LutherDestroysTheGond Posted June 12, 2020 Share Posted June 12, 2020 Hey all, I have been collecting games for a long time and finally got my first C64 console find. I got everything pictured for $20 total at a garage sale today. I haven't tested anything out but there is the boxed console, boxed printer, printer paper, boxed floppy disk drive, monitor, controller, tons of bootleg games and about a dozen official disk games. Only 3 cartridges were included. Unfortunately, the wife has been accepting of my large collection but already wanted this lot gone before I even unloaded the car. I think I have everything for the setup (total noob here) but not sure if stuff like the printer and bootleg disks are worth holding/selling/trading or if I should just take them to Goodwill. Any tips for setting it up would be great as testing this seems daunting. Thanks! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gray Defender Posted June 12, 2020 Share Posted June 12, 2020 Find a desk to place the unpacked computer on. Set aside the disk drive for now. I would first test the computer and monitor. Be sure computer power switch on C64 is in off setting before plugging in power adapter. I would also recommend using a power strip and not plugging anything directly into the wall power. For now leave the printer in the box set aside. There should be a cable connecting the computer to the monitor. Before powering the unit on, of course plug in all the cables including the joystick, in port 2 (side rear), for most games. If all goes well you should see the familiar Commodore Basic screen 38911 bytes free with a ready prompt. Next step would be connecting the disk drive.... Let me know if you have any more questions from there. I would be interested and pay a reasonable price should you decide to sell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LutherDestroysTheGond Posted June 12, 2020 Author Share Posted June 12, 2020 10 hours ago, Gray Defender said: Find a desk to place the unpacked computer on. Set aside the disk drive for now. I would first test the computer and monitor. Be sure computer power switch on C64 is in off setting before plugging in power adapter. I would also recommend using a power strip and not plugging anything directly into the wall power. For now leave the printer in the box set aside. There should be a cable connecting the computer to the monitor. Before powering the unit on, of course plug in all the cables including the joystick, in port 2 (side rear), for most games. If all goes well you should see the familiar Commodore Basic screen 38911 bytes free with a ready prompt. Next step would be connecting the disk drive.... Let me know if you have any more questions from there. I would be interested and pay a reasonable price should you decide to sell. Thank you! I set it up and used a tv using RF instead of the monitor (power cord on monitor is frayed but it did turn on). I never got the basic screen to show up. The TV would just go black when the C64 was on. I did put a cartridge in and got this image to flicker with no sound. Starting to think something is faulty with the C64. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gray Defender Posted June 12, 2020 Share Posted June 12, 2020 Ah man, sorry about that. I assume the led lights up when the C64 is turned on.. I am not really good with the hardware side of things... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+OLD CS1 Posted June 13, 2020 Share Posted June 13, 2020 Nice haul for $20, even with the flaky 64. I am afraid I have never seen that failure mode, but I suspect it can be repaired. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LutherDestroysTheGond Posted June 18, 2020 Author Share Posted June 18, 2020 I'm looking at a 781220 diagnostic cart to figure out the problem, I think that should be right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
masschamber Posted June 18, 2020 Share Posted June 18, 2020 pla chips fail on the c64 like clock work, good chance that is the problem 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zonie Posted June 19, 2020 Share Posted June 19, 2020 Nice haul. I think we have the same rug! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LutherDestroysTheGond Posted June 20, 2020 Author Share Posted June 20, 2020 On 6/18/2020 at 8:50 PM, Zonie said: Nice haul. I think we have the same rug! Now get out of my basement! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DrVenkman Posted June 23, 2020 Share Posted June 23, 2020 My suggestion is - if you don't have one already - get a multimeter and the pinout for the power brick, then verify all the voltages coming out of the brick. I pulled my C64 out of storage last year and the brick had died. Killed the C64 dead the first time I turned it on. I ended up having to replace a fried PLA, SID and one DRAM chip. It was quite the learning experience to diagnose and fix, but the whole thing had worked great 10 years before when I put it away and I'd never have had to go through all the trouble had I checked the PSU first last summer. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Armitage Posted June 23, 2020 Share Posted June 23, 2020 Nice haul! Yea, a good rule of thumb is to test the power supply before powering on a 64 for the first time. Good luck with the repairs! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
motrucker Posted July 8, 2020 Share Posted July 8, 2020 Old Commodore power supplies kill more C-64s than any other single problem. Pulleeze, never use an old C-64 PSU you just bought or found! In the U.S., go to Ray Carlsen for excellent power supplies and repair work. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+wongojack Posted July 8, 2020 Share Posted July 8, 2020 It is unfortunately true that the old PSUs are too dangerous to just randomly test. Ray Carlsen (mentioned above) sells a test thingy, but you'd be better off buying a new power supply. If you plan to try and repair then you'll probably end up buying another breadbin so a verified PSU is good in that case. Even if you just dump this stuff on someone else, it'll come in handy for them and they will want it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Psionic Posted July 9, 2020 Share Posted July 9, 2020 Not to flog a dead horse, but here's a decent article with some info on C64 power supplies... https://retrogamestart.com/answers/replace-c64-power-supply-voltage-failure-will-kill-your-c64 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
AtariAge on Instagram
Watch us on YouTube
Chat on Discord
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.