There are many things that will cause this... Bad connection from the cartridge to the unit. There is a dust cover on all atari branded games that can be pushed back when u put something into the holes on the sides of the bottom of the cartridge that will allow you to push the dust cover back. It can also be just age. The roms will eventually lose their programming. It could be capacitors in the unit or power supply causing excessive noise making the unit lock up. It will take investigating but should be doable by anyone with a little knowledge. at lease the parts are old enough to work on. Not to small to do anything to. You also have to consider the fact that digital tuners will not work with these old rf based devices like the atari. There are devices that can convert them to a/v rca. Old cable boxes with a/v jacks are what most use.