Re: Unpacked 800 after 15 yrs. Boots but keyboard unresponsive

Geoff wrote:
48k Atari 800 and Atari 1050 disk drive work fine, boot, cartridge and disk-based programs load but pressing keyboard keys has no effect. Even in "Memo pad" mode - nothing. Anyone seen this before and have any suggestions?

Just wild guesses. The 800 had a ~20 some odd pin connector, really goofy IIRC. Something like a row or double row of 1" pins that went clear through the connector.

1st guess would be corrosion/galvanic reaction between the disimilar metals of the connector. *LOTS* of people have had sucess just leaving the computer on overnight to dry out/start working properly.

2nd would be pull the thing apart and clean the connector a bit. 800s are built like a tank that wasn't meant to come apart. I don't like working on them because of this. Good luck getting it back together anyway if you end up doing this.

3rd is a chip failure. The keyboard circuit uses two 4049 or 4050 hex buffers to sense the keyboard, can't remember which.

The only other IC necessary for the keyboard is the Pokey 40 pin device. If all else fails you can swap one from a working computer in and see what happens. AFAIK the Pokey never changed so even one from a 65XE or 5200 game system would work.

Don't worry about the keyboard itself. It is a solid mechanical contact type that nothing short of a hammer can make malfunction.

While you have it appart you may want to check your microprocessor board. If it has the 6502B in it vs. the latter 6502C it is fairly valuble to some of us.
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