Atari 2600 Intermittent firing problems

[PhoenixMalizia]

When I use a joystick plugged into the left controller port of my Atari 2600, there will be times when it will cease to detect the depression of the fire button for a short period of time (anywhere from 30 seconds to maybe 2 minutes); during this time, all other joystick movements are still detected. Then it'll suddenly start working again.

I've tried different joysticks and different games, and keep getting this intermittent problem. It doesn't seem to happen more or less frequently based on room temperature or any other environmental factor I've observed. Has anybody seen anything like this before?

 

[bmulligan]

Nope. Could be a corroded pin in the d-socket, or on the board. Try opening it up and using an ohmmeter on the pins and on the board. #8 is ground and # 6 is fire, I believe.

How many different joysticks did you try? I have many original joysticks that have bad fire button bubbles. Try a sega genesis gamepad and see if you get the same result