1541 drive spinning on power up and still spinning

Nathan · Post by **Nathan** » Mon Oct 01, 2012 7:58 pm

How to fix this? I got a C64 with the drive and I tested the drive it works but it keeps on spinning after power up

Nathan · Post by **Nathan** » Tue Oct 02, 2012 12:33 am

And also the red light keeps flashing too

Vic20-Ian · Post by **Vic20-Ian** » Tue Oct 02, 2012 3:11 am

try
load"$",8,1
List

load"progname",8

run

If it reads a directory and the light does not flash then it should be fine.

Light flash is usually an error in command entry or load errror

N.B. Assumes the drive switches are set to device 8

If you get no response try ,9 ,10 ,11 instead.

Nathan · Post by **Nathan** » Tue Oct 02, 2012 4:54 am

thanks i will try that

callan · Post by **callan** » Tue Nov 06, 2012 5:51 am

If it's spinning constantly, AND the drive active LED is flashing - then it's failing its power on self test.

USUALLY that means that the RAM chip, or one of the ROM chips has failed.

How many flashes in each sequence ?

Callan

Nathan · Post by **Nathan** » Tue Dec 11, 2012 12:23 am

It didn't do anything and its still doing the same thing, so do I need a new drive?

PaulQ · Post by **PaulQ** » Tue Dec 11, 2012 5:34 pm

I agree with Callan. If this were my disk drive, I'd get one that passes its test but can't read any disks for cheap (or free), and swap the board in.

ral-clan · Post by **ral-clan** » Wed Dec 12, 2012 8:57 am

Might just be a bad VIA 6522 chip. These are cheap and easy to replace. There is an article which tells you exactly what each set of symptoms mean floating around on the internet from Ray Carlsen (sp?).

Nathan · Post by **Nathan** » Fri Dec 14, 2012 6:06 am

Could you get me a link? I need to replace the VIA now >.>

ral-clan · Post by **ral-clan** » Fri Dec 14, 2012 7:01 am

Nathan wrote:Could you get me a link? I need to replace the VIA now >.>

Have you tried Googling "Ray Carlsen" and "1541"? I'm sure you will find it. His Commodore repair articles are all over the internet.