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Wierd Warlords Problem


yorgle

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In hopes of reliving some of the fun I remember from my days of youth, I bought a Warlords cartridge and a set of paddle controllers on ebay. Got them today and eagerly plugged everything in ready to engage my daughter in a fierce battle, but woe befell and I can't get them to work. Thinking it was just the usual dirty pots, I disassembled the paddles, cleaned the contacts, reassembled and tried them again. Nothing. Sooo.... I dragged out the multimeter and confirmed that the pots are actually good. I also tried them on my 1200xl and they work fine. Finally, I plugged the paddles into my stelladapter and played the Warlords rom via Stella and the paddles work fine. The problem is, they don't work at all on my VCS. Not even a flicker. The Warlords cart seems to work fine. Joystick games work fine. Is it possible that the Warlords cart could be bad only as to the paddles? Any thoughts?

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What about another game on the 2600 that utilizes the Paddles, such as Circus Atari, Demons to Diamonds, Kaboom? Do those work?

 

I would lean towards something in the 2600 hardware that is preventing the paddles from working... but I don't know what exactly that would be. Anyone? Bueller? Bueller? Bueller?

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Unfortunately, I don't have any other paddle controlled games. Tomorrow I'm going to try loading some paddle game roms onto my Krokodile cart and give that a try.

 

If it is hardware related, it is affecting both left and right controller ports on the VCS. Looking at the paddle pinnouts, pin 7 appears to be a common connection. I don't think that pin is used for the joysticks. Maybe that connection is bad on both ports on the VCS? Seems unlikely, but that would explain why the joystick games work fine.

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I think it is indeed related to the system. When my Heavy Sixer needed repair, one of this first things it stopped doing was reading paddles.

 

Do your games load up on the first try? They all should. If they don't, your 2600 will need some work. Don't panic--it is totally fixable.

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I think it is indeed related to the system. When my Heavy Sixer needed repair, one of this first things it stopped doing was reading paddles.

 

Do your games load up on the first try? They all should. If they don't, your 2600 will need some work. Don't panic--it is totally fixable.

 

That sounds exactly like what is happening with mine. Do you know specifically what went bad in your heavy 6r?

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Messed around with it this morning and it's definitely my VCS, not the cart. Voltage (+5v0) to pin 7 checks out. No obviously fried capacitors. I tried reseating the IC's. I suspect my TIA is DOA. If it were one of the other chips, such as the processor, I doubt roms would load and play without major issues. I guess it's time to call up Best Electronics for a replacement.

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My heavy sixer needed all three boards reflowed. The large IC nearest the controller ports had ring cracks on about half of its solder pads, and there were many more throughout the unit. I took about four hours to do the while thing, reassemble it, and get it running again. It's the best four hours I've spent with that unit. After all, you can't spend quality gaming time with a broken VCS.

My trouble showed up with Kaboom! while I was testing paddles for a sale. I plugged everything into my 7800 and it ran perfect, so that's when I knew it was the H6.

 

I'd throw the old motherboard up for sale in the marketplace. Just let folks know it was giving you some trouble. Any of the ICs that are good can be used to repair other consoles.

 

By the way, what kind of VCS do you have? I bet there's more incentive to save a heavy sixer, but if you've saved a Woody or a Vader, my hat is off to you.

Edited by shadow460
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By the way, what kind of VCS do you have? I bet there's more incentive to save a heavy sixer, but if you've saved a Woody or a Vader, my hat is off to you.

 

I believe it is the "light sixer" variety- six-switch built in Hong Kong in 1977. I'll probably keep the old motherboard for parts.

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You now have spare parts for later! I've got an extra sixer that I've taken switches off of to repair my regular system (which has been modified for S-Video and Stereo).

 

If you like Warlords you should take a look at Medieval Mayhem. You can pick it up from the Atari Age store.

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You now have spare parts for later! I've got an extra sixer that I've taken switches off of to repair my regular system (which has been modified for S-Video and Stereo).

 

If you like Warlords you should take a look at Medieval Mayhem. You can pick it up from the Atari Age store.

 

Medieval mayhem is spectacular! It will definitely be my next purchase.

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