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Atari CX5200 Field Service Manual

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Revision as of 00:25, 1 October 2026 by Josh (talk | contribs) (Expand holder page: FD100127 Rev. 4 and ECN 0036, full contents with page numbers (incl. section 7 Trak-Ball), filed tech tips 6-12, gaps and citing pages)

The CX5200 Field Service Manual is Atari, Inc.'s service manual for the Atari 5200, document FD100127 Rev. 4, July 1983. The hosted scan has 180 pages with a text layer. Rev. 4 was made by engineering change notice 0036 (21 June 1983), which added the two-port model: its schematics and silkscreen, sections 3A, 4A and 5A, and new sections 6 and 8.[1]

The manual covers the three production boards: the original four-port board CA018087, the four-port "Universal" board CA020108 and the two-port board CA021374. Unless it says otherwise it describes the original four-port board. A Universal four-port console has a "+" as the third character of its serial number.[2]

Contents

Page numbers are the manual's own.

  • Introduction (p. vii)
  • Section 1, Theory of operation (pp. 1-1 to 1-8): the console and the differences between the three boards; outer case, RF shield and PC board; MPU, ANTIC, GTIA and POKEY with pin assignments (figs. 1-3 to 1-6); the switchbox; the game controller
  • Section 2, Silkscreens and schematics (pp. 2-1 to 2-29): the motherboard schematic in three parts (figs. 2-2A to 2-2C), the four-port silkscreen and schematic (four sheets), the Trak-Ball silkscreen and schematics, and the two-port schematic (five sheets) and silkscreen; p. 2-2 lists pen-and-ink corrections to be made to the schematics
  • Section 3, Four-port testing (pp. 3-1 to 3-10): tests with the diagnostic cartridge version 1.1 and the port (loop-back) board: power-up screen, colour bar, grey bar, any video, POKEY adjust, error summary with Table 3-1 "Diagnostic Error Codes" (p. 3-9), RAM, ROM, port and tone tests
  • Section 3A, Two-port testing (pp. 3A-1 to 3A-10)
  • Section 4, Four-port diagnostic flowcharts (pp. 4-1 to 4-27): the swap-out procedure and replacement order; black screen, snowy screen, warped picture, colour, grey bars, pot control lines, trigger lines, soft-fire, keyboard and audio
  • Section 4A, Two-port diagnostic flowcharts, including the snowy-screen power supply charts
  • Sections 5 and 5A, Symptom checklists for the four-port and two-port models (pp. 5-1, 5-2, 5A-1, 5A-2)
  • Section 6, Game controllers (pp. 6-1 to 6-13): joystick, keypad, fire and select buttons; testing with and without a console; continuity check table 6-1; pot arm alignment; disassembly; the CX52 controller schematic
  • Section 7, CX53 Trak-Ball: theory, tests, flowcharts, symptom checklist, disassembly and parts list
  • Section 8, Parts list (pp. 8-1 to 8-11): major assemblies and the parts lists for the three boards, with designators and Atari part numbers
  • Section 9, Service bulletins (p. 9-1 and filed tech tips)

The tech tips filed in section 9 of this copy are:

Tech tips filed in the hosted copy
Number Date Subject
6 17 November 1982 Power adaptor: use the CX521 AC/DC adaptor (C018187, 9.3 V DC at 1.95 A); an adaptor from the home computers damages the adaptor and the CX5200 switchbox
7 20 January 1983 Rockwell 6502 MPUs marked RC with date code 8250 or later have a timing defect; the factory fix is an R-C network at U14A pin 1 and U6A pin 4
8 Not legible Replacing damaged controller boots
9 April 1983 Controller knob puller tool FC100214
10 8 April 1983 New fire button, C020501
12 6 June 1983 Board CA018087: blank or garbled screen from a solder bridge between the A0 address trace and the REF trace near J1

The tech tips are quoted from the scan (PDF pp. 171–180).[3] The separately hosted Atari 2600 and 5200 Field Change Orders and Tech Tips has further 5200 bulletins.

What this manual does not contain

  • Component values inside the RF modulator or the switchbox, which are listed as assemblies.
  • Any PAL console. The power-up test reports the type of GTIA fitted and treats "PAL" as a wrong chip to be replaced (p. 3-3).
  • The later tech tips and field change orders, which are in the separately hosted collection above.

Pages that cite this document

References

  1. ↑ Atari, Inc., CX5200 Field Service Manual, FD100127 Rev. 4, July 1983: cover, ECN 0036 (PDF p. 3), table of contents (pp. iii–v).
  2. ↑ Atari, Inc., CX5200 Field Service Manual, FD100127 Rev. 4, section 1, pp. 1-1 and 1-2.
  3. ↑ Atari, Inc., CX5200 Field Service Manual, FD100127 Rev. 4, section 9 (PDF pp. 170–180).

Download: Atari CX5200 Field Service Manual.pdf

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