1978 Atari Video Computer System CX-2600 "Taiwan Sixer" serial# T0019447 at it's former owner's house/garage.

So here it is, a full on walkthrough of what it took to restore a Atari Video Computer System CX-2600 Heavy Sixer. I talked about buying one and had a false start months ago.

What was to become the ATari VCS started Development in 1975, and was brought to market in September of 1977. The original version of the 2600, also known as the Atari "Heavy Sixer", was the original release version of the VCS. They were sold between September 1977 and late 1978.

Everyone thinks the Heavy Sixer consoles are all "Sunnyvales", this is not true. The "Heavy Sixer" had multiple production runs and changes during it's production run including at least 3 versions of the TIA Chip (Television Interface Adapter, a piece of custom Atari silicon), several methods of connecting the switchboard to the motherboard (white FFC ribbon cable, red ribbon cables, rainbow-colored ribbon cable with a pin header, just to name a few), 2 different styles of switch (closed ended and later the import open-ended switches). The original production run ran from about mid 1977 till around early-mid 1978 at the Sunnyvale Atari Consumer Electronics division. These early Heavy Sixers had a five digit serial number with a letter at the end ranging from "F" through "P". Some might have more than one sticker on the bottom as it seems Atari was rebuilding and reselling refurbished Heavy Sixers as late as 1981 or 1982, and it's rumored that some that went in for warranty fix got the bottom plastic replaced with the Light Sixer plastic. The earliest units had 2 vents with 4 slots on the bottom, while later Sunnyvales got the Channel A/B switch on the bottom of the case (and some have this hole and no switch, and I've heard of some having the switch and no hole...meaning sticking a thin screwdriver in the slot, or opening the case to get at it).

In early-mid 1978, and this is mostly suspicion than actual proven fact, I surmise Atari sent the remaining parts for the Heavy Sixers to Taiwan to help springboard their production in transition to the less expensive "Light Sixer" design. This means these could be a mix of different parts, though the majority I've seen look like they have a similiar build to a LIght Sixer inside. The biggest telltale of a TAiwanese Heavy Sixer is the serial number on the bottom, which is T + 7 digits (mine is T0019447). These have a Ribbon cable with a pin header to a Light Sixer style switch board with open ended switches, and the 78M05 5v Voltage Regulator transistor affixed to a silver heat sink pad rather than sticking out of the switch board on a giant matchbox car sized heatsink. That said, there could be a mix of some Sunnyvale parts other than the case in earlier runs, I've seen serials as low as under 1000 on these from around May 1978 on e-bay.

Another benefit of the Heavy Sixer, is the picture quality. They have somewhat of a smaller following of having the better video signal of the Atari VCS releases due to that aforementioned Hex inverter chip boosting the chroma and output signal of the RF a bit. But this does come at somewhat of a price as I've noticed playing some later games designed with the 4-switch or Junior in mind, while vibrant, might lack some contrast (E.T. in particular, the pits and trees in the forest don't quite...uh, match up with what you see in an emulator).

The first major DRAWBACK is these things are very very old. We're talking a game console reaching it's 50th birthday in 2027. It's crazy to think we'ere still playing Atari on these things all that time later. So replacing capacitors is going to happen someitme, as well as that pesky 78M05 (or 7805) voltage regular that knocks the voltage down from an unregulated 9v DC to a 5v DC at around 300mA. The real killers on these units though, are the switches, and if the custom Atari silicon - the TIA (STELLA) chip goes bad. I only know one place to buy one - Best Electronics, and they will sell you one, for a price, but only ONE, and for only ONE console. And I don't think Atari is making anymore TIA chips.

Another potentially serious detractor is the TIA chip itself. You can read more about these at Atari Compendium's Page. My 78' is a D3 Synertek, while my 80' is a 01 revision AMI. Some of these have problems with certain games such as variations in the starfield on Cosmic Ark, or certain games not working (River Raid II). So there might be some "early adopter syndrome" issues with the Heavy Sixer. I also question some weird issue with Adventure as well (my Heavy Sixer seems to enjoy stirring up chaos in Adventure as much as I do - 99.9% within the rules except the one time I managed to lock up Adventure with Rhindle in hot pursuit in the black castle).

Also, Heavy Sixers tend to command a higher price in all conditions. I was shopping and found plenty around, but most of them were between $200 and $2000 (dream on!). I paid $85 for mine, which was a VERY abused machine left in the elements for awhile.

The last thing is the space. These are, as their name suggests, not small, as they are wider than a XBOX (the original one from 2002), as tall as an original XBOX, and weigh almost as much.

My Heavy Sixer was bought on an e-bay Auction in late October 2024 for $85 B.I.N. untested. It came with 3 CX-40 joysticks, one set of (very dirty and jittery) Atari Paddles, a lone Driving Controller (YAY! Indy 500 time!), a Radio Shack RF Amplifier (I have enough stompbox fun with my guitars, like I need the same from an Atari 2600), a pile of manuals without the games, and of course, the console.

Upon arrival, it was obvious this was a very well used Sixer. It was very dirty, and looked like it'd been sitting on a shelf in someone's garage for at least 25-30 years. The Power Supply - the original one - was taped together with scotch tape, indicating someone had been inside of it before, and had a replacement 1/8" mono phono plug on the other end.

The first thing I did was a complete cleaning of the Atari, which showed it was not in as bad as shape as I thought....actually, about comparable with my very nice 1980 Sears TeleGames Video Arcade Light Sixer (which oddly has the Heavy Sixer switch panel on it).

During my fire test with the known good working PSU and my Sony TT2000 Tuner Timer showed no signs of life. But I went into this KNOWING this Atari was likely broken. See, I have been repairing 2600s since I was fourteen years old - that would be around 1997 or so. I've saved a lot of 4 switches. So it went down to the garage.

In the garage, the H6R started it's teardown. All screws were present, but obviously, someone had been inside this thing, and I'm sure they were not an employee at Atari Corp's warranty dept. One of the two front case screws were stripped out so bad I had to use a sharp computer flat-head screwdriver to remove the screw (which I'm still using to this day, it's still 100% original except one or two things).

Inside, it was dirty, I could see the slip on the center metal casing was stamped "July 11th 1978", and it looks like it had two slips on it, instead of the one my Sears has (which is sometime in 1980).Everything was taken back upstairs, and thouroughly cleaned up, to the point it looked almost brand new (minus the orange border around the switches).

Testing for power, I used my multimeter on the origina lpower supply to test for voltage and polarity, and it was working fine, I had about 9.7vDC total, center positive. So that's good. Checking the console, the 9.7vDC carried through the console over the switchboard, to the 78M05 5v Voltage chip, converting to 5vDC on the other side, around 5.04 vDC - perfect.

I followed the signals over to the power switch. Testing on the circuit board, I was getting voltage to the proper pins, so dirty switches were suspect. I noticed sticky goo inside the switch, so I took it apart and cleaned it.

This Heavy Sixer has open-ended switches, so I just carefully turned and lifted the side off with a needle nose pliars, and then cleaned the contact pads, and put it back together, and tightened the edges of the switch. A replacement switch is $20, but these switches are STUPID simple to clean and work on, take apart, and reassemble. Having done this on a light sixer for a colleague at Microsoft a long time ago (and making new switch contacts for it that actually worked), this was a simple breeze.

Plug the Atari back in - still no dice. Weird. I checked the pads on the circuit board, everything looked fine, I could not see cracks in the solder at all either, but the legs of the switch were not registering the "9v" in the ON position. So I did a reflow of solder to the switch, plugged in the Atari, threw in "Video Olympics" and lo and behold, signs of life. And a nice picture at that! It was here I was learning that cracked solder joints were going to be a problem with this unit.

But I was not done. I hit "RESET" - and Pong did not come to life at all, it just sat there, as if I had not hit the switch. So I shut off the ATari, unplugged it, and went on a 45 minute spree of cleaning the reset switch contacts and attempting to reassemble it. A royal PITA! I lost the spring at least 3-4 times in the process, eventually holding it with a neodymium magnet. Putting it together, it was tough getting the right angle on the spring, while I worked the cover back onto the switch with the needlenose pliers, and by about the 6th or 7th try, I got the cover on and the switch felt smooth and rapid like the reset switch on my Sears Light Sixer.

Still no dice yet again...

So I figured if the power had cracked solder joints, so did the REset Switch - makes sense, the two most used switches on an Atari VCS. So I reflowed the Reset Switch and of course....bob's my uncle...it worked. I checked all the other switches....select worked, both difficutly switches worked (I could tell by the paddle size changes), and color/B&W seemed like it'd never been used and was perfect. So that's sorted.

Then came playing the console for awhile. Over time, I started to notice some weirdness in the form of the Chroma/Luma changing colors, Pitfall Literally was going from Summer to Autumn mid game, and Adventure....I think at one point Grundle turned blue. WEIRD. I noticed if I thwacked the Heavy Sixer over the top of the cartridge slot, the problems went away for awhile. So I knew more reflowing was probably in the future.

Then the next day, I had no power again. This turned into the usual garbage daily....come home from work, fire up the Heavy Sixer, no power, jiggle the wires behind my game rack, now I have power. Turns out, the power cord was not happy either...so THIS was why that opower brick probably had it's cover taped together.

I took apart the power brick, reflowed all the connections, resoldered, did some extra UL Listed electrical tape shielding, put the plastic sheild over the 120v AC prongs where it goes and TAPED it in place with Electic and Duct Tape. I used the original cord, removing about 1" of it inside, and reflowing the solder. Now, why I did not just roam on down to Cap N' Games and buy a new power supply? Well...I'm CHEAP! And I know how to fix stuff. Once I put it back together, and reflowed the replacement connector, the Atari now had consistant power.

Sometime during that, I think the power cable was inverted....so I blew the original 78M05, so I replaced it with another one from a Tape Deck I had laying around. Crisis Averted - if only I'd soldered it completely the first time.

Another struggle was with that power switch, I had to bend the legs south a little....because I had to really shove the switch UP to get it in the ON position to turn the Atari console on. Eventually I fixed this by very gently, and carefully, angling a screwdriver on the board, and pushing the switch down a little. Turns out, the problem was, the Taiwan factory soldered the power switch a little "north" of center.

Then came my next problem....games. M*A*S*H was refusing to work, and Frogger was showing only partial graphics at times. So I gave the cartridge slot a good cleaning. I do this with a piece of cardstock and printer paper - rouchly the same thickness as an Atari cartridge PCB, and there was a LOT of gunk in there. Once I got the gunk out, those games started to work a bit, but I ended up opening them and cleaning them in the end, because they needed it as well. They're both still spotty, but far better than they were.

However, I still was getting seasons in Pitfall...and one day, I got tired of that. So I decided to reflow most of the motherboard. All three chips (TIA, RIOT, 6507) got their sockets resoldered, as did the Chroma/Luma knob, cartridge socket, and the ribbon cable going off the motherboard. It was a little better, but still not there. I was still getting weirdness.

So Most recently, I reflowed the pin header on the switchboard and that seemed to solve the issue with the Atari deciding it was a planet with it's own seasonal calendar cycle.

I think after that, I consider this project done. Since then, I've been going on some pretty wild Adventure Missions with it...including one that I think might have exploited some craziness with the early 2600.