Atarick Posted November 27, 2021 Share Posted November 27, 2021 2 hours ago, mondodon said: Hello, Yesterday, I updated my VCS, and when I tried to sign in, I get to the welcome screen where is says "Hi" and "Setting up your dashboard". But it sat like that for hours. I turned my system off and then back on and logged in as "guest" and it went to that dashboard no problem and I could browse the store. I didn't want to buy anything on the guest account, though. I checked the system update while I was on the "guest" account, and saw everything is updated. I wrote to Atari Customer Support yesterday, but I haven't received a reply yet. Any suggestions out there on what I should do? Thank you, AtariAge Community! Hey! Several of us are dealing with this, appears it is a problem with Atari's servers. I submitted a help ticket and encourage others to do the same (the squeaky wheel gets the grease, as they say). Hopefully they get it sorted soon. Mine was like that most of yesterday but improved last night. Would be a shame to lose momentum from Microcenter sales and other stuff from a fairly pedestrian server load glitch. I'll pass anything I hear. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mondodon Posted November 27, 2021 Share Posted November 27, 2021 (edited) 8 minutes ago, Atarick said: Hey! Several of us are dealing with this, appears it is a problem with Atari's servers. I submitted a help ticket and encourage others to do the same (the squeaky wheel gets the grease, as they say). Hopefully they get it sorted soon. Mine was like that most of yesterday but improved last night. Would be a shame to lose momentum from Microcenter sales and other stuff from a fairly pedestrian server load glitch. I'll pass anything I hear. Hey Atarick! Thanks SO MUCH for the information! I'm sorry to hear there are others dealing with the same issue, but at the same time, it's nice to know I'm not alone. Just curious, when you mentioned things improved for you, what did you notice? Thanks for keeping us updated if you hear anything. I have not heard back from the help ticket that I submitted yet. Thanks again! Edited November 27, 2021 by mondodon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justclaws Posted November 27, 2021 Share Posted November 27, 2021 Users on Reddit report that their problems are now resolved with login and store. It's the most serious server problem we've had, so I am sure Atari learnt lessons! Unfortunately I am not at home, so I cannot check the situation for myself. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justclaws Posted November 27, 2021 Share Posted November 27, 2021 Users on Reddit report that their problems are now resolved with login and store. It's the most serious server problem we've had, so I am sure Atari learnt lessons! Unfortunately I am not at home, so I cannot check the situation for myself. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atarick Posted November 27, 2021 Share Posted November 27, 2021 15 minutes ago, mondodon said: Hey Atarick! Thanks SO MUCH for the information! I'm sorry to hear there are others dealing with the same issue, but at the same time, it's nice to know I'm not alone. Just curious, when you mentioned things improved for you, what did you notice? Thanks for keeping us updated if you hear anything. I have not heard back from the help ticket that I submitted yet. Thanks again! So originally it took like 10-15 seconds after the Asteroids load animation to reach the login screen, longer than normal, and another 20-30 from Login to Dashboard. Normally, this is like 3-5 seconds, tops. Then the store wouldn't load. Around 1130pm (EST) last night it was all working like normal. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bugcatcher88 Posted November 27, 2021 Share Posted November 27, 2021 I'm still encountering the issue where the store and friends list will not load (login expired). Though system start-up went back to its normal pace. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
82-T/A Posted November 27, 2021 Author Share Posted November 27, 2021 Happy to report that my problem has been resolved. Atari never contacted me, but not too concerned since it's all working. When I plugged in my Atari VCS this morning (11/27) it immediately booted up and started applying updates. It did a system update, then a BIOS update (reset a couple of times for that), and then another system update. When it came back up, I was able to use what I thought was my pin, and it worked perfectly fine. The menus have been a little sluggish as I feel like it's still downloading updates, but all my games came back, and all the games were working perfectly (no delay in speed, and moving quick / fast). I bought several games, and I also had several updates on existing games I owned as well. One of the things I noticed, every e-mail that I get for a game that I purchased, the e-mail contained some level of cryptographic hash for the payment key, or maybe it's just a GUID or something like that... Here's an example of one of my e-mails with the data snipped out... Payment Key key-WMV<SNIP>QbM $0.00 USD Qty: 1 $0.00 USD Something Ate My Alien 01 $16.99 USD Qty: 1 $16.99 USD Thought that was kind of interesting, I hadn't remembered seeing that before. Anyway, I'm a LOT happier with the system now, and glad that I'm able to access the games. I'll be buying some more tonight when I get some time... 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mondodon Posted November 27, 2021 Share Posted November 27, 2021 16 minutes ago, Atarick said: So originally it took like 10-15 seconds after the Asteroids load animation to reach the login screen, longer than normal, and another 20-30 from Login to Dashboard. Normally, this is like 3-5 seconds, tops. Then the store wouldn't load. Around 1130pm (EST) last night it was all working like normal. Thanks Justclaws and Atarick! Hmmmm...my screen is still stuck on "Setting up your dashboard", so it doesn't even let me access the store or my purchases yet. I am able to get to the store on the "guest" account still though, but I don't want to buy anything on that account. Glad to hear yours is now working properly, Atarick, and I hope yours does too, Justclaws. Any other suggestions for me besides waiting? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justclaws Posted November 27, 2021 Share Posted November 27, 2021 1 minute ago, mondodon said: Thanks Justclaws and Atarick! Hmmmm...my screen is still stuck on "Setting up your dashboard", so it doesn't even let me access the store or my purchases yet. I am able to get to the store on the "guest" account still though, but I don't want to buy anything on that account. Glad to hear yours is now working properly, Atarick, and I hope yours does too, Justclaws. Any other suggestions for me besides waiting? Thanks! Just to be sure, did you restart the system from power-off, and still get the error? It might be if something failed previously, due to server-down, repeat attempts will fail until you reboot. Just checking. It's the first time seeing anything like this, so it's puzzling why some are OK, and some are not. It might be that we're connected regionally to different back-end Atari systems, and so some are fixed, some not. Try later, from power-off, I would say. I'm sure the Atari OS team have a big list of "lessons learned" from this, and changes to make, for a future update! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mondodon Posted November 27, 2021 Share Posted November 27, 2021 1 minute ago, justclaws said: Just to be sure, did you restart the system from power-off, and still get the error? It might be if something failed previously, due to server-down, repeat attempts will fail until you reboot. Just checking. It's the first time seeing anything like this, so it's puzzling why some are OK, and some are not. It might be that we're connected regionally to different back-end Atari systems, and so some are fixed, some not. Try later, from power-off, I would say. I'm sure the Atari OS team have a big list of "lessons learned" from this, and changes to make, for a future update! Hi, yes, I did shut off my VCS completely last night, and I restarted it this morning. Thank you so much for the tips and suggestions. I shall power it down and try again later. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+swlovinist Posted November 27, 2021 Share Posted November 27, 2021 Ugg, I logged into my console fine, but then I could not get into the app store to buy games(Session Expired). I tried 30 minutes later and the same thing. When it says "Session Expired" on the screen, I cant back out and have to reset the console. This is so frustrating. Any ideas what the issue is? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
82-T/A Posted November 27, 2021 Author Share Posted November 27, 2021 17 minutes ago, swlovinist said: Ugg, I logged into my console fine, but then I could not get into the app store to buy games(Session Expired). I tried 30 minutes later and the same thing. This is so frustrating. Any ideas what the issue is? If I had to guess, they made a significant change on the server-side, specifically in how it deals with transactions and user accounts, and now a lot of people are having issues. Have you tried checking for updates? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+swlovinist Posted November 27, 2021 Share Posted November 27, 2021 2 minutes ago, 82-T/A said: If I had to guess, they made a significant change on the server-side, specifically in how it deals with transactions and user accounts, and now a lot of people are having issues. Have you tried checking for updates? It says that my updates and bios are up to date. I just tried again and got the "session expired" on the screen. When it does this, I cannot do anything or even back out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swingstate Posted November 27, 2021 Share Posted November 27, 2021 I think so too, they mentioned cryptocurrency payment methods are coming to the VCS eventually. I think it was the Ultra partnership but could be wrong. My guess is a software update is coming. That 'payment key' message from Atari in their store confirmation email is kind of a hint I think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikebrown66 Posted November 28, 2021 Share Posted November 28, 2021 Cannot get my initial accounts setup. Received the VCS 800 on the 25th and it appeared to download updates using the Guest account as it wouldn't send an email to me to verify. Today it sent an email to me, but each time I enter my pin it times out with the progress bar about 80% across the screen and tells me to check my Wifi connection. Guest account appear to work, but cannot set up my personal account yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fir3b0x Posted November 28, 2021 Share Posted November 28, 2021 I’ve still got problems with mine, but did receive a bios upgrade somehow: The VCS knows that I have OS updates available, but is failing with an “unknown reason” when installing them. Does anyone have a copy of the most recent OS image I could attempt to flash manually? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+swlovinist Posted November 28, 2021 Share Posted November 28, 2021 Update: I was able to buy two games off the app store, but then locked up on me. The app store needs a cart function. I hope that they are working on an update. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atarick Posted November 28, 2021 Share Posted November 28, 2021 (edited) 9 hours ago, swlovinist said: Update: I was able to buy two games off the app store, but then locked up on me. The app store needs a cart function. I hope that they are working on an update. Just heard back from Atari support. Sounds like they are working on a remedy and aware of the problem. Also said that a restart of the system from the menu screen may help improve things, which was the case for me. It does sound like a server update or backend development of the store or other function was the culprit. Hope this helps! Update: Just booted up and everything loaded fine. Was able to make a purchase from store as well, no problem. Edited November 28, 2021 by Atarick 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mondodon Posted November 28, 2021 Share Posted November 28, 2021 Thanks for all of the help and support on this thread! Last night, I was FINALLY able to get past the "Setting up your dashboard" screen and the store loaded up fine. I did hear back from Atari support with these 2 messages: I am sorry to hear it is taking so long for your dashboard to load. Have you tried using just your Ethernet cable and see if that might speed up your process. It sounds a connection issue might be slowing your speed down. Please let us know if you need further assistance with this issue. Sincerely Atari Support AND We are very sorry for the inconvenience. This is a known issue that our engineering team is currently working on to be fixed as soon as possible. The VCS must be restarted to fix this issue. Keep trying to reboot the unit. Sincerely, Atari Support Thanks again everyone. My VCS is still continuing to work fine this morning. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
82-T/A Posted November 28, 2021 Author Share Posted November 28, 2021 I think Atari rushed into making updates / changes without fully testing. I strongly believe in their product, and will 100% support them (and buy all the things)... but they'll definitely want to get a proper "lab" set up that has all versions of their product in various states so they can test their updates / changes. Even an "off the shelf" system that came from the supporters kick-starter that someone left in their closet and never opened. What happens when they go and plug it in? But, still... really happy with my VCS. Some of the new games I bought yesterday are fantastic... and I spent some time playing MashUp yesterday, and it was awesome too... 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+swlovinist Posted November 28, 2021 Share Posted November 28, 2021 Update: I sent a message to customer service and they got back to me. I tested my connection on my side and was able to play Anstream Arcade with no problems. They are aware of the issues but I am still having the same problem and the store is not working right. Login to my profile is very slow. It now says "something went wrong, please try again later. when going to the store." I hope that they can fix the problem or or extend the sale as it now has taken me hours to purchase games off of the store. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+swlovinist Posted November 28, 2021 Share Posted November 28, 2021 I am still having issues with my VCS. I have tried rebooting and still having issues. I am able to log into my account and play games/antstream, but the store is grayed out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mondodon Posted November 28, 2021 Share Posted November 28, 2021 26 minutes ago, swlovinist said: I am still having issues with my VCS. I have tried rebooting and still cannot buy anything in the store. I am very frustrated atm. Hi swlovinist, Believe me, I KNOW THE FEELING!! Can you get to your dashboard and then the store doesn't work? Or are you stuck logging in and cannot even get to your dashboard? Either way, keep trying to reboot once in a while. Then step away for a while and take a breather, and the try again. That's what I did and then lo and behold, everything starting working again normally. I would recommend submitting a help ticket on the AtariVCS website. You'll probably get the same message that I got, but at least they might look into your account specifically to identify any issues. Hang in there! Good luck! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+swlovinist Posted November 28, 2021 Share Posted November 28, 2021 3 minutes ago, mondodon said: Hi swlovinist, Believe me, I KNOW THE FEELING!! Can you get to your dashboard and then the store doesn't work? Or are you stuck logging in and cannot even get to your dashboard? Either way, keep trying to reboot once in a while. Then step away for a while and take a breather, and the try again. That's what I did and then lo and behold, everything starting working again normally. I would recommend submitting a help ticket on the AtariVCS website. You'll probably get the same message that I got, but at least they might look into your account specifically to identify any issues. Hang in there! Good luck! Thanks for the suggestion. Already submitted a help ticket yesterday. While I have been able to purchase a few games, the process was pretty painful. I hope they get this fixed soon... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mondodon Posted November 28, 2021 Share Posted November 28, 2021 Just now, swlovinist said: Thanks for the suggestion. Already submitted a help ticket yesterday. While I have been able to purchase a few games, the process was pretty painful. I hope they get this fixed soon... I'm glad you were able to get a few games during the Black Friday sale. I hope they get everyone's accounts all fixed up SOON, too. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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