Atari 7800 Help

[Luke]

Just received my Atari 7800 that I bought from a user here, and I can't get the console to turn on. I could are less if I come off as a rube, but there is power button on the thing. From right to left there are buttons labeled:
Pause Pause Select Reset

I've tried all buttons with the switch on the back on both the square and circle setting.

Help!

[pepharytheworm]

Sometimes on mine I have to press the power button for just the right amount of time for it to come on, usually a full second. Is the light even blinking on for a bit?

[noiseredux]

fuckin' rube.

[Luke]

Sometimes on mine I have to press the power button for just the right amount of time for it to come on, usually a full second. Is the light even blinking on for a bit?

Can't get it to blink yet. It's only been out of the box for 10 minutes, and I trust the seller, I might just need to tinker with it.

[Luke]

fuckin' rube.

I know. It's pathetic.

[pepharytheworm]

If its the power supply you're screwed. They are hard to come by.

[Ack]

Do you have the manual?

If not, it might help. I found a text version on the Internet, in case you don't have it. Unfortunately I don't know anything about the 7800, so I don't think I can offer much more help.

Here it is:

http://www.atari7800.org/manuals/7800_NTSC.htm

[Golgo 14]

Just received my Atari 7800 that I bought from a user here, and I can't get the console to turn on. I could are less if I come off as a rube, but there is power button on the thing. From right to left there are buttons labeled:
Pause Pause Select Reset

I've tried all buttons with the switch on the back on both the square and circle setting.

Help!

If the buttons are labeled from right to left as Pause Pause Select Reset, then someone has cracked this system open at some point and changed some stuff around. The leftmost button (first pause) is your power button. Press it for all your worth for a 10 seconds and see if that turns your red light on. Yes!

Anyway, if the system was opened and modified it might be because there was a problem with the power button to begin with. I have a 7800 with a similar problem. I opened it up and cleaned it with a q-tip and that helped a little bit, though it's still temperamental. Hopefully it doesn't come to that for you.

[Hobie-wan]

Do you have a multimeter to check the PS to see if its working, or if you don't, does it at least get warm if its plugged in for a while?

[Luke]

First off, my thanks to everyone who has offered suggestions.

Do you have a multimeter to check the PS to see if its working, or if you don't, does it at least get warm if its plugged in for a while?

No, and yes.

If its the power supply you're screwed. They are hard to come by.

Fart. If by power supply you mean AC adapter, yup.


I can get a flicker of light from the console if I bend the AC wire that is closest to the console. If the wire bends a little, the console shuts off. I don't want to bend the wire and screw up the whole AC adapter cord though.