exxos's Atari, Amiga & retro forum

Hi good evening Atarians,

I purchased my Atari STE 520 from a 1 owner from new, its pretty mint. It has some pale vertical lines on the screen mostly appearing in dark areas during game play, are these likely the cause of the mandatory fix capacitor addition that remidies ghosting? as there is a little ghosting in places, please see these 2 attached pics -


I have already started making improvements, I installed the Exxos psu, added 4mb of his ram, and fitted the 1.62-2.06 dual tos, next will be the cpu booster. I should mention that the screen discrepencies were already present prior to any modifications. The desktop is crytal clear, and pretty sharp, Im using a video out to scart lead, a high quality one I purchased of ebay especially for the STE. When using the RF connection to TV Im not noticing these lines, but then again the picture quality is not as good.

Also there is a slight hi pitch noise from the audio, it sometimes changes when moving around desktop, opening files etc. I had hoped the PSU would have helped as can be problematic, perhaps I need the 2 little Ics listed on the store?

Last but least upon reboot or power on I often find TOS 2.06 performing Ram test, is this normal, seems a bit odd it doesn't always happen. Anyway thanks for your time and support, best wishes Jamie :-)

STE ghosting fix:
https://exxosforum.co.uk/atari/last/VIDEOFIX/index.htm

High pitch wine is "classic" on the STE. There is a HUGE thread which still needs to be revisited at some point. But there is a fix board which often helps .
https://exxosforum.co.uk/atari/last/STEDACFIX/index.htm

The jail bars could either be down to the cable, the ST itself, or your monitor. Your never going to get HDMI type quality out of these machines.

Thanks very much

I must try these fixes, I can deal with a little noise, but I'll try the STE audio chip fix. Regarding the Lines perhaps it could be the lead but just out of interest, if its the ST thats causing the Jail Bars, what is it likely to be?
as it happens I have seen this on other devices such as Atari 2600.

Cheers mate

Jamie Zen wrote: 15 Sep 2023 22:06 if its the ST thats causing the Jail Bars, what is it likely to be?

See here. https://exxosforum.co.uk/atari/last/VIDEODAC/

It's a multitude of problems..

..and no I don't have a STE version :P

Hey, thanks very interesting and usefull, I have trawled through the Forum previously but theres so much Id not seen this until now.

Ill try that dac fix, and ghosting cap mod, but perhaps ill be learning to live with the other haha..

All the best mate

TOS v2. 06:
Cold boot = ram test
Warm boot/reset = no ram test

@DoG Thanks, ocassionally it is doing the ram test after pressing the reset button. Any idea? Could it be a fault elsewhere triggering it?

@Jamie Zen this jailbar issue is normal on Ataris. I did all fixes known to man on all my machines, but nothing ever fixed jailbars. I fitted RGBtoHDMI inside all my machines to solve the issue, giving me hdmi output crystal clear.

I have also done all the audio mods on my STe's (all of them) and I can confirm they work. I used the DAC pcb fixes in my TT which stopped the whine. On my STe's I just needed the DAC crackle extra-grounding fix, this stopped the whine. But you might need the PCB fix too, your mileage may vary.

@Steve Hi mate thanks :-) I shall try these Audio fixes on my STE, Ill do the ghosting mod Exxos mentions and then look at his dac rgb converter or hdmi out sometime. Ive so many projects on the go but my intention is to get my STE tip top how I want it. Thanks