most cartridges work, a few don't?

[+xucaen]

so it looks like my Atari 2600 has fallen victim to a common issue. I have found that a few of my games don't work but almost all of them do. (All games work on my 7800). Question: is this an easy fix? I'm hoping all I have to do is swap out a single component, something that is simple to do. Has anyone else had this issue? How do I fix it?

[+save2600]

Are the games that don't work Activision by chance?

[+xucaen]

The games I notice that don't work are:

Kaboom Activision

Astroblast Mnetwork

Secret Quest Atari

 

Spider Fighter. Starmaster. River Raid and Pitfall all work perfectly.

[VectorGamer]

have you tried cleaning them?

[+xucaen]

have you tried cleaning them?

Of course I cleaned them. :-p =D

 

 

Seriously though, I clean my games with 91% isopropyl alcohol and Qtips. I clean the Atari cartridge port using a clean white t shirt and credit card dipped in same alcohol. If anything needs replacing I'm hoping it's only the cartridge port.

[+nanochess]

The Activision ones are prone to complete failure. Extract the whole PCB from the cartridge and clean it with alcohol and cotton (q-tips), repeat until the q-tips come clean.

[+SpiceWare]

Activision used a slightly thinner board than others, which causes the now well used cartridge port to have trouble making a good connection. Not much you can do about that.

 

The other cartridges probably just went bad, it happens - these things are 30 some odd years old after-all. Pick up replacements. An even better option would be to get a Harmony Cart, you can use it to play just about any game, including the ones from Activision.

[VectorGamer]

Activision used a slightly thinner board than others, which causes the now well used cartridge port to have trouble making a good connection. Not much you can do about that.

 

The other cartridges probably just went bad, it happens - these things are 30 some odd years old after-all. Pick up replacements. An even better option would be to get a Harmony Cart, you can use it to play just about any game, including the ones from Activision.

 

Where can you get the Activision ROMs?

[+SpiceWare]

 

Where can you get the Activision ROMs?

 

Have you tried searching for pitfall.bin?

[+xucaen]

The Activision ones are prone to complete failure. Extract the whole PCB from the cartridge and clean it with alcohol and cotton (q-tips), repeat until the q-tips come clean.

 

I simply don't have the knowledge or expertise to do this without completely destroying the label and breaking the plastic case. I'm a programmer, not an engineer.

[+xucaen]

Activision used a slightly thinner board than others, which causes the now well used cartridge port to have trouble making a good connection. Not much you can do about that.

 

The other cartridges probably just went bad, it happens - these things are 30 some odd years old after-all. Pick up replacements. An even better option would be to get a Harmony Cart, you can use it to play just about any game, including the ones from Activision.

 

I was going to try a trick I had read about - using tweezers or something to gently pry up the leads in the cartridge port so they make a better connection. If that doesn't work I'll research how to replace the cartridge port. And if that doesn't work, then the 2600 becomes a display piece only or sold for parts.

[+SpiceWare]

I'm a programmer

 

And there's another reason to get a Harmony, become part of the homebrew community and write something for the Atari

[+xucaen]

 

Where can you get the Activision ROMs?

 

They are out there on the web, just be careful of downloading trojans and viruses. These kinds of pirates prey on the desperate vintage gamer.

[+xucaen]

 

And there's another reason to get a Harmony, become part of the homebrew community and write something for the Atari

 

 

All I need is time!

 

[+nanochess]

 

I simply don't have the knowledge or expertise to do this without completely destroying the label and breaking the plastic case. I'm a programmer, not an engineer.

 

Insert a tube slightly bigger than interior of cartridge, the Activision shells use a soft plastic that can be opened this way.

[+xucaen]

 

Insert a tube slightly bigger than interior of cartridge, the Activision shells use a soft plastic that can be opened this way.

 

I think there are screws under the label.

[yugobrandon]

The games I notice that don't work are:

Kaboom Activision

Astroblast Mnetwork

Secret Quest Atari

 

Spider Fighter. Starmaster. River Raid and Pitfall all work perfectly.

 

I had a problem with these exact same games, and only these three. Everywhere I looked online suggested they were bad cartridges, but when another copy of Secret Quest didn't work, I thought it must be a problem with my console. I had it (a four switch woodgrain model) plugged directly into the coax in the TV, so I tried plugging the coax into an old DVD player, and then using RCA cables from the DVD player to the TV. After doing this, all four cartridges (two copies of Secret Quest, Astroblast, and Kaboom) worked.

 

I know this might be a temporary fix to a greater problem with the console itself, but I hope it helps.

Edited January 27, 2015 by yugobrandon

[+xucaen]

 

I had a problem with these exact same games, and only these three. Everywhere I looked online suggested they were bad cartridges, but when another copy of Secret Quest didn't work, I thought it must be a problem with my console. I had it (a four switch woodgrain model) plugged directly into the coax in the TV, so I tried plugging the coax into an old DVD player, and then using RCA cables from the DVD player to the TV. After doing this, all four cartridges (two copies of Secret Quest, Astroblast, and Kaboom) worked.

 

I know this might be a temporary fix to a greater problem with the console itself, but I hope it helps.

 

Thanks for the advice, but in my case I think it really is the console. Here's what kaboom looks like when played on my Atari 2600:

 

 

 

 

edit: I tried Secret Quest in my 7800 console and it still doesn't work. Not sure what's up with that. But Kaboom works fine on my 7800.

Edited January 27, 2015 by xucaen

[Mef]

xucaen, can you describe how exactly these fail?

 

I'm asking, since yugobrandon's case is giving me weird ideas.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but looking at that weird scenario described above, it seems that the video signal is too weak and the DVD manages to pick it up still.

Now I'd speculate that since all other carts work fine on the same setup (sans-DVD player), then perhaps these particular cartridges are using up more juice (because the games are more CPU-intensive, or simply use ancient power-hungry ROM ICs) and it's the failing PSU that causes that, and not actually the console?

 

Did you try a different power supply?

 

EDIT:

Oh well, nevermind - just saw your new post.

If it's not a dying TIA, there's another thing I'd try - checking the voltage regulator for overheating.

One of my Juniors had a problem with it and it was only affecting one game: Jungle Hunt (I didn't have that many to try out, tho).

After a couple minutes, the console would reset for a split second every now and then. When I've opened it up, it turned out that the voltage regulator was soldered incorrectly and wasn't connecting with the metal pad underneath, so it didn't have any heatsink. I resoldered it into proper position and applied some thermal paste, it worked perfectly ever since.

Maybe in your case, the thermal paste has dried out completely, and the regulator suffers, making the rest of the console fail if particular conditions are met? Maybe it's the dried-up caps that people get so obsessed about? I'd try those first, before you start ordering more expensive replacement parts or looking for a new VCS altogether.

Edited January 27, 2015 by Mef

[+nanochess]

 

I think there are screws under the label.

 

Myself I've opened several that way just enough to extract PCB without messing with label or screws

[+xucaen]

Today I am going to try to fix the cartridge slot on the console by prying up the metal leads in the connector. Has anyone else tried this?

 

 

Edit.

 

No good. I was able to push up the bottom leads but couldn't access the top leads - I don't have a tool small enough to get in there.

 

I tried the games again and there was no change. I've decided to let the console go.

 

Thanks everyone for your help. Maybe someone with the knowledge and skill will someday make the console good as new.

 

Cheers!

[+SabertoothRetro]

I won this light sixer from Xucaen on eBay.

 

I had a cosmetically rough Sears heavy sixer in the garage and thought That I might try to salvage this modded console with some of it's parts. I pulled the 6507 and TIA from the heavy and voila, she's alive. The chips were socketed so it was an easy enough fix. I tested Kaboom on a real cart and Astroblast and Secret Quest via Harmony. I wanted to share in case some other folks have the same issue.

[Papa]

I'd just solder new leads with some high silver solder. Check any caps. It's funny but rotten bits comes to mind. The bombs seem to think that whatever bit makes two copies of the sprite are flickering off and on and mapping things that aren't really there! You can easily add fresh contacts without prying up the old stuff by soldering if it's barely connecting and that's what the problem is from. If it's the processor then I guess you would have to replace that or do what you did and sell the old junker.