Peter KreftingIf a #Commodore64 starts up with an Out Of Memory error, that's probably not a good sign.
This one is much better. No Swedish characters or keyboard, though.
Still the most beautiful home computer ever made, IMHO.
Hmm, neither the #CommodorePlus4 nor the #Commodore16 can see the SD2IEC over serial. The Plus/4 doesn't see anything on cassette, and when I connect either Datasette (I have two) to the C16, the screen goes all weird.
I don't think either of these are quite healthy.
OTOH, the #CommodorePlus4 can connect to my 1581 just fine, so it's not all bad.
The #Commodore16 does work with my SD2IEC when I power it from its tape port (via adapter).
For the #CommodorePlus4 I was told that cassette not working was due to a bad CPU, so I got me a replacement and now that works.
https://www.freepascal.org/~daniel/8501/
Now to get a proper PSU. Or just an adapter cable for the aftermarket C64 PSU I got.
This one doesn't give any signs of life. No power LED, no serial bus reset, nothing.
I'm not sure I tested it when I got it, or if I only tested the other unit.
Oh, this is nasty! Look at that thing where the fuse is supposed to be...
Apparently it's just the power switch that's bad. (And the fuse needs to be replaced of course).
It's nice to have colleagues who know their way around hardware.
root42@root42 Thanks. My colleague seemed to know where to look for them, so we will have a go at it.
@root42 Following up; do you know where to look for replacement power switches, part numbers etc?
@nafmo polyplay sells them:
https://www.polyplay.xyz/Netzschalter-fuer-C64-C128D-DCR-VC20-1541-II-1581
@root42 We got a cheap switch and a new no-brand power supply, and it is now in working condition.
Now to find someone who can build a https://github.com/SukkoPera/Fixteen for me...
#PCBWay delivers.
But I need something to pull the TED out without destroying it. It's not as simple as it looks in all those videos the repair guys keep publishing :-) So far all I've manged to do is to make scratch marks...
So, does this make it a Commodore 64? Or maybe a Commodore Minus 4?
Uh oh, that is not good. The second unit gives me a black screen with the expansion installed. I pushed in the RAM chips and got some junk on the screen instead.
Moving the jumper to 16K makes it boot up again, so at least I didn't kill the TED chip (I *did* bend its legs slightly on extraction, so I was worried).
So, are the RAM chips on the Fixteen bad, or the assembly? I have no clue. I'll lend it in, but turned off. At least the other one works fine.
Sometimes it shows garbage on start, sometimes just a black screen. I'll leave it in, disabled.
I found a seller of 4464s on eBay in a France and ordered two. I popped one of the ones that came from China and put one in, and now the #Fixteen works! So now I have two "Minus 4"s!
That means I have a spare 4464 in case one of the others break down later.
*That* looks weird. I connected a USB gamepad through a mouSTer *and* a C64-joyport adapter I got with the machines, and all gamepad directions also trigger a set of keypresses that I don't see with a regular joystick..
With a proper joystick attached it behaves as it should. So now I can play the 2024 Plus/4 port of Giana Sisters on my #Commmodore16. Nice!
@nafmo Did you swap around the RAM chips with the other expansion? Do you have a DRAM tester?
@root42 No to both questions. Since I have one working, I didn't want to risk breaking that. PCBWay did mention something about assembly issues with one of the devices, so that might be it. I also do not have any chips of this type.
But I'm happy with one working. I did order two to be assembled in the hope of getting one working unit.
Now what to do with the three remaining naked PCBs I got (minimum print order was five).
@root42 With a keyboard layout putting the equal sign at the bottom right, past the right shift key? I don't think so.
But the colour scheme is not bad.
Anders CarlssonI asked Jeff about his opinion, now 40+ years later. :)
@root42 Long board, this is an early model, they stopped selling Swedish C64s when Handic went out of business, IIRC.
@root42 I need to read up on chips to see which one is which.
I don't know the history of this unit, I think my father received it as broken from someone.
@nafmo they are not μT RAMs. That’s good. Could also be the PLA, Muktiplexers or something else. Needs more analysis, maybe test with DesTestMax and DeadTest /DiagROM.
@root42 Can any of the diagnostics cartridges be flashed onto a Retro Replay?
It can boot into the Retro Replay cart. With that I can get it to boot into BASIC with "38911 bytes free", but FRE(.) now reports -26627.
@root42 It was a wild chance, I got a Retro Replay when those were new and hot (this stuff has been sitting in storage since 2006…), so that's what I have to work with.
Maybe I should just keep it as a donor for a SID to a future 64 Ultimate?
@nafmo No! It can be fixed and MUST be fixed. :)
SID replacements are cheap and plentiful. These quirky machines are not.
SID replacements are cheap and plentiful. These quirky machines are not.
@root42 *If* I can find a diagnostics cartridge that I can flash to the RR, I'll have a go at that.
I'm a software engineer, not a hardware one. I'm horrible at fixing hardware. 🙂
@root42 For reference: I used FMGPUCCRBRR from https://csdb.dk/release/?id=39383 to create a cartridge image that I flashed on the RR.
The boot menu doesn't display on the broken C64, but the programs do start.
@root42 I don't think so.
https://gitlab.icomp.de/c64-dev/replay/-/tree/main/flashutility?ref_type=heads is the closest I have to documentation.
Looking at the old files I have, I bought this in 2000 or 2001 :-)
(EDIT: It was released late 2001)
@root42 It can run anything that runs on Action Replay hardware, since that is what it was set out to emulate.
(I grew up with a TFC3, so I never quite did get along with it)
@root42 Looks like one of the eight RAM chips is uT, according to my colleague, who does hardware, it looks like the other 7 have been swapped at some point.
@root42 There was also some stuff that had come loose, but soldering that back up didn't help.
We'll try switching the bad chip (at some later point in time) and see if that helps.
I'd really love to have a proper localized C64. They had stopped selling them by the time I bought mine.
@root42 I've ordered a set of 4164 chips now. Maybe I'll get lucky.
The board shows signs of having been tampered with before, perhaps a previous attempted repair that didn't work?
@root42 This seems to indicate a single bit failure, which, according to the schematics, matches the one chip that was not the same as the others...
@root42 Success! Now the test runs through without issues!
@root42 Yes, it's not that easy to see on the small screen I have available at the office.
The old Commodore diagnostic tool didn't like them, though, being the Swedish localisations..
So, it looks like that Swedish KERNAL EPROM is socketed... Does anyone know if there is a Swedish localized #Commodore64 #JiffyDOS around that one can get from somewhere?
14 iterations without reporting any errors!
The old PSU started smelling a bit funny, so I think it is best avoided. I bought one from https://www.c64psu.com/ that works like a charm, though.
Finally got around to open my 2017 birthday gift from Mermaid! #PondSoftware #TheBearEssentials #Commmodore64
That's exactly the same chip that the diagnostic I ran a month ago blamed, BTW.
https://social.vivaldi.net/@nafmo/115288762186806724
But now I have a KFF2 cartridge to play with (I wanted an S-Video cable, and since I had to pay import duties anyway I'd added some more stuff to the order...)
Peter Krefting (@[email protected])
Attached: 1 image @[email protected] This is as far as the diagnostics I found on CSDb got before crashing.