Is my C64 broken?

[soopytwist]

Is this a good place to post a technical enquiry? Perhaps there ought to be a separate forum for technical help. It would certainly be a handy place for collectors to go to in case they ever have a problem with an old bit of kit or like my BBC Micro enquiry, somewhere to get advice on how to use them.

Though I've pretty much found ROMs of all the games I had for use in the CCS64 Emulator, I have a tape with pictures I made using the OCP Art Studio. I've also got some Boulderdash maps saved on another. I'd like to convert these to T64 files somehow but I haven't got a clue how to go about it.

I haven't used my C64 for many years, so today I fired it up to see if it's still working...it's not. It powers on and it's tuned in to my television. The problem appears to be either the controller for the datacassette drive or the datacassette itself. It doesn't rewind, play or forward. There's a red LED power light on it so it has power but seemingly no motor function. The thing is, I have two datacassettes and neither of them work which is strange. One of them broken I can accept, but both? Or is my C64 the one with the problem?

So my main 'quest' is to convert my OCP Art Studio and Boulderdash tapes to T64 files, but how can I do this without a working C64?

My other enquiry, and this probably me being totally dumb. Is it possible to record the signal on the tape as a WAV file and 'load' it into an emulator or other converting utility? If that isn't possible maybe that is something that should be implemented.

[TMR]

The thing is, I have two datacassettes and neither of them work which is strange. One of them broken I can accept, but both? Or is my C64 the one with the problem?

If it's a C64C with the lower profile cream case, there's a fuse that (for reasons i never quite understood) governs both the SID and tape power; it's located not to far from the power switch (top right of the board) and should be transparent so you can peer into it and see if the bit inside is broked.

My other enquiry, and this probably me being totally dumb. Is it possible to record the signal on the tape as a WAV file and 'load' it into an emulator or other converting utility? If that isn't possible maybe that is something that should be implemented.

Actually, although it's not the best solution it's probably your best bet if the C64 itself doesn't want to talk to the tape deck; record it as a WAV and feed that to TAP2WAV - as i said it's going to be unreliable so you'll end up taking multiple shots at it whilst fiddling with your volume censored [fnarr, fnarr] but if the tape still holds the data it stands at least some chance of doing the job.

[soopytwist]

Thanks TMR, I'll open up the C64 and locate that fuse. Hopefully I've got a spare knocking around some place.
Oh and thanks for the link too, I will give some of those programs a try, see what I can come up with.

[krusty40]

Is this a good place to post a technical enquiry? Perhaps there ought to be a separate forum for technical help. It would certainly be a handy place for collectors to go to in case they ever have a problem with an old bit of kit or like my BBC Micro enquiry, somewhere to get advice on how to use them.

thats an excellent idea, i get the impression that most of the forum members have a lot of technical knowledge of consoles, software and games, but some members, myself included, dont necessarily know the ins and outs of console and pc capabilities so it would be great if there were a separate thread (maybe in the off topic category) just dedicated to forum members who would like a bit of advice or help on any number of technical issues like downloading, equipment failure, console breakdowns, storage problems, internet issues etc etc. it would be a huge help to the large minority of people browsing this forum who dont know a lot about computer mechanics.
p.s im not going to set up the thread myself,ive posted enough this week so somebody out there im sure will do the honours

[soopytwist]

Okay, I found the fuse and it is intact (the fuse wire is undamaged). Took the opportunity to have a good look at the inside and there is no visible evidence of anything that has blown or burnt out.

[TMR]

Okay, I found the fuse and it is intact (the fuse wire is undamaged). Took the opportunity to have a good look at the inside and there is no visible evidence of anything that has blown or burnt out.

My usual next recommendation would be try another power supply, but i'm guessing you only have the one...? If the chips on the board are socketed they might have worked loose, try pushing them back in if you haven't already.

[soopytwist]

Surely if the power supply was faulty there wouldn't be any power to the C64? I've got the copyright screen and can Shift+Run to load a game but then the tape doesn't move when pressing play. Logic would suggest the datacassette is faulty but what are the chances of both being faulty?

The main one I'm using (and used all the time back in the day) has an azimuth knobb on the top and several red LED indicators. Basically the idea was to rotate the knobb while loading and get as many LEDs on as possible which indicated the optimum position for the azimuth screw for that particular tape. I always had trouble loading some games, some refused flat out to load such as US Golds "The Goonies", but this azimuth datacassette was like a bar of gold to me and made all my games load. Funny, speaking about it to some people these days and they think I'm making it up. My mates were fascinated by this at the time and wanted to know where to buy one. My dad bought it for me from a friends of his at work. I had a look on eBay and there are no datacassettes at all, let alone an azimuth one.

Meanwhile I'm having some difficulty getting WAVs of my files to work with CCS64. The only two programs I've found that work under 64bit Vista are WAV-PRG and Audiotap. I made a smooth WAV of a short demo for a test using Goldwave, at PCM unassigned 8 bit mono. It's a nice tidy wave form, almost a complete block with hardly any zig-zagging (sorry don't know the correct term). Played at a volume of 25 which is pretty loud and recording volume set to 30. WAV-PRG has several settings but I chose the default ones and used Turbo Tape 64 as the plug-in to create a T64 file. The result says 0 programs were OKand 0 programs had errors. I assume '0 programs were OK' means it hasn't worked...?

I tried loading the T64 into CCS64 but it does a couple of things. Either it will say:
LOAD"*",8,1
?LOAD ERROR

Or it will say:
LOAD"",1
UNCTUNCTIO/VER

I think it's trying to swear at me but getting the letters in the wrong order! If I use Audiotap the loading just times out after a while with a standard error or out of memory error message.

Any ideas?

EDIT

Gordon Bennett, the automatic censoring on this forum is ridiculous!

[TMR]

Surely if the power supply was faulty there wouldn't be any power to the C64?

i can never remember how the power going into the C64 works, but i've had situations where machines powered up but failed when a further load was placed on the PSU; both of my SX64s for example, they tick over nicely until a fastload cartridge is connected, at which point i get about ten minutes before they start acting... well, odd.

I've got the copyright screen and can Shift+Run to load a game but then the tape doesn't move when pressing play. Logic would suggest the datacassette is faulty but what are the chances of both being faulty?

It's not impossible, but i'd be quite surprised if that were the case.

Funny, speaking about it to some people these days and they think I'm making it up. My mates were fascinated by this at the time and wanted to know where to buy one. My dad bought it for me from a friends of his at work. I had a look on eBay and there are no datacassettes at all, let alone an azimuth one.

That'd be a "Load It" if memory serves, but most people don't recommend them these days because they actually loosen the screw up over time almost to the point where sneezing would shift the azimuth a bit!

WAV-PRG has several settings but I chose the default ones and used Turbo Tape 64 as the plug-in to create a T64 file. The result says 0 programs were OKand 0 programs had errors. I assume '0 programs were OK' means it hasn't worked...?

Yes, although unless the data in the WAV was created with Turbo Tape 64 it'll probably fail to read, each fastloading scheme has it's own format for the data and trying to read data in one format with a tool for another will garble it. i'm not sure about the Boulder Dash Construction Kit files, but from memory OCP Art Studio and Advanced Art Studio both save with the hardware loader, so if WAV-PRG has an option to read tapes without fastloading that'd be the one to use for them.

What i'd do personally is convert the tapes to a WAV, chunk that over into a TAP file and then attach it and a disk image with the program the files were created with to WinVICE; load the program itself and then use it to load the files from the tape image and then save to a blank disk image; there's a couple of resource sites about Boulder Dash out there that explain how to publish designed level packs as well if memory serves, there are thousands of them released on both the C64 and Atari 8-bit.

[soopytwist]

I've just found out Boulder Dash Construction Kit uses Novaload. Probably why WAV-PRG doesn't work then as it only supports Kernel Header or Turbo Load. Hmm I need a WAV to TAP/T64 program that supports Novaload and which works under 64bit Vista...

EDIT

Advanced OCP Art Studio uses ldr.OCPArtStudio as it's loader. Is there an equivalent?

[soopytwist]

Hang on! Isn't there a way of checking if the datacassette's motor still functions? I've still got the technical manual. There are 6 wires in the datacassette connector. I've got a variable voltage power adapter. Is there any way of temporarily connecting the adapter to the cassette drive to check if the motor runs? The 6 wires are: GND, +5V, Motor, Read, Write and Sense.

[soopytwist]

Well I can't get WAV-PRG to work, stupid thing. I used the hardware loader for a picture file and tried to load that into a ROM of Art Studio but it doesn't load. I tried a few volume levels, a different cassette player (thinking of the azimuth screw here) and both T64 and TAP files. Am I doing something wrong?

Even If I get my C64 working again how exactly do I transfer the picture (and the Boulder Dash caves) to my PC?

It was much easier to transfer all my D-Paint IV pictures and animation from my Amiga to the PC using the Catweasel device. Although I've had trouble getting it to work with Vista, worked a treat on XP.

[SuperFamiKing]

Is my c64 broken?


NO. it's a c64..........it's just shiit!!!

[deano7649]

Is my c64 broken?


NO. it's a c64..........it's just shiit!!!

Aye, buy a Spectrum instead !!!

[necronom]

it's a c64..........it's just shiit!!!

Aye, buy a Spectrum instead !!!

You could get a Spectrum if you don't care about having:

A Proper keyboard instead of rubber buttons
Standard keyboard layout instead of " being on the P key, etc.
Normal typing mode instead of each key doing set commands and not allowing normal typing.
Double the number of colours - 16 instead of 8 standard, with an additional 7 half bright versions.
Colours that are useful - Pink for skin, brown for earth etc.
More memory - 64 instead of 16 or 48k
Two joystick ports instead of none, therefore games used the joystick as standard.
One standard type of joystick used, instead of several competing standards with different interfaces.
Dedicated tape deck instead of having to buy your own non-standard one and guessing the volume/bass etc.
Higher max resolution - 320x200 instead of 256x192.
Multi-colour mode without colour clash at 160x200, which made games look colourful and impressive. No similar mode on the Spectrum.
More characters on screen. 40x25 instead of 32x22
The SID chip with three channels of synthesised sound, instead of 1 channel of bleeps and clicking noises.
Eight hardware sprites, instead of none.
Proper 5.25 inch standard disks, instead of unreliable "looped-tape" micro-drives.
Loading music instead of screeching.
Proper printers, instead of very narrow silver thermal paper.
Function keys.
Cartridge port.

[SuperFamiKing]

Anal alert!!!