Lame-O Posted September 4, 2013 Share Posted September 4, 2013 I've recent lost the start function on my 4 port 5200. My first suspect was the usual controller problems, but after rebuilding my "Old Faithful" controller, trying 5 other controllers and my Trak-ball, I can't get any games to start. The only game that I can play right now is Galaxian because it starts by pressing 1 on the key pad. Once the game starts, the joystick and fire buttons work fine. Could there be something wrong with my console? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MIKE5200 Posted September 4, 2013 Share Posted September 4, 2013 I've recent lost the start function on my 4 port 5200. My first suspect was the usual controller problems, but after rebuilding my "Old Faithful" controller, trying 5 other controllers and my Trak-ball, I can't get any games to start. The only game that I can play right now is Galaxian because it starts by pressing 1 on the key pad. Once the game starts, the joystick and fire buttons work fine. Could there be something wrong with my console? Did you check your pins? There might be one that's broken.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtariBrian Posted September 4, 2013 Share Posted September 4, 2013 Once I had a console that one of the pins was bent all the way down on controller port 1 so I couldnt play it . It was replaced with a new one from Best Electronics and worked great after . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigO Posted September 4, 2013 Share Posted September 4, 2013 (edited) If it's not the controller itself and it's not a bent pin, it could be one of the 4052 multiplexer chips that make up the keypad scanning circuitry. I can't remember now which keys it affected, but I had to replace at least one 4052 to revive my 5200 (among other things). The start,pause,stop buttons are scanned along with the regular keypad as if the buttons were all part of a 4 x 4 matrix. There are really only 15 buttons in this matrix (I'm surprised somebody hasn't tried to add that 16th button for something. I'm pretty sure the hardware/software would detect it) http://atariage.com/5200/archives/schematics/index.html?SystemID=5200 http://atariage.com/5200/archives/schematics/Schematic_5200_Accessories_Low.html Edited September 4, 2013 by BigO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lame-O Posted September 4, 2013 Author Share Posted September 4, 2013 All the pins are in place in the controller socket. I'll have to open it up and check the solder joints inside the machine. I also traced out the wiring on the controller and my multimeter shows continuity at the controller plug when the button is pressed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie_ Posted September 4, 2013 Share Posted September 4, 2013 Could it be the pokey chip? Doesn't that control input? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kamakazi Posted September 5, 2013 Share Posted September 5, 2013 Definitely check the controller port's solder joints on the mainboard. I've had a few other 5200's I've found have a lose controller port. Bent pins on the port is a possibility also. Just to eliminate the possibility it probably wouldn't hurt to go on ahead and solder all the joints on the controller port. I have a XEGS that keeps having a controller port come lose just by connecting a controller. Solder can get old after a while and lose its grip especially if a cheaper solder is used. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lame-O Posted September 5, 2013 Author Share Posted September 5, 2013 A big thanks to BigO!!! It was a 4052 multiplexer chip. Since my unit is a 4 port and there were (4) 4052's, I assumed that it was one for each controller. So I swapped the number 1 with the number 4 and now I'm back in buisiness. I'll still want to replace the bad one even though I'll never use ports 3 & 4, I just like having everything working like original. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mmervine Posted September 5, 2013 Share Posted September 5, 2013 A big thanks to BigO!!! It was a 4052 multiplexer chip. Since my unit is a 4 port and there were (4) 4052's, I assumed that it was one for each controller. So I swapped the number 1 with the number 4 and now I'm back in buisiness. I'll still want to replace the bad one even though I'll never use ports 3 & 4, I just like having everything working like original.Congrats on getting your 5200 running again...you should be able to pick up a cheap donor unit on ebay and restore yours to full health! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigO Posted September 6, 2013 Share Posted September 6, 2013 A big thanks to BigO!!! It was a 4052 multiplexer chip. Since my unit is a 4 port and there were (4) 4052's, I assumed that it was one for each controller. So I swapped the number 1 with the number 4 and now I'm back in buisiness. I'll still want to replace the bad one even though I'll never use ports 3 & 4, I just like having everything working like original. Glad to have been able to help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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