BramV Posted November 21, 2015 Share Posted November 21, 2015 Hello there, I got a quick question for all you atari expert here I'v recently found an old atari 600XL with no power supply or other cables. I've looked up the input voltages and hooked the atari up to a simple 5v, 1.5A ac-dc converter. Now when I turn the atari on I get a red power light on, but my tv cannot find any channels on the rf-output (it can find the signal for the nintendo, so i suppose the tv can't be the problem?) I also came some information that said you should not use an alternative power supply for the 600XL, at least not an unreglated. What exactly are the requirement for the atari 600XL power supply? I've measured the voltages from mine. With the atari off, it gives 5.23 volts. When I switch the atari on it goes to 5.07 volt. That's 3%. Should I assume that the converter I have is unregulated? Or is 5.07 too low? Any information on the matter would be welcome, I hope I can get this nice machine to work again. I'm going to try building a video cable for the monitor connected today, to see if only the rf-module is busted. Thank you! Bram Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rybags Posted November 21, 2015 Share Posted November 21, 2015 A touch over 5V without load is fairly normal. 700 mA would probably operate a base machine fine but 1.2 A or better is recommended to cater for cartridges, expansions etc which each add their little bit of demand. Some modern tuners might have problem locking onto the Atari RF signal. Also the RF jack is made of some not so great material that corrodes a bit which degrades the signal. Depends what region the machine is from but most outside EU/UK should use the old VHF channel 1 or 2. Some machines (NTSC only?) have a channel selector. If you can manually tune it might help, otherwise digging out an old VCR that allows that is an alternative. Of course monitor cable is the way better option though I think 600XL didn't have the Chroma connected on any machines but it can be done as a modification. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BramV Posted November 21, 2015 Author Share Posted November 21, 2015 Thanks, with the monitor cable, I do get a picture, and the machine seems to work. The top left keys are not working though, I should look at the keyboard cable and connector... Also is some kind of command to query how much memory the machine has? I was wondering if this machine had the 64k memory mod installed... Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roydea6 Posted November 21, 2015 Share Posted November 21, 2015 From the READY prompt TYPE FRE(0) and hit the return key about 36000 answer is 64k less is 16k Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillC Posted November 21, 2015 Share Posted November 21, 2015 From the READY prompt TYPE FRE(0) and hit the return key about 36000 answer is 64k less is 16k You need to type PRINT FRE(0) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rybags Posted November 21, 2015 Share Posted November 21, 2015 Non working keys is usually something deeper than the connector cable not properly inserted. It's a ribbon that's close to 4 inches wide and tends not to come out. Keyboard problems are often thanks to the actual mylar layers inside the mechanism. Sometimes can be cured by just pressing the non functioning keys plenty of times. Threads around about methods of fixing it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BramV Posted November 21, 2015 Author Share Posted November 21, 2015 Thanks! Ok no memory upgrade, and I don't see any jumper wires either, I'll attempt that mod myself then. Seems like one of the cd4051 chips is broken. I couldn't find any error in the cable or traces. So I switched those 2 IC's and other keys started to malfunction (and the original malfunctioning working again). Very cheap chips though, too bad it's saturday evening, have to wait till next week... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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