Atari 1040STf with no video

[Hitek]

Howdy yall, I picked up a 1040STf a few weeks ago with a few goodies. When I first tested it, it didn't power on. The LED in the lower left would flash once, then nothing. I pulled the PSU and checked it with my meter and the 12v rail was showing 9v, so I ordered a new one. Popped that in and now it powers up, but I get no video AT ALL, not even a flicker when it's powered on.

Also, when it's powered on, the drive light will come on briefly, then go out, then come on again and stay on, while the drive makes a click every few seconds. I assume this is a disk check noise (like an Amiga) but I'm not sure if the drive light should be on constantly. With the floppy removed, the light comes on when the machine is powered up, then goes out and stays out.

I'm an Amiga guy and this is my first Atari ST. I have already removed and reseated all the socketed chips, but that didn't help. I thought *maybe* the video cable was bad, but it rings through on 2 and 13 for video. I'm a little lost, what should I look at next?

Thanks,

Keith

[Hitek]

Ok, after some exhaustive googling, it turns out my STf is *probably* working fine. The cable I purchased on ebay has a composite and left/right audio out in the form of RCA connectors, however, I found a page that explains that ST's without an RF modulator, do not output composite video on pin 2. Basically, I need to buy a RGB cable to connect this to my Commodore 2002.

[Charlie_]

Ok, after some exhaustive googling, it turns out my STf is *probably* working fine. The cable I purchased on ebay has a composite and left/right audio out in the form of RCA connectors, however, I found a page that explains that ST's without an RF modulator, do not output composite video on pin 2. Basically, I need to buy a RGB cable to connect this to my Commodore 2002.

It sounds like the new power supply got it working. With no disk in it will continue to check the drive for a good minute or so.

 

You are correct. If the ST has no RF port it has no composite output at the monitor port. If you have a compatible RGB monitor you can make a cable. The 13 pin DIN is a pain in the ass to solder. The Atari SC1224 is a nice little monitor, no matter the revision/version you might find.

 

Enjoy your ST!

[Hitek]

It sounds like the new power supply got it working. With no disk in it will continue to check the drive for a good minute or so.

 

You are correct. If the ST has no RF port it has no composite output at the monitor port. If you have a compatible RGB monitor you can make a cable. The 13 pin DIN is a pain in the ass to solder. The Atari SC1224 is a nice little monitor, no matter the revision/version you might find.

 

Enjoy your ST!

Yeah, I ordered a couple din plugs from digi-key and I'm going to pick up some 9 pin D-Sub plugs from Frys today. I read somewhere, (possibly on here) that the newer din plugs from digi-key have solder cups instead of just pins. so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

 

I have a Commodore 2002 monitor, which is functionally equivalent to the Commodore 1084 (Which I have seen work with an ST)

[Hitek]

So, I hacked together a rather poor RGB cable. So poor in fact, that it will not maintain a picture, BUT, turning the monitor on and off, I actually see a green screen and some text (I can make out the word "software") before the screen wiggles out of existence. Looks like the computer is working fine.

[Hitek]

Ok, so I purchased a GBS8200, built a cable using the included connector for P11, and I STILL cannot get any video out of my STf. I'm at my wits end. Not sure what I'm doing wrong.

I KNOW the machine is outputting a video signal, I can catch glimpses of text. I saw the menu for a second when I was playing with the settings but I cannot get a stable video signal.

The cable I built is a straight through cable like this:

P11 ------------------- DIN
Red                     pin 7
Green                   pin 6
Blue                    pin 10
Grey                    pin 2
Yellow                  pin 12
Black                   pin 13

I'm not sure what to do next. The monitor I'm connecting to is a Dell 2007FP, which is a great monitor. I have a VGA cable on order, but apparently it takes months to get here from England, and that will not allow me to play games. Short of buying an actual Atari color monitor, I'm not sure what I should do to get usable color video out of this beast. I actually had better luck with the EGA cable I hacked together earlier, at least that would give me video every time, for a brief second before wiggling out. Anyone have any pointers or insight as to why I cannot seem to get this thing to show me anything real?

 

Thanks,

Keith

[Charlie_]

I'm not familiar with that Dell but isn't it doubtful it does 15hz RGB? This may be a generalization, but normally only very early CRT VGA monitors supported 15Hz. If at all. This is the signal a TV, arcade monitor or "retro" computer monitors from Atari or Commodore can display. Your best bet, since you don't have a model with composite output, is to get a compatible monitor. The Atari models plug right in. The C= models will need a cable made.

 

Even if you did have a "M" model with composite out, You would find that helpful to use a signal converter, RGB, to YUV(component) or VGA, (because composite is used for sync in these devices) but the problem will be lots of ST games use 50Hz signal. So then it becomes , does the converter switch between 50/60, does the display? Giant pain in the ass. Best bet is a compatible monitor able to do 50/60hz like the Atari sc1224 or some C= models. I don't have any C= compatible monitors but they are more easily available than the Atari ones. I'm sure someone here will chime in with a proper model to get.

[galax]

Have you tried building a mono VGA cable? I know this won't help with games but it'll reassure you that the ST is working. It's similar to the colour cable, ignore the ST's RGB pins, and connect the mono out to all 3 of the VGA RGB lines, usually a 50 ohm or so resistor helps to lower the voltage a little. Also connect the mono detect pin to ground. Most (but not all) monitors will display this correctly as 640x480 (some blank lines at the top and bottom). There are pretty much no 'modern' monitors that will display low res without some kind of converter.

Edited July 22, 2014 by galax

[galax]

Just to confirm:

 

Horizontal Scan Frequency kHz: 30 kHz to 81 kHz (automatic)

 

Still not sure if high res would work. The monitors I use are Samsung Syncmaster and NEC Multisync, about 6 or 7 years old- 4:3 aspect ratio, and available around here for about $20 to $30 each. As a bonus they include vpos, hpos, and hsize settings that are missing on most modern monitors.

 

http://www.dell.com/downloads/emea/products/snp/UltraSharp%202007FP_EN.pdf

[Hitek]

I'm not familiar with that Dell but isn't it doubtful it does 15hz RGB? This may be a generalization, but normally only very early CRT VGA monitors supported 15Hz. If at all. This is the signal a TV, arcade monitor or "retro" computer monitors from Atari or Commodore can display. Your best bet, since you don't have a model with composite output, is to get a compatible monitor. The Atari models plug right in. The C= models will need a cable made.

 

Even if you did have a "M" model with composite out, You would find that helpful to use a signal converter, RGB, to YUV(component) or VGA, (because composite is used for sync in these devices) but the problem will be lots of ST games use 50Hz signal. So then it becomes , does the converter switch between 50/60, does the display? Giant pain in the ass. Best bet is a compatible monitor able to do 50/60hz like the Atari sc1224 or some C= models. I don't have any C= compatible monitors but they are more easily available than the Atari ones. I'm sure someone here will chime in with a proper model to get.

 

No, the Dell doesn't support 15hz, that's why I'm going through a GBS8200 (or trying to, at least). The GBS8200 is a video upscaler/converter that is reported to work well with the Atari ST.

 

Have you tried building a mono VGA cable? I know this won't help with games but it'll reassure you that the ST is working. It's similar to the colour cable, ignore the ST's RGB pins, and connect the mono out to all 3 of the VGA RGB lines, usually a 50 ohm or so resistor helps to lower the voltage a little. Also connect the mono detect pin to ground. Most (but not all) monitors will display this correctly as 640x480 (some blank lines at the top and bottom). There are pretty much no 'modern' monitors that will display low res without some kind of converter.

 

I have a VGA cable on order, it's just taking it's sweet time to get here (The site didn't tell me they were in England until AFTER I checked out). The GBS8200 is a video upscaler/converter that is reported to work well with the Atari ST. My problem is that I have tried 2 different methods so far to get color video out of this thing, and neither has worked. The first attempt, I tried to make a 9pin RGB cable to connect to my C= 2002 monitor. That didn't work, but switching between hi-res and low-res I could see a green background with text menus, which would very quickly wiggle out to black. This was the second attempt, and I only saw a very distorted and large atari ST top-menu once when I was playing with the settings.

I'm reluctant to throw money at a monitor because I'm not sure the computers video out actually works. I know the output from the GBS8200 works with the Dell monitor because I can see the OSD menu, and it displays "No Signal" at the top when there is none (This is the GBS8200 displaying this, not the monitor itself)

[Charlie_]

 

No, the Dell doesn't support 15hz, that's why I'm going through a GBS8200 (or trying to, at least). The GBS8200 is a video upscaler/converter that is reported to work well with the Atari ST.

 

 

Sorry, missed that. Although I never tried a GBS8200, when I had my 1st STf I tried using an XRGB vga converter and also a couple RGB to component boxes. I had no luck until I picked up a STfm board and used composite as sync.

[Hitek]

 

....I picked up a STfm board and used composite as sync.

Now, when you say "STfm board" are you referring to an add on board that adds composite out to your computer, or did you just replace your computer?

[Charlie_]

Now, when you say "STfm board" are you referring to an add on board that adds composite out to your computer, or did you just replace your computer?

I purchased a NOS STfm mother board from Best. I got one with no chips in the sockets. I moved the chips from the STf board to my new STfm board, drilled a hole in the case for the RF port.

[Hitek]

I purchased a NOS STfm mother board from Best. I got one with no chips in the sockets. I moved the chips from the STf board to my new STfm board, drilled a hole in the case for the RF port.

I'm seriously considering going that route myself.

[galax]

 

when I had my 1st STf I tried using an XRGB vga converter

Which XRGB box did you try? I was thinking of trying an XRGB-3 with a few machines I have that output RGB. Edited July 23, 2014 by galax

[Charlie_]

Which XRGB box did you try? I was thinking of trying an XRGB-3 with a few machines I have that output RGB.

XRGB 2+ I use it mainly for RGB SCART(with a J-SCART converter dongle) and my Neo Geo AES. The XRGB 2+ is also fantastic with the C64 and A8 computers when converting SVID to VGA. I had very limited success using the ST on mine, until I had an STFm and had the composite for sync. I did buy a little board that is supposed to combine H and Y sync for composite sync but I never used it. I got frustrated and purchased a proper RGB monitor.