RickR

In. Thanks.

I love this! Thanks so much for this info. LOVE IT.

I have the power base converter and a real SMS gamepad, and it works well.

I have never owned any GB or GBA multi carts. Odd birds indeed. This one is very interesting, thanks for sharing!!!! 

Wow never heard of a multi cart with that kind of select set up. Thats a shame. I would love to play super marioland but 31 times you gotta press that button. Id probably just play tetris over and over again

That's such a strange game select mechanic!


I have seen multi-cart GB carts before, but not that one.    

I've just reviewed Atari.io!
 

I have the power base converter and a real SMS gamepad, and it works well.

In. Thanks.

I have the power base converter and a real SMS gamepad, and it works well.

In. Thanks.

Yes. It works really well. Ive been playing with it for a few days now

In. Thanks.

In. Thanks.

Yes! You must.

SWEET!!!!
 
I'm envious.

Todays goodwill find. It was supposed to be $8.50, but the cashier said "isnt there supposed to be another piece to the power plug?" I said yea. So she took 50% off.
 
But as you can see its pretty beat up. Im gonna try it out tonight. Hopefully it works.

I love this! Thanks so much for this info. LOVE IT.

On both 6 & 4 switch systems, ripple current plays a very large roll in picture quality and longevity of components. Especially on the 2 input caps, which are .22uf on the 6 switch and .1uf on the 4 switch units. Sometimes seen in pairs, sometimes not, based on the rev level of the board - we'll get to that :-)
 
Further, electrolytic caps degrade from spec after about 10 years - weather they're in service or not. Electrolytic caps have a shelf life, and that big fat 2200uf filter cap can cause some nasty issues with your picture for sure. That little .47uf cap will put a snowstorm and bright spots on the screen as well. 
 
Recently, I've seen MANY folks converting to composite on these systems, with mixed results. Not all AV kits are created equally and some are better than others, but simply shotgunning one of these kits into a 2600 is unlikely to solve the underlying issues the unit has.  It's a  garbage in, garbage out principal.
 
Simply changing from RF to composite won't do you much good if your still amplifying line noise and ripple by pushing a signal through failed caps. 
 
Besides that, a properly adjusted 2600 with a good RF cable can be crystal clear.  I'm more of a purist, but that's just me. The same principal and outcome will hold true for RF or composite.
 
There's another issue, and it relates to the filter or "snubber caps" as they're sometimes referred to. Here's the real deal - they're sacrificial. They're purpose is to take the hit and protect the voltage regulator, 2200uf filter cap and the 9v unregulated reference downstream (on the 4 switch models). As they take hits over the years, they break down and ripple current begins to bleed through - breaking down the 7805 5v voltage regulator.
 
On a final note, Atari was cheap, but unpredictable. They cut corners in some places (removing components) and adding strange ones (aluminum shielding on the 4 switch switches during service and later factory installed). 
 
One of the price cutting measures they took was to remove a blanking resistor from all 4 switch models up to version 16 on the boards.  This resistor had existed as an 680ohm part strung between pins 6 & 9 of the TIA chip and added those eye popping colors we love so much.  In 1982, Atari released a service bulletin "Tech Tip 4" that gave service guys the option of adding this resistor back as an optional billable part during service. In practice, we just added it anyway because the cost was negligible and we were in there anyway, and it makes a HUGE improvement to the picture quality on 4 switch units. The tech tip specified an 820ohm resistor was to be used, soldered between pins 6 & 9 of the TIA on the underside of the board. 
 
The last high failure point is the power jack - they should have used Switchcraft jacks, they were making them at the time, but they cost a bit more. 
Here's how to fix all of it. 
 
On the Heavy sixer
 
Switchboard:
Replace C103 & C104 with a .22uf 100v or better mylar cap - regardless of what you find there. 
Replace C106 with a 2200uf 16v or higher electrolytic cap 
Replace A101 with a 7805 Voltage Regulator
Replace C105 with a 4.7uf 35v or higher electrolytic cap
 
Mainboard: 
Replace C201 with a 4.7uf 35v or higher electrolytic cap
Replace J201 with a  Switchcraft jack
 
On the Light Sixer
 
Switchboard:
Replace C103 with a .22uf 100v or better mylar cap - regardless of what you find there. 
Replace C106 with a 2200uf 16v or higher electrolytic cap 
Replace A101 with a 7805 Voltage Regulator
Replace C105 with a 4.7uf 35v or higher electrolytic cap
Mainboard: 
Replace C201 with a 4.7uf 35v or higher electrolytic cap
Replace J201 with the Switchcraft jack 
 
4 switch units - both woody and Vader variants rev 1-16
 
Replace C241 & 242 with a .1uf 100v or better mylar cap - regardless of what you find there. Versions 8's will almost always have ceramic disk... replace them with mylar. 
Replace C243 with a 2200uf 16v or higher electrolytic cap 
Replace A203 with a 7805 Voltage Regulator
Replace C201 & C214 with a 4.7uf 35v or higher electrolytic cap
Replace J201 with a Switchcraft jack
IF you have a 4 switch unit AND your board revision level is LESS THAN version 16, install the 820ohm resistor between pins 6 & 9 of the TIA chip on the SOLDER SIDE of the circuit board.
 
Other things to do while your in there...
 
On 6 switch units:
reflow solder on the cables connecting the swithboard and motherboard. The flex and move every time the unit is moved. 
 
All units:
Have a look at all of solder points on the 3 big IC's (CPU, TIA & RIOT) and reflow the joints if you need to. Pro tip - almost ALL TIA chips need a reflow - cold or cracked joints here will give you a very ratty picture, even if the unit is functioning. 
 
Flow new solder on the connector for the RF unit. (3 or 5 pin)
 
Reflow ALL pins on the joystick ports and switches. 
 
Disassemble and clean or use contact cleaner on all switches. There were 2 types of switches used for channel select and difficulty - one is easy to take apart and clean... the other you're better off just replacing it.  
 
Unless you have a need to - I.E. no sound... STAY AWAY from the 2 polystyrene sound caps @ C206 & C207 - they are devilishly hard to solder without damaging them if you don't know your you're doing, and unless you use temp control on your iron and a clipable heat sink on the upper leads of the caps. 
 
In order of failure - RIOT, TIA and then CPU - just speaking from my experience here, YMMV 
 
Image below shows where to solder the 820ohm resistor on 4 switch boards.
 
 
I've posted SOME of this recently elsewhere, but I hope some folks here can make use of it - 

I've got a nice little project to work on.  A 2600 4 switch board that needs one of the joystick ports replaced.  I've got a new port.  But not the confidence to de-solder and remove the old part. 

What do you use as a de-solder tool?  I've got both copper braid, and one of those clicky thumb sucker tools (it's never been opened -- never used it).  No rush or anything, I was just curious which would be the better bet.  My plan was just to try both and see with works best.  After all, there are 9 pins to experiment on. 

Fantastic to have a repair expert here.  I know I could always use help and advice.  Welcome!

I've found a really odd one here.  It looks like some kind of Japanese bootleg multicart.  I can't find any information on the internet about it, so I thought I'd share here.  The label has a couple of track rats on it, and there's a little rubber button on the cart.  There's no menu in the game...you have to push the button the correct number of times to get to each game.  For example, to get to "Dr Mario", you'd turn the unit on and push the button 12 times.  That's kind of awful, because the button is a little too sensitive. 
 
Here's the list of games.  There's some really good titles here, and some wonderful games that are very Japanese. 
 
1 Mahjong tile game
2 Klax
3 Loopz
4 Tetris
5 Hyper Lode Runner
6 Match Mania
7 Alleyway
8 Daedalian
9 Amida
10 Pala medes
11 Koro Dice
12 Dragon Slayer
13 Dr Mario
14 World Bowling
15 Q Billion
16 Space Invaders
17 Pitman
18 Flipull
19 Tennis
20 Serpent
21 Flappy Special
22 Tasmania Story
23 Trump Boy
24 Hong Kong
25 Pipe Dream
26 Ishido The Way of Stones
27 VolleyFire
28 Sokoban 2
29 Battle City
30 Heiankyo Alien
31 Super Marioland

Mine is really old and comes with an external power adapter.  A lot of them plug into the cassette port for power, which is fine too.  I don't think it really matters which one you get....just get one that you think looks good.  It will most likely come from somewhere in Europe -- not sure why that is. 
 
I might just make a video at some point to show you how quickly games load with no Fast Load cart needed.  It's amazing really, considering how long a real disk drive takes.  It's like 30 seconds for a game like MULE

I don't think I have much "Not for resale" items.  The only one I can think of is Sonic for Genesis. 

I've found a really odd one here.  It looks like some kind of Japanese bootleg multicart.  I can't find any information on the internet about it, so I thought I'd share here.  The label has a couple of track rats on it, and there's a little rubber button on the cart.  There's no menu in the game...you have to push the button the correct number of times to get to each game.  For example, to get to "Dr Mario", you'd turn the unit on and push the button 12 times.  That's kind of awful, because the button is a little too sensitive. 
 
Here's the list of games.  There's some really good titles here, and some wonderful games that are very Japanese. 
 
1 Mahjong tile game
2 Klax
3 Loopz
4 Tetris
5 Hyper Lode Runner
6 Match Mania
7 Alleyway
8 Daedalian
9 Amida
10 Pala medes
11 Koro Dice
12 Dragon Slayer
13 Dr Mario
14 World Bowling
15 Q Billion
16 Space Invaders
17 Pitman
18 Flipull
19 Tennis
20 Serpent
21 Flappy Special
22 Tasmania Story
23 Trump Boy
24 Hong Kong
25 Pipe Dream
26 Ishido The Way of Stones
27 VolleyFire
28 Sokoban 2
29 Battle City
30 Heiankyo Alien
31 Super Marioland