Got my new (to me) Atari 800 XL!

[48kRAM]

Hi all,

 

I just took delivery of my first XL machine yesterday. I grew up with a 400 and I still have the machine, but I really wanted to play with some newer stuff. Broke down and bought an 800 XL from Paul at Eight Bit Fix. It was cleverly disguised as old junk so nobody would steal my precious Atari

 

 

Yep - there's an Atari hidden in there all right.

 

 

And there she is! I admit I was surprised to see it so nice and clean.

 

 

And my dog found the power supply and A/V cable buried in the box.

 

The whole kit. I'm really excited to finally have an XL machine.

I tested it with cartridges first and got ~23000 points in missile command, which I think is probably not bad for the first play in ~5 years. Then I attached my SIO2SD and tried to fire up BallBlazer, only to have it completely fail on me. I had a brief moment of panic, before I remembered that XLs have built-in BASIC that usually needs to be disabled on boot. Option key down.. there - that's better. Then, I fired up Yoomp!

Woo - first time playing it on real hardware! And that "Stereo not detected" line won't be there for long, as I have a UAV and a stereo POKEY ready to be added. I can also correct this minor issue with joyport 2 while I'm in there:

The final issue I have is that the power supply buzzes. It's sensitive to the position of the unit (turning it on its side reduced the volume significantly), so I'm thinking maybe something loose around a transformer? Any ideas on how to rectify this? Apparently "Tony" didn't notice this issue in 1997

 

Anyway - thanks to Paul for such a nice clean-up job. Looking forward to playing with it some more.

 

-Josh

P.S. - I'm not sure how to add images to this post correctly, so everything is squished inline. :-/ Sorry.

Edited June 30, 2017 by 48kRAM

[Grover Torbel]

The final issue I have is that the power supply buzzes. It's sensitive to the position of the unit (turning it on its side reduced the volume significantly), so I'm thinking maybe something loose around a transformer? Any ideas on how to rectify this?

Congratulations on the purchase!

Just a word of advice... You probably want to get a different version of the power supply. It's hard for my eyes to tell, but it looks like yours may be non vented and non-rebuilable. If so, I've heard those power supplies tend to have high failure rates and often fry the computer when they go. The good ones look like this:

[48kRAM]

It is vented, though I didn't see an obvious way to open it up for repairs. It's not the model you show, though, I know that. It's not an "Ingot" either though (unless I'm mistaken).

 

These PSUs are just 5 volts right - no AC or other DC voltages?

[+DrVenkman]

It is vented, though I didn't see an obvious way to open it up for repairs. It's not the model you show, though, I know that. It's not an "Ingot" either though (unless I'm mistaken).

 

These PSUs are just 5 volts right - no AC or other DC voltages?

Look up the power supplies from B&C on eBay (seller ‘myatari’). He has a great comparison photo showing which ones to avoid.

 

Yours looks like an ingot but hard to tell from the bottom. Show a top photo.

 

And to answer your question, yes. These put out 5VDC only.

[+Faicuai]

The bent / misplaced Joy-port2 typically occurs when opening the machine (to extract the MoBo), and then mis-align it during re-insertion / re-positioning around plastic case's walls (this includes Joystick AND SIO connectors). The SIO connector can also be affected by a similar issue.

 

In other words: mishandling during re-assembly (the machine was most-likely opened). Gotta watch that skew as it creates significant stress / pressure on the entire connector and MoBo joint.

 

Cheers!

[Wyluli Wolf]

Very nice score! I've been tempted to buy an Atari 800XL myself but decided my Commodore 64 and dozen or so consoles was enough! I'm running out of space. Enjoy your new "toy"!

[48kRAM]

Look up the power supplies from B&C on eBay (seller ‘myatari’). He has a great comparison photo showing which ones to avoid.

 

Yours looks like an ingot but hard to tell from the bottom. Show a top photo.

 

And to answer your question, yes. These put out 5VDC only.

 

That was a top photo - granted it was a bad top photo

 

It's the type shown in the top-right in this image:

 

[+DrVenkman]

In that case, your power supply should be fine and not at heightened risk of failing “hot” and destroying the machine like the ingot. I have two of them (like yours) doing regular duty.

[+Nezgar]

gYours, the one in the top right, I think was the one that originally came with the 130XE (at least with mine). It served me well running a BBS for 10 years 24 hrs a day with no issues, and i still have it. The nutorious 'Ingot' - the one in the top row middle is the one that has gone bad and taken many people's machines with it.

[48kRAM]

Cool - thanks for the confirmation on the power supply. Now, is there any known or suggested fix for the buzzing? If not, I'll probably just replace it with a modern 5V 2A supply instead. Any words of advice on such an undertaking?

[+DrVenkman]

Cool - thanks for the confirmation on the power supply. Now, is there any known or suggested fix for the buzzing? If not, I'll probably just replace it with a modern 5V 2A supply instead. Any words of advice on such an undertaking?

If you replace the power supply, salvage the DIN and most of the cord, then just solder the two leads to the proper wires in your replacement. Then verify that the correct pins are hot and ground on the DIN before you try it on the Atari. It would be tragic to fry the machine by getting it backwards or an accidental short.

[Skeeter]

That's a great looking XL, very nice!

 

Now you guys have me worried about the power supply I got with my 800. The guy I got it from (eBay) sent what he says is a 1050 power supply. Something about it being better than the standard 800 power supply?

 

"The box also contains a 1050 power supply, as I always try to supply this one instead of the stock 800 power supply. The 1050 has the same voltage output as the 800 supply but is much beefier." And he goes on to say..."If you are using a 1050 drive as well, try to always plug the power supply into the drive first, and then into the wall socket. This can save you from blowing the power supply. This is not necessary to do on he 800."

 

All I know is it looks an awful lot like the one in the top middle of the photo above and it's Part No. CO17945. Should I be worried?

[+Roydea6]

it's Part No. CO17945. Should I be worried?

NO not a 5pin DIN plug.

[Skeeter]

NO not a 5pin DIN plug.

 

Thanks, I can breathe a little better now.

[48kRAM]

The 400 and 800 used standard coaxial jacks and single-voltage power supply outputting AC power. The 5v DC is generated from the internal power supply board. IIRC, those type of supplies were basically tanks -- unless someone here w/ more experience contradicts me.

 

I have several of the 9V AC Atari supplies for my 400, 810 and 850 units.

[+DrVenkman]

The 400 and 800 used standard coaxial jacks and single-voltage power supply outputting AC power. The 5v DC is generated from the internal power supply board. IIRC, those type of supplies were basically tanks -- unless someone here w/ more experience contradicts me.

 

I have several of the 9V AC Atari supplies for my 400, 810 and 850 units.

They were (are) also used for the 1200XL, which has a giant rectifier that takes the 9VAC from the plug and converts it to 12VDC, which is then stepped down to 5V by a pair of 7805 voltage regulators.

[48kRAM]

I got the RF modulator off the board. My Hakko iron wasn't up to the task but a 240w Weller gun made short work of it. The case hole for the RF jack is the perfect size for this S-video jack:

 

https://console5.com/store/s-video-jack-gold.html

 

I also have my UAV installed. Only the composite output so far. The picture has definitely improved, but I'm still seeing a lot of ghosting, etc. I'm hoping that will get cleaned up with proper coax video cables and video jacks.

 

 

[Ely]

So I assume the XL works fine without the modulator in then?

[48kRAM]

Yep - no problems running w/o the RF modulator. I removed the modulator from my 400 as well when I did my first quick-n-dirty composite mod there.

[docertabum01]

Sender packed it quite nicely and even included Power SUPPLY. You are lucky.

 

Sent from my Redmi Note 3 using Tapatalk

[xdslx]

fully socketed motherboard , nice

[NISMOPC]

Some filing on the channel selector opening and you got a perfect place for a female USB connector to a SIO2PC or similiar as well

[48kRAM]

fully socketed motherboard , nice

Yep, Paul sells all his 800xl machines fully socketted I think. Anyway, he made sure mine was.

[48kRAM]

Some filing on the channel selector opening and you got a perfect place for a female USB connector to a SIO2PC or similiar as well

Or I might try to use it for the stereo / mono switch for my dual Pokey upgrade that I still need to install. I have an SIO2SD so I might skip the SIO2PC.

[+DrVenkman]

Yep, Paul sells all his 800xl machines fully socketted I think. Anyway, he made sure mine was.

Most early/mid-run NTSC 800XL machines are fully socketed from the factory (even the logic chips). Two of my three are, in fact. The third has the 5 main IC’s plus all the RAM socketed, but the OS, BASIC and MMU are soldered. That degree of cost-cutting (saving pennies on sockets and a few minutes of assembly time) is indicative of what was going on after Tramiel’s Atari Corp. took things over in mid-‘84 before introducing the restyled XE line.