RESET BUTTON

[neB317]

hey I've got a problem with my reset button on the atari 7800. It simply doesn't work which sucks because half of the games I own require it to start the game. Thanks for any help you can give me.

[Happy_Dude]

the reset button isn't actually a button.

it's just a peice of plastic glued to the board and pressed down to make

contact like the buttons on a remote.

Open it up and check to see if it's still glued down. if not glue it back down

and if it's missing find an old keyboard with those plastic thingies

under the buttons and re-task one of them

 

Hope that helps and welcome to the boards.

[Prodos8]

Mines going flakey on me too. It just resets randomly sometimes when I'm playing a game. I've had it apart before and the board has a little rubber contact attached to it that the plastic button depresses. As Happy_Dude said, a contact like that from an old keyboard or NES/Sega controller should work great as a replacement.

[neB317]

ok I'm still having trouble with this... I ripped it apart and took a look at the buttons and it appears that they all have the pads or they all don't. I tried plugging it in with the top off and pressing the reset button and it still didn't work . Itried to get some pictures but my camera is being mean and not working. Thanks for all the help and the welcome!

[Danno]

Inside the button, underneath the plastic cap, is a metal contact dome andtwo contact points that makes the connection for the reset switch. The metal on the contact points and teh dome is oxidated (corroded) and needs to be cleaned. You can pop the plastic caps off the top of the buttons and take the metal dome out and clean them with rubbing alcohol and a scrub brush, then dry them and put them back in and wedge the plastic cap back into it's holder ring (or tape it down with electrical tape.)

[neB317]

I'm must be stupid or something but I can't for the life of me figure out how to pop the little plastic things off. sorry for being such a n00b but could you tell me exactly how to get them off?

[Happy_Dude]

I'm must be stupid or something but I can't for the life of me figure out how to pop the little plastic things off. sorry for being such a n00b but could you tell me exactly how to get them off?

Sorry for the earlier mis-information. I could have sworn it was correct.

Anyway I just opened my 7800 to clean the power button and it looks like you will

have to bite the bullet and "Break" the switches open. (which is why Danno said to tape them back down)

to get the clear platic off you have to slide a flat head screwdriver or somthing thinner

between it and the main body and lift it up over the posts.

being over 20 years old the plastic posts will likely break when put under

this sort of stress. I had 5 total that didn't break out of 16 (4 each button)

but they work like new now

[neB317]

Thanks that really worked like a charm. I can play all my great games now. Thanks a lot!