10 replies to this topic

[diamondeyes33]

I used to have an Atari 800XL as a kid and still have loads of games so I recently purchased a "TESTED AND WORKING ATARI 800 XL" along with a boxed disc drive, tape deck and numerous games off ebay, however when I switch it on it goes straight into "Self Test" mode and when I try and press one of the silver buttons ie. start, select etc... it just crashes!
Since my purchase I have seen that this seller has received 4 negative feedbacks, 3 of them for items sold and not working
I have a feeling it's terminal Could anyone help me please, is it off to the computer graveyard or can this problem be resolved?

[Rybags]

Probably some dodgy RAM.

Try opening up the machine and make sure all the chips are seated properly, no bad solder joints, etc.

[diamondeyes33]

Rybags, on Sun Apr 9, 2006 6:26 PM, said:

Probably some dodgy RAM.

Try opening up the machine and make sure all the chips are seated properly, no bad solder joints, etc.

Thanks for that
I am going to e-mail the seller first before opening up the unit and see what he's prepared to do about it (not very hopeful!).
If I don't get anywhere with him then I will certainly try what you have suggested. If after doing the above it still doesn't work can the RAM be replaced if I'm lucky enough to be able to find any???

[MEtalGuy66]

diamondeyes33, on Sun Apr 9, 2006 3:08 PM, said:

Rybags, on Sun Apr 9, 2006 6:26 PM, said:

Probably some dodgy RAM.

Try opening up the machine and make sure all the chips are seated properly, no bad solder joints, etc.

Thanks for that
I am going to e-mail the seller first before opening up the unit and see what he's prepared to do about it (not very hopeful!).
If I don't get anywhere with him then I will certainly try what you have suggested. If after doing the above it still doesn't work can the RAM be replaced if I'm lucky enough to be able to find any???

I would open it first and reseat the chips. Rybags is right. 800xls have al socketed chips. Chances are, the shipping carrier just slammed it around a bit too much. You are talking about 20 year old chips in 20 year old sockets. THey work their way loose just from TYPING on the thing, eventualy. Also, 20 years worth of oxidization in the sockets. Chances are, all it needs is a good "reseating".. Just pop the cover off, and press down firmly on each chip until you here it "crackle" or "squeak".. This is worth doing before calling the seller and wasting a costly trip through the mail back to him, especialy if what youy want is for the 800XL to work. CHances are, its never been apart and had this done, and once the chips are reseated, it will never happen again (or not for another 20 years anyway).. Usually, if its the ram, it goes straight into the RAM portion of self-test. That sounds possibly like a bad conection at the system rom chip or basic rom chip.

[Bryan]

only about half of the 800xl's I've seen have socketed chips.

-Bry

[MEtalGuy66]

Bryan, on Sun Apr 9, 2006 4:46 PM, said:

only about half of the 800xl's I've seen have socketed chips.

-Bry

Really ? Ive only ever seen 1 that wasnt socketed, and I assumed it was because it was from overseas. I dont know how many exactly Ive seen. But I personally did 256k expansions on quite a few back in the day. It was a very popular machine in our old user group.

[Almost Rice]

MEtalGuy66, on Sun Apr 9, 2006 10:04 PM, said:

Bryan, on Sun Apr 9, 2006 4:46 PM, said:

only about half of the 800xl's I've seen have socketed chips.

-Bry

Really ? Ive only ever seen 1 that wasnt socketed, and I assumed it was because it was from overseas. I dont know how many exactly Ive seen. But I personally did 256k expansions on quite a few back in the day. It was a very popular machine in our old user group.

I have 2 socketed and 2 non socketed. The non socketed are later Tramel era ones with Basic Rev C.

[diamondeyes33]

MEtalGuy66, on Sun Apr 9, 2006 10:32 PM, said:

diamondeyes33, on Sun Apr 9, 2006 3:08 PM, said:

Rybags, on Sun Apr 9, 2006 6:26 PM, said:

Probably some dodgy RAM.

Try opening up the machine and make sure all the chips are seated properly, no bad solder joints, etc.

Thanks for that
I am going to e-mail the seller first before opening up the unit and see what he's prepared to do about it (not very hopeful!).
If I don't get anywhere with him then I will certainly try what you have suggested. If after doing the above it still doesn't work can the RAM be replaced if I'm lucky enough to be able to find any???

I would open it first and reseat the chips. Rybags is right. 800xls have al socketed chips. Chances are, the shipping carrier just slammed it around a bit too much. You are talking about 20 year old chips in 20 year old sockets. THey work their way loose just from TYPING on the thing, eventualy. Also, 20 years worth of oxidization in the sockets. Chances are, all it needs is a good "reseating".. Just pop the cover off, and press down firmly on each chip until you here it "crackle" or "squeak".. This is worth doing before calling the seller and wasting a costly trip through the mail back to him, especialy if what youy want is for the 800XL to work. CHances are, its never been apart and had this done, and once the chips are reseated, it will never happen again (or not for another 20 years anyway).. Usually, if its the ram, it goes straight into the RAM portion of self-test. That sounds possibly like a bad conection at the system rom chip or basic rom chip.

Hia, thanks for all your help. I have just reseated all the chips and closed the machine back up and it still does exactly the same any more suggestions (apart from throw it out) on what it could be or if it is salvageable.
I would love to hear from anyone who has any more advice.
Cheers
Mandy

[classics]

diamondeyes33, on Sun Apr 9, 2006 4:13 PM, said:

I used to have an Atari 800XL as a kid and still have loads of games so I recently purchased a "TESTED AND WORKING ATARI 800 XL" along with a boxed disc drive, tape deck and numerous games off ebay, however when I switch it on it goes straight into "Self Test" mode and when I try and press one of the silver buttons ie. start, select etc... it just crashes!
Since my purchase I have seen that this seller has received 4 negative feedbacks, 3 of them for items sold and not working
I have a feeling it's terminal Could anyone help me please, is it off to the computer graveyard or can this problem be resolved?

Does it go to the SELF-TEST menu, or does the ROM/RAM test start automatically?

[diamondeyes33]

It goes straight into the self test screen and doesn't get any further, if you scroll through the options and choose to run one of the tests it just locks up, then nothing works, when you try and reset it, it goes straight back into self test and you can scroll through the options again, and so it goes on...

[pkblack]

I think it only goes into the test program if there is no basic cart so there maybe something wrong with the built in basic??