hendersonn Posted July 17, 2014 Share Posted July 17, 2014 I may have done it this time. I was messing around with some alternative forms of input for the paddle controllers last night. Now, the paddle for Port A is sporadic at best. I looked up the repair manual as well as other threads and saw where the caps are usually the culprit. However, whenever I've dealt with blown caps in the past, they were physically damaged; the ones in the Atari are not (that's the only reason I'm worried, really). Yet, upon checking the caps with a multimeter (while running warlords), the "defective" controller(port)'s cap show irregular values: (pot set to min/max value): PortA L- 0.03/2.17 <-- "Defective/sporadic" inputPortA R- 0.38/4.11PortB L- 0.36/4.28PortB R- 0.38/4.11 So could the cap still be the issue? Perhaps damaged enough to screw things up, but not enough to burst? I'd really like it to not be the TIA that is at fault. Thanks for any feedback. -M Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cobra Commander Posted July 18, 2014 Share Posted July 18, 2014 Pretty sure you can't test a cap like that. Taking a voltage reading in an active circuit will only let you know that "Something" has changed in that leg. I feel if the TIA was faulty there would not be picture displayed. You could de-soldier the caps and switch them and see if the problem moves to the other side. But if you're gonna remove them may as well replace it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hendersonn Posted July 19, 2014 Author Share Posted July 19, 2014 I just thought it coincidental that one paddle controller that was acting up at the same time one capacitor was showing irregular values (compared to the other three caps). I did the same tests on all four players (zeroing and maxing the paddles' pots and recording the values). I also thought about the fact there was no issues with video output, just read the paddles are connected to it in some way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hendersonn Posted July 25, 2014 Author Share Posted July 25, 2014 (edited) So how about that RIOT chip? Apparently I was misinformed about the paddles connecting to the TIA, but rather the RIOT? I just got done swapping two of the caps and now the picture is all screwed up black and the RIOT is getting real hot, real fast. Perhaps the RIOT was at fault the whole time and something I did finally broke it? this sucks. edit: stupid question, but do all versions of the 2600 use the same ICs and capacitor( value)s?, thanks. Edited July 25, 2014 by hendersonn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rybags Posted July 25, 2014 Share Posted July 25, 2014 TIA handles paddle rotary pots and joystick fire buttons. RIOT handles joystick directions/paddle buttons and console switches. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cobra Commander Posted July 25, 2014 Share Posted July 25, 2014 Polarity is important with most electrolytics if IIRC. How are your soldering skills? You may have loitered to long with the iron, perhaps a tin wisker. If somethings getting real hot it sounds like something is shorted to ground causing max current through minimum resistance. For shits and giggles you could leave it on and "let the smoke out". A sure fired way to see what is broken. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hendersonn Posted July 25, 2014 Author Share Posted July 25, 2014 (edited) I definitely could have kept the iron on for too long.I'm worried though about dumping money into new parts if the console is just going to fry those too. Oh well, I'll accept defeat for tonight and look more into it tomorrow I suppose.Thanks for the input. Edited July 25, 2014 by hendersonn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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