The Magnificent 7 - Seven Commodore 64 Tested plus Repaired Using the 8 in 1 Dead test Cartridge
I've been doing some digging around and found out that I am the owner of seven Commodore 64 computers. I rounded them all up and decided to test them all using my 8 in 1 diagnostic dead tester with cable harness to see how healthy each one really was. It was also good to be able to fully test this time, the C64 I repaired a while back as it kept generating random characters on screen from time to time.
Some very interesting things found and repair carried out
0:00 Introduction
0:34 Testing Commodore 64 #1 - Original Breadbin Style
1:30 Introducing the 8 in 1 dead test cartridge for the Commodore 64
1:53 Setting up the 8 in 1 dead test cartridge for the C64 to use the wiring harness
3:36 Testing Commodore 64 #2 - Original Breadbin Style
3:46 Commodore 64 healthy 5VDC but not 9VAC
4:14 Bad U2 6526 CIA chip and userport fixed with cleaning
5:45 Testing Commodore 64 #3 - Original Breadbin Style
6:10 Testing Commodore 64 #4 - Original Breadbin Style
6:27 Control port bad and no sound from the SID 6581 chip
6:50 Testing Commodore 64C #5 - Updated Style
7:00 Opening up a Commodore 64C style case
8:39 Testing Commodore 64C #6 - Updated Style
8:57 Commodore 64 healthy 9VAC but not 5VDC
9:32 Unboxing Commodore 64C
9:53 Weird manufacturers serial number sticker on Commodore C64C
10:05 Testing Commodore 64C #7 - Updated Style
10:31 Repairing Commodore 64 - No sound and control ports not working
11:20 Repairing Commodore 64 - Testing the memory
12:00 Fault finding the memory on the PCB
12:48 Easy way to remove memory chips from an old PCB without damaging it
16:27 Garbled screen
18:00 Looks like everything is working but..
18:15 Time in bottom right hand corner of the screen is going out of sync
19:05 Testing the 6526 CIA chips
20:47 Fault finding and Repairing the Commodore 64 PCB
21:56 Successful repair of the Commodore 64
22:17 Outro and lets play some Commando
Useful links:
Again not being sponsored by anyone here. I got my 8 in 1 dead test with wiring harness from eBay. You can just buy the cartridge as a standalone but with the harness it helps to test everything. There are multiple sellers to buy from but looking online I found a nicer version with everything cased rather then bare boards here:
https://cbmretro.fi/product/commodore...
For the ram chip tester, couldn't find the original person I bought mine from but found this one on eBay that is very similar but tests even more ram then mine. Just look for something similar depending on what country you're from.
Finally the soldering iron hot tweezers that I am using are made by Duratool model D03318. They are 48w no temperature control but come with a set of seven different heads to desolder various devices. I got mine from Amazon but shop around and you may be able to find them cheaper:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Duratool-D03...
Music by Digi Jay - Highway to Space - https://thmatc.co/?l=BE1FF022
