RevengeOfYar

It likely is a bad cart since I don't have any other working machines to test it on. How did you accidentally shock one of your carts? All the system does with Millipede in is bring up the Memo pad. I'll try that with a Basic cart sometime if I can find one. What I really want to know, however, is how much RAM did the 400 and 800 come with when they were originally sold? Were there different versions of each with different amounts of memory? Do the expansions require soldering to install?

Hey guys, I recently picked up a lot of about 2 dozen Atari 8 bit cartridges from a friend of mine, and I managed to find an 800 to play them on. All of them play except Millipede. It is the 1st party cart with the brown plastic, silver front label, and silver back, like the other 1st party games I have. The copyright date on the front says 1984. Is there any reason why this wouldn't work on a stock 800, such as needing more ram? I've tried cleaning it half a dozen times with no luck. Also, how much RAM does a stock 800 have? I know it's upgradeable to 48K, but this one hasn't been upgraded as far as I know.

So I finally decided to buy a rebuildable power supply from Best Electronics. Powered the 130XE on, and I get the RAM/ROM test screen whether a cartridge is inserted or not. Over half of the sectors show up red, and less than half are green. Does this mean most of the RAM is bad? I have zero experience soldering. Desoldering chips doesn't really sound like a good starter project to me. Is there anyone out there who services systems like this, or am I better off looking for another system or drop-in board?

Thanks for the replies and the links. Yes, the idea is to use it of course. But, I could get a more reliable model if that makes the most sense (hopefully tested/including power supply). Most of the cartridges are 400/800XL. Yes I will get a monitor cable but RF will be fine for testing purposes. Would you say there is at least a 50/50 shot that it works? Or am I better off getting a more reliable model like an 800XL?

Hey guys, so I just picked up an Atari 130xe with about a dozen cartridge games for $20. Problem is--there's no power supply, video cable, or any other accessories, so I have no idea if it works or not. I've heard the xe's are not as reliable as the older ones such as the 800xl--is that true? Is it worth spending $35 on a power supply for it to find out? I assume I can use an rca-coax adapter to plug it into a regular TV? Is there anything else I need? I have Atari 2600 joysticks of course. Thanks