Atari 800 compatibility

[RevengeOfYar]

Hey guys, I recently picked up a lot of about 2 dozen Atari 8 bit cartridges from a friend of mine, and I managed to find an 800 to play them on. All of them play except Millipede. It is the 1st party cart with the brown plastic, silver front label, and silver back, like the other 1st party games I have. The copyright date on the front says 1984.

 

Is there any reason why this wouldn't work on a stock 800, such as needing more ram? I've tried cleaning it half a dozen times with no luck.

 

Also, how much RAM does a stock 800 have? I know it's upgradeable to 48K, but this one hasn't been upgraded as far as I know.

[+Nezgar]

I would think millipede should work on a stock 800. Have you confirmed it works on a different machine, XL or XE to make that assumption?

 

I'm thinking it's more likely the roms have gone bad - all it takes is 1 static discharge (I did this accidentally to one of mine).

 

What does the computer do with the cart in? Sometimes cart with bad ROM will let you boot from disk into DOS where you can save the cartridge memory space to disk, then see if the data is corrupt..

 

If you have a BASIC cart, type ?FRE(0) - a result of 37902 means the machine has 48K of RAM (or at least 40, since the BASIC cart occupies the last 8K when present). To be sure you can open up the cover behind the cartridge ports to see the exact RAM modules installed.

[RevengeOfYar]

It likely is a bad cart since I don't have any other working machines to test it on. How did you accidentally shock one of your carts?

 

All the system does with Millipede in is bring up the Memo pad.

 

I'll try that with a Basic cart sometime if I can find one. What I really want to know, however, is how much RAM did the 400 and 800 come with when they were originally sold? Were there different versions of each with different amounts of memory? Do the expansions require soldering to install?

[+Nezgar]

Admittedly, I had the shell off and the bare PCB exposed since I was cleaning it, but I had cozy wooly socks on last winter, and 3 steps from one desk to the other was enough to 'charge' myself I guess when I touched the pcb. I should have touched something else grounded first. (Have been doing that ever since though heh)

 

Harder to do with the case on, but there's still potential. If not you, then maybe at some point in the past...

[+kheller2]

It likely is a bad cart since I don't have any other working machines to test it on. How did you accidentally shock one of your carts?

 

All the system does with Millipede in is bring up the Memo pad.

 

I'll try that with a Basic cart sometime if I can find one. What I really want to know, however, is how much RAM did the 400 and 800 come with when they were originally sold? Were there different versions of each with different amounts of memory? Do the expansions require soldering to install?

 

 

The 800 did come with different memory configurations as time progressed. Easy to find out, just lift the big door off the top.. either held in with two screws or thumb tabs. Then you can see the type of ram cards.

[kiwilove]

Lifting off the top - you'll see if you'll have empty slots present or not?

Each slot is for additional 16K. I think official Atari 16K memory boards have covers on them - but they do get very hot - so there is a tendency to see them without covers on - not sure if it indicates it's more likely to be a non-Atari memory board?

What you should see is the 10K ROM board, and just one 16K RAM - clearly labelled and with covers.

And you'll be lucky to see any extra ones plugged in also - maybe an additional two boards without covers on?

 

Harvey

[xrbrevin]

try cleaning the cart contacts with a pencil eraser - it brings them up nicely

[Sugarland]

Also, how much RAM does a stock 800 have? I know it's upgradeable to 48K, but this one hasn't been upgraded as far as I know.

 

Early 800's had 16k stock. But Atari increased this from the factory over the 3.5 years they were made. All late model 800's came with 48k. The very first few 800's may have had 8k, thus the name 800. You can remove the top case panel to see what's in the three RAM slots behind the first ROM ('personality') slot.

[BillC]

 

Early 800's had 16k stock. But Atari increased this from the factory over the 3.5 years they were made. All late model 800's came with 48k. The very first few 800's may have had 8k, thus the name 800. You can remove the top case panel to see what's in the three RAM slots behind the first ROM ('personality') slot.

IIRC the 800 came with a minimum of 16K, the early 400s did come with only 8K.