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Atari 800 newbie - AtariMax game cartridge problems

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Paul-VT

Member
Joined
May 30, 2018
Messages
41
Location
Vermont, USA
Okay so I know absolutely nothing about Atari computers. So, for some really strange reason I just had to go and buy one from ebay.

It's an Atari 800 with 4 cards installed - one ROM and 3 RAM. It came with a Donkey Kong cartridge and everything works great! I even went and got me an official Lou Reed style Red Joystick. In fact Donkey Kong worked so well I spent fifty bucks on an Atarimax cartridge with an assortment of games.

Sadly, although the menu works, none of the games on the Atarimax cartridge work. I either get a message that says "This game requires 64K" (which I understand) or a screen full of garbage characters or a rolling out-of-sync signal on the TV.

What's the deal with that? Did I get a PAL version? Bad ROM?
 
Paul-VT said:
Sadly, although the menu works, none of the games on the Atarimax cartridge work. I either get a message that says "This game requires 64K" (which I understand) or a screen full of garbage characters or a rolling out-of-sync signal on the TV.
Click to expand...
As always with such questions, please tell us *which* games you were trying. Otherwise, we can't really help you. You may have just tried games that all need 64k to work or are not compatible with the old CTIA that your 800 may have (before 1982).
 
If it is the original Atari 800 then I had the same issue with mine until I did this mod:

WUDSN - 8-bits are enough - Atari 800 Fix

The home of the WUDSN ursel demo group and WUDSN IDE, the free Eclipse based development environment for all 6502 based systems like Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Atari VCS, C64 and NES.
www.wudsn.com www.wudsn.com

The second cartridge slot circuitry was messing it up and not allowing it to function correctly. Try this mod out if you have the ability to and it should solve your issues or trade it in for an Atari 800xl.
 
mbliss11 said:
If it is the original Atari 800 then I had the same issue with mine until I did this mod:

WUDSN - 8-bits are enough - Atari 800 Fix

The home of the WUDSN ursel demo group and WUDSN IDE, the free Eclipse based development environment for all 6502 based systems like Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Atari VCS, C64 and NES.
www.wudsn.com www.wudsn.com

The second cartridge slot circuitry was messing it up and not allowing it to function correctly. Try this mod out if you have the ability to and it should solve your issues or trade it in for an Atari 800xl.
Click to expand...
Yes, it's an original 800. Built like a tank and slightly yellowed. I will try the mod you suggested. Thank you :)
 
Paul-VT said:
Okay so I know absolutely nothing about Atari computers. So, for some really strange reason I just had to go and buy one from ebay.

It's an Atari 800 with 4 cards installed - one ROM and 3 RAM. It came with a Donkey Kong cartridge and everything works great! I even went and got me an official Lou Reed style Red Joystick. In fact Donkey Kong worked so well I spent fifty bucks on an Atarimax cartridge with an assortment of games.

Sadly, although the menu works, none of the games on the Atarimax cartridge work. I either get a message that says "This game requires 64K" (which I understand) or a screen full of garbage characters or a rolling out-of-sync signal on the TV.

What's the deal with that? Did I get a PAL version? Bad ROM?
Click to expand...
No, you got an AtariMax thats targeting either the 800XL or 130XE - these machines have 64k ram as a minimum. The 800 normally has 48k of ram. It can be upgraded to have more - check with "thebrewingcompany.com" or "best-electronics-ca.com". You might want to peruse "atariwiki.org/wiki/" as well.
 
rjm957 said:
No, you got an AtariMax thats targeting either the 800XL or 130XE - these machines have 64k ram as a minimum. The 800 normally has 48k of ram. It can be upgraded to have more - check with "thebrewingcompany.com" or "best-electronics-ca.com". You might want to peruse "atariwiki.org/wiki/" as well.
Click to expand...
Weird, thebrewingcompany.com for me, no longer exists. Redirects to https://emall.ca/

I heard a simple memory upgrade will not work for most titles. You need an INCOGNITO
lotharek.pl

Lotharek.pl - INCOGNITO Atari 800

Ultimate/SIDE2 combo for ATARI 800
lotharek.pl lotharek.pl
 
Thanks for clearing that up, but brewingacademy.com blocks too! LOL.
I am pretty sure my VPN (privatevpn) has been blacklisted. I use the VPN for my entire
home network, so I am not taking it down to connect to brewingacademy.com , no
matter how cool they might be.
Screenshot from 2023-07-13 06-28-12.png
 
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