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Finally Got A Working 5200!


Deteacher

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I'm now a member of the 5200 club! :) :) :)

 

Long story short, I bought a 5200, 3 controllers and 6 games (complete with manuals and overlays) off CL about a year ago for about $70. Brought it home, hooked it up and it didn't work. I just got a black screen. After buying all the replacement chips from Best Electronics, it still didn't work. Feeling defeated, I put it away and forgot about it. I figured I'd bring it back out one day and try to get her up and running again.

 

Last week, I saw an Ebay listing for a console (nothing else coming with it) for $30. It was missing the top controller door and the bottom part of the bezel. So, I figured if I could snag that, I could just do a motherboard swap, if it worked. So, I pulled the trigger on it and snatched it up. I hooked it up and it works! :) Crystal clear image when I popped in the first cart. So, I took the plastic parts from the non-working console and added them to the working one. She's a beauty now and 100% functional!

 

Plugged in a controller...and...none of the 3 worked (NOOOOOOO!) So, I spent the entire evening researching how to fix the controllers. I learned how to disassemble, clean, calibrate and reassemble the controllers.

 

This morning, I sat down, determined to get at least one controller working. After cleaning all the keypads, deoxidizing all the flex circuits and calibrating the pots, I was able to swap out parts and get one controller fully functional! I also know what's wrong with the other two so I can order the parts I need from Best to get them working.

 

Needless to say, I'm super excited to have a 5200 in my collection! Short video below, showing her in action! Excuse my crappy gameplay...I was only using 1 hand at the time. :)

 

 

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I'm now a member of the 5200 club! :) :) :)

 

Long story short, I bought a 5200, 3 controllers and 6 games (complete with manuals and overlays) off CL about a year ago for about $70. Brought it home, hooked it up and it didn't work. I just got a black screen. After buying all the replacement chips from Best Electronics, it still didn't work. Feeling defeated, I put it away and forgot about it. I figured I'd bring it back out one day and try to get her up and running again.

 

Last week, I saw an Ebay listing for a console (nothing else coming with it) for $30. It was missing the top controller door and the bottom part of the bezel. So, I figured if I could snag that, I could just do a motherboard swap, if it worked. So, I pulled the trigger on it and snatched it up. I hooked it up and it works! :) Crystal clear image when I popped in the first cart. So, I took the plastic parts from the non-working console and added them to the working one. She's a beauty now and 100% functional!

 

Plugged in a controller...and...none of the 3 worked (NOOOOOOO!) So, I spent the entire evening researching how to fix the controllers. I learned how to disassemble, clean, calibrate and reassemble the controllers.

 

This morning, I sat down, determined to get at least one controller working. After cleaning all the keypads, deoxidizing all the flex circuits and calibrating the pots, I was able to swap out parts and get one controller fully functional! I also know what's wrong with the other two so I can order the parts I need from Best to get them working.

 

Needless to say, I'm super excited to have a 5200 in my collection! Short video below, showing her in action! Excuse my crappy gameplay...I was only using 1 hand at the time. :)

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DoXi5oBYEk&feature=youtu.be

 

If you want to get that other board up and running, let me know.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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If you want to get that other board up and running, let me know.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Thank you for the offer, but I think I'm just going to keep it for parts, in case something goes awry with my working console. :) I've replaced the CPU, TIA, POKEY and all the RAM chips(one at a time, of course) but the blank screen remains. For now, I'm going to focus on getting the other 2 controllers up and running. Will be ordering the gold plated parts from Best Electronics.

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Welcome to my favorite Atari system. Feel free to join our 2 HSC's here when you can. Having a real system makes you eligible for both. :)

 

Thanks! Right now, I only have 6 games for it: Pac-Man, Pengo, Super Breakout, Realsports Football, Realsports Baseball and Space Invaders. However, there's a 2nd & Charles not more than 10 minutes away that has a fair selection of 5200 games, ranging from $4-$12. I might snag a couple of those today. :)

 

REALLY going to start saving my pennies for the Atarimax 5200 flash cart, though. :)

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Get the Atarimax Multicart first, and save more some pennies for a Trak-Ball Controller. Centipede and Missile Command really come alive with the trak-ball, and you can use it on several other games, including Space Invaders. 5200 Space Invaders is excellent.

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Another game you might appreciate is Defender. It plays extremely well with the stock controllers.

 

The ones I saw at 2nd & Charles that piqued my interest were: Missile Command, Popeye, Pitfall II and I think there was a Defender there. Gonna head over after I get work done around the house.

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Robotron and Space Dungeon are killer apps for the 5200.

 

The 2nd & Charles near me has Space Dungeon. I was going to pick it up but I only have 1 working controller ATM...and that's barely working as it is. Ordering parts from Best to fix them up right. :)

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The 2nd & Charles near me has Space Dungeon. I was going to pick it up but I only have 1 working controller ATM...and that's barely working as it is. Ordering parts from Best to fix them up right. :)

 

You also need the coupler, which connects two controllers so that you can hold the controllers as a single unit and use your thumbs on both sticks. The first dual analog sticks!

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I found a WIP 3D printing of a 5200 controller coupler. Looks like its nearing completion. Here's a link to anyone interested in watching this:

 

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2071681

 

Otherwise, it looks like the couplers are hard to come by.

 

Did some more work on my controllers last night. I attached tin foil to the carbon dots on the fire buttons and I've got 2 controllers working "like new" now. Going to open them back up today and do the rest of the carbon dots on the number pads and the aux pads on top.

 

Last thing on the list is to give the cart port and my carts a good cleaning. Gonna need some more Deoxit. :)

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I found a WIP 3D printing of a 5200 controller coupler. Looks like its nearing completion. Here's a link to anyone interested in watching this:

 

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2071681

 

Cool. I hope it works out -- the couplers are somewhat uncommon.

 

Your descent into 5200 madness continues apace. Next stop -- Competition Pro joystick!

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Cool. I hope it works out -- the couplers are somewhat uncommon.

 

Your descent into 5200 madness continues apace. Next stop -- Competition Pro joystick!

 

HAHAHA! I know, right? I'm really getting into it, now that I can actually play these games. Just picked up Space Dungeon, Pole Position, Popeye, and Countermeasure. There are some others over there I want to check out too: Centipede, Defender, RS Soccer, and Galaxian, but I better cool it for now (while the wife is still talking to me.) :)

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You will definitely want a trak-ball. Centipede and Missile Command are great games, made even better when played with a trak-ball. Then there are homebrews like Tempest and Xari Arena that also support the trak-ball controller.

 

Take your time adding to your collection and happy hunting!

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