1 Reply by gilhelm

(17 replies, posted in Commodore Computers)

I'm only going to comment on my experience with the C64...

When it works, it's great. When it doesn't I hope that you're somewhat technical because you'll be opening the case a lot. The C64 is sensitive and the SID chip is probably the most fragile part of it.

- For instance: don't plug in/unplug controllers while the unit is on. The controls are routed through the SID. Doing so could damage it.

- Here's another: make sure you turn on external audio equipment hooked up to the C64 ( like a mixer) first - then turn on the C64. Apparently, the signal spike can damage the SID. Also, in this situation, you turn off the C64 last.

- This one is from experience: If you by a C64 just buy a new power supply. You can't trust those 30 year old PSUs anymore. They're suicide boxes. When they go they tend to take the computer (or part of it) with them.

- Also, the noise on a stock machine is ....not great. I've been exploring ways to cut it down but reports of success are not agreed upon across the board.

-And then there's the cost. Yes, you could probably get a "working" C64 for between $60 and $100. However, what level of "working" will be a mystery until you start playing with it. Here's what I've spent so far on this pursuit:

$60 for a C64 breadbin
$30 for a new SID
$35 on another new SID
$60 on another C64
$75 on sd2IEC (cause most floppy drives are in terrible condition these days)
$80 on MSSIAH cart
$20 on JiffyDOS for faster operation
$20 on SID2SID
$35 on another SID
$100 on x2 SwinSID Ultimate (cause I'm just done with factory SIDs)
$35 on a 1351 mouse (that I have never gotten to work)
$20 on a VGA box
$95 on a NEW power supply from Ray Carlsen

= $530

+ Components like caps and resistors
+ Countless hours of researching problems and teaching myself how to not blow these things up. I still consider myself a novice.

So take that all into consideration. Granted, I destroyed some SIDs myself because of inexperience but the other just bit the dust with no rhyme or reason. The cost of an Amiga or ST might be higher than the initial C64 buy but those machines are more modern and reliable. In the long run you may wind up spending more on the C64

That was a lot of cons. Let me mention the pros:

+ Nothing else sounds quite like the SID chip
+ MSSIAH is a joy to use once you get the hang of it

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2 Reply by gilhelm

(16 replies, posted in Commodore Computers)

akira^8GB wrote:

Sounds like your PSU got fucked and took your C64 with it, a classic.
Did you measure the 9V line as an AC line?
Anyway, get a proper PSU and then see how much damage it did to the computer.

Yea, I measured as an AC line on both supplies and they display between 4-7v. How can I have two fucked PSUs?

Uhg, just gonna buy a supply for Ray Carlsen....

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3 Reply by gilhelm

(16 replies, posted in Commodore Computers)

Ok, so, I tested out my power supply (supplies, as it turns out) as instructed. Here they are:

One of these came from a VIC-20 I purchased a while back. I'm honestly unsure of which is which. I mixed them up during testing a few months ago. Is there a serious difference between them? Anyway, both of them put off 5v on pin 4/5 fine. I could not get pins 6/7 to read 9v. It always hovered around 4-5v. Initially spiking at 7v. It also seemed like it was either pin 6 or 7 putting out power rather than BOTH. This happened on both power supplies. Do I have my multimeter on the wrong setting?

Could both supplies be malfunctioning? Which one should I be using with my c64?


In relation to one of my earlier question about chips, here's my pcb:


ASSY NO.250407 REV.A

I've heard that "fried" chips get a glossy sheen on the top of them rather than the matte finish they usually have. It seems like the two chips in the upper left have a different texture than the rest. Are they fried? I did notice some funny performance when loading up Turrican. Sometimes the whole system would slow down when certain effects were used on the title screen. Maybe it was just a bad crack of the game but it seemed almost as if strange characters were showing up instead of the proper effects.

Thanks again for your help!

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4 Reply by gilhelm

(16 replies, posted in Commodore Computers)

Wow, thank you so much. I'll give this a try tonight. You've been very helpful!

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5 Reply by gilhelm

(16 replies, posted in Commodore Computers)

garvalf wrote:

Could you try to check the psu voltage first? (I mean voltages)

You know, I would love to but I have no idea how to do that. I do have a Craftsman 11 multimeter - maybe now is a good time to learn how to use it? Care to give me a tutorial?

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6 Reply by gilhelm

(16 replies, posted in Commodore Computers)

Thanks for the response! I'll definitely be looking in to everything you talked about.

And just in case you didn't know about this place:
http://store.retroleum.co.uk/c64-capacitors

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7 Topic by gilhelm

(16 replies, posted in Commodore Computers)

So, the other night, I was playing with my beloved C64 and it just died on me. Screen went dark. Power light went of. Then about five seconds later it sprang back to life. Before that, I did noticed that Cynthcart was sounding a little strange - like some of the filters weren't working quite right. Next, I loaded up a game and sure enough, about 15 minutes later it died again. Now I'm worried.

My first guess is just a bad SID - wouldn't be the first time. I've got two SwinSID Ultimate's pre-ordered so I'm covered there. What my question is, besides recapping (which I am now planning on) what else should I do? What about replacing the ICs like the PLA and VIC-2 or the ram? I know that there is a Diagnostic cart that requires a harness to test. Is there any reliable testing program without a harness that will tell me exactly what's wrong? I'm planning on installing heatsyncs as in hopes that no (more) chips fail. Could there be a problem with power supply? Uhg, I just want her shiny, new and pumping out tunes with MSSIAH.


Sorry, I know there's a lot of info I'm asking for so let me try to organize it a bit better:

- If I'm going through the trouble of recapping what else should I do in regards to safety, longevity and SID performance?
- Is there anything I should know about recapping? I've heard different ICs need different caps.
- What about replacing ICs? Is there any way to know if they've failed without a diagnostic? What diagnostic should I used? Do I need a harness?
- Should I replace the power supply?

Well, thanks for reading. Any advice is humbly appreciated.

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8 Reply by gilhelm

(28 replies, posted in Nintendo Handhelds)

Ok! Thanks for clearing that up. I was thinking about emailing you directly but I happened to stumble on to this thread and here you are! Is there any documentation that goes along with mgb? I mean, it's pretty self explanitory but I'm new to the gameboy as an instrument. Didn't know if there was anything to know besides what's on the screen.

Great product by the way!

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9 Reply by gilhelm

(28 replies, posted in Nintendo Handhelds)

Ok, so it's only poly with square wave? The issue I'm experiencing isn't an issue - mgb is working as intended?

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10 Reply by gilhelm

(28 replies, posted in Nintendo Handhelds)

Hey! Hopefully, someone is still paying attention to this thread. I just got mgb and an arduinoboy from catskull (hi catskull!). It seems to work fine until I go into poly mode with MIDI channel 5. Say that I'm on poly mode and I press a single key on my synth. A note in mgb will sound on voice 1. If I press that same note again, voice 2 plays and the cursor moves to that voice. When I hit the same key a third time, voice 3 sounds and the cursor moves again. It doesn't matter what keys I hit or in what order. Every key pressed cycles to the next voice. First I though that it might just be how mgb is supposed to work but then I watched a video by Trash80 and all his notes sound the same. Maybe it's cycling and all three voices sound that same? But I couldn't reproduce that. So I tried another synth thinking maybe that it's transmitting some weird CCs. Same issue.

Am I missing something? Is this just how mgb works?

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