOS password?   Some people say that none of the known passwords work for them after updating.

 

Being able to get into BIOS is useful for unlocking features that are useful for PC Mode,  for instance if you want to boot a Batocera image, you'll need to disable 'Secure Boot'

[MikeM_]

3 hours ago, zzip said:

 

Have you tested the BIOS password?   Some people say that none of the known passwords work for them after updating.

 

Being able to get into BIOS is useful for unlocking features that are useful for PC Mode,  for instance if you want to boot a Batocera image, you'll need to disable 'Secure Boot'

Yes, I was able to access the BIOS with the most recent password. Had no issues there.
I’m a windows guy so that’s what I’m playing with for pc mode. 

[MikeM_]

This is my last update that is relevant to this thread I think. 
 

Got PC mode up and running with Windows 11. Honestly didn’t expect trying to install an os to the internal M.2 to need as many hoops to jump through as it does. 
 

Decided that it wasn’t worth all the steps involved and just installed to an external SSD. Works just fine that way so in the end, I’m content. 
 

So to sum up what I learned from this experience:

• well worth it getting the bios flash ready ahead of time. Made initial setup pretty painless
• no issues with purchasing games or downloading content
• RAM and M.2 installs were easy and I have not had any compatibility or other noticed issues
  • Kingston 32GB kit
  • WD Blue 2TB SATA M.2 SSD (overkill I know)
  • only caveat I would throw out is that while they did include a screw for the SSD, there is no standoff so I had to improvise a rubber sleeve around the screw to keep the M.2 from bending
• PC Mode is pretty much designed to be USB storage based and it’s not really worth trying to work around that. The Atari process for installing windows worked well. 

time to get to gaming. The 7800 homebrews and Neo-Sprint are calling me.  👍🏼 

Edited March 27 by MikeM_

[zzip]

15 hours ago, MikeM_ said:

• PC Mode is pretty much designed to be USB storage based and it’s not really worth trying to work around that. The Atari process for installing windows worked well. 

 

I did install ubuntu on internal SSD,  it can be done    Yes there is unexpected weirdness around installing OS'es onto m.2.    But in the end I got around it by making the m.2 drive the default boot device,  I created an EFI partition on the m2 and installed the rEFInd boot manager into it so I can select either Atari OS or Ubuntu at boot time.

 

Since the December VCS update, some of the dual-boot issues seem to have been fixed.  It used to be very easy to accidentally put Atari OS into update mode while dual-booting, but that doesn't seem to happen anymore.

[MikeM_]

@zzip, yeah I read up on techniques to make it work, but decided not to go down that road. I don’t really need another PC, so PC mode is more of a novelty anyways that was taken care of with the external SSD method. 

[Aragorn7]

2 hours ago, zzip said:

Since the December VCS update, some of the dual-boot issues seem to have been fixed.  It used to be very easy to accidentally put Atari OS into update mode while dual-booting, but that doesn't seem to happen anymore.

Actually on the last update, two gentlemen on the Discord VCS using rEFInd did discover the EFI Boot partition numbers changing during the VCS update and causing an Update Loop. Normally after the VCS Update completes, it removes the Update EFI from the boot options. I'm just wondering if the presence of rEFInd keeps the VCS update present and therefore rEFInd keeps the update loop active until manually redirected. I've used Grub2Win before for dual boot of Linux and Windows, but I have no experience with rEFInd. Perhaps you can add further clarification on this.

[zzip]

1 minute ago, Aragorn7 said:

Actually on the last update, two gentlemen on the Discord VCS using rEFInd did discover the EFI Boot partition numbers changing during the VCS update and causing an Update Loop. Normally after the VCS Update completes, it removes the Update EFI from the boot options. I'm just wondering if the presence of rEFInd keeps the VCS update present and therefore rEFInd keeps the update loop active until manually redirected. I've used Grub2Win before for dual boot of Linux and Windows, but I have no experience with rEFInd. Perhaps you can add further clarification on this.

I had grub installed until the December update.   Atari changed something and my grub configuration was no longer able to boot AtariOS.     I put rEFInd on until I could figure out a new grub configuration.  But rEFInd is so much easier to configure that I haven't bothered fixing grub yet.

 

Atari is/was doing something unusual with EFI/boot and it's never been fully explained to my knowledge.   That's what made dual-booting tricky.   It used to be that there were two bootable images for AtariOS, and booting one of them would trigger update mode.   But it would occasionally "switch" and the image that always worked would suddenly trigger update mode and the other one would boot AtariOS.   

 

After the December update, I only see one bootable AtariOS image, and it always seems to work.   If they are temporarily inserting bootable things during the update process that might explain the odd behavior I've seen in the past.

 

I don't think I've ever triggered the update loop with refind, but I have triggered it with grub in the past.

 

I'd love to see a definitive guide to dual-booting the VCS, so I'm happy to contribute any info I can.

[MikeM_]

1 hour ago, zzip said:

…Atari is/was doing something unusual with EFI/boot and it's never been fully explained to my knowledge.   That's what made dual-booting tricky….

Yeah, this was ultimately why I decided not to try loading onto the M.2. That and the fact everything seems to change with each FW/BIOS update which makes it a moving target. 
 

If it ever levels out, I may try again someday, but for now it’s working. 👍🏼 

[Zonie]

On 2/5/2023 at 2:37 PM, jeremiahjt said:

It took a while, but I finally got my new VCS working.  I created a ticket through the website and waited a few days.  Then I tried the live chat, where no one responded and it timed out.  Then I tried a different contact method on the website.  A few days after that I sent a regular email.  A couple of days later I got a response from Ray Richard with detailed instructions on what to do.  I am not sure which method got the response, but I am glad something worked.

 

Spent quite a bit of time playing Antstream Arcade once everything was good to go.  I am pretty sure I signed up for their premium subscription for $12 for the whole year.  Well now I am officially a VCS user.

I have the exact issue when creating an account. this should be fixed by now...

Edited September 7 by Zonie

[Zonie]

It's no surprise people call this thing a piece of shit.

I avoided buying one due to all the rhetoric.

I waited nearly 3 years, never buy a new model car, right?

I finally buy one, because the price was appealing.

 

I have had this for a few hours and it doesn't work.

I watched the video on flashing it. Painful.

Discord is a Fked up mess of a place.

I found one file in another thread.

Is this the latest?

 

 

atari-flasher-ab-upgrade (Dec2023).img.gz

 

A new machine shouldn't take hours of dicking around to get it to work. If I wanted to do that, I'd build one with an RPi.

 

Atari, Slow the Fk down when you release new products.

My new 2600+ is apparently an old one that needs updates and a cart slot replacement too.

 

 

[yorxs]

I feel your pain, I too dealt with this when I bought a VCS last black Friday. To add insult to injury once I got it up and running I couldn't buy anything for 3 weeks due to the zip code glitch in the store. 

 

To answer your question, that's not the newest OS image. On the Discord server, look under the troubleshooting channel, click the pin to bring up a link to the latest download file.