BlimpPixel

Is this such a weird issue that no one has any ideas?

Hmm I've purchased them individually from Best. Either things have changed or there was some miscommunication.

I have this Light Sixer that had previously been giving me issues with odd display colors. After plenty of screwing around, I got that fixed. Thought all was well until I noticed that there was now a new problem, that didn't exist before. The game sprites are apparently out of sync with each other. Heroes cannot pickup inventory. Cannonballs pass through enemies without destroying them. Pac-Man goes hungry. There is a great disturbance in the Force. I've never seen anything like this, and would have never even conceived of such a bizarre issue. Any ideas? Thank you!

Okay, I fiddled with it enough to get the colors to work, and just when I thought it was all done, I have a new problem. It's like the sprites are out of synch somehow. I noticed in Adventure that I couldn't pick up the key, and then in Megamania, my bullets were passing through the targets without destroying them. Whyyyyyyy. Any ideas on that one? Never saw such a thing before.

I am having a similar issues with weird colors on a different Atari now. I replaced the VR and all capacitors, and tried different combinations of chips, and it’s not changed one iota. It’s a light sixer, and replacing the switch board with another doesn’t change things, so it’s apparently something in the chip board. It is not the power supply. Any ideas? This is making me batty.

Interesting! Although Im not too sure either was the case, here. I honestly dont know what happened. The system wasnt working at all, and after a few combinations of chips from a donor board, I got that result. A different combination, and now everything works properly (correct colors being displayed). Hmmm

Nope, these are my carts from the 80s.

Anyone seen something like this before? Colors are being displayed all weird. Green is showing up as blue. Blue is showing up as pinkish purple. Not sure what else, but its trippy.

Looking at it in person and comparing it to others that are also worn, I don't think it's any different. Was worth checking, though.

I have seen what must be hundreds of joysticks, but I don't recall seeing any like this before. The first is the typical joystick we're used to. The second is normal for the most part but has an orange button, and I mean ORANGE. The third is pretty normal except it has the Sunnyvale yellow paint, and no, it is not a CX10 hex disc example. I've not seen one like this, even with the rare made-in-Sunnyvale Light Sixers or 4 switch units. Any input into the history on these? Just curious. Thanks!

In case anyone is curious, I continued throwing more crap at the wall and something did indeed stick eventually. Turns out it was the CPU chip. Very interesting.

It effects all games, yes. I reheated the joints on the power socket for good measure, but it's not that. It's not really losing power, it's almost like it just loses the ability to read a game. It responds the way a non-functioning games does. Either a black screen or a bunch of waves lines, or maybe a combination. It may be worth saying that if I turn it off and back on immediately, the game probably won't load at all, even for a split second. But if I wait a few moments, it will.

Here's a problem I've not seen before. I have a 4 switch that once you turn it on works brilliantly... for not even a full second. It then goes wonky and/or dies. I had a new voltage regulator sitting around, so I figured why not throw that on. I know a bad one can make a system crash, usually after more like 15 minutes but I figured why not try it. But it made no difference. If I'm lightening fast, I can hit the Reset switch in time and see that the game loads successfully. Channel select switch works. Color/B&W switch works. Any ideas before I continue throwing crap at a wall and seeing what sticks? Thanks!

Im just sharing this in case anyone finds it interesting. I sat down to make an attempt to clean all my nonfunctioning games and see if I could coax some life into them, to the point that I was snapping the case open to even more thoroughly clean the contacts as a last ditch effort if I couldnt. I began to notice something after a while. You may know that the earliest nine games released in 1977 had a gatefold box and a number label. I began to notice that all the game chips were sort of emerald green, pictured on the right, but the number label games were olive green on the left. Shown here are both Air-Sea Battle, a number label compared to a text label. Im obviously not saying this is a set in stone rule, but its certainly what I noticed with the selection I had today. Just a little factoid for the detail freaks out there.

Not my pic, but you can see it here. I believe the plastic sleeves for the literature was added by the owner, but the bubble wrap for the console was definitely original.