luckyluca

thanks, it worked. I noticed that pushing in all of the cartridges only two thirds makes all the games playable (!), usually after turning on and off the console twice. If they're fully inserted they don't work producing black dark gray noises and vertical coloured lines. So I managed to have the games playable except that I need to be careful how much the cartridges are pushed in. Any suggestion is welcome, many thanks!

Update: I've opened the console and cleaned all contacts using qtips and isopropyl alcohol. Unfortunately I couldn't take the metal shielding off as it doesn't have screws, it comes with little metal bent lips keeping it into position. How do you take the metal shielding off? After having waited for the alcohol to dry up I fired the console and to my surprise 4 out of 13 games worked straight away. The remaining games always show a dark gray screen or occasionally some vertical colored lines. Oddily one game, solaris, only works after loading it after one of the working cartridges. If loaded after one of the non working games it exhibits the same dark gray screen. So load a working game (i.e. space invaders) load solaris (works) load a non-working game (i.e. moon patrol) load solaris (doesn't work) Lastly wiggling the video cable creates strong interference so the cable has a sweet spot which makes games look better. Do you think are my cartridges the problem, the atari2600, the video cable/connector? What are your thoughts? Thanks

update: I measured the adapter output, it reads 15.5v and 2.24a ( not sure how to read the ampere one, the multimeter dial was set to 10 ). shouldn't it output 9v?

Hello, I was wondering if you could help me with my malfunctioning atari 2600: I recovered my 30yo Atari 2600 and cartridges from my parents' attic. It's the 2600 ‘Junior’ Rev. A. After a good cartidge contacts and exterior cleanup I switched it on and was able to find the analogue channel on an old samsung tv at my parents home by plugging the rf cable straight to the antenna plug) but the screen was corrupted, bw with vertical lines. Turning it on and off would produce different patterns and sound noises, including colored patterns sometimes. Things changed after flying back home and plugged it to my samsung tv (same rf to antenna connection): Solaris came alive and I was able to play it for 2 minutes. It was fully working. It then switched back to bw onscreen corruption and vertical lines. From that moment onward switching the console off and on again would produce a different pattern and sound noise. Waiting some time before turning it on again doesn't help either. Also tapping the console near the power switch produces visual interference and noise on the tv. Lastly the power led seems to turn on a bit dimmer occasionally, but I can't confirm it. I have the a multimeter but no soldering iron, and I live in London UK. Thanks for your help! Luca