AgentOrange96

I'm looking forward to being able to buy new paddles without an extra cartridge! As well the extensions will be very welcome. I have some longer cables from Best Electronics on my CX40's, but the CX40+ uses a different (better and more modern) connector inside, so the extensions are the best option here I think. The new hardware is too tight a fit in older hardware, (maybe round vs sharp angles on the DE9) but would otherwise make great options even for original hardware. I suspect they'll hold up a lot better long term than the originals. While I've never actually played 7800, I'm sure the new controllers for that will be pretty awesome too!

Technically, in the US anyway, this doesn't even void your warranty entirely. Per the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, you may use whatever parts you wish to repair your property without voiding your warranty. However, if Atari can prove that the part you installed is the reason that your system is faulty, the warranty would not cover it. So for example, if there was a faulty chip on your device, that would still legally have to be covered by warranty. However, if your cartridge port ever fails, then yeah, your warranty isn't going to cover that. To be clear, I'm not a lawyer, you may read up on this here (Search for "Tie-In Sales"): https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/businesspersons-guide-federal-warranty-law I mention this because I think it's important knowledge generally speaking, and many companies outright violate this. (So good luck actually applying this) But especially when it comes to other things such as cars, appliances, computers and other important items, this becomes even more important. Obviously, don't abuse this. And of course, laws in other countries will vary. Anyway, your information about using a 7800 cartridge port is super useful information. Obviously, Ben has offered to help get OP's system repaired, rather than have it be sent to the landfill. (He previously fixed my 2600+ for me, which I'm incredibly thankful for!) However, having alternate options to repair these systems as needed is always good. Back in the day, it would have been pretty common to fix things with what you have. For example, my heavy sixer had a RadioShack 3.5mm jack wired onto the board to replace the original Atari 3.5mm power jack, plus it had a few bodge wires, and a few more now that are my own repairs. Making due with an off the shelf, and probably more durable, 7800 cartridge port is really clever! Although I definitely would love to see a revision of the cartridge port for the 2600+ someday.

The Atari is back in the states and worked first try! Thank you very much @Ben from Plaion! I'll make a follow up video this weekend as I think it's important. If there are any updates on what was defective on the original board and/or any comment on process improvements, I'd be more happy to include that as well. Mostly I hope fewer people run into this issue going forward and that when people do, they're taken seriously rather than dismissed by other customers/community members. (I haven't seen Atari or Plaion act dismissive) I'll post an update once I have a new video upload. Again, thank you Ben and thank you to everyone else who has been supportive or constructively critical.

Ah, Etsy, where you can buy a Sunnyvale made four switcher for the low price of only $500... I've found that local junk shops/flea markets sometimes have good prices. Others don't. I think many sellers act like vintage = rare. Also, I've never bought games from Best, but based on my other purchases I could definitely see that being a good option. Bradley is quite a character, but he's friendly, extremely knowledgeable and his prices are solid.

I've seen more of a circle jerk about how perfect this system is than anything else. Mine showed up defective, my video documenting this got posted here and I got bullied for having a negative experience and documenting it. I saw others who had the same experience as me on Reddit got the same treatment and my post there even got removed for violating a rule it didn't even violate. Meanwhile I posted my other video here that was extremely positive toward the system from a hardware perspective (couldn't test software because defective) and very in depth, and no one gave a fuck about it. When I get my system back fixed and provide a very likely extremely positive update, unfortunately I doubt anyone will care about it either. I think people just latch on to any criticism as a personal attack. And that's what gets their attention, rather than the flood of praise. It's been kinda a creepy vibe, NGL. Also I should note that, as someone who was involved in criticism, while I'd not been active on the forum for a long time, I was not at all new here, nor at all new to the 2600.

My two cents on the power situation here is that while I actually don't take issue with phones not shipping with charging bricks anymore, I do feel the 2600+ probably should have. In the case of a phone, the idea is that you're probably replacing your old phone. Therefore, when you stopped using your old phone, its charger was freed up for you to allocate to your new phone. Not including one will typically reduce waste and clutter, which is good. However, the 2600+ isn't typically replacing anything. And if it is, it's probably something with a 3.5mm phono jack for power. No power supply was freed up for you to allocate to it. Therefore, I don't think the same arguments for not including one apply. Of course many will have extras laying around. I do. For me it's no big deal. But I do think including one would have been the better choice.

Thank you! I look forward to it! And for anyone wondering, this delay in shipping was a request on my part in DMs.

Yes, in my second video where I do a hardware overview I open the system up. I note that it is after I've learned the system is faulty. (I wanted to make sure it was clear that this was not related, especially per warranty laws here) As I've mentioned before, I'm very impressed with it from a hardware perspective. If so, it sounds like perhaps another supplier that might want to look into that. Being in the semiconductor industry relating to QA, that one hits close to home. While I do not know if/how Plaion tests each board (I hope so) or what complexities relate to that, I know semiconductors typically each get tested before shipping out. So this could point to an issue in a supplier's processes. On this subject, the paper note that's usually taped to the inside of an original 2600 is apparently the QA results. Their process for checking each board sounds quite manual compared to what I'm used to on the CPU side of things. Thank you very much for looking into this and fixing it. I do really appreciate it! This whole experience has been a great display of good will and dedication to quality from Ben/Plaion, and that's super cool! I do hope getting the board back helps with investigating and preventing future issues. I'll be quite busy for the holiday season, and it'll probably be a while before I'm able to validate anything, but I will commit to providing an update here as well as on YouTube when I get the system back and get a chance to try it out for a bit. Thanks again!

This was a short video I made off the cuff while working on a legitimate high-effort video about the 2600+. (Which is linked in a previous comment here) Midway through filming the other video, I tried to use the 2600+ and it didn't work at all. I looked online and saw others with the same issue who were never taken seriously and hadn't provided any demonstration of what exactly was going on. I also found the fact that when it did finally work, it'd immediately freeze anyway mildly amusing, so I played into it and created this spur of the moment video. I feel like a broken record saying the same thing over and over here since I've already explained this several times here. Critiquing the title in this way I can respect. I've admitted it's clickbaity. I don't plan to change it outright, however I will likely add a note in the title and thumbnail once I feel confident this issue is resolved fully. (Not just for me, but going forward) I will stand by that this is not a very singular experience. As I've linked to earlier, this has affected other customers. However, I am confident that this is now on the radar for the appropriate people and that my example will be used to further look into this issue and prevent it. My other video is a very stark contrast to this one as it's mostly me being impressed with the 2600+, though obviously there is no play-testing in it given the situation. I am committed to making at least one more video about this once I have the system back and functional.

4-in-1 does not work in 2600+. I was trying to explain that I validated the 4-in-1 worked on the old 2600 but was still failing to work in the 2600+. I may not have been clear enough in my wording there.

I have an update. Last night I said I'd fix the power supply issue on my Darth Vader and check the 10-in-1 cartridge on it. Since I'd had issues getting it to fit in the posted video. I have done so. The 3.5mm plug I used on my power supply was cheap so I just needed to splash some solder on some formerly crimped parts. I got the 10-in-1 cart into the Darth Vader and it didn't work at all. I tried the first three games and just a black screen on all of them. So this is actually a worse result than I got on the 2600+ where eventually it at least showed the start of Adventure (Very crisply I might add) before freezing. I double checked the Darth Vader worked with a Breakout cartridge, and then switched to the 4-in-1 cartridge (which happens to be set to Breakout as well). The 4-in-1 works on the Darth Vader. I then hooked the 2600+ up and put in the 4-in-1. I wish I had good news here, but sadly I do not. It's still mostly getting stuck on the Atari splash screen before even trying to load. (~75%) It got stuck a couple times trying to load, (~15%) and then once it did load I got a black screen. (~8%) Occasionally it doesn't even make it to the Atari logo and powers on to a black screen. (~2%) After this I tried cleaning the contacts on the system and on the cartridge with 91% IPA. No change. I really wanted to see it at least get one game going. But I guess it's not meant to be. (At least not yet) I've genuinely put in a good faith effort to try an make it work. I've gotten in contact with Ben as he requested earlier in this thread. It seems they plan to debug and repair it. It sounds like they test units that are RMA'd if I read correctly earlier. So maybe this isn't much different than had I RMA'd it through Atari. I don't know. Had the future FW update not fixed it, I would have gone the regulsr RMA route. But I feel good knowing it will be investigated and repaired rather than discarded as waste, with investigation hopefully leading to fewer RMA's and less waste in the future. Thanks again everyone! I'll update here as necessary.

Literally a video of my old Acer booting Windows and Linux side by side is by far my top video and while I made it for fun, the reality is that's sooo boring! That's a good idea. I'd personally never post anything controversial or that may upset anyone. 👼 That's kind of cool, it seems like maybe people want to get into it themselves or have something they need/want to fix. In other words, you're probably helping people. True! These are a lot of the best ones. These people are experts in their crafts and give insight you don't get to see often. They're often good examples of making the viewer interested too! I do watch some car repair videos, but that's an interest of mine. But I also watch HydroNYC's plumbing videos and I don't care a ton about plumbing. Or there's some truck driver who has been posting videos about his experiences recently which is fascinating.

Welp, my comment didn't age well. @sramirez2008 is the high score on AtariAge! Mine is 53928 I was going off another thread where someone said mine was the new highest they'd seen. But you have me beat by a lot!

That's fair. I'd agree it seems like most people don't seem to understand why I'd post a video rather than just quietly do an RMA. In this case, as I mentioned before, it was a bit of a combination of things. I was already making a video. I saw others weren't taken seriously when they reported similar issues, and I found the failure mode almost comical. It finally loads the game but then immediately freezes anyway. So it seemed worth making a video about. But yeah, I think there's a generational difference in thought processes. I'm among the very youngest millennials. Honestly props to you for getting your channels to that point! That definitely shows effort! Especially with what else you have going on. Getting $150/mo does go to show how insane it is when people can make their entire living off of YouTube. I think a lot of people aspire to that, but it's not easy. Obviously third party sponsors play a big role here. Since I'm not making money, I'm using free software. The last program I tried completely butchered my video on export. I've just tried CapCut for desktop which worked well though for my needs. I'd prefer to use something FOSS that works well, but I haven't played around enough to know what's good. I'll probably just stick to CapCut since it works for now. I've seen a few watch restoration channels! It's funny, because with the right presentation, you can get people interested who may otherwise not be. I wear smart watches. Before that I wore a Casio digital watch. But seeing how they're put together and worked on is just so cool! Especially when the presenter shows their passion and expertise. Maybe I've even seen your channel, who knows? (I'd definitely be interested to.) But yeah, that's a solid system you had set up there. It also not only adds value to the watch in that the customer knows it's done right, but also in that the watch now comes with a tangible story. I wouldn't be surprised to learn your customers are sharing your videos around of their watches! Anyway, I appreciate your insight!

Aw sweet, time to put my initials down! xD And that's interesting information, I guess some optimizations were made which is neat. This is really cool to see! It looks like even before the ribbon cable switched sides it was originally a pin-header. It's interesting to see what remained the same and what differed, because there's a good amount of both there. I see the original cartridge connector looks like an off-the-shelf component. Whereas the final product has what looks like a custom part which is neat!