Screen goes gray during game play

[candiru]

I think someone posted a similar problem to this before but didn't have any luck finding it.

 

I've got a 4-switch woodgrain I recently found at a thriftstore that will work fine for about 10 or 15 minutes and then the picture gets fuzzy and gray. If I turn it off and then back on it's good to go again for awhile.

 

Any electronic geniuses out there with ideas of what might be going on here?

[King Atari]

I'm guessing the power supply is goofy, but I'm sure someone else knows better.

[candiru]

I should have been more specific about how the picture gets bad. It's not losing power, the game will still go on and you can still play, it just turns to black and white and gets very fuzzy. Once, I waited it out and the picture returned to normal by itself except it would twitch and flicker pretty often.

 

The power supply I'm using seems to work fine if I hook it up to my Vader.

[CPUWIZ]

I presume you are using the RF switchbox ? If so, I bet that is the problem, try to hook it up with an adapter or a different switchbox.

[candiru]

Okay, here's another part where I guess I was tricky. This Atari has been modified. The standard cable has been swapped out for a coaxial cable so I'm not using the switch box. Perhaps it's not getting a good connection inside where this new cable is attached.

[NYCATARIFAN]

I HAD THE SAME PROBLEM WITH MY 2600 ONCE, THE BEST THING TO DO IS TRY IT ON A FEW OTHER TV SETS IN ANOTHER HOME. I SPENT A FORTUNE ON A MOTHER BOARD AND NEW POWER ADAPTER, THE PROBLEM YOUR HAVING HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH YOUR ATARI, ITS THE VOLTAGE IN YOUR HOUSE.DO YOU SOME TIMES NOTICE THE LIGHT EVER GETTING DIM FOR A SEC OR 2, THE REASON YOU SET GETS FUZZY AND GREY IS BECAUSE EVERYTIME THE VOLTAGE DROPS INSTEAD OF YOUR ATARI GETTING NINE VOLT ITS GETTING 71/2 TO 8. HENCE THE GAME STILL PLAYING BUT THE SCREEN TURNING BLACK AND WHITE, ALSO IF YOU LIVE CLOSE TO AN AIR PORT OR POWER COMPANY SOME TIME THE RF FREQUINCY CAN WREAK HAVOC ON YOUR SYSTEM BUT I DOUGHT ITS THAT, SO BEFORE YOU START SPENDING MONEY ON PARTS YOU DONT NEED USE PROSSES OF ELEMINATION AND DO LIKE I SAID TAKE IT TO A FRIENS HOUSE AND TRY ANOTHER TV SET, AND LET ME KNOW HOW IT GOES, PS SORRY ABOUT THE CAPS