Need help (repair) for several non-working Atari consoles

A Black Falcon · March 22, 2017

Need help (repair) for several non-working Atari consoles

So, I've amassed quite a bit of nonworking or semi-functional Atari stuff over the several years that I've had some of their systems. In fact, for over a year now the 5200 (I did a thread here about my thoughts about it some time back) is the only working Atari system, and even that has a few problems, with controllers (of course) and the 2600 adapter that I have. But at least I do have one 5200 controller that usually works fine, and the system itself works great when I stick to 5200 games. But it's my 7800 that I most wish worked, so I decided to put this all here, and not in all three forums or something. So...

So, I've got three Atari things with problems, two of them consoles and one a controller. They are the only two Atari consoles I own, unfortunately, so right now I can't play 2600/7800 games, which is quite annoying -- I'd like to be able to play the games I have!

- First and most importantly, the power switch on my 7800 stopped working. I've heard of this problem before and read some Atari-Age threads where people fix or replace it, but I don't know if I could do that myself, while I have thought about learning how to solder, I still have not only never tried, but I don't own a soldering iron... and with how things seem to go when I do try taking consoles apart things probably would not go too well regularly. Heh. Still, I have taken apart the 7800, but there's no visible damage. At first the 7800 would turn on sometimes, but for quite some time now it won't turn on at all. I presume that if the power switch was replaced it'd still work, but by this point who knows... I just know I really want a working 7800, so I can finally play all those games again. I buy 2600 games every once in a while even though I don't have a working system, but don't want to spend a bunch of a console again, since I have one already and the systems seem more expensive than ever... and besides, the problem may well just happen again! That'd be a waste of money. At least with this I have a clue of what COULD fix this thing, if I had the replacement part and some way of installing it, but I have neither so the thing just sits there.

- So some time later, I got another Atari system, that 5200 I did a thread for. Then some time after that I got a 2600 adapter... but it doesn't work at all, in the weirdest ways! I presume that the main chips in the thing have gone really bad and the thing is unsalvageable, but some input would be much appreciated. So, the thing turns on and displays a picture and sound, but the colors are all wrong all the time, and worse the screen display is all messed up -- it's doubled with copies of the picture on the left and right in some games, the sprites appear in duplicate or triplicate in others, and more. It's crazy stuff, but games are unplayable because in many games the controls are also iffy, the fire button particularly -- it often seems to just make the sound but not create shots. And such. So yeah, this thing's had it, or at least the chips on it have I presume? Is this fixable, or should I just buy another one and hope it works correctly, if I want to have a working one of these things...

- And third, but sort of first, the first Atari system I got was a 4-switch 2600 that I got in about 2013, but it doesn't work and never did. When I turn it on it's just a black screen with some static, no picture or sound appears. I presume there's a dead chip or something? I THINK the power supply is okay (I tried to test it on a multimeter I have and did get a reading), and I know the RF box works... I don't know if this is worth fixing (cost-wise), but I guess it'd be nice; I certainly have no use for a system I can't use.

So that's the Atari system hardware problems I have. Three of the four Atari systems I have, counting that 2600 adapter as a system, don't work... I've had great luck here, huh. (Meanwhile my Odyssey 2 still works just fine...)

Beyond that, I'd like to mention the controller issues I have. This doesn't apply to the 7800, the two 7800 controllers I have work as well as ever.

- First, Atari trackballs. I have an Atari Trak-Ball controller, the model CX22 type. I got it for pretty cheap, locally, which was great... until I tested it (fortunately I got it shortly before the 7800's power switch gave out), and found that it doesn't work right -- up, particularly, rarely registers. I tried to take it apart to clean it out, but that's much easier said than done due to the bizarre way that it disassembles. I mean, you have four screws to remove, but then have to stick a screwdriver in those holes and try to pop apart the snaps... I managed several of them, but just can't get the center-bottom one apart no matter how hard I try (the one by the text, on the opposite end from the cable exit), so I can't take it apart for cleaning. Argh. Of course now I wouldn't be able to test it even if I did get it apart, but anyway.

Later I found the other type of Atari (2600/8-bit) trackball, the black one, which I got given to me for next to nothing. This one seems to work, which is nice. Of course it's hard to test given the state of my 2600s, but it seemed to function? If it does I'm not so concerned about that other one, but it is still sitting around somewhere sort of broken, which isn't great.

- And as for those 5200 controllers... well, I have three. As I mentioned in that 5200 thread, I put two controllers together to make one fully working controller, using the flex-circuit from one and the stick from another to make one that works. And most of the time this controller does work just fine, but occasionally the fire buttons stop responding completely. Most of the time they respond every time, but once in a while, they stop responding, or I turn the game on and they won't work. When that happens I have to just turn the system off, they won't start working again otherwise. Then, if I turn the system off, put some new game in, and turn it on again, they may or may not start working again. Usually after trying several more games in short succession they'll respond again, after which point they then work as usual in all games. This is really weird stuff; I've heard of 5200 controller buttons failing to respond, but is this normal? I'd think "failing to respond" would mean "sometimes when you press the buttons they don't work and other times they do". not this.

As for the other two controllers, one has a stick which drifts to the right all the time. I tried adjusting the trim pots but they did nothing, so something inside it must be messed up. It also has a busted flex circuit, but there;'d be no point in replacing that when the stick itself is bad. The third controller's stick seems to work, but it has no rubber thing around the stick to keep it in place, has no working buttons (so it'd also need a flex circuit), and someone taped the 5200 Frogger overlay to the keypad of the controller. Yeah. I was thinking of getting a replacement gold flex circuit and using the shell from that better-looking broken controller and the stick from the third one; that's the kind of repair I could do, since no soldering or such is required.

So yeah, those are my problems. I hope someone can help.

+Stephen Moss · March 22, 2017

That is a lot of problems and really too much for one thread as you could have a confusing mish-mash of post and people try to help with different problems at the same time, concentrate on one problem at a time until you have either fixed it or abandoned it as being beyond repair.

Have you searched the forum for previous post requesting repair help, I have previously responded to a few on 7800 help, particularly with details on testing the power circuit on the 7800 which is not just a simple switch by a bistable latch. Try to find those and work through that until you can either eliminate the power circuit or are able to narrow the issue down to the power circuit if that is where the problem lies.

Unless the symptoms definitely point to a specific area your first check when trying repair any system is to ensure the power circuitry it operating correctly as without that testing anything else in meaning less.

You mentioned you tried testing the power unit on the 4 swtich 2600 and got a reading, but was it the correct reading? If it was an original power unit or matching replacement it should measure around 12-14 volts DC when not powering the 2600 and about 9 volts DC with the 2600 on and the 7805 voltage regulator in the 2600 should have around 9 volts DC in and 4.5 - 5.5 volts DC out.