Hey guys. Long story short, since I've been working on this for days straight... My Atari 2600A (Vader) has some serious video output issues. I switched out the RCA cable, better but not by much. I am using a 3rd party power cable. (from china... could this be it?) Here's a video of what it looks like. Here's my board: http://i.imgur.com/jEHthWI.jpg I realized with much tinkering that if I place some fingers on the lower right hand metal casing, and a finger or two on the rca cable, the static COMPLETELY goes away. Video: I got the Atari for $50 boxed up... Spent about $20 trying to make it look better... Very down in the dumps about it. I'm willing to try stuff, but I can't really spend anymore on it unless someone knows for sure what is up. I'd ship it to someone... if it comes to that... but I can't really pay much, so please help me out guys. Thanks so much for reading. I've tried asking at AtariAge but honestly no one knows this stuff like you guys.
Are you using an RF Switch? If so, that's your problem You can use a simple RCA to Coax adapter to avoid the snow. It will also give a better picture too. They are like $5 on ebay and amazon. RadioShack should have them for cheaper now that they have those sales going on. I had this problem with my mom's 7800. I simply swapped the RF Switch for those adapters and it cured the problem.
I wonder if the system's RF modulator is going out then. You could replace it with one from another Atari 2600 and see if it clears up. I'm sure they're are some people here who have had their consoles modded for Composite Video and S-Video that could send one your way. The Composite video and S-Video mods could be an option if you are willing to install them or have them installed.
Well see the thing is, as shown in the second video, the console can still output perfect looking video. I don't really think it's anything along those lines... but then again what do I know :/
To be honest, I don't know much about the 2600. I'm just doing standard troubleshooting lol. Since you were able to get rid of the noise, I'm guessing it must be a problem with the RF modulator. Maybe it isn't seated or grounded properly? Hopefully someone more knowledgeable could help out here?
Oh really? I haven't really had anyone connect the getting rid of the noise to the Rf modulator... If someone can confirm this or even be so kind as to send me an unneeded on that would be great!
