dodgy cart or 2600 on the way out?

[edcox86]

Morning all, I have 2 trusty 2600 which have served me well for a long time. The one has always been looked after properly; kept in cool dry place etc. However turned it on the other day and everything works fine apart from the colours seem a bit mixed up, most things seem green, I've took a picture of it to show you what I mean in the hope that there's a quick fix solution? (Atari 1 is from the green machine and Atari 2 is from my other atari).

 

Atari 1

 

Atari 2

 

Having settled for using the other atari 2 (brought at a car boot a few years ago) everything was going swimmingly until...HERO started to flicker in an odd sort of way, originally I thought it was the cart so cleaned it but it still flickered, I popped it in the green atari and it works fine (aside from being green). Then I thought that atari 2 was on it's way out but popped in Phoenix and a few more games and it works just fine.

 

So I was wondering if with the wealth of knowledge on this forum if I should be on the look out for a new console, need to poke around inside green atari or just need to buy a new hero cart? Any ideas most welcome!!

 

Many thanks,

Ed

[brojamfootball]

I personally don't have a HERO cart, but Activision carts seem to give trouble, I think Pitfall II being the most notorious. Speculation I've read is that the PCB boards Activision used are just a micron or two thinner than most other companies used(just on later carts?), making poorer contact with the cart slot connector, which squeezes the PCB from either side to make its connections. There's a thread about that around here somewhere. I have a Pitfall II cart that will only play in one of my consoles and is problematic or totally nonfunctional on my others.

 

However, I'm not totally clear on what you're saying here but it seems one of your consoles is "green" no matter what? I think that's a problem with the video of that console. It does that with all carts, right?

 

The HERO issue is that your "green" console has a better cart connector in it, still squeezing the cartridge PCB tight enough to make connection. Unfortunately its video is less than perfect. That's what I think anyway. Your "good" console that displays colors correctly has a cart connector that is a little looser and not making a good connection on your HERO cart, but video portion is still working well.

 

Search around the forums a bit and you'll see info regarding color adjustment capabilities inside the 2600. There's a potentiometer you can turn with a screwdriver for at least some level of adjustment. You'll probably also find information on replacing an easily-soldered part or two for video fixes also.

 

My best educated guess there. Anyone else?

Edited August 10, 2009 by brojamfootball

[brojamfootball]

SORRY DOUBLE POST.

Edited August 10, 2009 by brojamfootball

[edcox86]

Hi Brojamfootball, sorry for late reply...the problem seems to have fixed itself for now. I've had a fiddle with that screw on the RF box before but it didn't seems to solve anything unfortunately. I think I may have to admit defeat with the soldering...the extent of my DIY is putting up shelves...everything else is a bit tragic, lol!

 

Many thanks for your help,

Ed