Problem with 6 switch telegames video signal

Robotrex · August 25, 2016

Hello everyone,

I recently picked up a sears telegames 6 switch Atari 2600 at a flea market. When I got home to test it out, it had this weird screen issue that I had never seen before. What happens is that when I turn the system on, only the top right 1/4 of the screen appears, then after 7/8 of the screen is drawn in about 30 seconds it then stops. Also the video is black and white. I can't even see Pacman. And when I switch to console to black and white, the screen displays a different "shade" of black and white so I know it's not the switch. But my main issue is that I have no idea how to fix this. I've attached a picture of the screen when it is "done" drawing for reference, and the picture is when the console is set to color. I have opened up the Atari and nothing seems wrong. No broken solderer joints, no burst capacitors, the cartridge slot has been cleaned. I have tried other games as well and they all don't display correctly either and have the same problems and they all work fine in my colecovison expansion module. I've tried a CRT and an LCD television with the same results and I'm using an RCA to coax connector instead of the RF switch. Heck, even the ac adapter is a new 9 volt plug from radioshack that I use with my pong console, and the RCA cable I'm using is new. Sorry for such a long post but I wanted to cover all my bases so people know it's not something obvious. In short, I have no clue what's wrong and was wondering if anybody could deduce the issue of this console? Thanks in advance.

Robotrex · September 2, 2016

After farther research, it seems like my issue might be related to my TIA chip in my console, since it generates the screen display. I guess I could try and replace the chip, but it would be nice to know that was definitely the problem before I that.