Atari 2600 garbled picture: is it a trouble?

[anny84]

Hi people,

my uncle gaves me for free two Atari 2600 (one woody, one jr) and one Atari 7800 with several games.

 

While the Atari 7800 shows the game picture (both 2600 or 7800 cartridges) perfectly on my TV, both Atari 2600s shows the game picture "garbled" by a lot of vertical blank/gray lines. They seems to disappear almost at 99% if I roll the RF cable up and I hold it tight with my hands.

 

My uncle told me this defect was always present in the past.

 

Is it really a defect? How can I fix it?

 

If you need a picture showing this trouble I can try to make it with my digital camera and post it here in next hours/days.

 

Thanks in advance!!

Anny Carano

[+Psionic]

They seems to disappear almost at 99% if I roll the RF cable up and I hold it tight with my hands.

 

My uncle told me this defect was always present in the past.

 

Is it really a defect? How can I fix it?

Try replacing the RF cable.

[anny84]

They seems to disappear almost at 99% if I roll the RF cable up and I hold it tight with my hands.

 

My uncle told me this defect was always present in the past.

 

Is it really a defect? How can I fix it?

Try replacing the RF cable.

 

I cannot do it in the woody 2600, it's soldered into the console. I will try in the jr later (I had several RF cables in my store), but I don't think it will help me: the cable is the same I used on the 7800 and worked fine there.

 

Anny

[+Psionic]

I cannot do it in the woody 2600, it's soldered into the console. I will try in the jr later (I had several RF cables in my store), but I don't think it will help me: the cable is the same I used on the 7800 and worked fine there.

I see...you may have another issue then. You still should be able to remove the cable from the woody console though...just open it up and desolder the cable (if necessary). You should be able to find an exact replacement for the stock cable on eBay.

[anny84]

I cannot do it in the woody 2600, it's soldered into the console. I will try in the jr later (I had several RF cables in my store), but I don't think it will help me: the cable is the same I used on the 7800 and worked fine there.

I see...you may have another issue then. You still should be able to remove the cable from the woody console though...just open it up and desolder the cable (if necessary). You should be able to find an exact replacement for the stock cable on eBay.

 

Before desoldering the cable from the woody 2600, I want to be sure it's really a RF cable problem so I will do other tries on the 2600 Jr. Tonight, I will check the 2600 jr with other RF cables and I let you know.

 

Anny

[A.J. Franzman]

While the Atari 7800 shows the game picture (both 2600 or 7800 cartridges) perfectly on my TV, both Atari 2600s shows the game picture "garbled" by a lot of vertical blank/gray lines. They seems to disappear almost at 99% if I roll the RF cable up and I hold it tight with my hands.

 

If you need a picture showing this trouble I can try to make it with my digital camera and post it here in next hours/days.

I'd like to see a picture.

 

 

Try replacing the RF cable.

I cannot do it in the woody 2600, it's soldered into the console.

The cable should not be soldered in; they normally just plug into the motherboard. You will have to open the case to unplug it, though. Also, the plug that goes into the board is an unusual "mini" RCA plug -- a normal RCA plug will not fit in most consoles even if you cut the center prong, due to very tight space when the console is closed.