dauber Posted April 15, 2017 Report Share Posted April 15, 2017 So I have an Atari 7800 with a very tight cartridge port, BUT: This is NOT the usual cartridge port tightness that can be cured by cutting or removing the plastic band around the cartridge port. This is not the usual "Activision/Imagic cartridges are a tight fit" situation. Atari 2600 cartridges are absolutely fine. They go in and out without a care. Just like on any Atari 2600. But Atari 7800 cartridges? Forget it: they're so tight that I actually popped the motherboard out of place just by removing a cartridge. I even tried completely removing the plastic band around the cartridge port so that all that was left was the bare cartridge port, completely exposed. Still nothing. It's got a death grip on the cartridge PCB and doesn't want to let it go. Anybody know of a way to fix this problem? I posted about this on AtariAge, and most I got was, "I heard there's a way to fix that." But nothing further... GRay Defender, Sabertooth and Rowsdower70 3 Quote Supernatural, perhaps...baloney, perhaps not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickR Posted April 15, 2017 Report Share Posted April 15, 2017 Is it tight going in, or just pulling out? OMG, please no sexual jokes on this post please. If it's just on the pulling out...I'd suspect the little flap inside the cart port. You can try removing the cart port cover from the motherboard and simply remove the flap (and then put the cover back on). Rowsdower70 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dauber Posted April 15, 2017 Author Report Share Posted April 15, 2017 The flap/cover is not the issue. Again, even after completely removing it, it's still tight. Tight when putting a 7800 cartridge into the port, and even tighter when attempting to remove it from the port. (There. Only a single entendre. ) Rowsdower70 1 Quote Supernatural, perhaps...baloney, perhaps not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrekMD Posted April 16, 2017 Report Share Posted April 16, 2017 That's weird. I wouldn't expect having difficulty taking out the carts unless there was an issue with the mechanism in the carts but, from what you say, that's not it either. Quote 🖖 Going to the final frontier, gaming... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickR Posted April 16, 2017 Report Share Posted April 16, 2017 So it's just a bare cartridge port? Nothing but a thin black strip in which you can see the pins? Can you show us a picture? Sounds like a close examination should show that some of the pins (probably on the ends for the 7800 carts) are pushed together or have come out of their slots. You should be able to use a small straight screwdriver to separate (or bend back) the offender once you find it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrossBow Posted April 17, 2017 Report Share Posted April 17, 2017 Sounds to me like the openings on the left and right hand side to allow the pegs to go through aren't at the proper width and might be too tight. Might see if you can take a dremel with the small routing bit or use a small bar file and see if you can widen those spaces a bit? NM I just read where you actually removed that and it still holds onto the carts too tight. I wouldn't normally suggest this, but here goes. How about putting in a 7800 cart and then forcibly moving it back and forth front to back? Do that quite a bit and it should bend all pins and wear them out a bit. The other idea is to just leave the carts plugged in when done playing to form the pins out as well. Also you said only 7800 games are tight right? So that tells me it is the pins on either the left or right side where the extra PCB part is used by 7800 games. See if you can figure out which side it is...unless it is both sides and just try to free them up a bit. Quote See what I'm up to over at the Ivory Tower Collections: http://www.youtube.com/ivorytowercollections Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dauber Posted April 17, 2017 Author Report Share Posted April 17, 2017 I think you're right there. It's definitely in the sides that pins only from 7800 carts would use. I'm thinking it's the set on the left. I tried with a bare Pole Position II board and it felt loose all the way across except on the left... Quote Supernatural, perhaps...baloney, perhaps not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrossBow Posted April 20, 2017 Report Share Posted April 20, 2017 I think you're right there. It's definitely in the sides that pins only from 7800 carts would use. I'm thinking it's the set on the left. I tried with a bare Pole Position II board and it felt loose all the way across except on the left... Any headway on this? Quote See what I'm up to over at the Ivory Tower Collections: http://www.youtube.com/ivorytowercollections Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dauber Posted April 22, 2017 Author Report Share Posted April 22, 2017 None so far... Quote Supernatural, perhaps...baloney, perhaps not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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