wjb@rayssd.RAY.COM (Billy Boron) (01/08/87)
Last weekend my C-64 died, just in time for the holiday season. The symptoms are: On power up the monitor screen stays blank for what seems like a longer time than normal, then instead of the light blue screen in the dark blue border with the "Bytes Free" message, and the "Ready" prompt, there is a screen full of graphics and normal characters, each with it's own different background and foreground color. There is no response from any keyboard inputs I give. I've tried powering up and down several different times, both with and without the disk drive attached, but there is no change. Does anyone know what the problem is? Is it expensive to fix, and about how much would it be to fix it? Can anyone recommend a reputable dependable place to fix it? Or can anyone tell me where I can get the parts and instructions to fix it myself? If it turns out to be an extensive proposition, I may just throw the thing in the closet for spares, and buy a new one. Thanks, in advance.
tlm@newton.UUCP (01/09/87)
[munch,munch] Sounds pretty serious to me. My C-64 seems to be a little sick too and I wanted to ask for some opinions from all you netters. The SID chip should be replaced and the commmunications chip which handles the RS-232 will get a garbled character for about every 20 at 1200 baud. (I swapped my C-64 with a friend's and the software, modem, phone connection, and host machine work fine - no errors - so I think the finger is correctly pointed). I know about Jamesco (or whatever the name is) and the prices for replacement chips are etc. My C-64 is an old one and so it has the old VIC chip etc. and I was wondering if maybe I should just pack the whole thing up and send it to the company (mentioned of the net) which will supposedly send you a replacement C-64 for something like $50 - $70. What is the replacement like ? Has anyone done this? Am I better off ordering the SID, VIC and serial chip and pay out the hard cash? Or would it be better, since this C-64 is old, to just get a new one - means new chips plus new board revision, and new ROMs etc., etc. What I hoping is that someone has a little info that would shed a lot of light and make my decision easy. I use my C-64 alot as a terminal and run most of my experiments (you don't want to ask!!) from home. Thanks in advance. "Just little 'ol me .....' tlm.
aldo@brl-smoke.ARPA (Aldo Scipioni) (01/10/87)
To: wjb@rayssd.RAY.COM Subject: Re: C-64 Died, Help Needed Newsgroups: comp.sys.cbm In-Reply-To: <531@rayssd.RAY.COM> Organization: Ballistic Research Laboratory, APG, MD I had a similar thing happen to me about a year ago. It ended up being video chip damage. My local RCA Service Center confirmed the video chip problem and replaced the entire circuit board for about $65 if I remember correctly. (It seems Commodore now has a contract with RCA to repair and service its machines). Good Luck & Cheers, Aldo