A8 newbie with a question.

[Stage_1_Boss]

Hey guys,

About a year or two ago I picked up an Atari 600XL that's been modded with 64k RAM and a composite output. When I fire it up now to play carts, it wants to run memory tests instead or it will load things like Adventure Creator but freeze up about a minute into playing with a garbled screen. I'm not very tech savvy when it comes to hardware repair, so I was wondering if these symptoms sound like something easier to repair than seeking out a replacement Atari 800XL or XEGS instead. Thank you for any input on this.

[Rybags]

Going to memory test on it's own means the initial powerup Ram test failed.

 

The common 64K upgrade for the 600XL involves lifting legs on a couple of chips, replacing the 16K Ram chips with 64K ones, cutting a couple of traces and soldering in a few wires.

The most likely cause of your problem is probably the soldered in wires.

 

64k_upgrade_600xl.txt

 

You can read through the install instructions then cross-check the connections mentioned with yours to see if they're OK.

[Stage_1_Boss]

Going to memory test on it's own means the initial powerup Ram test failed.

 

The common 64K upgrade for the 600XL involves lifting legs on a couple of chips, replacing the 16K Ram chips with 64K ones, cutting a couple of traces and soldering in a few wires.

The most likely cause of your problem is probably the soldered in wires.

 

64k_upgrade_600xl.txt

 

You can read through the install instructions then cross-check the connections mentioned with yours to see if they're OK.

Awesome, thank you. This'll give me something to try out, worst thing that can happen is it doesn't work at all anymore, right? hehe.. I s'pose if I can't get it up and running I'll just look out for an unmodded XEGS, since I only use the Atari 8-bit for playing carts on.

[+Nezgar]

Definitely repairable. If not by you, then by someone else. Just don't throw it out!