No joystick input on 2600 Woody light sixer

[TJ76]

Good evening,

 

Wondered if anyone could advise here.  Acquired a Woody light-sixer and looking to restore. It's a PAL unit and video is ok over RF modulator, however hiss instead of sound.  No experience working on these, however have installed mods into an 800XL including installing new sockets, so have reasonable soldering skills.

 

Getting no joystick input  at all.  Looking at main board, this doesn't look right to me, but not sure how it's meant to be.  Looks like one damaged capacitor at C232, a disconnected one at C236, and looking at rear, I see solder bridges in that area that don't look right compared to example images I've seen.  Any thoughts on how i fix anyone, e.g. what components i need to replace, and what may need de-soldering?  Not sure what I'm doing here - a little project and learning as I go along, so be kind!

 

Issue looks to be with Left controller.  Last pick is rear of right which doesn't seem to have same points bridged.

 

[+DrVenkman]

Get your multimeter out and start tracing continuity, preferably in combination with the schematics from the Field Service Manual. If you have continuity from the controller jack power and ground pins to the correct pins on the output of the voltage regulator, then check continuity on each pin to the 6532 RIOT chip. If NONE of the directions work, and if you have good continuity on all pins, then you need to replace the RIOT.

 

 

[CPUWIZ]

One of those ports was replaced, aside from the cracked cap-leg at C236, right off the bat.  The bridge is normal, it is usually a trace and someone didn't care about bridging it again.  I would check the solder points on the replaced port.  And like DrVenkman said, continuity testing is your friend here.

[TJ76]

Thanks both, always good to have right kind of pointers to kick me off.  Would love to have this working normally again, and then look at getting some more modern video out of it as next step.

 

 Will try and find some time later today / tonight if the family let me Once i find my multimeter which i seem to have mislaid as didn't locate it last night.

 

Have a good weekend.

 

TJ

[TJ76]

Found my meter finally and checked this out.  Continuity to voltage regulator seems ok, and seems to have consistent continuity to pins on the RIOT between both ports.  Going to take a punt and replace RIOT, as can source locally within a few days relatively cheaply.  Fingers crossed.

[CPUWIZ]

Did you ping the joystick port pins?  All it takes is for GND to be not connected, to take down the whole port.  Also, if you have clip on probes, try the continuity test and wiggle the port.  I have seen all sorts of strange things, like a pin broken, inside the plastic casing.

[CPUWIZ]

Also, if you feel comfortable enough, you can just hand bridge connections on the motherboard.  Run the testcart or a game, then bridge the port pins, but use the motherboard, not the connector.   Don't bridge 5V and GND though. LOL

[CPUWIZ]

Another thing, you can also test the RIOT in place, PA0-PA3 are the left port directional pins, PA4-PA7 are the right port.  Connect any of those to GND to "push in a direction".

 

 

See https://www.atarimax.com/jindroush.atari.org/2600crio.html for more info, if you care.

 

I usually use these kind of clips, for such a task.

 

 

[TJ76]

Thanks for these replies, which I've read with great interest and trepidation.  Had a bit of luck now though to be honest, as thinking a RIOT replacement could have been on the cards, or at least ruled something out by swapping it, I eased out that chip, and also gave the board some careful cleaning.  Upon returning the RIOT and powering up, I now have working joystick ports!  Unless this is intermittent and requires further investigation later, I can move on to improving video and getting sound back.  Thanks and goodnight.

 

TJ

[+-^CrossBow^-]

Not too unusual. I recently restored a dead heavy sixer. The main issue was under the RIOT there was corrosion that was under the socket itself. I didn't see it until I desolder the whole thing off the board to find out why I was getting random resets on games when play testing it. So when you pulled the RIOT out, cleaned and reseated it you likely restored a weak or no contact condition from the IC to the socket. If you want to bullet proof it, you would be better off replacing the socket with a dual wipe type as most of the earlier systems use single wipe sockets.