[When does your classic console become not worth repairing?]

I generally go with when the cost to repair exceeds the cost to replace the unit in same or better condition, unless its economical to repair it just for fun as in the case of my Atari XEGS. I picked up the current one in box untested for cheap straight off the counter at RadioShack & found it was likely DOA when I removed it from storage a bit over a year later. I already "replaced" it with another unit for $50 as a placeholder until parts come in to fix the original I repair electronics & other things as a hobby so I don't count my time against the repair/replace calculations otherwise not much would be cost effective for repair.

[Atari XE/XEGS Issues]

I'll be picking up sockets for all the chips in the system today if possible & socketing everything. I've got a full solder station with desoldering & hot air so it shouldn't be too terrible. I'll keep the thread updated with what happens.

[Atgames Megagame Expert troubles]

Everything you said makes total sense if this where a normal flash cart like a Everdrive. However, this is a official atgames product for use on their own hardware which is why I'm so confused. I emailed them about the issue, but I have little hope for any loss sort of real answer.

 

(edit: I thought the atgames flashback units all used a proprietary ARM processor for core emulation. Is this incorrect?)

I believe you're correct in that the main unit uses a proprietary ARM processor a Titan if I'm not mistaken which runs an emulator. I guess you learn something new every day I wasn't aware that ATgames made the cart but I suppose if I'd read a bit better I might have realized that...

 

I was looking around after you mentioned it was in fact made by ATgames for use with their hardware & found reference to people having compatibility issues with the SD card they chose with the unit only being compatible with Full Size SD & MicroSD via adapter as long as they were SD or SDHC not SDXC so make sure your card isn't SDXC rated. Also what size is your card? you might try formatting it as FAT16 opposed to FAT32. I know the unit is supposedly FAT32 compatible but you never know with these things.

[Interesting N64 video output problem]

I would think the problem lies in the TV itself. I've owned a couple of Vizio TV's in fact I'm using one for a monitor right now. Vizio TV's tend to have strange quirks I know this one and the others I've owned sure have but most of the time you can't beat the price. I've got an Insignia plasma which has the combined composite/component input & I find what helps with that when using composite is to fire up the system such as the N64 & cycle through the inputs sometimes the TV needs to switch out and back in on that input to realize what you're feeding it.

[Atgames Megagame Expert troubles]

I would try the cart on original hardware if possible. The ATgames consoles tend to use NOAC (Nintendo On A Chip) or GOAC (Genesis On A Chip) instead of actual hardware & quite often the system is emulated.. I've owned a couple of these and compatibility tends to be hit & miss on some of the more obscure titles so I'd think a cart such as that would probably be a miss. The reason the built in games fail to show up with the cart plugged in is that when a cart is plugged into the system the ROM chip holding the 12 games is disabled.

[Atari XE/XEGS Issues]

These systems don't have any socketed chips nor do I have any spares to test with, I'm going to test the power supply under load as well as look at the board in operation with thermal imaging which should give me an idea of what if any chips are heating up.

[Atari XE/XEGS Issues]

No rotten looking caps or evidence of leakage/blowout. I suppose they could be dried out but usually you see evidence of that.

[Atari XE/XEGS Issues]

Good Morning All,

 

I've recently dug out the Atari XE/XEGS whatever you want to call it from storage hooked it up to find I've got no video from any of the output options.

 

I sometimes get just a blank screen then other times I get a brownish screen, most times I get what looks like v-hold failure with a single white bar except its diagonal & rolling no amount of tweaking the v-hold changes anything also I've got no sound.

 

The guy I bought it from was trying to hook it up & not having any luck but figured it was just him not knowing how to hook it into his modern flat screen. I bought it untested from the counter of a RadioShack after he got frustrated by the clerks trying to sell him $30 worth of adapters so I've never actually seen it working myself.

 

Things I've tried:

1: Multiple screens/outputs/cables.

2: Tested power supply voltages which were accurate.

3: Cart/No Cart inserted.

4: Booting into the self test.

5: Checking for hot chips on the mainboard none are particularly concerning. I can thermal image the entire board later.

6: Just hoping it was waking up from a long slumber.

 

I'd appreciate any ideas as troubleshooting this beast doesn't seem to be covered all that well anywhere nor does a FSM appear to exist. Where would I buy any spares for this machine as I understand some of these parts are exclusive to the XE/XEGS.

 

Thanks