Recently I picked up a 2-port 5200 complete in box with 16 games that were also complete in the box. Unfortunately the store I bought it from couldn't test it but I couldn't pass on the price as it looked pristine save for the system box that had a line of duct tape on it. One controller even has the protective clear plastic over the metal piece.
Got it home and cleaned the cart slot and a few cartridges then gave it a whirl. All I get is a screen with a bunch of vertical bars, like my 5200 was displaying a bar graph. No sound, no reaction to the controllers, nothing. The screen would go away after a bit. Sometimes I'd get a screen with a funny dashed green horizontal line at the top.
I noticed that the system was purchased from a thrift store (saw the label and the place's phone number inside the box) and 5200 4-port RF switch was in the box that allowed power to go through so part of me wonders if anyone might have hooked it up wrong and fried something.
I'll post images when I can but does anyone have an idea what could be up? Thanks!