Is my Atari Game broken?

[JacobZu7zu7]

Well, I was ready to play the Atari 2600 game, Mountain King...

(for the high score club here at atari age)

 

and suddenly when I power the system up,

the game just flicker'd and turned black. I checked the hook-ups... tried again,

no luck.. Tried q-tips alcohol.. still the same thing, well barely better...

I can see the graphics but there's two sets of them. on the screen at once,

kinda like everything on the screen is doubled up.

 

I played this game last year and had no problem at all... none of my other Atari games

have any problems. I HAVE cleaned this game since then, I wonder if it broke during that. I checked for q-tip debree there's little to NONE.

 

DOES, this Mountain King cart have a damaged chip from maybe a q-tip scrapping it or old age?? Or is the plastic around the game not setting it into the slot properly??

I'm lost... any ideas?

[Tempest]

When I was a kid I had trouble with both my CBS RAM Plus carts. Both Mountain King and Tunnel Runner died on me after a year or so, and I never figured out why. I'm guessing they're a bit more prone to electrical damage.

 

Tempest

[Chuck D. Head]

Well that sucks! This game isn't going to play well on Stella, unless you have a proper Atari stick hooked up, what with all the properly timed jumps you need to make while still moving forward. My original cartridge died on me also; this was only a few years after I bought it and was lucky enough to get a replacement from the same store (Hi-School Pharmacy) for a couple bucks after the crash. Morgan

[JacobZu7zu7]

Yeah sucks... I don't know, I had this copy since 2001. I just learned how to play Mountain King this year! I am good at it too. Sooo somethin' went wrong with this game over the years, and I think it could be that... the PINS attached to the chip, I pulled the game open a bit, and saw that TWO pins are 'bent downward' when they should be straight up. Not sure if this is the cause, or how it even happened... but can't help, I'm sure.

 

Here's a screenshot...

Edited August 11, 2010 by JacobZu7zu7

[JingleJoe]

It's a shame your game has discombobulated but I acctually like the glitched out graphics!

Is it still slightly playable?

[Philflound]

Actually I have 3 dead carts right now. The one that I know used to work when I tested it last was Omega Race, another Ram plus cart. So maybe there is something to these CBS games.

 

Phil

[JacobZu7zu7]

It's a shame your game has discombobulated but I acctually like the glitched out graphics!

Is it still slightly playable?

 

you can move the guy around and use the flashlight, but can't get anywhere or jump... yet the clock works.

[HatefulGravey]

This isn't 100% related but it will mean I don't need to start another thread.

 

My Space Invaders cart will come on and then resets, works and resets. I can never actually play the game. It comes up, shows the game play for just about 3 sec and then blinks. Broken? I have been thinking it was junked for a while and meaning to ask, and here is my chance.

[Buzbard]

Actually I have 3 dead carts right now. The one that I know used to work when I tested it last was Omega Race, another Ram plus cart. So maybe there is something to these CBS games.

 

Phil

 

I think I have a dead Omega Race also.

I just got it because it had a booster grip with it.

It starts with the title screen ok but then goes to vertical lines and a tone as if no cart is inserted.

I've cleaned the hell out of it and tried it in 6 different consoles including 2 7800s but no luck.

 

Luckily I have another one that does work.

 

I also have a dead Yars' Revenge & Astroblast.

[Underball]

I have a dead text label Superman.

 

My 7800 must be made of Kryptonite.

[Philflound]

Dead carts with Atari for me are few and far between. I've literally tested a few thousand carts and maybe came up with no more than 10 that would not come on at all.

 

Phil

[Tempest]

I still think that the RAM Plus carts are just more fragile. I've only had one dead 2600 cart that wasn't a RAM Plus cart (Casino oddly enough), but I've seen four or five dead Mountain Kings and Tunnel Runners. It would be interesting to see if someone can determine why this happens.

 

Tempest

[tetrode kink]

I still think that the RAM Plus carts are just more fragile. I've only had one dead 2600 cart that wasn't a RAM Plus cart (Casino oddly enough), but I've seen four or five dead Mountain Kings and Tunnel Runners. It would be interesting to see if someone can determine why this happens.

 

Tempest

Stealth punster!

 

-tet

Edited August 14, 2010 by tetrode kink

[Philflound]

Dead carts with Atari for me are few and far between. I've literally tested a few thousand carts and maybe came up with no more than 10 that would not come on at all.

 

Phil

 

So far I have 4 dead carts, though I just started working my way backwards with the Atari made games. They are Omega Race, Stampede, Dolphin, and Yars' Revenge. I'll give a total when I'm all done.

 

Phil

[JacobZu7zu7]

Dead carts with Atari for me are few and far between. I've literally tested a few thousand carts and maybe came up with no more than 10 that would not come on at all.

 

Phil

 

So far I have 4 dead carts, though I just started working my way backwards with the Atari made games. They are Omega Race, Stampede, Dolphin, and Yars' Revenge. I'll give a total when I'm all done.

 

Phil

 

I've had a total of 2 dead games outta like 350 Atari games. Yars' Revenge and MOUNTAIN KING! I think I had a broken new outta' box game "Quintana Roo"... but I got a free replacement sent to me. So that makes 3 I guess. I dunno if the game was "broken" I can't remember exactly, but it might have been the plastic piece near the game chip... was broken and couldn't be fit into the game slot without it.

[JacobZu7zu7]

Phil

 

Stampede, Dolphin.

 

Phil

 

Activision games can be tricky, if you lift up the game (just barely) after inserting into the game slot... then turning on the power switch, you can get it to work fine.

[JacobZu7zu7]

I still think that the RAM Plus carts are just more fragile. I've only had one dead 2600 cart that wasn't a RAM Plus cart (Casino oddly enough), but I've seen four or five dead Mountain Kings and Tunnel Runners. It would be interesting to see if someone can determine why this happens.

 

Tempest

 

Hah, yeah that's NOT good. I never owned Tunnel Runner... just M.K., and it worked up till early this year, but when I need it.. it's broken. I knew I wasn't diggin' this damn game.

[Kiwi]

This topic mention bitrot. I wondered if that the case of these dead games.

 

http://www.atariage.com/forums/topic/167791-eepromflash-rom-for-2600/page__p__2075668__hl__bitrot__fromsearch__1#entry2075668

[Video]

Well, ram has a limited number of uses. It's not like roms (tough technically, after enough uses, even a rom will die) It's just ram, especially decades old ram from way back when. I bet if you could just replace the ram chip all by itself, it would probably bring the cart back....unfortunately, there is no supply for that small of ram chip.

 

Would it be possible to play one of these games on a supercharger? I don't know how big the game itself is, but superchargers have extra ram.