Dizzy Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 Hello, I just bought an Atari 2600, but unfortunatly it does not work : whatever the cartridge I put in it, even with no cartridge, when I power it on, it displays random stripes while playing a sound continuously ... I could find a video on youtube of someone having the exact same problem as me : Does anyone know what may be my problem ? Thanks ! Regards Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+SpiceWare Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 Looks like you need to clean the cartridge and/or the cartridge port on your Atari. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dizzy Posted January 18, 2014 Author Share Posted January 18, 2014 (edited) I already cleaned the cartridge slot on the 2600, but still the same ... Please note something very important : my 2600 does this with or without a cartridge inserted. Edited January 18, 2014 by Dizzy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jinks Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 Yes. That means it not getting a good contact with your cart. Take q tip and rubbing alcohol. Clean all cart contacts and make sure your tv is tuned to the correct channel that you have selected. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dizzy Posted January 18, 2014 Author Share Posted January 18, 2014 I am on the correct tv channel, it's not a TV problem. Again, please read carefully : this problem occurs even WITHOUT any cartridge inserted, so it's not a cartridge slot problem (already cleaned). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+SpiceWare Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 (edited) I already cleaned the cartridge slot on the 2600, but still the same ... But did you clean the cartridge itself? Please note something very important : my 2600 does this with or without a cartridge inserted. Random stripes and sound are normal on the 2600 if a cartridge is not plugged in. Random stripes and sound with a cartridge plugged in tend to be caused by one of the following: dirty cartridge contacts a bad cartridge dirty cartridge port on the 2600 one of the socketed chips inside the Atari got loose Depending upon which model 2600 you have, there's 3 chips inside that are either soldered to the motherboard or are in sockets. If they're in sockets then they could have come loose due to flexing when the cartridge is inserted/removed and/or due to expansion/contraction due to heat. Open up the Atari then open up the metal RF shield. Firmly push down on the 3 socketed chips to reseat them. Edited January 18, 2014 by SpiceWare Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Videoben9 Posted January 19, 2014 Share Posted January 19, 2014 Did you try it on a different tv? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted January 19, 2014 Share Posted January 19, 2014 ...so it's not a cartridge slot problem (already cleaned). Actually it is. Your system behaves with a cart insert like without a cart inserted. So the system doesn't recognize the cart. This is usually a cartridge slot problem. Besides cleaning the slot and the cart again (and again), the other option is to open the console and check if the slot is correctly connected. Maybe a cable became loose or something like that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dizzy Posted January 19, 2014 Author Share Posted January 19, 2014 But did you clean the cartridge itself? Random stripes and sound are normal on the 2600 if a cartridge is not plugged in. Random stripes and sound with a cartridge plugged in tend to be caused by one of the following: dirty cartridge contacts a bad cartridge dirty cartridge port on the 2600 one of the socketed chips inside the Atari got loose Depending upon which model 2600 you have, there's 3 chips inside that are either soldered to the motherboard or are in sockets. If they're in sockets then they could have come loose due to flexing when the cartridge is inserted/removed and/or due to expansion/contraction due to heat. Open up the Atari then open up the metal RF shield. Firmly push down on the 3 socketed chips to reseat them. Thanks a lot to all of you but especially to SpiceWare because he gave the most important information : the 2600 does display random stripes and play a sound continuously when no cart is inserted to any Atari 2600. Then I could think that my 2600 had a normal behaviour, so the problem was coming from the cart slot on the 2600 or the cart connectors. I cleaned up all my carts connectors and now all is working fine (except that 2 or 3 games out of 23 tested does not display colors). So again, thanks to all of you for your help ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jinks Posted January 19, 2014 Share Posted January 19, 2014 Great job! Good to see you got er working. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+SpiceWare Posted January 19, 2014 Share Posted January 19, 2014 Great! Are the non-working games Activision cartridges? I've noticed that they tend to be extra finicky. I suspect that's due to them using a thinner circuit board than Atari did. I typically play Activision games using my Harmony Cartridge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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