newman (03/01/83)
For anyone who cares, I have a tip for those Atari users like me who are using cassette. If you are having real headaches loading prerecorded tapes, i.e. it fails almost right away, it's very likely that it's your head alignment (assuming of course you have tried cleaning and demagnetizing). The adjustment is quite easy; looking at the 410 normally, keys toward you, the record/playback head (the center one) has a spring-loaded screw on its LEFT side. Often you can even see that the head is askew. Being extremely careful not to touch the heads, press play to bring the heads out and tighten the screw a little until the head looks straight. Try loading a tape then readjusting the screw, etc until loading perfectly. Probably the head will not go out of alignment anywhere near as quickly if you keep a finger on the active key when you press stop so the key doesn't snap up so hard (less vibration for mechanism).