Denial

It just occurred to me that the Diagnostic harness for the C64 may have the correct pin outs that everyone has been scratching their head over for the VIC 20 version - especially the serial port component. Yep. The VIC-20 and 64 used the same harness. The only difference was the diagnostic cartridg...

Swapping the VIC chip is the easiest way to test since it's socketed. A bad crystal or 7402 IC that drives the crystal can cause this too.

And now for the rest of the story... There shouldn't be any damage by plugging in serial port devices with the power on... but I'd turn it off before plugging those in anyway. Cartridges, user port devices, and cassette players should always be installed/removed with the power off. Joysticks and pad...

I already have that but it doesn't help 100% as it doesn't have the pinout for the silly serial port.

Thanks!

I'm glad you are happy with the repairs

Raymond

OK,

Robert sent me 3 boards for repair and I thought I'd share the repair logs with y'all.

http://newlifegames.net/nlg/index.php?t ... 2#msg35222
http://newlifegames.net/nlg/index.php?t ... 3#msg35223
http://newlifegames.net/nlg/index.php?t ... 4#msg35224

RJ

Nice! For a cleaner mod try 30ga Kynar wire wrap wire. In the USA it's available at any Radio Shack. Drill the other hole out with a tiny drill bit to get the wire through from the resistor. Tack the Kynar wire down with some cheap non-metallic fingernail polish to hold it in place. It'll last for y...

Why not just get a few old parallel port to ethernet adapters and use a VIC parallel port to connect it?

Then you'd just need to write the software to talk to it over the parallel port.

Xircom made a few different models.

RJ

All of the above. I started in 7th grade back in the early 80s. Mom said I could have a TV if I bought it so I picked up a 19" B&W TV at a garage sale for $2. It worked for a couple of days then died. My uncle David, the handyman, came over and we pulled the tubes out. We took them to the l...

EEEEK! What a scumbag. $50 to repair a C64? It does NOT take very long to fix one! It's generally quick enough that I do it for $30 flat rate as long as it's not stuffed with bad chips by an unscrupulous customer. I have had that happen before!!!! (Have you thought about outing them on the forum?)

Many different ways... Dishwasher, garden hose, etc... The only things are this: If using the dishwasher, do not use soap and do not use heat dry. Soap leaves residue and heat dry will melt plastics. Use the hot water cycle. Garden hose only works well for dust/dirt and soda residue but to clean wel...

I have 48 C64, 1 VIC-20, 1 C128, and a TI-99/4a in the bed of the truck. :D I'll have to post a picture. I traded a couple of Amiga computers for the remaining stock a guy has from a defunct Commodore repair center. This load is just the tip of the iceberg. He says there's still enough left to fill ...

Am I the only geek reading this stuff in the voice of Leonard Nemoy? (The TV show "In Search Of...")

Try a different TV... or if it's a wide screen put it in normal viewing mode and not 16:9.