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Atari 2600 Only plays some cartridges


Evanlor

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Hi Everyone, 

Yet another question, because as previously stated I am 100% new to working on electronics.  

 

So I have another Atari VCS that is displaying very strange behavior:  It only plays some cartridges, but not others.  The ones it does play it plays repeatedly - that is, with repeated re-seating of the cartridge.  This is only about 1/3rd of all carts that are seated in the loading slot - the rest simply show blank screen or occasionally wide vertical lines.

 

Does anyone have experience with a picky cart-playing Atari VCS 2600?  Thanks!

Evan

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Good morning, I know this may sound obvious but from my experience with may cart based systems the mantra Clean Clean Clean... Make sure that you use 91% IPA and clean the contacts of the cart and make sure that your Cart slot on the console is clean and there are no bent contacts pins..

 

For real bad carts you can also try to carefully polish the contact there are some good video out on the inter webs.  I may be opening myself up to a good lashing but I dismantle the cart then using a microfiber detailing towel and a !!!SMALL!!! Dab of mr metal polish to clean the cart’s contacts then to a good cleanup with 91% ipa. On average I have been good to go. 

 

I hope this helps... 

Edited by tijuanamidas
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It would also help if you provided a list of the games that work 100% vs the ones that never do? It is known that Activision games tend to use a slightly thinner PCB than Atari made carts. So over time and wear of the cartridge port, many Activision titles start to be very problematic vs others. I'm also going to "assume" that the carts that don't work do work on another 2600?

 

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5 hours ago, tijuanamidas said:

Good morning, I know this may sound obvious but from my experience with may cart based systems the mantra Clean Clean Clean... Make sure that you use 91% IPA and clean the contacts of the cart and make sure that your Cart slot on the console is clean and there are no bent contacts pins..

 

For real bad carts you can also try to carefully polish the contact there are some good video out on the inter webs.  I may be opening myself up to a good lashing but I dismantle the cart then using a microfiber detailing towel and a !!!SMALL!!! Dab of mr metal polish to clean the cart’s contacts then to a good cleanup with 91% ipa. On average I have been good to go. 

 

I hope this helps... 

Thank you, I've been using Qtips and 99% electronics-grade alcohol for years and that usually does the trick.  In this case - no dice!

Evan

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36 minutes ago, -^CrossBow^- said:

It would also help if you provided a list of the games that work 100% vs the ones that never do? It is known that Activision games tend to use a slightly thinner PCB than Atari made carts. So over time and wear of the cartridge port, many Activision titles start to be very problematic vs others. I'm also going to "assume" that the carts that don't work do work on another 2600?

 

Thank's Crossbow - I wondered about that too.  I did test a slew of the ones that were not working on this system and yes, they did work on another system.

 

The majority of the carts that work are Atari, but even Atari carts tended to not work in general.  They were more likely to work, but for example many like Pac-Man (several different working versions) simply came up blank.

 

If it is the slot being bent or worn, any recommendations on repair?  I tried replacing one once and just wrecked the PCB board when I finally was able to pull it off ?

 

Thanks again - list of the working carts below.

Best,

Evan

 

The carts that played include:

Atari:

Solaris

Moon Patrol

Yars' Revenge

Asteroids

Space War

Target Fun

Missile Command

Basketball

Jr. Pac-Man

Mario Bros

Joust

Realsports Baseball

Raiders of the Lost Ark

 

Activision:

Spider Fighter

Note - I did not test many activision carts.  Kaboom seemed to work but I'll need to retest

 

Coleco:

Carnival ONLY - several Donkey Kong carts are not working, but are working on other systems.

 

20th Century Fox:

Mega Force

Worm War I

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3 hours ago, emerson said:

Have you tried cleaning the cartridge connector in the console? If you don't have a console cleaning kit I find that a folded up notecard or piece of paper folded over the end of a cut to size gift card works okay.

I wondered about that.  I don't have a console cleaning kit  (they make those?!?!), I just figured that inserting the recently-cleaned carts would do the trick, but I will try your way next.  Update to follow!  Thanks for the suggestion.
Evan

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41 minutes ago, Evanlor said:

I wondered about that.  I don't have a console cleaning kit  (they make those?!?!), I just figured that inserting the recently-cleaned carts would do the trick, but I will try your way next.  Update to follow!  Thanks for the suggestion.
Evan

I don’t like shoving anything into my cartridge slots. The method I use is to simply spray some actual electronics cleaner (not just iso) into the cart slot, then spray or use a cotton swab to spread a bit more cleaner onto the edge connector of a game cart, then insert and remove that cart into the system a 6 - 10 times pretty vigorously to spread the cleaner across all the contacts and wipe away any surface dirt. This method works like a charm.

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As for the cleaning kit, the one I have from my childhood is the "Performance Universal Cleaning Kit". It does the job well and works in the same way as DrVenkman described above.

 

One of the advantages of using something like a notecard is the paper acts as a mild abrasive, not so much to remove the plating from pins but just the gunk. It also gives you a good measure as to how clean the pins really are by how dirty the notecard comes out. I try to remove as much gunk as possible so that it isn't transferred to my cartridges.

 

One disadvantage of using a notecard or paper is that they tend to break down with use so you need to swap them out a few times before they start leaving fibers in your cart connector.

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11 hours ago, DrVenkman said:

I don’t like shoving anything into my cartridge slots. The method I use is to simply spray some actual electronics cleaner (not just iso) into the cart slot, then spray or use a cotton swab to spread a bit more cleaner onto the edge connector of a game cart, then insert and remove that cart into the system a 6 - 10 times pretty vigorously to spread the cleaner across all the contacts and wipe away any surface dirt. This method works like a charm.

I didn't realize there was a difference between the high % iso and electronics cleaner.  I'll look for that, and give this method a try first.

 

Not gonna lie - at first I thought your post was the beginning of a bad joke :) 

Thanks for the help!

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5 minutes ago, Evanlor said:

I didn't realize there was a difference between the high % iso and electronics cleaner.  I'll look for that, and give this method a try first.

Yeah, electronics cleaners may or may not use iso as a solvent for the other ingredients, but even if they do, most use of them have specific  ingredients that are much better at removing corrosion and cleaning built-up grime off of metallic surfaces than iso by itself. I never used to believe the hype about Deoxit until I sucked it up and bought some but damn, that’s the stuff. It’s expensive but a tiny bit goes a long way. 

 

5 minutes ago, Evanlor said:

Not gonna lie - at first I thought your post was the beginning of a bad joke

 Heh. When I re-read my post I can see how it might be taken that way. But it’s not. :) 

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@DrVenkman likely wouldn't approve of this method, but what I do is that I use an old credit card or sample card you might get in the mail and I cut it lengthwise to fit the cart slot where the PCB goes into the slot itself. I then use a q-tip with a quick dip into my deoxid (clone product) and run it across the top of the cartridge port slot/pins. Then I put that cut up credit card within an old white cotton t-shirt so that the card it completely surrounded by the t-shirt. You only need 1 layer of the t-shirt material wrapped around the cut card. I have these for several different consoles to clean out the cartridge slots.

 

Then just slide the t-shirt wrapped card into the cart slot and move it up and down a bunch. You will start to see the black oxidation come off and form a line on the t-shirt. Then move to clean part of the shirt, put a little more cleaner on it and do it again. Repeat until the cloth on the t-shirt is coming out the same color it was going in. I then follow up with an ISO cleaning of the cart slot. 

 

This method isn't dangerous to the slot or pins and has worked very well for me over the years. 

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6 minutes ago, -^CrossBow^- said:

@DrVenkman likely wouldn't approve of this method

Nah, if you do it, I don’t worry. :)

 

What I do worry about is advising people who are very new to electronics, console repairs, modding, etc. to take steps that might be dangerous if done incorrectly or without consideration of what might go wrong. So what I’d advise you or another experienced modder or tech is likely to be a bit different than what I suggest to folks without your experience.

 

(With regard to the T-shirt+credit card method — I’ve seen it suggested but I also know cotton comes in different weaves, weights, and durability. If, for example, a small snag were to get hooked onto the edge of a cartridge connector wipe, you could bend that tiny tab of metal up and possibly right out of the slot. I’ve seen A8’s and 5200’s with damaged cart connectors and I think it’s likely due to people being too aggressive in trying to clean them without experience or consideration for the risks - I know *you* know those risks and undoubtedly take care to avoid them. Someone else may not. YMMV, of course. :) )

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7 minutes ago, DrVenkman said:

Nah, if you do it, I don’t worry. :)

 

What I do worry about is advising people who are very new to electronics, console repairs, modding, etc. to take steps that might be dangerous if done incorrectly or without consideration of what might go wrong. So what I’d advise you or another experienced modder or tech is likely to be a bit different than what I suggest to folks without your experience.

 

(With regard to the T-shirt+credit card method — I’ve seen it suggested but I also know cotton comes in different weaves, weights, and durability. If, for example, a small snag were to get hooked onto the edge of a cartridge connector wipe, you could bend that tiny tab of metal up and possibly right out of the slot. I’ve seen A8’s and 5200’s with damaged cart connectors and I think it’s likely due to people being too aggressive in trying to clean them without experience or consideration for the risks - I know *you* know those risks and undoubtedly take care to avoid them. Someone else may not. YMMV, of course. :) )

I will state that I have seen the t-shirt material start to get a hole in it etc when using it to clean a cart slot. But I only use Hanes t-shirts because that is also what we used in the service to polish up those boots and Hanes T's did the best job of this and durable as all get out.

 

It would make more sense if I were to make a quick video or something on the actual way I do it and how it looks as it is kinda difficult to describe. But... that is certainly a possibility in regards to the material snagging internally and is something to be cautious of.

 

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  • 1 month later...

Old thread.  I was searching for an even older thread where people were sharing methods for cleaning the cart slot.  This isn't it, but I like these suggestions better than what I remember from whatever that other one was.

 

This method won't get things quite as clean as the plastic card and t-shirt method, but I find it is better than just ramming a wet cart in your slot . . . (a bit of a pun intended there for the OP)

 

I will take some scotch tape and roll it on itself a few times leaving the sticky side out.  I can make it as thick as I want this way but still make sure it isn't too thick to fit in the slot.  If the cart slot has actually visible chunks of dust, dirt, bugs or whatever then I take a pair of pliers and simply grab onto the tape roll then lower it into the slot.  The big chunks will often just stick to the tape and you can pull them out and repeat.  Using this same method, you can also stick a single layer of paper towel or other absorbent paper product to a fresh tape roll.  I dip that in alcohol (or deoxit which really does work better) and then I can grab the wet towel/tape roll with pliers and work it into the cart slot.  The tape is often rigid enough to last for a few dips and repeats before it needs to be replaced, and I've had good luck then finishing with the old method of getting a cartridge wet with ISA and inserting it a few times.

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