Does My Atari 800XL Still Work???

[@activemotionpictures]

In all of my years and blog reads, I've never known about the graphics mode 13:03. This is like re-discovering hot water. Thank you so much!

[@takeomack2782]

One the the absolutely best videos I’ve seen recently! I’m getting my 800xl out tonight...❤️👍

[@GregsGameRoom]

Thanks man, appreciate the kind words!

[@takeomack2782]

Thank you buddy! This video was my whole youth...except I LOVED Star Raiders! 🤓

[@emilygrae]

Always wonderful seeing the Atari 8bit computers. My first computer was the 800 (not XL). Mine still works too but it's missing the G key. I know exactly what you mean about getting it hooked up and working on it directly but these days when I want to fool around with that stuff I just use the emulator I have on my Mac. Also, If I'm remembering correctly, Graphics 7 only has 4 colors, 0 to 3. You could change those 4 colors to be whatever colors you wanted, but you really only had 4 colors available at a time. For some reason it loops around so color 5 is color 1, because looped around color 4 is color 0 and 5 is color 1 and so on. That's why it didn't change color when you said color 9, because 5 + 4 = 9. Thank you for getting your Atari 800XL out and showing it to us! My favourite cartridge games I owned for mine were StarRaiders and Miner 2049. On disk it was Ballblazer and Rescue on Fractalus (which somebody remade in 2018!).

[@GregsGameRoom]

The person who gave me the 400 & XEGS also gave me his copy of Bounty Bob Strikes back. Not as rare as the 5200 version but actually better because of the controls. Anyway thanks for watching. :-)

[@ramppage]

I've never owned one and wondered what they were like. Thanks for showing yours.

[@GregsGameRoom]

No problem. I only barely scratched the surface though

[@TampaJay]

That was so much fun to watch man, therapeutic even. No comment on your floppy drive tho 😜

[@GregsGameRoom]

Thanks buddy. Nice, calm and relaxing as I mentally scream inside about my floppy drive not working. ;-)

[@8bitrocketstudios]

Totally awesome! Problems and all!

[@GregsGameRoom]

Thanks, wanted to show the real experience. :-)

[@8bitrocketstudios]

@@GregsGameRoom Imagine a video game world where this 1979 machine (the 400 not the 800XL) was released with no keyboard but with the Start, Option, Select switches and a two button joystick. Get rid of the SIO port and you have a VCS follow in 1979 that was far far far ahead of the Intellivision. The Donkey Kong and Pac-Man that were for "Atari" (using the pejorative generic here) would have been these versions or even better and there would never have been the big public let down in 1982. This was days away from happening and for some reason it was canned and the VCS was used to "Sell Razor Blades" by the newly corporate Warner. We cover this in our next podcast of Into The Vertical Blank: Generation Atari.

[@GregsGameRoom]

@@8bitrocketstudios - It might not have been successful, who knows? People in 1979 barely knew what video games were so to have a way more advanced system that early might have been a shock! Anyway, yeah, I wish what became the XEGS had been released in 1979 instead of the 5200 in 1982. Might have been a much different world...

[@8bitrocketstudios]

@@GregsGameRoom I still love my XEGS, but yeah, it was a few years too late.

[@adm712]

Wow I can so relate to this video. Last weekend I unboxed my Atari 130 XE along with XF 551 disk drive which had been in storage since around 1996. It worked like a dream, even the old floppy disks ! Your reaction when it worked was my exact same reaction lol. You can find an RF Adapter for like 6 bucks on Amazon that can plug into any modern HD TV. Hope you enjoy!

[@Technoid_Mutant]

You can have four floppy drives as standard. The switches on the back of the drive are doubled up in such a way that if they are both set to the same side, you can't see one behind the other, like your ring and pinky finger seen from the side. If you move the front switch, you will reveal the rear one. They work to produce two bits of combinations, for four id's. The Atari can actually address eight drives on the SIO bus, but Atari did not see fit to put three switches in any of their drives. ICD and other sold a rom for the 1050, the US Doubler, that came in two versions: Drives 1 through 4 and another version that responded to id's 5 through eight. There's a video of someone on the web with 8 drives connected to his computer. Very cool. A drive with the 5-8 rom can't be the boot drive on a stock computer because it can't be set to Drive 1.... Of course there are swap utilities and such, but most games won't work with them. Your machine will boot and once dos is in memory it will hit the 'real' drive 1 and not find the disk and bomb. Check out the Ultimate 1mb and Side2 combination at www.Lotharek.pl. This is the Holy Grail of Atari 8-bit upgrades. I own several and think every Atari should have both of them installed. The Side2 is a nice gateway drug for the Ultimate 1mb (U1MB in Atari parlance). It gives you a hard disk and a bunch of other features in a cartridge. The HDD is a CF card that plugs into the Side2's CF slot. I use CF to SD adapters and have 16 gig on each of my modified machines. Get one and check out the "1meg Raytracing demo". The SIde2 and U1MB allow you to have up to 15 drives online at any moment, with another 127 callable at the push of a button. The partition size limit is 32meg, and you can read Fat16 partitions from the SPartados X command line as though they were native Atari partitions, which is real handy. THe Side and the U1MB will also read Fat32 partitions when in loader mode, so you can load all your favorite games that way too, navigable by keyboard or joystick using simple menus. Flashjazzcat, at www.Atari8.co.uk wrote the firmware for this and it is AWESOME.

[@GregsGameRoom]

Good info, thanks! I've never had more than one drive! lol

[@tharkthax3960]

Hi there, cool vid! You 1050 probably just needs it's head cleaned. Next would be grease the rails the head slides along. Clean drive select switch. Speed adjustment. Track zero sensor adjustment . Reseat main chips. Reseat internal connectors. Clean sio pins. Adjust stepper Test voltages, replace bad caps (I've fixed over 50 1050 drives and most had at least one bad cap) Most common is dirty heads and reseating chips. Hope this helps

[@SHUPIRATE1991]

Enjoyed that video! I have an 800xl on its way to me. I was an Apple 2c guy as a kid but I am excited to get into Atari 8bit gaming

[@tharkthax3960]

The 410 deck - The idler wheels commonly loose there grip, they can be cleaned, and also this deck with no buttons pressed is engaged internally on the main drive idler. If mem serves right it's best (once fixed) to leave play pressed down and pause when not in use as this prevents leaving a dent in the idler tyre. The belts will need changed certainly and the rewind spring often looses tension so it's good to replace it to. Also occasionally the caps can go due to there age. The 410 deck is a fair task to fix, but worth it 🙂

[@gamedoutgamer]

Good video! You've stored them well in that they have not yellowed much. The 1050 will very likely work with a good power supply. As was commented earlier by Jeffrey (he knows his stuff!) the fuses are probably blown. There is a chance the power components may have failed in the 1050 but it's probably a PSU issue. You might consider wrapping these devices in cloth and padding to minimize them scratching and banging against each other but it's your stuff. I enjoyed hearing your perspective and enthusiasm for the 800XL! Cheers

[@Technoid_Mutant]

Oh! I forgot. The 9vdc supply won't run the 1050. It will light the electronics up, but the 1050 uses voltage doublers to produce the 12vdc needed to run the drive motor and the stepper motor. Any supply from 9vac to 14vac will run the drive fine. The 9vac is a nominal figure anyway. The components in the 1050 are all rated to at least 16 volts, so there's a wide margin in sourcing new supplies. Here's one that will work: www.jameco.com/z/ADU090150A2231-AC-to-AC-Wall-Adapter-Transformer-9-Volt-1500mA-Black-Straight-2-5mm-Female-Plug_112336.html The 1050 pulls 1400ma at power-up with the heads in motion. This is a momentary pull, then it drops to 900ma. The Jameco transformer is just big enough. I've not had trouble with it and have used it on countless 1050's on my bench. The Atari standard supply is about twice as powerful, but that is more than is really needed. One more thing, you probably don't have a bad power supply. What happens is that there is a fuze on the output side of the supply, under the Atari emblem. Take a dremel tool and cut around the square atari emblem until you can remove it. Do a clean job so you can stick it back on and have it loo halfway decent. Inside, you will find a black tube with a solid, bare wire coming out of each end. Inside this rubber tube is your fuze. Clip the wires right up at the ends of the fuze, and remove it. Tin the bare ends of the wire and, after scuffing the ends of the new fuse (rating is 5amp, 250volt, Slow-Blow) on sandpaper, tin the ends of the fuse. Solder a wire to one end of the fuze, and another wire to the other end. Then solder the end of one wire to one of the tinner terminal ends you cut the old fuze away from, and dolder the end of the other wire to the only remaining terminal end. You now have a power supply that works. The fuzes don't blow all that frequently. It is indicative of a fault with the device it was connected to, or just chance. If your drive blows the fuze again, then you should look at the heat-sink compound linking the voltage regulators and power transistor to the heat sink and re-new it with some good quality heat sink compound. The capacitors in these drives were all good quality and rarely need replacement, so I would not look there first, unless there is something obviously fried about them. The goo at the base of these capacitors is not goo at all, it is hot glue Atari put there to keep the caps from shifting about in shipping and breaking leads, not goo from inside the caps. Call Cheeze Daddy's House of Funk BBS: Telnet/Syncterm (which does atascii!!) to atari8.us on port 10001. Remember to Logoff when you are done the first call, or the bbs will not save your account, will forget you ever called. God bless you all! OH, the same supply is also available on Amazon, if you have Prime it will save you money, here's the link: www.amazon.com/Reliapro-ADU090150A2231-Adapter-Transformer-Straight/dp/B00B886CWS/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=jameco+power&qid=1585122742&sr=8-3

[@GregsGameRoom]

Awesome, thank you!

[@tharkthax3960]

Yeah some have good nichicon caps. The failures I've found are the 'richey' branded ones. They often look 'bald', no bulging usually. When I find bad caps, I often replace the lot for the time and cost, just for longetivity. It's a good feeling bringing them back to life!

[@shaky6669]

One thing I hear about old tape decks and disk drives is that the rubber belts deteriorate with age and need to be replaced. That could be a good starting point to check, even if they're not broken they sat in that same position now for decades and are miss-shaped don't turn correctly. I'm sure there's some kind of kit that you can get or you can order the the rubber belt from Amazon or something like that with a part number probably on Atari age you can find that information.

[@GregsGameRoom]

I did have to fix this drive’s belt before by gumming it up so it would spin the rotor. I’ll probably do a follow up video covering the fix. ;-)

[@SinistarPro_Mike]

Everything looks to be in pretty good shape... I'd even say pristine! Perhaps the drives are an easy fix for sometime down the road.

[@GregsGameRoom]

Once this "thing" blows over, I'll be ordering a new power supply. I think that's the problem.

[@muttBunch]

I paused the video to say that is the cleanest 1050 I’ve ever seen since launch

[@GregsGameRoom]

Thanks! I’ve kept it covered and in a keeper box all this time

[@AnJah]

I never had any Atari computer systems in my collection but some day I need to get back to seeing if I can get my Coleco Adam to work. Unfortunately it's currently buried somewhere in my parents' basement.

[@GregsGameRoom]

The Adam is a weird system. Starting with: Why is the power button for the whole thing on the PRINTER?!

[@musclesmouse]

@@GregsGameRoom The power supply was in the printer

[@michaelstoliker971]

You can get new belts for the cassette player from the console5 website. Replacing belts in that device is not for the faint of heart.

[@GregsGameRoom]

If it comes apart cleanly I could do it no problem

[@michaelstoliker971]

@@GregsGameRoom There is a walk through on Atari Age. Still like playing Jenga with hammers.

[@Ori-Retro-Gamer]

Hi Greg nice Vid man! I have the same fond memories of my beloved 800XL i ended up giving mine away to a family friends kids and i need to get hold of one again in good condition. i wonder if the SIO ports have a 1st and 2nd?

[@GregsGameRoom]

I’ve given away some stuff in the past and regretted it

[@Ori-Retro-Gamer]

@@GregsGameRoom yeah man , if i can find a looked after XL that would be awsome, but still, its great that we have FPGAs, Mister etc, to relive the golden era of 8bit computing.

[@NerdThingsAndMore]

Good video thanks

[@musclesmouse]

That 400 probably has a 48/64K upgrade too. That light pen requires a CRT screeen. 1050 can do 4 drive choices. there are 2 switches in the opening. Drive will need new belts. Power adaptor to 1050 and 400 are the same. Dont use the 1050/400 power supply on a 5200. you will fry it. using a 5200 ps on 1050 is ok. 410 drive may need belts too. I am working from home so I have not broken out the old Ataris

[@GregsGameRoom]

Yeah, using a CRT for the pen. It’s always been kinda dodgy.

[@Bearcade]

Wow, I’d love this more that the 2600. Oh, with the tapes...if they have sat a while fast forward/ rewind them to keep the tension.

[@GregsGameRoom]

This architecture was certainly more advanced than the 2600!

[@digimikeh]

ahhhh atari days...

[@John-uc6gb]

So cool reminds me of what I did over 20 years ago. I should make a video too. This is great. Thank ypo

[@shaky6669]

Cool video! Kinda wish I accepted some of the Atari computers client's offered me over the years, but didn't so not to get in trouble at work.😉

[@GregsGameRoom]

Probably a safe practice

[@jameskelvin6720]

4:42 What is that high pitch frequency when you turn on the tv? It's like a dog whistle sound.

[@GregsGameRoom]

Probably the TV

[@jameskelvin6720]

@@GregsGameRoom well, I know it's the tv. 😛 What is producing that high pitch frequency in the tv?

[@tharkthax3960]

15khz. Fly back transformer I believe?

[@perinoid]

Really nice state.

[@perinoid]

And about the floppy - looks like you have mainly Basic programs there, so load the DOS disk first and then you will be able to access the files.

[@GregsGameRoom]

Thanks! Yeah, it's all BASIC stuff. Gotta get a new Power Supply, I think that's the problem.

[@perinoid]

@@GregsGameRoom No, PSU is OK. ~9VAC 1.5A is enough (9.3V makes no big difference). 1050 runs even on a Commodore C64 PSU, which gives 9VAC 1A (with a proper plug converter).

[@Veins1]

the manual had 3 programs you could type in the console. one of them was to type your name in big letters and see fireworks or something. i spent like 5 hours to type everything and felt overwhelming, like i wanted it to do more than that. still, i was like 7 and i could barely write anything.

[@CallousCoder]

I fixed mine a few months back and next week I have a video on the SIO2PC

[@thereasonforyou6728]

The way he saved the PSU units it´s not surprising a broken wire

[@Mokimanify]

Mine worked till 2014 :( Star Raiders .. I lost part of my childhood to that game

[@GregsGameRoom]

Funny, I didn't own a copy or know how awesome it was until I was about to move on to the Atari ST. Then someone from my college game me his old 8-bit games and I tried it. I was mad that I had missed out!

[@KLEARSKITHEKREEPER]

Nice..I would love to play some donkey kong on that if u got it going

[@GregsGameRoom]

Well, I have DK on cartridge and I played it in the video. ;-)

[@mixtapesforever1765]

Good video Good computer

[@iceowl]

be careful with those "brick" power supplies! when Atari realised they weren't making money from replacing power supplies with the 800XL because those were very easily repaired, they started potting the electronics in epoxy, and if one of these "brick" types blows up, it will take your computer with it. ps, if your tape drive hasn't been used in 30 years, it probably needs maintenance and cleaning. the tapes are probably fine.

[@dave4shmups]

Great video! I hope you get the disk drive working!

[@GregsGameRoom]

I’m thinking it’s the power supply, so I’m on the hunt for another one.

[@ASgfjyhgyi]

So many disks and no games??? U r unique!!!

[@GregsGameRoom]

Games on disk was a foreign concept to me coming from the Atari 2600!

[@patricioheresmann736]

Saludos desde Chile

[@GregsGameRoom]

Hola!

[@Technoid_Mutant]

You can reach me at the Atari 8-bit computers forum in facebook. I will fix your 1050. If you like, we can just swap drives, as I have several ready for shipping. All have been thoroughly serviced and upgraded to at least a US Doubler. You pay shipping, and the cost of the rom and ram for the US Doubler. Say shipping plus $15.00. There's nothing wrong with your 1050 that a little love won't fix, so I'm not worried about losing my shirt. I'll fix it, and probably without parts. BTW DONT EVER put that cleaning disk in another single-sided drive. It will snag the pressure pad on the drive and do harm. If you need to use it, put a peice of tape over the upper -side of the cleaning disk, to cover that aperture. I double-up a piece of clear tape, to make a gum-less surface, and then tape that to the aperture. The gumless part will let the cleaning disk rotate without getting it all gunky on that surface.

[@GregsGameRoom]

Great advice, thank you. I think a new PS will solve the problem. I’d never let the drive leave the house though, I’m very nostalgic for all my childhood stuff. ;-)

[@tharkthax3960]

Greetings! Nice to see someone else fixes Atari gear. I get a steady supply of 1050 drives and tape decks. I love helping to keep the retro gear alive!

[@MoviemaniaNick]

Wow floppy discs! lol Old school. Where is Oregon Trail? lol

[@GregsGameRoom]

Hmm... I’m sure there was an Atari version. Has to be...

[@michaelstoliker971]

The head in the drive probably needs a good clean. Take the top of the drive off and use a q-tip with iso-alcohol to wipe the head until it squeaks. I had to do this with every 1050 and XF-551 I bought recently. They all started working again.

[@GregsGameRoom]

Good advice!

[@John-uc6gb]

I mean "Thank you"

[@acalthu]

The 9V PSU was AC. You're lucky you didn't damage the drive by using it.

[@desarrollou71x72]

I see, Linus Tolvards likes Atari too..

[@orenmartin5431]

You need to push 2 button in the same time.....on computer ....