Sully70 Posted April 17, 2005 Share Posted April 17, 2005 Hi..I have both an Atari 400 and 800 that only show a red screen when hooked up and powered on. Can anybody give me some details on what to look for if I open them up? Is this a common problem? I'm hoping it may be easy to fix. First time poster, by the way. I've got a decent collection, the 8-bit's and 7800 are my current drug of choice. Hope I can get some advice. thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunstar Posted April 17, 2005 Share Posted April 17, 2005 Hi..I have both an Atari 400 and 800 that only show a red screen when hooked up and powered on. Can anybody give me some details on what to look for if I open them up? Is this a common problem? I'm hoping it may be easy to fix. First time poster, by the way. I've got a decent collection, the 8-bit's and 7800 are my current drug of choice. Hope I can get some advice. thanks! 838661[/snapback] Just from the fact that BOTH computers appear to have the same exact problem begs to ask the question if it may be the power supply or monitor/TV that you are using that may be the problem. I've personally never heard of any "red screen" problem with A8 computers, and I don't think it's a common problem, which leads me back to thinking it's not the computers but possibly one of the things I suggested above. Or possibly it's even whatever you are using for the connection to the TV/monitor (I assume it's a TV actually, since I think the 400 can only hook up to TV's via the RF output). Maybe it's the switchbox you are using to connect it to the TV? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cap5750 Posted April 17, 2005 Share Posted April 17, 2005 Hi..I have both an Atari 400 and 800 that only show a red screen when hooked up and powered on. Can anybody give me some details on what to look for if I open them up? Is this a common problem? I'm hoping it may be easy to fix. First time poster, by the way. I've got a decent collection, the 8-bit's and 7800 are my current drug of choice. Hope I can get some advice. thanks! 838661[/snapback] I don't have any suggestions on how to fix it. But I remember something like that happening to a brand new out-of-the-box Atari XL I bought after Christmas many years ago. I ended up taking it back to the store. Cap Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goochman Posted April 17, 2005 Share Posted April 17, 2005 Loose chips or a bad connection perhaps. Ive heard of folks who've had similar issues take them apart - blow the dust off everything, snap them back together and they worked - Could be done in 10 - 15 mins and prob worth it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sully70 Posted April 17, 2005 Author Share Posted April 17, 2005 Thanks..I'LL take it apart and clean out the dust, put it back together, etc. I tried different power cords like someone else suggested, but to no avail. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr-atari Posted April 18, 2005 Share Posted April 18, 2005 Looks like RAM failure. The 800 has 3 x 16 k boards? Try only 1 board of 16 k in bank 1 each time. If the problem stays for all 3 boards, you are facing a hardware problem. Not easy to fix. The 400 has also 1 board of 16k (or 8k) under the hood. Remove and replace with a good one from the 800. Hope to be of help. Sijmen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin72 Posted April 18, 2005 Share Posted April 18, 2005 Hi, Do you see any difference at your tv set when you switch on the computer? Because the problem occurs at both of your computers, maybe there´s something wrong with the power supply or the tv cable to your tv. In the 400 and 800 there´s a seperate processor card in it. Maybe there's some dirt at the contacts of the card or at the connector of the motherboard. It is also possible when you have a red screen, the processor is out of order. I have seen this at some atari 600xl's. Martin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krupkaj Posted April 18, 2005 Share Posted April 18, 2005 What I know from XE line. There is only red screen, when POKEY doesn't work properly. But I am not sure it is the same for 800 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sully70 Posted April 26, 2005 Author Share Posted April 26, 2005 I've given up on these for now, and will fix them in the future.Thanks for the responses! Sully Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shrackney1 Posted April 11, 2008 Share Posted April 11, 2008 I have a 600XL that I just got that is doing the same thing. I only tried it a couple of times, but it always comes to a red screen. I hooked it up to my 800XL set up (meaning, the cables are all working) and all I saw was red. does the POKEY chip need to be replaced if that is a potential problem? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
puppetmark Posted April 11, 2008 Share Posted April 11, 2008 I have a 600XL that I just got that is doing the same thing. I only tried it a couple of times, but it always comes to a red screen. I hooked it up to my 800XL set up (meaning, the cables are all working) and all I saw was red. does the POKEY chip need to be replaced if that is a potential problem? I would reseat all the chips first. If that doesn't work its probably POKEY or RAM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atariksi Posted April 12, 2008 Share Posted April 12, 2008 I have a 600XL that I just got that is doing the same thing. I only tried it a couple of times, but it always comes to a red screen. I hooked it up to my 800XL set up (meaning, the cables are all working) and all I saw was red. does the POKEY chip need to be replaced if that is a potential problem? I had an 800XL with a reddish screen and it turned out to be a dead ROM chip. I have a 600XL with a reddish screen but it still works-- you can see the characters slightly and after swapping chips with the 800XL it turns out it's a bad video buffer chip... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.