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I have an Atari 2600 that does not appear turn on at all. I bought it from some guy in a garage sale. I believe he said it stopped working after a storm. I bought a new power supply in case the console had messed up the power supply (I thought the volt readings were off a volt or two).There is no picture or sound with and without a game on it.

I cracked the atari open to look at the electronics. The main board/ motherboard (revision B) seems fine while the controller board seems suspicious. The electrolytic capacitors look fine in comparison to a juicy looking (what I believe to be) a voltage regulator. I found a link for it here.

I am confused about the power circuity layout though. You have power from the power supply, going into the motherboard while going up to the controller board. I guess this means the motherboard is always on when power is applied? Anyways, I think everything on the controller board is grounded to regulator. Thanks for your time!

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If the power led doesn't turn on, your first suspect is the voltage regulator, as you have spotted. It's a very common one, 7805, easily found.

For any repairment attempt, however, it is very advisable to have, at least, a multimeter. With it, you can see whether the 7805 receives voltage input (left pin), whether this voltage is enough for the regulator to work (must be greater than 7V), and whether the output pin generates a proper 5V power supply.

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  • Thanks for the info! there is no power led unfortunately but I checked it out with a meter and got 5.02v. I am now assuming that it is a bad cap on the main board, video chip, or rf tuner.
    – Chris Manning
    Aug 18 '16 at 0:42

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