[Gamestation PRO not recognizing SD card]

Uuhhhhhhhhh.....Well......I....mmmmmmmm.....

Looks like the problem was user error.....appearantly once you format the sd you have to create a folder named "games" on it.......mmmmm.....well, there you have it, case closed..

[Gamestation PRO not recognizing SD card]

Ok, I think I have tried everything that can be done to get this to work, but I thought I would run by you guys to see if I missed anything.

 

My Gamestation Pro does not recognize any micro sd card I put in it.

I have tried two differnt brands, a Samsung and a ONN.

Both are 32GB cards. I formatted them in the exFAT format.

I used the Windows format tool on both a Windows 10 and 11 system.

I tried using 3rd party sd formatting tools. I also tried formatting on a Linux OS (Mint) system.

Nothing worked.

 

The unit works flawlessly otherwise. Love it. But I would like to be able add a few more games.

So if anybody has any suggestions on what might be the problem, I would greatly appreciate the help.

 

I have contacted MyArcade and their suggestion was to do a return and swap.

I purchased it through Amazon and if all else fails, that is what I will do.

 

Thanks in advance.

[Atari 2600+ Beta Update 1.1]

1 hour ago, Ben from Plaion said:

Yes, I'll send out instructions shortly

Thank you. Looking forward to it.

The 2600+ is the product I have been looking for. I thought R77 would be the one that would give me that cartridge swapping experience that I remember from 1978;) Sadly no. 

Don't get me wrong, the Retron77 is a great way to get the scratch for that Atari itch, but not with cartridge play. It is however a great way to play Atari with Stella on a console on an HD TV, utilizing roms on a SD card.

(That is once you have upgraded the OS to the pure Stella experience)

Anyways, thanks for the work you are putting into the firmware. It is moocho, greatly appreciated!

[Atari 2600+ Beta Update 1.1]

Very interested.

I have a large collection original 2600 cartridges consisting from Tele-Game cartidges to M-Network with a few off brand 3rd partying carts such as Apollo and USGames.

So I can test a wide range of cartridge compatibility.  Also in that wide range, I have just about every Activison and Imagic cartridge produced.

I also have all of the 7800 cartridges that were available in the day.

I do not have any homebrew carts of any type or multicarts for either system

[Kangaroo makeover !]

Thank you so much for this! You deserve to be paid for the work you do. 

[Stella 6.5 released]

Ok never mind. As usual, as soon as I make a post I figure it out. Thanks any ways.

[Stella 6.5 released]

I have a question about moving "Snapshots" from default location. When ever I do that, Stella seems unable to retrieve the image or display it in the "Snapshot" panel. It will store the image in the new location, but will not display it in the main screen of the UI. If I move it back to default, everything works fine. I know it is probably something simple I am over looking, but for right now it has me stumped. 

[Stella 6 on the R77: the eagle is landing]

I don't think heat is the issue, but I will keep that in mind as I proceed.  I re-flashed the SD with R77 Stella 6.5.2 and so far no freezing.  Everything is running smoothly. I may leave the unit on for an extended amount of time just to see if it causes any problems that may be due to heat build up.

[Stella 6 on the R77: the eagle is landing]

On 5/10/2021 at 8:25 PM, jeremysart said:

SOS! I just flashed the latest community build to my Retron 77 SD card. (https://github.com/DirtyHairy/r77-firmware-ng/releases/tag/stella-6.5.3 this is where I downloaded the sdcard.img) I used Etcher for Windows 10 to flash the SD card image to the SD card.

 

Popped it in, fired up the Retron and played Mario Bros. just fine for a couple of minutes, then hit fry to go back to the Stella menu. Loaded up Keystone Kapers and within seconds the game froze. Waited, nothing. Hit reset, nothing. Fry, nothing. Turned off and back on, same result. It is now doing this with every game I try and sometimes freezing in the menu as well.. I have 116 roms loaded in the the games folder, all are .a26 files. 

I did not mess with any Stella menu settings whatsoever.. I did read that some snapshot setting can cause a memory leak, but again, I did not change any settings at all. 

One last bit of info, the same thing happens when I insert a cartridge, it also freezes the console just like playing from the sd card. 

 

Any help would be appreciated.

Basically getting the same results.......freezing in the menu mostly.

Using R77 Stella 6.5.3 

https://github.com/DirtyHairy/r77-firmware-ng/releases/tag/stella-6.5.3

[Can 2600 be built from scratch?]

I remember these from YouTube.

 

 

 

[Replacement DRAM for 800XL]

23 minutes ago, xrbrevin said:

that is a good price for 20

they are 150ns, anything ove 100ns is supposed to be fine

Glad to hear.  Because I had already ordered them before I made the original post. I was getting worried that I had purchased a batch of useless chips due to the low price. Compared to the others being offered on eBay these seemed to be a steal.

[Replacement DRAM for 800XL]

 

I am needing to replace a couple of damaged DRAM chips in a 800XL.

 

I found these on Ebay for a good price.  $12 USD (shipping included) for a set of 20. From what I can find, these should work.

 

Does anybody have an opinion on these chips or any advise on what chips should work? 

[Repair Kit for 800XL?]

2 minutes ago, Justin Payne said:

It was requested that I post this list of electrolytic caps for the 800xl.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Cus0X3U_EiTk8svkk5F-cPMIGge1szRvq_MaVmU_rlQ/edit?usp=sharing

Thanks. Much appreciated. 

[Repair Kit for 800XL?]

Found a couple of "Scorching Chips", 2 of the RAMs. Was able to replace them with 2 good ones and we are in business!

 

Now I have 2 working 800XL's. Fantastic!

 

My next project is to upgrade one with a ULTIMATE 1MB and a Sophia rev. C (DVI output)

 

Thanks again for every ones input.

[Repair Kit for 800XL?]

Ok I'll ditch the PSU (minus the DIN). I do have a working 800xl w/sockets and the new PSU is here. 

I guess I'll put some juice to the unit and see anything gets a little too warm. Maybe it will be something obvious. 

I'll have to try and find my multimeter to do a little testing also.

 

I appreciate the advice guys.

[Repair Kit for 800XL?]

5 hours ago, DrVenkman said:

 

How are you connected and what kind of display are you using? Do you have any cartridges to try?  And please post a photo of what PSU you are using - there is one common XL/XE power supply that is a ticking time bomb and has killed numerous machines. 

 

This is the power supply that I was using when the unit went kaput.  Since then I have purchased a power supply from The Brewing Academy. 

 

I did try a cartridge (Donkey Kong) with no luck.

[Repair Kit for 800XL?]

Well, I was able to get the solder joint re-soldered. Unfortunately that was not the problem. It will power on as for as the power light coming on and the monitor does seem to detect a signal, but no video or sound.

 

Is it possible that it is a memory chip that is the culprit?   

[Repair Kit for 800XL?]

Sounds reasonable. I do not see any caps that look problematic so I will leave them be.

 

As for as the ram, I did locate some on ebay that are priced reasonably. I think I will get those just to have them on hand.

 

Now the problem that I was experiencing was that the 800xl had no video or sound. Just the power light coming on. So I'm not sure if it was actually booting up or not.

But in the last hour, I went back to give the unit a once over again and found a solder point had come loose.

 

We have just moved into a new house, so my soldering iron and such is still packed up. I will get that unpacked in the morning and see if I can get this baby up and running again.

 

[Repair Kit for 800XL?]

I have a 800XL that is in need of a little work. I was wondering if there was an all in one kit that comes with all major CAPs that would need replacing. Also I was looking to replace all the RAM chips with new ones. I see that it uses the 4164 RAM, but is there anything else I need to be aware of when looking to buy new chips?

[K-RAZY KRITTERS Compatibility]

On 9/23/2019 at 5:43 PM, ACML said:

The original runs fine on a 400/800 with the OSb Operating System.  See thread attached.  It has a XEX version of Krazy Kritters that will work on a 800XL.  It's on page 2, entries #40 and #41.

 

 

Thanks

[K-RAZY KRITTERS Compatibility]

Thanks for the quick responses.

 

I was thinking about adding the "Ultimate 1MB" any ways. So that sounds like that might be the best way to go.

 

I thought I did good search of the forums, but I never came up with anything. It was probably because I was doing a search for compatibility of just the K-RAZY KRITTERS cartridge. Should have broaden the search parameters.

 

Thanks again for the info. I'm just glad it was not something specifically wrong with my 800XL.  

[K-RAZY KRITTERS Compatibility]

I have a question about the compatibility of K-RAZY KRITTERS game cartridge. I own both a 800 and a 800XL. The game will play flawlessly on the older 800, but will not even boot up on the 800XL. All other game cartridges that I own will work fine on both. Just this one cartridge. Not real problem in as when I want to play the game I just load it up on the 800.

 

The thing about the 800XL is that it has been modded with a UAV video board. 

 

My concern is that there may be an issue with the unit, because so far I haven't been able to find anything that suggest that K-RAZY KRITTERS is not compatible with the 800xl.

[Stella 6 on the R77: the eagle is landing]

I feel the same way about 16:9. Don't see any reason to use it, unless sometime in the future a homebrew game is specifically programmed to use it as an output ratio (Not sure that is even possible). Also as long as it is still available through the Command console, I think it would be the perfect button to use.

[RetroN 77 Community Build Image]

You take all the time you need. Having Stella 6 running on R77 will be worth the wait.

[RetroN 77 Community Build Image]

 

 

I haven't had a chance to try them out. Do they feel like Flashback joysticks, CX40s, or their own unique type?

 

I wonder if adding microswitches would be possible...

 

 

 

 

They have their own unique feel which I find quite comfortable. And as far as the microswitches go that is what R77 joysticks use.