2600 Seems to Work in Background - Video Problem

[ebinsugewa]

Hi all,

I've combed through a lot of posts here and on Google, and I can't seem to come up with a fix for this problem. When I turn the system on with no cart, I get a black screen, no muss no fuss. When I insert a game, I can see small parts of it clearly in the background, but there's a ton of black and white horizontal bars that are vertically scrolling over it. I have tried multiple carts, power supplies, and AV cables to no avail. Nothing seems to be out of place/broken/missing on the board, but my electronics knowledge is limited, so I'm not 100% sure. The A203 chip in the lower-left seems to have some sort of white goop underneath it, I have no idea what that is. I'm running it through one of those old-school AV game switches to RF, but I don't think the box/AV cable is the problem, since everything seems to work fine without a cart. I've tried cleaning the carts with alcohol, and that hasn't helped. A lot of people seem surprised when someone posts that they're having a problem with an Atari, so I figured maybe this is solveable.

Thanks.

[alec006]

Ok,so when you turn the system on without a cart can you see the blue and or yellow vertical lines on the left and right sides of the screen? Honestly I think the main problem is your old switch box those can go out over time. Best thing to do is replace those with a coax F adapter which are fairly cheap so you can have a direct input from your Atari to your TV. Also an automatic switch box won't work with an Atari. You can get the adapter from Radioshack for about $5.

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103471

http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m137/darkknux_2006/FAdapter.jpg