Wilde Bill

Hey Tempest, thanks so much

Hey just stumbled across this, tried out the fixed Pal on the harmony cart. Wow. This is just stunning, thanks so much to the people who found it, fixed it and converted it! I was just wondering (sorry if this has already been covered somewhere) I noticed there's about 8 different game variations, some of them are definitely two player options (a turn based style like Yars revenge where each player uses a different joystick), has anyone figured out what some of the other variations do?

Thanks so much for all the explanations, just to clarify again: 1: The tingling sensation happens when the Atari is the only device plugged in, not connected in any way to the TV (which I plugged out completely) or anything else so it can't be drawing electricity from the TV. 2: All of the outlets have been checked by two highly qualified electricians, with the exception of one bad earthing on another outlet (which is now fixed) all the outlets are perfect. The electricity for the entire house was shut down and all the outlets were taken out from the walls and everything was checked and tested extensively, it was through the course of this that the bad earthing on the Dishwasher outlet was discovered. 3: The adapter (which is a new replacement) is working perfectly, giving consistent c9V DC, even so I replaced this adapter with a brand new one from a retro gaming store specifically intended for an Atari 2600, and this also has been tested and working perfectly. No AC current whatsoever, and 9V DC 4: I've experimented with the tingling, in order to make sure I wasn't suffering from an over sensitivity I asked my partner to run her arm over the screws of the Atari (which was turned upside down and placed on a wooden table) and while it is plugged into the DC adapter she can also feel the same tingling, when her skin or even the hair on her arm touches the screws. When I turn the adapter off she or myself does not feel the tingling when doing the same action, there really is quite a substantial difference. While I don't have any experience as an electrician (and thank you everyone for all the great comments explaining all these terms to me) I have been shocked a few times in my life (malfunctioning electric fences on farms, a very dodgy light switch and a few other things) and this is definitely an electrical tingling as opposed to burred screws etc. 5: I have opened the Atari up and there's no obvious sign of a broken circuit or anything like that, in addition the Atari functions perfectly so there's no lapse in colour or graphics or performance etc. that would suggest a specific part has malfunctioned inside. Again, the tingling happens when the Atari is plugged in but turned OFF and there is no measurable DC off the screws, the only thing I (or the electricians) were able to measure was the tiny bit of AC I mentioned which is why I thought that might be responsible. In terms of possibly being static, I'm not sure, all I can say is the tingling is constant, so it's not like a sudden discharge but will remain as long as I have my arm (or leg etc.) on the screw. These screws are new, I replaced the originals with identicals because they were extremely rusted then I got the Atari (because the previous owner had lived in Sydney which has a lot of salt and humidity in the air owing to its geographical position and everything that's unprotected rusts to bits there). Again, thanks so much everyone for you help and comments,

Hey all, Thanks so much for all the comments and suggestions, @Stephen Moss, what you said really makes a lot of sense, @Random Terrain, no it's still legal here in Australia thankfully the Atari Lapdancing Act of 1982; no I was just cleaning the cart port. So the electrician went and discovered that the dish-washer on the same circuit was not earthed; the original builders had been very shoddy, it was apparently very dangerous as the dishwasher is all metal. Since that has been fixed I'm still getting the tingling, but only very lightly compared to what I was getting, maybe there was two issues? The atari still does this when not connected to the TV. Maybe Stephen Moss has hit the nail on the head? I'm wondering if it could be mains hum? Thanks so much everyone for your comments

Sorry to sound like a luddite here, what's bad grounding mean? Is it the same thing as the earth for an outlet?

Yes indeed, had an electrician over today who tested everything and said all outlets were all in working order

Hey all, Sorry if I've put this in the wrong section. I'm at my wit's end about this: To make a long story short, a few days ago I had my Atari light sixer (PAL) on my lap and I realised that I was getting an electrical prickling/tingling off each of the two big screws on the underside of the case - the Atari was plugged into its 9v adapter but was NOT turned on. This prickling was certainly sore but I wouldn't say it was an 'electric shock', or static because it the prickling is there until you take your arm away. A few points: These are the two screws that secure the internal metal-motherboard housing to the case I've tested the adapter and it's working fine, to be safe I then replaced the adapter with a brand new one of suitable specs, and the tingling etc. still persists. I've opened up the Atari and can see no broken circuits or anything like that. The Atari actually works perfectly, no problem with colours or sound or anything like that (which would point to a specific faulty part inside), I honestly had no idea there was anything wrong with the Atari until I had it on my lap. I kept trying to measure DC current off the screws and found nothing, when I switched the multi-meter to AC I discovered it was getting between 50-60 mV off the screws when the Atari is plugged into the adapter (again, the Atari was turned off), while an electrician was in the house I had him look at the Atari and he also verified that for some reason AC current is coming from the screws. This tingling also seems to come off the control ports An electrician has confirmed that all the plugs etc. in the house are working properly The closest thing I could compare this feeling to, would be the stinging feeling many of us used to get when plugging in an aerial into an old CRT set when our fingers touched the aerial outlet on the TV. Has anyone else had this happen with their systems? I've noticed I might not feel it with my fingers but if I run the inside of my arm over the screws while the Atari is plugged in I'll be able to feel it. Sorry about this rambling post, I'm completely at a loss as to what's happening

Update! Problem fixed! Hey all, finally got around to fixing the Atari, the problem was the 2200uf 16V axial capacitor (which had finally gone bad after 37 years of use), I replaced that and it worked perfectly first try, the picture is crystal clear now and the colour is back to perfect, I'm glad I originally didn't touch the colour wheel. Hopefully no more problems for a while,

Hey thanks Zylon, I did a few more tests yesterday (I've since unplugged everything until parts arrive). What's weird is that I get black screen for the first few minutes, and then the game will work, but with the strange colour thing, but the picture itself is crystal clear, the only new thing I noticed was the flicking the BW/Colour switch causes the colours to shift, not to go to black or white, but change in hue; I opened her up yesterday and noticed the 2200uf 16v cap was bulging quite considerably, seen as I would need to order one of those anyway I just sent an email to best elec. to get a full suite of small parts including the regulator you mentioned. I also have a Harmony Cart in the mail and I only just realised that if the problems persist after those two things are replaced I can try to run the diagnostic cart rom with the Atari field manual seen as console can still just about work. Rest assured I'll post up whatever I happen to find out if I can get my light sixer working properly again,

Sorry to add this, I realised I can no longer edit the above, I do have a harmony cart on the way in the mail, would anyone know if there is any Test Cart/Diagnostic cart software I could use on this to perhaps determine what the problem is? If there was something I could put on it that tests ram etc like the cart for the original atari field manual? - just putting forward any idea I have

Hi all, first time posting, great fan of Atariage, sorry if I'm posting this in the wrong section and apologies if I sound like a luddite about this: I have a PAL light sixer that I play on a PAL CRT TV. Since I got it the console has been perfect, I play it every few days, both PAL and NTSC games, the problems started when I turned it on this morning: To begin with it was very hard to get any game running (I clean my carts and cart-slot regularly) and have never had a problem before, instead of just starting on powerup, I got black screens for every game, I had to clean the cartridge slot (i.e inserting a cart that was wiped with cleaning alcohol and leaving it inserted for a few minutes) a number of times before I could get any game to work and after a few insertions I would only get black screens again. When I am able to get a game to work there are a number of problems, the most obvious one being the colours are off; so when playing an NTSC version of Berserk, the start-up screen saver displays colours I've never seen before, like dark red, dark green or black, and Evil Otto, the Main Character and the shots he fires are a kind of sickly green (they are usually a bright pink), after a few minutes of attempting to play the colours will then shift from black and white, to a horrific rainbow like interference, before going to a black screen - a point of note, while the Otto and the player are no longer pink, the colour pink is still visible on the score and walls, so it's still seemingly available. On a NTSC Mountain King cart, the colours initially seem fine, but upon playing they will either shift to black and white, or the floors will change colour every time the character is made to jump. On a PAL Yars Revenge cart, Yar has a sickly green colour or the game will flicker out or go black and white. On an NTSC Raiders of the Lost Arc, the backgrounds of some of the screens are totally different colours, (so blue instead of green or pink instead of grey) I'm sorry I've no photos here, it's really hard to get any game to run at all (I've spent the entire morning at this and am at my wits end), I've tried everything that I'm able to do; I've eliminated the TV as a problem, (trying my Atari on another TV and testing the TV with DVD players etc), it's not interference from the joystick (I've tested a Wico along with original controllers, I never use anything else), I've re-tuned the Atari a number of times on two TVs and the same problems persist, I've disconnected and reconnected everything (including the main cable by taking the top off the Atari), all ports are good and tight, the power supply is new and matches original specs, in short everything has worked perfectly for months without a problem until this morning, I'm just at a loss (as you might be able to tell, I have very little electrical skills). I do know about the Atari colour pot, but I'm afraid to touch it, as nothing has happened that would have caused it to move and I'm afraid to make the problem worse, the atari sits on a wooden stand infront of the TV, I have a bubblewrap dust cover when not in use. One point of note; is there a chance that a faulty powerswitch could cause this? I only ask because some of these problems might accentuate if I tap the switch but it's hard to tell if I'm just imagining this, because the games don't last long before they go to black screen, the switch has always been very stiff, a great deal harder to move than any other of the 6 switches, the others can be flicked quite easily, should this switch have the same give as a light sixer difficulty switch? I've searched through these wonderful forums and another possibility keeps coming up about solder joints sometimes causing similar problems, can anyone describe what such a problem might look like? Or if there is a way to rule out things? Sorry for this long post, or if I've stupidly put it in the wrong part of the forum, thanks to anyone who can give any help, Edit: Since writing this, it now seems to just come up with a black screen for every game alas