larrylaffer #1 Posted June 3, 2020 Hi folks! I have an 800xl board that boots fine to READY. If I leave the board idle, Sally and Antic start heating up. In fact they get hot and cool down with different frequency. I don't have a proper thermometer but I can tell they get pretty hot at their peak... About after 5 mins of heating up/ cooling down the screen starts changing colors and this is where I just power off and wait for them to cool down. Any pointers on debuging this? I also noticed that tapping lightly with my finger at the area between the psu connector and the rf modulator does create momentary (but very mild) noise on the video signal, so I guess a broken soldered join might be involved? The psu is fine, it is my trusted xl/xe psu that does work with all my other 8 bits. I haven't noticed any other chip heating. Thanks in advance for any suggestions! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
+DrVenkman #2 Posted June 3, 2020 14 minutes ago, larrylaffer said: About after 5 mins of heating up/ cooling down the screen starts changing colors and this is where I just power off and wait for them to cool down. Um, if you have other A8 machines you should realize that part, at least, is perfectly normal. SALLY and ANTIC do get warm, as does GTIA, though somewhat less so. SALLY and ANTIC are actually microprocessors executing instructions, even at idle. If you're really concerned about overheating, load up a game such as JOUST that has an active demo mode when left unattended and just let the machine run for a few hours. If you have any kind of real problem, you'll see graphical corruption or it will crash. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
larrylaffer #3 Posted June 3, 2020 1 minute ago, DrVenkman said: If you're really concerned about overheating, load up a game such as JOUST that has an active demo mode when left unattended and just let the machine run for a few hours. If you have any kind of real problem, you'll see graphical corruption or it will crash. Why do this when I know that even at idle the graphical corruption happens within 5 mins? For sure the board has a problem. If it is because of these two chips overheating or not might be another question. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
leech #4 Posted June 3, 2020 Quote Sally and Antic overhearing Crap, now iOS and Android and Windows 10 runs on the 8bit? Joking aside, maybe try something like these? https://www.amazon.com/Cosmos-Copper-Cooling-Heatsinks-cooler/dp/B00637X42A/ref=sr_1_23?dchild=1&keywords=heatsink&link_code=qs&qid=1591223174&sourceid=Mozilla-search&sr=8-23 I put some on my 6502 since it was getting rather toasty sitting on top of the Rapidus. 2 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
+DrVenkman #5 Posted June 3, 2020 3 minutes ago, larrylaffer said: Why do this when I know that even at idle the graphical corruption Your post, which I quoted, says the screens change colors. Atari computers color-cycle after several minutes when left unattended. That is not the same as "graphical corruption." Are you actually seeing random characters appear on-screen? Or font corruption in the BASIC "READY" prompt? Because if so, that's different than color changing, which is perfectly normal. 3 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jamm #6 Posted June 3, 2020 25 minutes ago, leech said: Crap, now iOS and Android and Windows 10 runs on the 8bit? Yeah, for a sec I thought, in a bid for complete world domination, Amazon released Alexa for 8bits. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
_The Doctor__ #7 Posted June 3, 2020 (edited) Tapping making video static or noise is usually bad solder joints or shielding, sometimes in the monitor jack is you are using it, a spray of deoxit on the monitor plugs shiny metal part and the pin that rides against it can clear that up sometimes, same with old dirty grimy rca jack and plugs.. the two chips getting quite warm is normal but if they actually are hot at idle then something might be afoot, make sure power under load is not high nor low and there is no ac ripple (you might see hummm bars on an old crt if this were the case). color cycling in border and main screen after timeout is a screen saver on the Atari, it prevents CRT being burned with images and LCD's from burned pixels... color fading and slightly going from blue to green or blue to gey or purple and staying off kilter is another story. Edited June 3, 2020 by _The Doctor__ Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
larrylaffer #8 Posted June 3, 2020 42 minutes ago, DrVenkman said: Your post, which I quoted, says the screens change colors. Atari computers color-cycle after several minutes when left unattended. That is not the same as "graphical corruption." Are you actually seeing random characters appear on-screen? Or font corruption in the BASIC "READY" prompt? Because if so, that's different than color changing, which is perfectly normal. You know what? I am an idiot! I haven't fired up my 130XE for long time and I totally forgot about the color cycling part! So when I got this board and I left it in BASIC, when the colors started changing I thought something was wrong. I even repeated it a couple of times and then I posted... I did load up a game and left it for 30 mins. All is working fine... So false alarm, and sorry for crying wolf without thinking! As for the "overhearing" part... It was my phone "auto-correcting" for overheating... What a mess I made... The good thing about this thread is that I found from @leech heat sinks for the right size, which since the board is naked right now I will buy and install just to relieve those two poor chips in an attempt to extend their lives a bit longer... Thank you all! 1 4 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jamm #9 Posted June 3, 2020 So that's "no" on the Alexa integration? ☹️ 3 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
larrylaffer #10 Posted June 3, 2020 2 minutes ago, jamm said: So that's "no" on the Alexa integration? ☹️ That's a "maybe not" Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
leech #11 Posted June 3, 2020 19 minutes ago, larrylaffer said: That's a "maybe not" With FujiNet anything is possible! 35 minutes ago, larrylaffer said: You know what? I am an idiot! I haven't fired up my 130XE for long time and I totally forgot about the color cycling part! So when I got this board and I left it in BASIC, when the colors started changing I thought something was wrong. I even repeated it a couple of times and then I posted... I did load up a game and left it for 30 mins. All is working fine... So false alarm, and sorry for crying wolf without thinking! As for the "overhearing" part... It was my phone "auto-correcting" for overheating... What a mess I made... The good thing about this thread is that I found from @leech heat sinks for the right size, which since the board is naked right now I will buy and install just to relieve those two poor chips in an attempt to extend their lives a bit longer... Thank you all! That is doubly awesome. 1) that I helped out with the heat sinks, 2) that you had forgotten what I had always thought of as one of the coolest features the Atari 8bits had. Built in screensavers! Did any other computer really have this? 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
+Stephen #12 Posted June 4, 2020 10 minutes ago, leech said: That is doubly awesome. 1) that I helped out with the heat sinks, 2) that you had forgotten what I had always thought of as one of the coolest features the Atari 8bits had. Built in screensavers! Did any other computer really have this? I'm pretty sure it was a feature borrowed from many 2600 games. The starfield screensaver in Star Raiders is super cool for the time as well. 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
leech #13 Posted June 4, 2020 10 minutes ago, Stephen said: I'm pretty sure it was a feature borrowed from many 2600 games. The starfield screensaver in Star Raiders is super cool for the time as well. Ah, but did a computer do it? Yeah, that's right I remember the Star Raiders one, that was awesome! I should play that more on my 5200.... But since it's upstairs and it's too damn hot these days, I'll hook one of my 8bits up downstairs... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
+DrVenkman #14 Posted June 4, 2020 58 minutes ago, larrylaffer said: You know what? I am an idiot! I haven't fired up my 130XE for long time and I totally forgot about the color cycling part! So when I got this board and I left it in BASIC, when the colors started changing I thought something was wrong. I even repeated it a couple of times and then I posted... I did load up a game and left it for 30 mins. All is working fine... So false alarm, and sorry for crying wolf without thinking! Absolutely no worries. I'm glad your machine is okay! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rybags #15 Posted June 4, 2020 It still might be worth checking the voltage coming in. Though overvolting will often be accompanied by buzzing audio and/or wrong colour. 2 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
leech #16 Posted June 4, 2020 1 minute ago, Rybags said: It still might be worth checking the voltage coming in. Though overvolting will often be accompanied by buzzing audio and/or wrong colour. I guess I should take my 800 back out of the box and maybe try to troubleshoot it some more myself, and see if I can find some of these issues, as that one is dropping / dimming colors after it is on for a few minutes. Boxed it up to send it to FJC, but he said he's been having issues receiving larger packages from the courier, so I have held off. Do some tests on the 130xe though, you know like suggested, play some Joust Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jamm #17 Posted June 4, 2020 1 hour ago, leech said: With FujiNet anything is possible! You're not wrong - it'd actually be pretty trivial if we stuck a microphone on there. Voice-assistance is a popular and well-documented use for the ESP32. Quote 2) that you had forgotten what I had always thought of as one of the coolest features the Atari 8bits had. Built in screensavers! Did any other computer really have this? I suspect that idea came from the Atari's arcade video game experience. 2 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
leech #18 Posted June 4, 2020 1 hour ago, jamm said: You're not wrong - it'd actually be pretty trivial if we stuck a microphone on there. Voice-assistance is a popular and well-documented use for the ESP32. I suspect that idea came from the Atari's arcade video game experience. 'Atari, pick a game for me to play.' 'Atari, print me a banner for Drinking games with Champagne graphic.' Have to admit, that would be pretty sweet... Gets creepy when you say 'Atari, code me a demo' and it does! 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mathy #19 Posted June 4, 2020 19 hours ago, leech said: 'Atari, pick a game for me to play.' 'Atari, print me a banner for Drinking games with Champagne graphic.' Have to admit, that would be pretty sweet... Gets creepy when you say 'Atari, code me a demo' and it does! Hello leech SIRIously? Sincerely Mathy 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
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