My 5200 is sick, need help!

[George35]

My 5200 is not working and its driving me nuts! Any help would be greatly appreciated as I am going through Atari withdrawals right now. I have a 4 port system, and when I turn it on the led lights up and I can hear the switchbox click, but all I get is a blank, black screen. Has anyone experienced this before or does anyone have any idea what could be causing this?

[atariksi]

My 5200 is not working and its driving me nuts! Any help would be greatly appreciated as I am going through Atari withdrawals right now. I have a 4 port system, and when I turn it on the led lights up and I can hear the switchbox click, but all I get is a blank, black screen. Has anyone experienced this before or does anyone have any idea what could be causing this?

 

Could be switch-box, power supply, and/or your cartridge isn't inserted properly due to dust at connector.

 

On a lower probability, your TV is off and it's black.

[Charlie_]

My 5200 is not working and its driving me nuts! Any help would be greatly appreciated as I am going through Atari withdrawals right now. I have a 4 port system, and when I turn it on the led lights up and I can hear the switchbox click, but all I get is a blank, black screen. Has anyone experienced this before or does anyone have any idea what could be causing this?

 

If the screen goes black when you turn it on I'd say its not the switch box. If the switch box was bad most likely it wouldn't click and you would see no change to the screen.

 

If I remember right a 5200 turned on with no cart should give a greenish screen. Your getting black so it seems not likely to be the cart slot. Still, it is always a good idea to clean it. I use a bent soft tooth brush and a little 90% alcohol. Gently scrub the slot contacts.

 

Have you opened the system and removed the metal shield? Make sure all the chips in sockets are seated good. Give them a gentle push down.

 

Other than that, I hope someone who knows the workings of the 5200 can help you!

[NoahsMyBro]

When power enters the 5200, it is split into two paths. One path leads to the audio/video circuitry, and the other to the computer circuitry.

 

My guess is that either there is something dead on the computer side of things (so the AV circuits send a plain black screen), or the chip that routes the power is defective.

 

I don't have time to figure out which chip I'm thinking of & point it out on a schematic, but there is a chip that is activated when you press the power button. I'm not a trained electrical engineer. The way I think of this chip is that it is like a 'splitter', akin to the splitter used when you want to take the cable for your cable TV, and run it to two TVs instead of one. BUT, instead of splitting a video signal, you are splitting a switch. SO when you press the power button on the top of the 5200, the chip then turns on *two* other things. One of those things is the AV circuitry, the other is the computer circuitry. My bet is that chip failed. My recollection is the chip is near the bottom-right of the circuit board (near the power button). I don't remember whether or not it is socketed, and I *think* it was a 16-pin chip.

[atariksi]

My 5200 is not working and its driving me nuts! Any help would be greatly appreciated as I am going through Atari withdrawals right now. I have a 4 port system, and when I turn it on the led lights up and I can hear the switchbox click, but all I get is a blank, black screen. Has anyone experienced this before or does anyone have any idea what could be causing this?

 

If the screen goes black when you turn it on I'd say its not the switch box. If the switch box was bad most likely it wouldn't click and you would see no change to the screen.

 

If I remember right a 5200 turned on with no cart should give a greenish screen. Your getting black so it seems not likely to be the cart slot. Still, it is always a good idea to clean it. I use a bent soft tooth brush and a little 90% alcohol. Gently scrub the slot contacts.

 

Have you opened the system and removed the metal shield? Make sure all the chips in sockets are seated good. Give them a gentle push down.

 

Other than that, I hope someone who knows the workings of the 5200 can help you!

 

He didn't say it "turns" black so switchbox may still be an issue.

 

Also, my Atari 5200 does show black if cartridge is not inserted or badly inserted.

[bohoki]

yea my 2 port is only black screen i assume some ram is broken or something as the 2600 adapter works fine

[Charlie_]

yea my 2 port is only black screen i assume some ram is broken or something as the 2600 adapter works fine

 

Based on my experience with 5200s, this would be more my guess as to what is wrong with his system. Ram or other chip on the board.

 

Still it can't hurt to try cleaning the slot and a different switch box and power supply if you have them available.

[atariksi]

yea my 2 port is only black screen i assume some ram is broken or something as the 2600 adapter works fine

 

Based on my experience with 5200s, this would be more my guess as to what is wrong with his system. Ram or other chip on the board.

 

Still it can't hurt to try cleaning the slot and a different switch box and power supply if you have them available.

 

Regarding removing the shield and checking the chips, I've had a hard time getting that shield back on once I removed it. And it seems it needs that shield given the RF signals being processed. Perhaps, if it was A/V you can just get rid of the top shield.

[kamakazi]

Try a few other games and see what happens. If nothing pops on the screen other than black then chances are one of the system's RAM or processors has given up. Some 5200 parts can be purchased here...

My Atari

 

 

He has a complete, new, 5200 mainboard for around $50 and most of the chips for the 5200 can be replaced with 8-bit processors. Some of them...not all of them. The switchbox is working if the 5200 is getting power. Take the top off and remove the shield. Make sure all the processors in sockets are seated firmly. If you clean the cartridge slot, make sure that all power to the system is removed first or it will cause more damage to the mainboard.