New to me Atari works then dosen't

[r3tro74]

The Atari is having some troubles. It's a 4 switch wood panel.

Sometimes when swapping games and powering back on, the screen is all static/vertal lines or just blank. The only remedy seems to be unplug the power and wait about an hour then it seems ok. Also sometimes the controller plugs have to be wiggled around a bit to get the "left" direction to work.

Any common repairable issuses or am I better off finding another unit?

Thanks

[jhd]

Did you check the solder around the joystick ports? It appears that a joint may be cracked and/or making an intermittent connection.

 

One of the first Atari 2600 consoles that I purchased had a similar problem with the power jack. It took me all of 5 minutes to fix.

 

I have no suggestions about the video issues.

[BigO]

On the video issue, that might just be dirty cartridge and/or socket contacts.

 

Activision games are particularly susceptible to this issue as their circuit boards are slightly thinner than others.

[r3tro74]

Thanks for the suggestions!

What is a good way to clean the cartridge socket/game cards?

[DistantStar001]

99% rubbing alcohol, a clean cotton-cloth, and an old credit card you don't mind cutting to shape. You will also need a small flathead screwdriver to trip the protective cover over the cartridge port. As for the cartridge itself, again, 99% rubbing alcohol and a cotton swab/q-tip. For Atari branded cartridges, you might need that screwdriver to expose the board. On either the cartridge or the console there will be two small slits on either side that you'll slip the driver into. You only need to do one side to expose the port or cart.

Edited March 20, 2019 by DistantStar001

[r3tro74]

Awesome, thanks! Most of the games seem to work after the cartridge cleaning. Still have some random black and white dots in and out on the screen and it's a bit blurry but quite playable.

River Raid was one if my favorites when I was a 10 year old kid!

Thanks!

[r3tro74]

The joysticks not responding to "left" was due to a broken green wire at the console end connector. I was able to trim back the plug enough to get to the break to solder. Both sticks were like this

[Hannacek]

It's really not worth repairing Atari joysticks if they are just regular with nothing special. The only thing that makes sense if you wan to repair is to harvest parts from something else broken. Best thing is to take a broken joystick with a cord that is fine, and use that to replace this cord. Or you could take the cord from a broken Genesis controller.

[+RichG1972]

The joysticks not responding to "left" was due to a broken green wire at the console end connector. I was able to trim back the plug enough to get to the break to solder. Both sticks were like this

I have extra joystick cables, Atari branded ones with the slip-on metal connector, not 3rd party

[eddhell]

On the video issue, that might just be dirty cartridge and/or socket contacts.

 

Activision games are particularly susceptible to this issue as their circuit boards are slightly thinner than others.

 

I had this problem with an entire batch of 39 Coleco carts, and it made me think my coleco system was the problem....turns out these carts were all stored in an open cardboard box in a garage, all had extremely dirty pins....took several passes with Deoxit contact cleaner to make them work properly.