Search the Community
Showing results for tags 'help'.
-
Hey There, new to the forums here, I'm not sure if this is the right place to post but I need some help with my CX2600A Rev 8. I'm not sure if there is a nickname for this model.. its between the light sixer and the vader 2600s. I noticed last week that my 2600 video signal was almost unplayable because of how much snow there was in the screen. I have a little 1999 Sanyo CRT tv that I use for all my RF signal consoles (intellivision/ Commodore/2600) via a Female Rf to Coaxial adapter. It was a trifecta of video problems, general uniform fuzzy/snowy screen, over top that were horizontal rolling bars going bottom to top and over top that were diagonal bars going lower right corner to upper left. It had never been that fuzzy before, I noticed when I moved the RF cable going into the console the fuzziness would change. After taking apart the console and unplugging the video cable, I tried using a modern video cable (the same one I use on my Intellivision with crystal clarity) but the video problems persisted. After looking on these forums for hours I found possible solutions to the issue, but none of them worked - The green "chicklet" capacitor above the power modulator needs to be replaced ---> The CX2600A doesnt have a green chicklet capacitor above the power modulator -Stop using the ancient Rf Box that came with the console and use a Rf-Coaxial adapter ---> I already am -Stop the TV from auto-scanning to lock onto the 2600's signal better to reduce the snow ---> I tried this, the signal was the same -Try jiggling the cart, the game/ game port may need cleaning ---> Nothing happened -Try switching between Channel 2 and Channel 3, the Switch may be causing interference --> Channel 2 was a little better then Channel 3 (I'll come back to this later) -Make sure you are using the Power Adapter made for the Atari, to much/little power could cause video issues --> I'm using the original power adapter plugged into a power strip, plugging into the wall. -Install a component mod --> I have two separate tvs for different types of games. I have a flat screen for Component/HDMI and the Sanyo CRT for RF games. Call it personal preference but I want to keep the atari as a RF signal All that troubleshooting led me to believe it was either the female RF connector on the board itself or the RF modulator. Seeing as it would be easier for me in the long run, I modded the case and added a external RF jack on the outside of the case, wiring it with 18Gauge wire to the board after desoldering the old 37 year old connector. This helped A LITTLE BIT. It eliminated the diagonal rolling bars but the horizontal bars and snow were still present. After painstakingly desoldering the RF modulator shielding and the 5 pins connecting it to the board I pried the modulator off and found a spider nest inside the RF modulator shielding. After cleaning that up, resoldering everything back into place, I once again hooked up the system and nothing. It was the same terrible signal. In a last ditch effort attempt to fix it I desoldered, then resoldered the channel switch back on. This didn't fix channel 3. HOWEVER, channel 2 looks crisper then I've ever seen it. It isn't crystal clear like my Intellivision, the picture is fuzzy with a little bit of snow, and when testing with Air Sea Battle, the screen seems to warp inwards from the sides when the colors change. Is there any way I can get clearer picture from my system om Channel 3? I know how to solder and replace components, but I don't have a clue when it comes to the technical parts of electronics.
-
So for school, I'm doing a project with a raspberry Pi, and I wanted to make a Atari 2600 emulator that used real cartridges connected to the GPIO ports. And I ran into a problem. If you have an Atari cartridge, you'd realize that the bottom has a weird protector. Anyway, I don't have an Atari 2600 system on me, so could you give me the dimensions so that I could make a 3d model to 3d print? -
OK, so i bought an IBM Thinkpad x31 (With 1.6Ghz Pentium M, 512 RAM, and X3 docking bay) from PCLiqidations.com. Everything was fine at first, but after installing Windows XP, i removed InterNet Explorer and the battery died before it finished. A .dll needed to start explorer.exe was missing, so i had to reinstall, and afterward, if it was in the docking bay (with the UltraBay CD/DVD drive in) it would not boot unless in safe mode. Removing the drive lets it start and the rest of the bay works. IT ONLY HAPPENS IN XP, runs fine in 98, 98se, ME, 2k, Vista and 7.BUT I can't get more RAM (I'm broke, now I'm MORE broke)to run Windows 7 or Vista comfortably, and 2000 doesn't have a WI-FI manager and 3rd party WI-FI programs tend to suck (Memory and/or performance wise), so anyone know the issue and/or the fix? PS it will start with it in safe mode... very strange....
-
I thought i figured out the layout but now im not 100%. I have the directions working but the fire buttons dont. I know i have to cut the one trace goes between the two buttons but and im looking at the pin out and doesnt look i need to have the orange wire hooked up but if i do someone correct me. As of right now i have both Red and Yellow with the two resistors from the 7800 then linked into the diode then diode to ground. If you need pics i can take pics of the circuit but can someone please advice on what i need to do to get the two buttons working on the 7800. Sources i was using:
-
I picked up a Coleco Telstar Combat! today at CCAG and I have managed to get the controllers working decently now, but I can't get the left speaker to utter a peep. The right one is working fine, so I can hear the fired shots and explosions. (It was actually the one with the wire pinched in the case and still works!) I opened up the unit and checked all the speaker connections and even tested the voice coil on the silent speaker with my meter and it's not open. Any ideas as to why it's not producing any sound? I assume this is the one that makes the tank motor sounds when you move.
-
Hello, today I became the brand new owner of a six switch atari 2600 which I got from an auction on ebay. I never owned an atari before, so I have a few questions about mine. When I got the system it was a little unstable, but that was fixed with a little solder to hold the power jack in place. Then I wasn't able to get a stable picture, but a bit of fiddling with the RF modulator and fine tuning the TV the atari is now functional, it however still has a few flaws. First, the sound doesn't really work, all I hear is loud static, I assume that this is due to the fact that my atari is from a PAL A region and my TV is PAL B. The colours are also off I think, combat game 0 is supposed to a beige(I think, I'm a little colourblind) but in my TV it's a puke green and neither of the tanks have any colour. Any help with these issues? I've attached a picture of combat game 0 as it appears on my TV. On a slightly different topic, I'm using the aerial lead that came stock with the system, but I'd like to have it output composite. If any of you have ever messed around with a ZX Spectrum there's a very simple composite mod and since both Spectrum and the 2600 use an RF modulator I was wondering if that mod would work on the 2600. Obviously it wouldn't have any sound, but I can always pull that out of some pad in the console if I'm not mistaken. The ZX Spectrum mod consists in disabling the RF modulator power supply and splicing the video input of the modulator and connecting it to a composite cable since the Spectrum RF modulator is converting composite to RF, is this also what's happening on the 2600? Thanks for reading all this, I'm a bit of a noob, I know.
-
OK, I didn't know if I should post this here or in Hardware, so I just put it here. I just got a 2600 Jr. today and it has a few issues. When you first turn it on, with any game or the Harmony cart, it takes probably 10 seconds before the picture shows up on the TV. When you put a Battlezone cart in and turn it on, it takes a few seconds, then you get the radar and some other random bits of the picture kind of jumping around the screen, then it will show up correctly, but with a very dim picture. In a couple of seconds, the picture brightens up and the colors are all good. If Demons to Diamonds is inserted, same wait time on start-up, but the color and brightness are good. Now, here's the big problem. When you hit reset to start Demons to Diamonds, it goes from color to Black and White. Unplugging the rca cable from the back of the console and then slowly putting it back, will allow you to see a split second of color before it goes B&W again. The same thing happens using the Demons and Diamonds .bin on the Harmony Encore. Also, With the Harmony, if you switch it off, while it's B&W and then switch it right back on, the Harmony menu is in B&W. Switching it off and on again, results in color. The Jr. isn't modded and an inspection of the board showed no bad solder joints or leaky caps. The Serial is A1781245617 The board is CO21503 Revision C On most games, it looks great, the colors and the picture are better than my AV modded Vader and 7800, other than the lack of a picture for a few seconds when you turn it on. Demons to Diamonds is the only game I've found so far that triggers the B&W issue, but I feel like that's a sign of something needing repair. So, does anyone have an answer as to what's wrong with it?
-
Hello guys n' gals.... I have a DMG Gameboy with a screwed up LCD. The right part is darker than the left and it has a horizontal line.... (I think I bent the H/V ribbon cables too much...) Could it be replaced??? The LCD is custom, but I have been able to find simmiliar screen sizes and resolutions on the 'Bay... I'd try to get a Gameboy Pocket LCD if I could find them. Probably a Color/Advance LCD wont fit? Any options? Thanks....... Al.
-
Do you have to desolder the speaker wires in order to be able to put in a new polarizer film? Thank you :3
-
Hi guys, Let me start off by saying, I have no idea how to even begin doing a hack. (if that didn't scare you away from this thread, them maybe you can help me.) What I'm looking to do is change the color of the ship in Save Our Ship (NTSC version). The NTSC versions have a very bright and colorful ship. I would rather it be more of a brown color like the PAL versions, so that it's easier on my eyes and looks more like a wooden ship. What I'd like to do, is get information on how to go about this with the least amount of knowledge (right now, being zero). Of course, if someone thinks it would be easier to do this for me, than to explain to an idiot how to do it, then that's fine too... So,is there a simple way to show an idiot how to change the color? Then by all means, share your knowledge. If on the other hand, it's too complicated and you are feeling generous, I'd be very happy with someone else doing the work for me. It's up to you.
-
My Atari Lynx is still in one piece after about 2 years of ownership(not counting some scratched off paint on the outer shell/casing). My main issue currently is that there is one old battery that won't come out, no matter how much I poke at it or shake the system. I've tried metallic tweezers; no luck. And I don't own a Lynx AC adapter. What can be done to remove it other than unscrewing the system(doing this would certainly void my Game Dude warranty, if there is any still left, as one of the screw holes is covered by the silver game dude sticker.). No, I am not planning on buying a Lynx model II anytime soon, so that's out of the question. Pic is not my individual Lynx, but it is the model Lynx I currently have.
-
I am trying to make a game for the 2600 and I am also learning BASIC. Every time I try to compile this, it says I have a syntax error on the first line. If you want an idea of how much programming I know, I've taken 2 programming programs and I've worked with C++ and a little C#. But I only used C# for making a Unity game. COLUPF = 128 COLUBK=02 scorecolor = 14 player0: %00000000 %00110110 %00100100 %10111100 %01111111 %00000110 %00000110 %00000000 end player0x =50 player0y =50 player1: %01111100 %00111100 %00001100 %00001100 %00001100 %00001100 %00001100 %00001100 %01111100 %11101100 %00010010 %00100011 %00111011 %00101111 %00011110 %00001100 end player1x=100 player1y=35 dim cute = 0 mainloop playfield: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX............................XX XX............................XX XX............................XX XX............................XX XX............................XX XX............................XX XX............................XX XX............................XX XX............................XX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX end if collision(player0, player1) then cute = 1 if joy0right then player0x=player0x+1 if joy0right && cute == 0 then player0: %00000000 %00110110 %00100100 %10111100 %01111111 %00000110 %00000110 %00000000 end if joy0right && cute == 1 then player0: %00000000 %01101100 %00100100 %00111101 %11111110 %01100000 %01100000 %00000000 end if joy0left then player0x=player0x-1 if joy0left then player0: %00000000 %01101100 %00100100 %00111101 %11111110 %01100000 %01100000 %00000000 end if joy0up then player0y=player0y-1 if joy0down then player0y=player0y+1 drawscreen goto mainloop
-
Any sprite rendering algorithms you know of?
DementedPurple posted a topic in Atari 2600 Programming
One of my big questions I have is how I would have an algorithm to figure out where it is on the scanline and then know how many scanlines it has written. I would have to do an increment after every single instruction, and that would waste many precious CPU cycles and ROM space. I guess I could have a register for the X-Position, one for the Y-Position, and one for where in the Scanline, and one for how many scanlines it's written. But wait, I will not only not have enough registers to use them for anything other then that, but I'll also be using more registers then there are inside the CPU. -
Just some questions Hi, if I start the video recording I´ll get the error My settings are standard (I think): any idea ? thx
-
I bought a an Atari 7800 at the pawn shop the other day. They plugged it in for me and everything seemed to work fine. I finally got around to playing with it(or trying) yesterday and it works fine for a few minutes and then the screen scrambles and makes a bunch of noise like i didnt have the cart in right to begin with(only after a couple minutes of playing fine). I replaced the voltage regulator attatched to the heatsink and all three capacitors but none of that did anything. Also something that looked odd to me was a resistor soldered to the leg of one of the chips. This could be normal but Ive never seen it before. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
-
I'm building an Adventure-ish game in Batari BASIC. How do you add multiple screens?
-
I'm developing a scavenger hunt-like game based on the 1979 film, Alien. I realize there's already an Alien game on the Atari 2600, but I wanna make a game that's not a Pac-man clone. Anyway, I'm not very good at creating nice-looking sprites. Does anyone have any advice or tips on making sprites?
-
I need help with my 4 switch 2600. Whenever you put a game in, it does not show any image, unless you put in Asteroids, then a couple of small fat red lines come on the screen. Is it a soldering issue? Please help
-
Hey all, I recently purchased a Philips VG8020/00 MSX Home Computer. I'm having some trouble getting a decent video signal out of the thing. When I hook it up to my VCR/DVD Combo via the RF out and convert the signal into composite, I get a glitchy screen, jumping from left to right, going from color to black and white. However, the MSX boot up text is present, and when I press keys on the keyboard, they do get added to the screen. I used the automatic tuning options on my VCR/DVD combo, but it sadly does not improve the quality. I also tried connecting a Sega Mega Drive RGB connector to the Monitor out on the computer, but that didn't do anything apart from making some pop noises. I might have to get a different cable to test that out. I also know for sure that my set-up isn't the problem; I've connected other coaxial game-consoles the same way (Atari 2600, Videopac G7000) and they all work. The unit looks fine and all (no mayor external damage). What I did notice though, was some noises inside the machine when I held it sideways; there could be some dirt in there. Also, some buttons get stuck from time to time (especially the directional buttons). I'll open it up and give it a good clean one of these days. Has anyone here experienced similar problems and got them solved? Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated! I hope the damage (if it has any) is not to severe; would be awesome to get it up and running again! Thanks!
-
Hello, I am a complete noob to Batari basic. So far I have made a spinoff of a tutorial I have watched on YouTube. I would like to change the player1 sprite movement but I don't know how. I would like for player1 sprite to move vertically down the screen to where if you let the sprite pass you and exit the screen, you lose a life. Right now the sprite will move to your location. Sorry for my lack of knowledge. Thanks You can look at the .bas file to see what I'm talking about. Tie Fighter.bas
-
I know it's pretty early in the morning and my brain hasn't finished spinning up but I don't see whatis wrong. It should be right here and in plain site but I can't see it. The issue I'm having is pretty straight forward. Here's my code 5940 IF YP<>129 THEN 6010 5950 IF LO0T(1,9)<>96 THEN 5970 5960 ZED1=1 :: CALL POSITION(#18,YZ1,XZ1):: CALL POSITION(#1,YP,XP):: DET2=LO0T(2,14)::DET1=LO0T(2,9)::IF XP>=XZ1 THEN ZED1=0:: GOTO 5980 5970 ZED1=0 5980 IF LO0T(1,10)<>96 THEN 6000 5990 ZED2=1 :: CALL POSITION(#19,YZ2,XZ2):: CALL POSITION(#1,YP,XP):: DET2=LO0T(2,14)::DET2=LO0T(2,10)::IF XP>=XZ2 THEN ZED2=0:: GOTO 6670 6000 ZED2=0 :: GOTO 6670 When I run TRACE, everything matches up with what I am observing in game except when it doesn't at the end. Here is my trace: <5940><5950><5970><5980><5990><6000> Everything checks out fine except this: <5990><6000>. How is it possible that the program is advancing to line 6000 from line 5990 when the last statement in 5990 is a GOTO statement to a bunch of other functions? OK, I see an unrelated issue. I'm not sure how DET2 gets assigned 2 different times in one line. That is very strange. I wonder if classic99 or my PC is scrambling things up on me.
-
OMG this is frustrating .. I have installed my Incognito, and as far as I can tell it seems to be working.... BUT.. I cannot get SDX (I dont know another OS for this) to read the FAT16 partition on the CF card. The cf card is a 8gb sandisk Ultra - BIOS (FJC latest) reads card.. Fdisk inits it, partitions it.. I can put in in a PC and format the Fat16 I get all OKs on the chkfat. The partition seems fine. APT partitions I can build directories, I can transfer files etc.. no issues - it seems to be just the FAT16 - In the BIOS SIDE LOADER - I can see the FAT16 partition fine. FJC has loaded this CF image into Altirra and it works fine (Image is available for anyone) BUT - if I just load SDX 4.47 from the incognito, (I am waiting for a 192k GUI friendly size 448) .. I get 148 unknown file system (SO?? is Fatfs.sys loading from 447?? FJC works on Altirra?) IF I run fatfs.sys from the 4.48 toolkit.. and try and dir d3: the system locks up - I can do nothing.. but after reset (not cold - so 448 fatfs.sys is still in there) I run dir again - I get 181 file system corrupt.. I can run a chkdisk on it.. but nothing else. FJC and I have tried as much as we can see .. he thinks hardware... I really dont have and idea.. Any one know enough.. Could one of the wires that are specific to PBI function on the build be an issue?? Looking for ideas please!!! James -
Hey everyone! I'm looking to put together an Atari 7800 stick (well, I wanna use it for my 130XE, but also for my 7800). I have, however, been having trouble finding a good, step-by-step guide for it, which is odd, since I've found a pretty good one for 2600 controller DIY. Anyone here know a link to a good step-by-step guide and what I'll need (aside from the obvious stick, buttons and button wires) to get this job done? Thanks for you help!
-
Hello. I am need of help! I have recently modded my 2600 to use AV and although I am getting color, the screen flickers like nuts... This mod required the removal of the resistor R209 and the transistor Q201/2 - I had to jump R209 to get color so I though maybe R209 was at fault - but tit was dumb luck that I did not throw R209 away so I tested it out, and the same thing happened so I know that R209 is not at fault. I decided that maybe the TIA is at fault so I bough a TIA Chip and it did not make a difference. Please help... Thanks! The Flashing on Combat: The Flashing on Pole Positn(-: My board (If that helps):
-
Upon getting back into my Intellivisions this past week, I have been noticing a common problem with the model 1 units. Now, the controllers on both my Sears units have excellent flex circuits left in them and are very responsive. Well, except the controller with the bad cord. My original model 1 I bought years back for $5 has always had problems with the disk on the left controller, so I decided to investigate. The circuit under the disks seem to be prone to not only wearing through the plastic, but also the ink or whatever they used start to look burned and flakes off! The controllers on my mostly dead Tandyvision showed similar issues, but one was good enough to act as a donor for my model 1 for now. Now, here's some questions: Is there a way to slow this issue and even extend the life of the controllers? The Intellivision seems to be a solid console, with my Tandyvision being the only unit I have so far to get a major problem. Also, is there a way to repair the controllers? I am wondering if one can carefully apply an adhesive tape to repair the split plastic, then maybe paint the circuit back on with conductive ink?
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
AtariAge on Instagram
Watch us on YouTube
Chat on Discord