Newbie needs help

[verres]

Hi folks, I've read through the posts on this site looking for help and haven't figured out a solution. I (like some others on here) bought my ATARI 2600 on ebay and it arrived just the other day. The seller seems very friendly and has high ratings- she says she and her husband played all the games included in the deal before packing it up and sending it off.

 

Unfortunately, even though I have both the Radio Shack Phono-to-F adapter (278-276) and their manual game switch adapter, I can't get the unit to work on either of my two televisions.

 

Both Televisions are relatively new- one I bought in 1993 and the other is a brand new Sony behemoth LCD projection. I've tried using both adapters on the Atari unit, and then setting the tuner to channel 3 and/or 4....

 

On the big sony...I get nothing

on the little 1993 RCA I get snowy static which quickly changes to an entirely blue screen.

 

I think the power adapter is getting juice to the unit, because when I plug it into the back, there is a little tiny spark.

 

 

Is there any way I can 'diagnose' the problem? I hope you'll help. In a cleaning fit last week, my boyfriend almost threw out all his old Atari cartridges...since he didn't have a unit...thats why I bought the unit....and now he's threatening to chuck it out again, unless I can get it working.

 

help.

 

-Chris

[FireTiger]

Welcome verres,

 

Have you tried other carts on the RCA tv?

 

Have you made sure everything is hooked up correctly?

(I once hooked up the manual Radio SHack switch backwards...!)

 

Is the manual switch FULLY switched to game?

 

Have you run the Tv's auto-tunner with the atari on and a cart in?

 

Is it a 2600 that has a "channel switch" hidden on it somewhere?

(You'll need a screwdriver to slide the switch to the other position.)

 

....(that's all for now)...

 

Good Luck

[Red 5]

Sounds like it may be a TV setting ?

If you have an older TV I would try that.

 

Also, have you unplugged the cable from the back of the TV's or are you using a splitter?

I would try plugging in ONLY the Atari to the back of the TV's too.

 

When you turn the atari off and on, do you notice any change to the tv screen at all ?

 

And before you 'throw out' those games, send them to me ! ! !

[Kenwood]

Your "video" setting might be on DBS (S-Video). On your remote try the "Video" button and cycle through them. (my Sony Trinitron is - DBS, VCR, Channel 3)

 

Also swithoff your cable/DirecTV or whatever might override the signal.

[verres]

thanks,

 

I've tried two different game cartridges in without seeing a difference

I've checked the game switch connection and i think it's ok, although I noticed it seems a bit loose- the switch moves up to the 'game' setting...and appears to stop...but then you apply a little more pressure and it goes a little further, all the way to the 'game' end....but this didn'ts eem to affect the image on the TV.

 

I tried running the auto-channel program on the RCA while the Atari was hooked up and had a cartridge in it.....it didn't pick up channel 3 or 4....so I manually set those as channels.

 

My Atari 2600 doesn't appear to have a channel switch...unless it's inside the unit...but I don't see one on the outside. I wish there was a way to see if the power cable was working properly....like a 'test cartridge' that had a LED on it or something you could hook the RCA cable into that simple told you if a signal was being sent from the Atari.

 

 

Do I need to do anything with the little 'UHF' Y-cables coming from the Game/TV switchbox? do they need to be grounded or attached to any part of the back of the TV?

 

 

-chris

[verres]

thanks I'll try this

[vb_master]

Buy a two way spliter (buy at BestBuy or somewhere), and a Coaxial (F-Type) to Female RCA Adapter.

Here a diagram of how to hook it up:

 

WALL-to-SPLITER (side with two connectors)

2600 with the Coaxial (F-Type) to Female RCA Adapter-to-SPLITER (side with two connectors)



TV=SPLITER (side with one connecter)

Tune to channel 3 or 4 (depending on where the switch is at on your 2600)

and turn on the 2600, and see if it will play.

[vb_master]

Forgot to mention your channel switch might be on the bottom, get a screwdriver and switch it to channel 3 or 4.

[verres]

The closest I've come is this:

 

I've got the TV disconnected from cable.

 

I use the manual switch box and connected the Atari with a game cartridge in, and turned it on. I ran 'auto' channel....and neither channel 3 nor channel 4 gets 'found' by the TV. So I manually activated both of them.

 

When I got to either 3 or 4, both channels have a 'blue screen'. EXCEPT, when I use Picture In Picture (PIP). When I do this on channel 3 with the PIP to channel 4, both appear as snowy static (not the blue screen). When I turn on/off the atari OR remove the cartridge, the static changes from 'dark grey snowy static' to 'light grey snowy static'.....

 

does that mean anything to anyone? (other than that I'm an idiot?)...

 

-thanks

 

oh, and I tried the Video input button on the remote, and I'm sure I'm on channel 4 and 3 (not Video 1 or Video 2).

 

-chris

[Red 5]

If the picture is changing, even a little bit, that means you have power.

If there is anything wrong, it may be with the video cord to the TV.

I know this sounds goofy, but does anything happen (with the power on) when you jiggle the wire? Does the picture change at all?

 

I would still like to see what happens when you plug it into an older TV.

[gospeedde]

I feel like I'm being stupid here, but did you try channel 2. Mine works on 2, not 3 or 4.

[Tsukasa]

You're not trying to use an auto switching adaptor are you? the signal may not be strong enough. Try connecting the phono-to-coaxial adaptor to the antenna input on your TV. that may help....

[verres]

Thanks for all the hints folks, unfortunately I still can't get anything but static

 

I opened the console up a few minutes ago, and checked the connection of the RF cable, and it was a little loose, but not much. I put it back together, and tried again, with the same results. The only response I can get from the console is 'dark static to light static' when I move the on/off switch up and down. This is true whether I connect the console to the TV using either the manual switch box or the little gold-plated RF to Coaxial adapter (Radio shack #278-276).

 

I also tried connecting the manual switch box to what I think are the antennae attachment points (two little screws amongst the input jacks in the back of the TV).

 

 

I've tried channel 2, 3 and 4....

 

 

argh. The only thing I have'nt tried is connecting it to an old TV....which seem to be as scarce as the consoles! I'm going to check for a cheap one at the Salvation Army tomorrow....but I don't want to sink much more money into the console...since I already spent more than I wanted on Ebay for it.

 

-thanks all who offered suggestions, if you think of anythign else I should look at - let me know.....

 

feeling jipped by Ebay,

-Chris

 

ps. does anyone on this list do 'servicing of units'? and if so, how much would it cost to have a diagnosis done.

 

-c

[FireTiger]

you really didn't find a channel selcet on the console?

 

On bottom of the console on the left hand side of a light six switch, deep inside the unit accesable from outside.

(Atari VCS - CX2600 )

 

and on the top right in the back on a "atari 2600" black four switch, tiny little switch.

(Atari 2600)

 

 

I didn't find on on the Sears Tele-games or Atari heavy sixers.

(Atari VCS - CX2600 Sunnyvale Edition, or Sears Video Arcade Rev. A)

 

http://www.atariage.com/2600/archives/consoles.html

 

When mine was having the trouble you are talking about the channel switch helped.

[Red 5]

As for repairing a 2600, unless you can do it yourself, you are better off buying one.

 

(Although that didn't work too well for you last time...)

[verres]

I didn't find on on the Sears Tele-games or Atari heavy sixers.

(Atari VCS - CX2600 Sunnyvale Edition, or Sears Video Arcade Rev. A)

 

http://www.atariage.com/2600/archives/consoles.html

 

 

comparing mine to the pictures on the link above...it's a 'heavy sixer'...thus, no switch. thanks for the help. I'm going to keep looking for an old TV.

 

-Chris

[Tsukasa]

Maybe the rf signal isn't strong enough.....

Using the phono to coax adaptor, connect the atari to the antenna input on a vcr, and connect the output of the vcr to your tv. Turn the atari and vcr on, and change the vcr to channel 2 or 3, if that doesn't work, then use the vcr's auto channel setup, making sure the atari is on before you start. You could also try running the atari through your cable box and using it as an amplifier.

Finally, try replacing the rf cable in your atari with a different one. You should also check all of the solder joints for dry joints, it might be a bad connection.

[Mike OC]

What game cartridge are you using when you are trying to get signal? Try a few just to be sure it's not a cartridge or cartridge connector problem. Also, you may want to connect directly to the 75ohm input and then turn on the Atari and TV. Once they're both on, use the auto program function of thre TV to reprogram all of the channels. If there's signal from the Atari at all, the auto program should be able to lock into it. Hope this helps.

[verres]

Thanks for the new suggestions. I'm using a number of different cartridges- and they all give me the same thing. I've also done the 'auto channel' on the TV's and they simply don't pick up anything.

 

I'm going to buy a new manual switch box and RF cable today and see if that helps. I'll post the results of my efforts later.

 

 

Re: connecting to a VCR or the Cable box to amplify the signal.

 

 

We don't own a VCR, but we have a DVD...but I don't see a place to plug the game into the DVD player. I did find an 'RF input' coaxial input on the back of the cable box....but when I hooked the game into that, and ran the 'auto channel'...the TV didn't find anything either....

 

 

hoping a new RF cable and/or switchbox will help.

 

-chris

[sabeen557]

are you connecting the 2600 directly to the tv? i had problems when i used adapters.

[verres]

Hey folks,

 

I think I might have figured out the problem...maybe.

 

I bought a new RF cable today, and while I was putting it in....I noticed the following component of the 'mother board' which was loose.....I took a picture of it to see if this could be the problem.

 

 

There are two places where I think it's not correct:

 

(a) is where I think the tip of the component should be inserted...but isn't

 

and

 

(b) is one of the soldered points next to it, that is still attached, but loose...

 

 

my question is: What is this component (it's from the bottom left corner of the circuit board if looking down at it from above)....and could this be causing the problem?

 

Also, the ebay seller says that FEDEX will refund my purchase if it was damaged during transit....this looks like a fragile component, since it's not really attached to the circuit board very well....and could have come un-attached during shipping.

 

If someone has a picture of how it's SUPPOSE to look that'd be great.

 

-chris

[verres]

sorry image doesn't post, but the piece is in the lower left corner of the Circuit board, it's about an inch long/ half an inch wide...and has a metal round disk on it.....I can e-mail the image to someone but don't have access to a public server to post it at.

 

-chris

[vb_master]

Is it like a RCA cable?