starwardude Posted October 7, 2008 Share Posted October 7, 2008 (edited) PROBLEM RESOLVED, DISCUSSED IN LAST MESSAGE. I bought a 130XE along with various peripherals and programs from my neighbor over the weekend, but upon testing it (about an hour ago due to a missing power supply; neighbor forgot to give it to me, and wasn't available yesterday) I found out that the computer apparently doesn't work. The power LED comes on, but the TV displays a flickering mess of reds and blues with a dark band running horizontally across the screen. Any ideas as to what may be the cause of the problem? Is some part cooked? Edited October 21, 2008 by starwardude Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rybags Posted October 7, 2008 Share Posted October 7, 2008 The RF jack might be covered in rust. They seemed to use poor quality RF output jacks. My 7800 barely gives a picture and it's mainly because of degradation and rust in the RF port. That possibility aside, you're way better off making or buying an adaptor cable to give you RF, audio and S-Video from the monitor port. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+bob1200xl Posted October 8, 2008 Share Posted October 8, 2008 Dark bands (about 40 scan lines high?) may indicate too much ripple on your power supply. How is the audio? (is there any?) Bob I bought a 130XE along with various peripherals and programs from my neighbor over the weekend, but upon testing it (about an hour ago due to a missing power supply; neighbor forgot to give it to me, and wasn't available yesterday) I found out that the computer apparently doesn't work. The power LED comes on, but the TV displays a flickering mess of reds and blues with a dark band running horizontally across the screen. Any ideas as to what may be the cause of the problem? Is some part cooked? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
starwardude Posted October 8, 2008 Author Share Posted October 8, 2008 Dark bands (about 40 scan lines high?) may indicate too much ripple on your power supply. How is the audio? (is there any?) Bob This is what I'm seeing- sorry for the shaky picture. There's audio output in the form of a buzzing noise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Guitarman Posted October 8, 2008 Share Posted October 8, 2008 Can you post a pic of the power supply?? There was one version that would commonly go bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
puppetmark Posted October 8, 2008 Share Posted October 8, 2008 Can you check the power supply with a meter and make sure you are getting 5V DC from it? Or try a known workign PS. If the power is good, you could have a bad component. It could be bad ram, The stock RAM in a 130XE is of very poor quality! I will say in my experience, bad RAM usually does not look like this. My guess would be a bad ANTIC chip. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
starwardude Posted October 8, 2008 Author Share Posted October 8, 2008 (edited) Can you post a pic of the power supply?? There was one version that would commonly go bad. Here's two part no. 61982 Can you check the power supply with a meter and make sure you are getting 5V DC from it? Or try a known workign PS. If the power is good, you could have a bad component. It could be bad ram, The stock RAM in a 130XE is of very poor quality! I will say in my experience, bad RAM usually does not look like this. My guess would be a bad ANTIC chip. Getting ~3.94VDC off the power supply. I can't test it with another PS; I don't have another one, and I doubt my neighbor would have an extra. edit: on a side note relating to what rybags said, the chroma and luminance are effectively used for s-video, then? What should be done about pin 4 (composite video)? While waiting for responses, I was looking for info relating to what he said, and I seem to recall something about connecting 75 ohm resistors from the signal lines to ground. Is this correct? Edited October 8, 2008 by starwardude Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rybags Posted October 8, 2008 Share Posted October 8, 2008 The monitor port gives you both types of signals. So, you can use Chroma, Luma and Ground hooked to an S-Video plug. And/or Composite and Ground for normal compsite as used in most video devices. If you're only getting 3.9~ Volts from the PSU, then I'd say you definately have a problem. I had to resolder mine the other day, and I tested it and it was a tad over 5 Volts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
starwardude Posted October 8, 2008 Author Share Posted October 8, 2008 The monitor port gives you both types of signals.So, you can use Chroma, Luma and Ground hooked to an S-Video plug. And/or Composite and Ground for normal compsite as used in most video devices. If you're only getting 3.9~ Volts from the PSU, then I'd say you definately have a problem. I had to resolder mine the other day, and I tested it and it was a tad over 5 Volts. Okay, so how would I go about opening up the supply? I take it that there's some way of prying off the bottom of the supply's case without annihilating it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+bob1200xl Posted October 8, 2008 Share Posted October 8, 2008 That does not look like any kind of 130XE power supply that I have ever seen. I can't read the ratings on the top - no matter - it's bad, more than likely. Doesn't look repairable... Can you borrow a good supply somewhere? You could tap into a PC supply for 5 volts and try that. Bob The monitor port gives you both types of signals.So, you can use Chroma, Luma and Ground hooked to an S-Video plug. And/or Composite and Ground for normal compsite as used in most video devices. If you're only getting 3.9~ Volts from the PSU, then I'd say you definately have a problem. I had to resolder mine the other day, and I tested it and it was a tad over 5 Volts. Okay, so how would I go about opening up the supply? I take it that there's some way of prying off the bottom of the supply's case without annihilating it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+poobah Posted October 8, 2008 Share Posted October 8, 2008 Looks like the dreaded "ingot" power supply. They had a very high failure rate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+orpheuswaking Posted October 8, 2008 Share Posted October 8, 2008 I hate to say it, but that IS the ingot type power supply, any of these I come across I usually trash as they have a tendency to go bad with disaterous results... and they like to EAT 130xe's for breakfast (never had an 800xl die on me with one yet touch wood)... I had the same problem with my first 130xe and the PSU toasted it, I sent it to Urchlay to fix and he spent hours on it and still didn't get it working, apparently it missed the ram but toasted a couple of other chips, at that point it wasn't really worth continuing and I got a new 130xe. When I tested the PSU after I had power fluctuating on the supply and I think that's what toasted it... I recently got a new in the box 130xe and would never put it in a room with one of those PSU's... As for fixing the PSU itself, those are almost impossible to get into, the inside is filled with a resin so that all of the components are inside and it would be easier and cheaper to buy a new supply. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Almost Rice Posted October 8, 2008 Share Posted October 8, 2008 Looks like the dreaded "ingot" power supply. They had a very high failure rate. I have one that went bad. The 600xl hooked up to it survived. The PS output was at 7V. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
starwardude Posted October 8, 2008 Author Share Posted October 8, 2008 So I should pretty much chuck the PSU then? Does anyone know of someone who may have a known good supply in Fairfield county? In the worst case, the XE is cooked as is the PSU like what happened to orpheus. Hopefully the power supply is the only problem; if that's the case I've got a 9VDC @1.5A wall wart that I could try to make a voltage regulator circuit to drop it down to 5V. Then it'd just be a matter of getting the parts to do so. I'd rather try it out with an original supply before making a frankenstein-esque power supply that could potentially kill the XE if it hasn't been cooked already. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roydea6 Posted October 8, 2008 Share Posted October 8, 2008 So I should pretty much chuck the PSU then? Does anyone know of someone who may have a known good supply in Fairfield county? In the worst case, the XE is cooked as is the PSU like what happened to orpheus. Hopefully the power supply is the only problem; if that's the case I've got a 9VDC @1.5A wall wart that I could try to make a voltage regulator circuit to drop it down to 5V. Then it'd just be a matter of getting the parts to do so. I'd rather try it out with an original supply before making a frankenstein-esque power supply that could potentially kill the XE if it hasn't been cooked already. Have you change channels on the 130xe rf signal..? channel 3-4 switch. Are you useing an atari tv switch box? Is your tv capable of receiving a composite signal? If so then get a monitor cable and connect pin 4 to the rca video plug. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
starwardude Posted October 8, 2008 Author Share Posted October 8, 2008 (edited) Have you change channels on the 130xe rf signal..? channel 3-4 switch. Are you useing an atari tv switch box? Is your tv capable of receiving a composite signal? If so then get a monitor cable and connect pin 4 to the rca video plug. 1)Yes I have. 2)No, this is using an RCA-F adapter. I use this TV with my 2600. 3)Not on this particular TV. We do have some that are though. I'll make an adapter later tonight after I get some higher-priority stuff (read: homework) done. EDIT: It turns out that the power supply was in fact at fault. The computer now comes on to the blue screen with the READY message after doing its self-test. Thanks to puppetmark for the spare PSU. Edited October 21, 2008 by starwardude Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
puppetmark Posted October 9, 2008 Share Posted October 9, 2008 So I should pretty much chuck the PSU then? Does anyone know of someone who may have a known good supply in Fairfield county? I have a spare PS you can have for the price of shipping. I like in PA so I don't think the shipping will be too bad. PM me if interested. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tjlazer Posted October 10, 2008 Share Posted October 10, 2008 (edited) Ouch, they are selling like hot cakes on the bay too. Might as well change the auction to read "Sure shot way to Fry your Atari XL/XE computer!" Edited October 10, 2008 by tjlazer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+bob1200xl Posted October 10, 2008 Share Posted October 10, 2008 No... wait a minute. The 'bricks' you point to on e-bay are not the same as those shown in the photographs in this thread. Are there three different styles of XL/XE power supplies? Bob Ouch, they are selling like hot cakes on the bay too. Might as well change the auction to read "Sure shot way to Fry your Atari XL/XE computer!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+poobah Posted October 10, 2008 Share Posted October 10, 2008 No... wait a minute. The 'bricks' you point to on e-bay are not the same as those shown in the photographs in this thread. Are there three different styles of XL/XE power supplies? Bob Actually, there are 6! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rybags Posted October 10, 2008 Share Posted October 10, 2008 Actually, there's probably even more. Mine's one of the common types but has the label of the local distributor. Possibly makes sense since most countries use different outlet plug types. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tjlazer Posted October 10, 2008 Share Posted October 10, 2008 (edited) No... wait a minute. The 'bricks' you point to on e-bay are not the same as those shown in the photographs in this thread. Are there three different styles of XL/XE power supplies? Bob Actually if you look close they are the exact same one! Edited October 10, 2008 by tjlazer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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