Can anyone in Columbus, Ohio repair my 7800

[Atari Dogs]

I have a 7800 that does not power up? I would like to drop it off to avoid shipping.

[MortoffGames]

If you ever decide you want to ship your system out. I have used this person before and he does really good work and prices are excellent

Atari Systems

James's Classic Repair offers restoration and repair of classic Atari 2600, Atari 7800 and other Atari products. Their email address is [email protected]

[Atari Dogs]

I was thinking of trying to fix it myself. The 7800 won't turn on, and the led light won't turn on. The board and caps look clean. When I plug it into the tv and try to turn it on a few times the screen changes and looks like it is getting some sort of signal, but it is just a horizontal line not the game. The led light never turns on. Is it getting power? The power supply works on other units. I can get a set of four switches for $6 I have the solder and solder wick.

[SignGuy81]

I would try fixing it yourself, you should have all the help you would need here. I think we should start with a multimeter and check power after the voltage regulator, then go from there.

[masschamber]

get a multimeter if you want to test for continuity and see if it is getting power

[ave1]

It might be the power button. I had one once where the reset button wouldn't work, so I bought the part. The repair required removing the switch from the main board, which was kinda a pain. Once that got desoldered, I wondered if I had damaged the board, because it got discolored-looking. I placed the replacement part in there and soldered the contact points- and suddenly it worked fine. I have a spare replacement switch in my tool box. And I live in Columbus. The problem is I'm not all that good at desoldering things...

[shear_xear]

If you have some desoldering wick/ braid it shouldn't be too hard to get the old switch off. Just be sure you don't leave the iron on the point you are desoldering too long so you don't damage the board. I have had about seven or eight 7800s (at least) that wouldn't power on and the new switch fixed them all. Obviously there could be other problems causing the console to not power on (including a bad power adapter), but usually it is the switch.

[Atari Dogs]

Looks like I will have to check ebay. I can stop by Micro Center for the solder wick.

[shear_xear]

You can buy the switch on console5.com. Just search Atari 7800 and the button switch is a white square with a black circle in the middle.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

You can buy the switch on console5.com. Just search Atari 7800 and the button switch is a white square with a black circle in the middle.

The console5.com switch is a near exact match replacement too. I've used them myself in several I've repaired for others over the past 2 years. But there are a few other things to look at for why it isn't powering up. There is an MJE201 transistor that can go bad. I've had at least one 7800 where I had to replace that and a small capacitor on the board that appeared to have been cooked black. Likely someone found an alternate PS they wanted to try and fried it somehow. Sorry..didn't mean to squirrel there.

 

But yes, try the switch first or to test it, use some wire to solder on the back side of the board onto one of the two points the switch makes contact on, and then use the other loose end of the wire to touch the other point of the switch to bypass it and see if the 7800 powers on then.

[Atari Dogs]

I soldered a wire on it and it powers on! I bought four switches. Hopefully, only one went bad.

[Atari Dogs]

I installed the new switch, and it gets power. But the screen either rolls blinks or gives me garbage on the screen. Where do I go from here?

[+H454]

Try Detox-it and flush / clean the cart port and clean each cartridge with iso alcohol.

Strong cloth over a gift card work well for cleaning the cart port - You can try isopropanol before detox-it.

[Atari Dogs]

I replaced the power switch and it powers on. It will play 7800 games. Well they start, I have not fully played a game. The 2600 cartridges turn on but are scrambled. Any ideas what to look at? This is one of the original 7800s with the expansion port, and I want to get it fully working again.

[Atari Dogs]

I am thing the tIa chip is going bad. If this does not make sense let me know.

[icemanxp300]

I am thing the tIa chip is going bad. If this does not make sense let me know.

 

I was going to say Tia or Riot if the 7800 has them all like the 2600 does. I had a 2600 that had no video at all just a black screen and it was the riot chip.

[Osgeld]

yea its got both a tia and a riot (UM6532 is the non atari branded riot)

[+-^CrossBow^-]

If the TIA is having problems or the RIOT I would think that on 7800 games he would have issues with the controllers. TIA controls the fire buttons and paddle lines, and the RIOT everything else I believe.

[Osgeld]

is it weird that I have a printout of the 7800 schematic at my work desk (I had printed it off on a 11x17 sheet to help me fix my broken 7800 heh) , you are correct and most likely yes it could effect controllers, but I have had systems where everything was perfect but one pin was low impedence and there goes your dude running off to the right of the screen heh

Edited November 17, 2017 by Osgeld