Fixing the Select button

[HammR25]

I recently got my 7800 modded for the S-video and composite outputs. I hadn't played my machine for a long while before that. When I got it back and tried playing I noticed the select button doesnt' always work. It did this before I sent it off to OSG but I'd just forgotten about it. If I'd noticed I would have had the dude at OSG look at that too while he had it.

 

What can I do to fix it? I don't particularly feel like opening the thing up without a clear plan lined out. I saw a website that had a tutorial on cleaning your 7800 and it mentions what to do with the buttons but I'd rather get more specific than that if possible.

 

Thanks

[shadow460]

Mitch is your man. It sounds like you went to his website.

Is it just stuck or does it not work sometimes? If it's just stuck, once you open the 7800, you can clean all the plastic with soap and water, including the console controls. Lots of those plastic buttons just slide up and down in a plastic "well", and if something sticky gets in there, they will stick.

 

If it's not working period, I don't know how to fix that.

 

Word of warning: The 7800 case is extremely brittle. That goes for the screw mounts as well. One false move is all it takes to break something and wind up securing the case with clear tape.

[+Mitch]

No, it isn't on my site, someone elses I think.

The 7800 console buttons tend to get dirty and then work intermittently. You can either replace them, which is what I do, or try to cut open the top of the switch and clean it out.

 

Mitch

[Danno]

No, it isn't on my site, someone elses I think.

The 7800 console buttons tend to get dirty and then work intermittently. You can either replace them, which is what I do, or try to cut open the top of the switch and clean it out.

 

Mitch

994018[/snapback]

 

Exactly. The metal contacts get oxidated easily, especially with age.

 

Popping the caps off and cleaning the system board & buttons (metal dome caps like those on the CX-40 Joystick contacts) is actually pretty easy.

 

The plastic caps which hold down the metal contact buttons(domes) are secured to the button housing with a light weight, plyable metal frame, which can easily be bent away for the plastic caps to be popped out. Once you do this -remove teh metal contact domes and clean the underside of the metal button and the contact points on the system board with isopropyl alcohol, or a very fine sand paper.

 

Once sufficiently cleaned, replace the metal dome buttons (dome side up) and thencarefully pop teh plastic caps back into the now bent metal housing. You do NOT need to completely place teh entire plastic cap back into the metal housing. Only enough so that they won't fall out, but are free to move up & down to activate the button. Too tight, and you button will stick in place. If you have trouble replacing the caps without them falling back out of the frame, a small 1 inch piece of black electrical tape over the top of them should be enough to secure them, yet retain their button function.

[HammR25]

It works intermittently right now. Apparently I was reading the maintenance stuff at atari7800.com. How would I go about replacing the inner workings of the button?

 

Apparently I left it at the parents house this weekend when I visited. I'll have to look at it this weekend or something.

 

Thanks for the replies.

[HammR25]

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Edited January 15, 2006 by HammR25

[HammR25]

Ok, got the 7800 open but I'm not sure exactly how to get the housing off without breaking anything. I took a pic of the button with my webcam if someone would be kind enough to draw on it to show me what to do.

 

 

It looks like the 4 dots hold the plastic down which sounds a little different than it was described although I always do a lot better with pictures anyway.

 

I'm just afraid I'll mess up something next to the button.

[jaybird3rd]

I've seen new switches in parts catalogs that look exactly the same as the console switches in the 7800. Rather than trying to take apart and clean and reassemble such a tiny switch, you might consider simply buying another one and replacing the whole thing (it will require some soldering but would be a lot less trouble). I'll see if I can find a link to one of my suppliers that sells the new switches.

[HammR25]

I got it taken apart and cleaned. It seems to work too....then again it worked the other day for awhile as well so we'll see. Thanks for the help guys.

[ekloot]

I had this problem too...with the select button as well. For anyone else that has this problem...I found a slightly easier solution to fix it...from someone in these forums actually (so I can't take credit for it myself). I just cut off one of those black little tabs holding the top button cover. Then I took a tiny screwdriver and pryed up the corner of that button cover and sprayed some Deoxit (from Radio Shack) in there using the tiny little nozzle/straw that comes with it. Then I just pressed the button a bunch of times to get the chemical worked in there. After about 10 minutes I repeated this one more time (don't spray a ton in there or anything though). Then I waited another 10 minutes and then used a can of compressed air with a nozzle/straw and stuck it under the button cover again and tried to blow out as much of the remaining liquid as possible. Then I let it dry for a few hours and pushed the button cover back down in place (without the tab that I cut off obviously) and everything was good again. A few weeks later my power button started acting screwy like the select button did...so I did the same thing with the power button and it fixed that too. Just thought I'd post this in case anyone else was having the same problems and was afraid to disassemble the button all the way.