28 replies to this topic

[birdie3]

Everytime I find one, they work for five or ten minutes and then they blow on me? Is this supposed to happen? I have gone through three consoles in a month in a half now.

[davidcalgary29]

What are you doing to them?

[Raijin Z]

Every think your house's electrical system is fucked? I haven't blown a system EVER, and my house has wiring from the fucking 1930s.

[birdie3]

Today I found a 1541 w/ PS and plugged it into my perfectly fine C64 model C. It worked for 10 minutes and then the screen went blurry. I was playing Panther when all of a sudden the screen went all blurry like there was a power surge or something. I tried a different PS and it powered up but would not give me a flashing cursor at the ready screen and cart games played all crooked and strange tuned. That's what I did.

[davidcalgary29]

Perhaps it'd be worthwhile to contact TPUG. At the very least, I bet they could tell you where you might be able to acquire a C65... :wink:

[emkay]

Raijin Z said:

Every think your house's electrical system is fucked? I haven't blown a system EVER, and my house has wiring from the fucking 1930s.

yer good olde current

[Raijin Z]

That, and everything but the kitchen hardware is plugged into surge protectors.

[birdie3]

Well.. uh.. FUCK NO!!!! I may be Canadian but I am not that bloody twit headed. Come on now man. I think the darned thing is a dud that just blew cause it was her time. I could have had too many plugs in one outlet. I was running like six appliances (a freezer, stereo, cordless phone, TV, 1541, console) off of a power bar. I have breakers and they would have blown first. I'll have to go check the water fall behind the igloo to see if the turbines froze up again.

[Ze_ro]

One recurring problem I've had with C64's is due to the fact that the joystick port is right next to the power switch... so if you have any static electricity on you when you fumble for the power switch, there's a decent chance that you might accidentally touch the joystick port and send a shock through the system. This results in a fried CIA chip which basically causes the system to not work properly at all (The CIA chip can be replaced, but it's usually easier to just get a new C64). This may or may not be your problem, but it's the only part of the C64 that I've ever found to be flaky.

--Zero

[birdie3]

This happened mid game. Just all of a sudden like. I think my freezer might have turned on and zapped my system. It's just a theory. I have never blew any other consoles on this outlet. It was just her time to go. I only got the damned thing a month ago. Time to hit the thrifts.

[desiv]

birdie3 said:

Well.. uh.. FUCK NO!!!! I may be Canadian but I am not that bloody twit headed. Come on now man. I think the darned thing is a dud that just blew cause it was her time. I could have had too many plugs in one outlet. I was running like six appliances (a freezer, stereo, cordless phone, TV, 1541, console) off of a power bar. I have breakers and they would have blown first. I'll have to go check the water fall behind the igloo to see if the turbines froze up again.

There's your prob!

Especially the fridge!!!

When it kicks in, it draws power. A lot. And that "browns" the circuit.

Sure, the fuse (or cicruit breaker) isn't blowing because it isn't a spike. But drops in voltage cause more damage to electronics than spikes. (Spikes kill fuses)

Did you ever wonder why a $6 Surge strip is garaunteed for $8000 worth of damage or something?? Read it. It's not covering drops in voltage!!

Some of the old laser printers use to kill electronics too, if you had them in the same strip.

The way you have it hooked up, it's just a matter of time..

You could buy a line conditioner or UPS, but you're getting expensive.
(Maybe not more so than a few more C64s tho.. :-)

desiv

[vb_master]

what are you doing with those "broken" c64's?

[birdie3]

- EDIT - I am going to turf them if I can't fix them. Why??


Yes. It occured to me as I was sitting there staring at the white noise on my TV and then the freezer came on.

I am lucky I haven't lost anything else on that outlet as I connect all of my games to it.

****Let that be a lesson to all you slow kids out there!!****

According to the laws of nature, a man's meat is more important than his antique electronics collection.

[Mayhem]

Raid them for parts! If they are unfixable, get the socketed chips out. You can probably get at least $5 each for the SIDs for starters...

And I've had a C64 for almost 20 years, in that time I've had the power supply blow its fuse once, and the internal one go once also. Apart from that, nothing much to report

[SteelerFan]

C-64 power supplies (OEM) are notorious for failing. I remember I had to replace mine and when I got the new one, I opened the OEM power supply ...just to see what was in that heavy hunk of plastic. Seems they filled it with some type of plastic or resin...no wonder they crap out so easily. Anyways, I got the new one and that power supply ran until I gave the system top the local Goodwill...I owed them after scoring lotsa good carts and systems from them

[birdie3]

I visited my local thrift today to pick up another C64 and guess what... They had one!!

It didn't work though. Black screen.


Damned C64's!!!!!

[Mayhem]

SteelerFan said:

C-64 power supplies (OEM) are notorious for failing.

Certainly not the very early ones. They also came with a removable fuse on a screw in the back, so you'd just pop the screw, replace the fuse and plug it back in. Easy peasy and back to working properly.

[Ze_ro]

Are you sure about that? I don't believe I've ever seen a C64 power supply with a fuse... in fact, all the C64 power supplies I've seen were pumped full of epoxy which makes then completely impossible to fix if something goes wrong... perhaps they did a better job with them in Europe?

--Zero

[Video]

Those early C64 power supplys made of epoxy sucked. They overheated so bad. We finely got a third party one that was metal instead of plastic, and it was hollow. Man, that thing was awesome, still ticking last I had it hooked up, and it never had the overheating problems the original part did. If it did get hot, you could put a fan on it and actually do some good.

I'll have to go look and see what brand it was, but it sure was great, much better than the original ones were. And if I remember right, it did have a screw in fuse in back, but we never had to replace it.

[vb_master]

vb_master said:

what are you doing with those "broken" c64's?  

[video game addict]

There seem to be tons of variations of C64 power supplies. I know some of the ones I've had looked like cubes, with lines closer to Atari XE power supplies than C64, and they were sealed too. I've had some that looked like a part of a sewing machine foot pedal or something another. LOL Not all are easy fixes. And yes the controllers ports seem to fry ther chip, just removing the controller with it on, or pluging in could spark and tear it up. Black screen should be fixable with some of the chips from the others quite possibly. At least get one working unit of the bunch.

[bjk7382]

Ze_ro said:

Are you sure about that? I don't believe I've ever seen a C64 power supply with a fuse... in fact, all the C64 power supplies I've seen were pumped full of epoxy which makes then completely impossible to fix if something goes wrong... perhaps they did a better job with them in Europe?

--Zero

Well in the UK their power system is 240v AC. Isn't it?? Instaid of 120v AC. And they have wierd plugs on them. So I am not shocked to hear that a power supply would have a fuse.

[birdie3]

I guess that all I was trying to find out was if it is common for C64's to go that often because I have seen 3 do it to me in a short period of time. The PS's that I have work and that seems to be proven. Every other system I have never does this and I am doubtful that my freezer killed my C64. I have been using it on that outlet for weeks with no problems and now all of a sudden the thing blows on me. I got it out of a trade from a good trader and it worked when I got it.

BTW - Those old C64's that I have are just going to sit there until I find one that works. I will likely keep them for scraps. I am totally new to the Commodore machines and I am not impressed so far. The games look pretty cool though. I mainly wanted one to expand my library of games.

[sack-c0s]

That's a shame - I've only had one C64 break (heavy-handed brother ripped the modulator off the board) and that's with me using a paperclip as a makeshif reset button and plugging joysticks in whilst it's on.

the 1541s tend to blow their 6522s though and the commodore 16s all die of TED failiure (damn I miss mine...)

[birdie3]

Killed another C64 console tonight. Worked fine for a while. Plugged the 1541 in and the console died after about 10 minutes. This time it was in a completely different outlet.

WHAT IN THE BLOODY HELL IS GOING ON!!!???