BOTH XPONDERS OF AN ACR MD80 NOT WORKING. CTLR WAS UNABLE TO TRACK PRIMARY TARGET OF ACFT.

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I WAS TRAINING ON DR-1 DURING A HVY DEP PUSH; WHEN THE MD80 CHKED ON MY FREQ CLBING THROUGH 1500 FT MSL. MY RADAR INDICATED THAT HIS XPONDER AND MODE C WERE FUNCTIONING CORRECTLY FOR APPROX 2 SWEEPS; THEN HIS TAG WENT INTO A 'COAST' STATUS AND I WAS RECEIVING NO XPONDER OR ALT DATA. THE CREW ADVISED ME THAT THEY HAD SWITCHED TO THE #2 XPONDER; BUT THAT WAS NOT WORKING EITHER. I MODIFIED THE BEACON CODE TO A DELTA SYMBOL TO ALLOW THE TRACKING OF PRIMARY TARGET. MY TRAINER TELLS ME THAT OUR BRAND NEW EQUIP WILL NOT TRACK PRIMARY TARGETS! HE WAS CORRECT. I WAS COMPLETELY FOCUSED ON THIS 1 TARGET WHILE TRYING TO MAINTAIN HIS IDENT THROUGH ALL OF THE OTHER SURROUNDING AIRSPACE THAT I WAS VECTORING THROUGH; AND THE TAG WOULD NOT ASSOCIATE WITH PRIMARY TARGET. THE SUPVR ON DUTY REFUSED TO NOTATE THE EQUIP PROB/COMPLAINT IN THE WATCH LOG. HOW CAN THE SECOND BUSIEST FACILITY IN THE NATION HAVE A RADAR SYS THAT WILL NOT TRACK PRIMARY TARGETS? IT'S UNSAFE; A WASTE OF TAXPAYER DOLLARS; AND THE PEOPLE HERE ARE IGNORING THE PROB.