problem w/activision games

[AlexKIDD]

i have about 25 2600 games and they all work perfectly except the activision ones which are pitfall and river raid.at first i thought they were just broken but then i thought it might have something to do with them both being activision.has anyone else had this problem and is there a way to clean these carts?

[Whisper]

What exactly is the problem then?

[Ushabin]

i have about 25 2600 games and they all work perfectly except the activision ones which are pitfall and river raid.at first i thought they were just broken but then i thought it might have something to do with them both being activision.has anyone else had this problem and is there a way to clean these carts?

 

You can clean them with some alcohol and a q-tip or for really dirty carts, you can use a pencil eraser.

 

Sometimes the contacts on the Activision carts ware down and don't make good contact with the cartridge port on the Atari. Most of the time powering down the console and wiggling the cart will get it to work in a few tries.

 

HTH

Marty

[dykesr]

Alchohol and q-tips work the best by far.

 

RD

[Kenwood]

Alchohol and q-tips work the best by far.

 

RD

 

You can also use an emory board (nail file) and scap off any of the "Black stuff" on the connectors

[+Nathan Strum]

I wouldn't use an emory board... too abrasive. A pencil eraser is safer. But alcohol on a Q-tip works. I've used this contact cleaner on mine, and it works better than anything else I've tried. I just spray a little on a Q-tip, and use that to clean the contacts, then wipe any excess off with a clean Q-tip. (I wouldn't use Radio Shack's, I've heard it gums up.)

 

However, cleaning may not do the trick. I've had a few Activision carts that I'd cleaned, and they still didn't work reliable. The cartridge slot just wasn't grabbing them firmly.

 

So here's my solution, and so far, it's worked every time: Insert the cart into the 2600 until it's all the way in. Then slightly pull it outwards. Just a tiny bit, so you still feel resistance. Then turn on the 2600. It may take a couple of tries to find the "sweet spot". It seems to make much better contact this way on problematic carts.