Hi there,

I'm having a problem getting into diagnostic mode with my Atarimax SD cartridge on my 2-port 5200.

Holding down fire on stick 1 while powering on gets to the rainbow Atari logo splash screen, but the line where the cartridge name would normally appear is corrupted with random characters. The diagnostic then proceeds to load, but the system locks up and the screen is filled with random graphics.

FWIW, the cartridge says it's running hardware 20200813, boot flash 20211021, menu 20190619, and firmware 20211103.

Am I doing something wrong, or does something else need to happen in order to run the diagnostics?

My diagnose would be, there is something wrong with your 5200.
Based on the corrupted message about the cartridge name.
Could be a RAM failure and with ram failure, you can not load anything, not even diagnostics...

I understand where you're coming from, but I'm doubtful that it's a RAM issue. The only title I'm having trouble with is the built-in diagnostics on the Atarimax; every other cartridge image on it works fine (with the exception of BBSB, but that's expected).

Commercial cartridges also work without issue, at least based on the dozen or so I have to test with.

This console was extensively refurbished by me about a year ago, which included replacing the CPU (dead), POKEY (missing when I got it), and various discrete components. GTIA and ANTIC have been swapped into other systems and seem to be OK when run for extended periods. Running the PAM cartridge tests shows everything passing, and the machine has been dead reliable since being resurrected.

By no means am I dismissing the idea of a problem with the console itself; it's certainly possible. It just doesn't seem likely in this case.

In that case, I don't know, sorry.
I have the SD-version of the atarimax cartridge, so a way for testing, Can I have your boot-SD-content?
Do you have the flash-content on file also?
Alternatively, I can have a look on emulation where the system crashes.
What 5200-OS do you have installed?

Grtz,
Sijmen.

I recommend checking cartridge compatibility, verifying firmware and software versions, trying different button combinations

(This issue was originally posted in this thread a little over two years ago; I didn't realise it was the wrong forum to post in at the time. Ooops.)

On my 2-port 5200, I'm unable to successfully run the built-in diagnostics. Holding down the player 1 fire button at power-on will boot to them, but screen output is corrupt and there doesn't appear to be any way to progress past this point.

No other titles seem to be affected, and the only modification this machine has is a UAV. Other diagnostics pass all of the hardware, so I'm not sure what might be the issue.

Unfortunately, I don't have a second 5200 to test against right now (at least, not one that's accessible).

Any ideas? I'm at a loss with this one, and swapping out the CPU, RAM, GTIA, ANTIC, and POKEY has had no effect.