Both my husband and I are Atari 2600 fan's from when we were young. We decided to get back into the old systems and not only located one in our parents storage, but ebayed for one that had extra games with it. We tried both and neither one works.
We used the following to connect.
Atari power cord to game, game power cord to manual tv/game switch box (have switch to game), connected that to the 300/75ohm transformer to the coaxial on back of tv. Inserted game/ turned on game power switch and got (nothing!)
Tried switching tv stations and game box stations, different tv/game switches boxes, different atari power cords, switching tv's, switching different games, tried also not connecting the cable at all and switching cable to the tv/game box,
I dont believe both would not be working.
I have read about the cleaning, but in those cases dont they have some sign of life that they are working at all?