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How to Fix Atari 400&800 with Red Screen?


Sully70

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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!

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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?

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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

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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.

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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

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  • 2 years later...

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?

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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

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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...

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