2600 Power Supply

Post by **SpongeBuell** » Wed Jun 14, 2006 5:14 pm

my guess the issue is a failed component, not a weak RF signal. Assuming it's not the TIA that's the problem, the A/V mod should bypass most of that.

As for instructions, http://www.benheck.com/book/support/Atari2600VidMod.htm

Electric Rain · Post by **Electric Rain** » Wed Jun 14, 2006 7:41 pm

Click here. This has a few different video mods and comparisons between them, but it hasn't been updated recently and there are several different mods not included here. Ben has revised his 2-3 times since then I believe. I'm going with the CD4050, myself. It's the best quality one out there, IMO. But it's also the most complicated, too. So which one you choose should depends on how good you are with a soldering iron, since video quality probably doesn't concern you. (Otherwise you would have done the mod a while ago, right?)

iX NES Xi · Post by **iX NES Xi** » Wed Jun 14, 2006 7:51 pm

Electric Rain wrote:Click here. This has a few different video mods and comparisons between them, but it hasn't been updated recently and there are several different mods not included here. Ben has revised his 2-3 times since then I believe. I'm going with the CD4050, myself. It's the best quality one out there, IMO. But it's also the most complicated, too. So which one you choose should depends on how good you are with a soldering iron, since video quality probably doesn't concern you. (Otherwise you would have done the mod a while ago, right?)

Well, I mostly dident do the mod because I was interested in keeping my 2600 as orginal as possible, I would still like to now its just that I'm starting to run out of solutions to get my 2600 working well

Electric Rain · Post by **Electric Rain** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 12:18 am

I understand... you're feeling a bit nostalgic about it, yes? Well, I think you can perform the mod without any permanent changes being made to your 2600, so that if the mod does not work, you can just "undo" it. (Desolder the added components.) If it does work, you'll either have to live with a few non-original parts being added in there and better video quality, or you can try to find the problem in the RF circuitry and just fix it.

The most I likely problem is a bad solder joint; look for any "cold" (cracked or dull looking) joints. You're bound to run into some since they're 20+ years old, but probably only one of them is bad enough to be causing a problem. The easiest way to fix cold joints is to simply re-melt them. When the solder dries the joint should look smooth and shiny. The not-as-easy-but-probably-more-effective way would be to remove the old solder and re-solder the joint with new solder. But like... wow.

Post by **SpongeBuell** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 12:57 am

Electric Rain wrote:The not-as-easy-but-probably-more-effective way would be to remove the old solder and re-solder the joint with new solder. But like... wow.

Actually, I would imagine that you are more likely to cause a short than to fix it, just touching it with the iron should work fine

Electric Rain · Post by **Electric Rain** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 1:03 am

Well, yeah. That's why it's not-so-easy.

But it's still better... don't you think one-month-old solder is better and less likely to go cold than 30-year-old solder?

It actually doesn't matter how old the previous joint is - you're always supposed to remove all of the solder from a bad joint and re-solder with new. I think it's because the flux evaporates from the solder the first time it's heated, so when you re-heat it it has less of a chance of bonding with the contact you're soldering... or something like that.

But it's way easier to re-heat the exsisting solder instead... so yeah... just do that.

iX NES Xi · Post by **iX NES Xi** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 7:40 am

I'm assuming that the RF circuitry is under the metal shielding that is in the middle and covers the cart slot as well?

Electric Rain · Post by **Electric Rain** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 4:12 pm

Well, I've actually never owned a 2600, let alone worked on one. So I don't really know where the problem might be. That metal box houses the inductors and other EMI sensitive parts... but I don't think the problem would be in there. If I were you I would fix every cold solder joint on the board.

iX NES Xi · Post by **iX NES Xi** » Sat Jun 17, 2006 8:37 pm

Well, me and my friend ran a series of tests on the console, basicly we dtached each others boards and plugged them using the ribbon cables in to various combinations, anyways we then cleaned the cart slot on mine with some fine grit sandpaper and the console started working perfectly, I mounted the new jack and ajusted the color pot today and it was working fine except for one problem. The color keeps alternating, for example Kaboom's playing field is green but for whatever reason it starts off green then it starts changing to various colors, (pink, purple, brown, is some) and then sometimes goes back to green. Does anyone know what might be causing this to happen?

iX NES Xi · Post by **iX NES Xi** » Sun Jun 18, 2006 9:57 am

nvm, its working good now

Electric Rain · Post by **Electric Rain** » Sun Jun 18, 2006 12:47 pm

Good.