DoctorFunk

Went to 3 Goodwills today and found a great score at one of them: Colecovision system w/ 2 controllers Games: Donkey Kong (2 copies), Donkey Kong Jr., Pitfall, Q-Bert, Cabbage Patch Kids Manuals included for most games, as well as the system Intellivision II system w/ 4 controllers Games: Frogger (boxed), Demon Attack, Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, The Empire Strikes Back, Poker (2 copies), Bowling, Space Spartans, Vectron, Beauty and the Beast, Star Strike, Snafu, Space Battle, Burger Time, Night Stalker, Skiing, B-17 Bomber, Super Pro Decathlon, Bomb Squad, Auto Racing, Space Armada, Pac-Man Accessories: Boxed Intellivision Voice Synthesis Module, 2 random Gemstick 3rd party controllers for the Atari 2600 Manuals included for nearly all games, 4 or 5 controller overlays included Each system was boxed separately with all games and accessories included and each priced at $9.99. Both systems worked fine when I got home as well, even the Intellivision controllers that I tested seemed okay. Very happy with the score overall, and looking forward to putting some time into getting acquainted with those games. Would appreciate any recommendations for which ones to play first!

So, thanks to the great advice you guys gave me I went to work on the system again today. My buddy and I found a loose solder point on the power socket, which we resoldered. Also cleaned out the on/off contacts with alcohol. The power supply now works great and we have consistent power in the system now. Upon hooking it up to his HDTV, however, we could see a game image (which I had never before seen on the two HDTVs I tested it on at my place) but the color was off and the picture seemed to scan almost diagnonally. The sound worked perfect. We checked solder points associated with the RF input on the motherboard but didn't notice any problems. We soldered together a new coax cable with an RCA jack that we ground down to the right dimensions to plug into the Atari. The new cable didn't change the picture at all, so it seems like the original RF cable is okay. We also cleaned the catridges we were using to test with isopropyl alcohol and cleaned the cartridge slot with alcohol and then emory cloth. No changes. Decided to call it a day and check with the folks on this board to see what the next step might be. Took it home and hooked it up to my Samsung HDTV and found that where we had seen a game picture at his place on both channels 2 & 3 (when switching over on the system) all I got at my place was a change in the nature of the static from normal static to a mostly black background with some white marks scanning vertically. Sound still works fine. Now I'm fairly confused as it doesn't seem to be any of the easier fixes and we haven't noticed any major issues with other solder points on the board. Any ideas for further testing I can do, or should I just chalk it up to a bad deal and keep an eye out for another system? Thanks again for all of the help, I really appreciate it.

Didn't own a NES until around 1997 when I was 16 and bought one from Funcoland. My parents never had enough money to buy a NES for me when all of my friends had one, but instead they gave me a 2600 and Colecovision with a huge box full of games for Christmas one year. That system got a ton of use from me up until the day I got a SNES around the time it debuted. I ended up giving all of my older games to a friend that only had a 2600 and a Gameboy. I've been kicking myself for years for giving that set away.

Thanks for the tips. I inspected the solder points and didn't see any obvious cracks, but there was some yellowing at one point for the on/off switch. I'll probably go ahead and plan on resoldering the points associated with the power socket and on/off switch this weekend (need a buddy to teach me how to do it) unless that would cause any harm to the system. I also cleaned out a cartridge and the cartridge slot. While it didn't improve the picture much (still mostly a black/grey screen with slightly haphazard horizontal grey lines scrolling vertically), I did manage to get a solid 10 seconds of sound out of my Pac-Man cartridge. Not a huge improvement, but I'm willing to take baby steps on this project. Still seems like the power supply is very temperamental and will completely loose power (screen goes back to plain static) just from barely touching the entry into the power slot. Does that sound like a bad soldering point at the power socket?

Hi all, been lurking here for a while, but this is my first post. Just picked up a "light-sixer" model 2600 yesterday from an owner who hadn't tested it yet. I immediately grabbed the RCA to F adapter from Radio Shack and plugged it into my HDTV's coax input. Problem is that the screen will change static pattterns somewhat, sometimes even getting to a black screen but it will never display a game image after testing multiple carts. Occassionally if I manipulate the power where it plugs into the back of the system I can get a second of sound to come out, sometimes sounding like just static noise, and once in a while putting out the actual game sounds. I tested the unit on 2 TV's, unfortunately both are Samsung HDTVs and I don't have any older console sets around to see if that might be a problem. Picked up a new universal adapter after reading a ton of useful troubleshooting posts here last night. I set it to the correct settings (9 V, positive tip, with the adapter capable of up to 1700ma) and that didn't change anything. So I guess the old power supply probably wasn't the problem. Opened up the unit and didn't notice any gross corrosion, seemed to my very untrained eye that everything was still attached where it should be on the motherboard. Checked the RF cable and didn't see any gross abnormalities. Even tested it with a yellow video RCA cable I had lying around with no changes (it wasn't seated properly though due to the length of the jack where it plugs into the 2600). So now I feel like I've done some simple tests to check whether the power supply or RF cable is the culprit with no solution. My gut feeling is that it is something with the system's power, as the flickers of different static, black screen, or sound all come when I manipulate the power supply where it plugs into the system. I've messed with the on/off switch and while it's not the firmest switch on the system it doesn't seem to change anything at all and it's not overly loose in my estimation. I'm open to any ideas on what else I could do to test the system or get it working, or even if I just need to chalk it up to it being a goner. I could also try to test it out at a friend's house to see if my HDTVs could not be picking up the signal or anything (did try to run the RCA to F coax through a VCR to amp the signal with no luck--didn't even budge off the VCR blue screen). I've been dying to get a 2600 for a few years now and am dying to play this baby ASAP! Thanks in advance for any help you can offer. I'm amazed at the level of knowledge on this board!