Would appreciate help with 2600 sound problem

[feldhamer]

Hi all,

 

I bought a used 2600 off of Ebay. It's the 6 switch model but not a "heavy sixer" as far as I know. The AC adapter was bad so I replaced it with one from Radio Shack. Now it mostly works OK. However, the sound doesn't work most of the time.

 

When I first turned the unit on, I could hear the game sounds but with a lot of static in the background. After some time, the game sound went away and all I heard was loud static. After some time I tried putting in another game and this time, the sound was totally fine. I played with my son for 5-10 minutes or so and then he needed to take a break. When we came back, the sound was just static again and I could not get any game sounds at all.

 

The next day, we played some more (Adventure) with no sound. At one point it sounded like the sound was coming back but it didn't last. Then I put in a new cart (Video Olympics) and the sound was totally fine again for about 5-10 minutes, after which point it reverted to static again.

 

I thought maybe there's a loose wire in there somewhere but the last time I'm almost positive that the console didn't move at all, and still went from working to non-working.

 

Does anyone have any clue from the description what the problem might be? I've never opened up a 2600 before nor have I ever soldered anything, but if there's a reasonable easy solution to this I'm willing to give it a try.

 

Thanks everyone.

[zylon]

Most of the time, the 2 little clear/silver colored capacitors near the center IC fail.

[feldhamer]

Most of the time, the 2 little clear/silver colored capacitors near the center IC fail.

 

Thanks. Does the type of intermittent issue that I'm experiencing sound like it could be caused by the failure of those capacitors?

[zylon]

 

Thanks. Does the type of intermittent issue that I'm experiencing sound like it could be caused by the failure of those capacitors?

A little experiment you can try would be to push downward on the bodies of the capacitors to see if sound changes. They could be failing and not quite dead yet.

The upside of this is that the caps only cost $0.25 last I checked from Best Electronics.

[feldhamer]

A little experiment you can try would be to push downward on the bodies of the capacitors to see if sound changes. They could be failing and not quite dead yet.

The upside of this is that the caps only cost $0.25 last I checked from Best Electronics.

 

Could the problem have anything to do with the Atari not drawing enough current? The reason why I ask is that the replacement AC adapter I purchased only delivers 300 mA of current. According to other posts I read, this should be enough, but I want to rule it out as a potential cause.

 

Thanks again.

[zylon]

 

Could the problem have anything to do with the Atari not drawing enough current? The reason why I ask is that the replacement AC adapter I purchased only delivers 300 mA of current. According to other posts I read, this should be enough, but I want to rule it out as a potential cause.

 

Thanks again.

The only thing that would cause should be early failure of the power supply, if left plugged in for long periods. If not enough power, the first thing that happens is some light snow on the playfield. I use 500ma-1000ma adaptors for mine.