Vanne's C128D restoring/gaming thread.

There she is... First picture unpacked from its shipping box. This thread will be about this C128D, serial number DA 4 87727, and it's restoration/gaming/programming.

Bit of history first, then more pics.

Reserved

 

Lol I was going to.post up a bunch of pictures straight away, but I couldent resist to see if it would turn on.. and it did.. lol.... BUT... PSU is toast, has arching noises and the fan winds up and then down... So I pulled the cover straight away and took a look.. yep PSU is toast... Needs to be fixed/replaced... Any tips on what will fit in here guys?

And another very worrying thing I saw is this... Not really sure what this board is, but the cable at the back is completely disintegrated and the cables inside touch.. so that can't be good..

See pics






All those cables are touching as the insulation has disintegrated.



I removed the metal cover over the 1571 as it's not working and thought possibly that it was just broken, but the more I think about it, the more I think that the PSU is to blame here, those wires touching each other can't help either I bet..:/

 

Good stuff I'll be following this thread - I've been looking for some inspiration after (re)taking possession of a nice 128DCR recently.

Some constructive criticism - any chance you can make your images a bit smaller? I feel like at IMAX over here

 

Lol How do I do that bud, I just link it from my hosting service. Is there a way to make it smaller?

 

Just make the browser window smaller, they'll scale!

 

On a phone, that's fine, but on a desktop PC with a 4K screen, the text can be very much dwarfed.

If Pix was working, I'd say upload them there, but until then, I'd manually scale the images 50% before uploading to the hosting service.

 

So read then look at the pictures, I didn’t have a problem at 4K or 1440p and on a desktop you have a a tonne of of controls to quickly change stuff.

 

Yep I just resize the ones I want to host (keeping the originals locally too). MS paint does the trick. Just a suggestion! Take it or leave it!

So what are you going to do with that PSU? Fix or replace? And how are you going to load stuff on to this bad boy? I use an Ultimate1541 II and think it's great, but the internal drive on my C128DCR got in the way for some games because it parks itself at device #8 and won't get out of the way. To get around this I added a switch to turn the internal drive on and off:

https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=36418&start=20#p326336

Works well.

 

If you're using Imgur, you can put an l after the file name but before the extension. eg:

https://i.imgur.com/djobVPh.jpg --> https://i.imgur.com/djobVPhl.jpg



You can also put an s instead of an l for a thumbnail.

 

Ooh, that's cool. Didn't know you could do that with imgur!

I learned something new. I can go home now!

 

That ribbon cable at the back - the one which has disintegrated - is responsible for hooking the floppy drive controller to the mainboard. So it's kinda important! I seem to recall we replaced the one on our unit without much trouble*, for much the same reason.

I can't help much with the PSU, but if you encounter any other problems I might be able to offer assistance. I have seen after-market PSUs for sale assuming it's more sinister than just dead caps.

*"without much trouble" meaning the parts were available to do so from Jaycar.

 

I'd just use a simple process of elimination - disconnect everything and then see if the PSU powers on by itself without having a fit.

If it works, then turn off, and systematically start connecting leads again one at a time and test power-on again until you come across a fail, and there's your culprit.

 

Thanks guys.. the PSU turns on, and the system boots, but you can hear it arching and the fan winds up and down.. does the 128 PSU output the same as the c64 one? I just purchased a new dual output one for my c64, so I wonder if I can replace this PSU with that?

 

It's got 3 voltages, against the C64's 2. It uses the same 5VDC and 9VAC as the C64, but it also uses 12VDC for the 1571. So you could get the computer working without the drive off a C64 PSU but you'll need to either get a separate 12VDC source or fix/replace the internal one. Also be aware that it is a higher current device than the C64, so you may burn out the C64 PSU if you use it long term.

*ed: A small caution: be aware that the US version of the 128D is actually known everywhere else as the 128DCR, and they are VERY different internally. Since the bulk of information seems to be from the US (unlike C64 and Amiga information) you can run into problems by following the wrong instructions or diagrams. The 128D as we know it has the same basic mainboard as the regular 128, with only small modifications to accept the 1571 daughterboard (itself slightly different to the stand-alone drive).

http://www.mos6502.com/commodore-tech-corner/how-the-c128-was-incompatible-with-the-c128/

 

Love the 128D.
The dodgy cable is the internal serial cable: unlikely to be the culprit for the PSU failure.

If you're in Melbourne I can take a look at it for you but the 128d PSU is an odd beast: I'd need to do some research.

Callan

 

Lol, okay, i finally got around to learning how to resize images. lol. thanks guys. ill do that from now onwards. Cheers DK

Mojo's thread has rekindled my enthusiasm to fix up this 128D, so when my family goes to Brissy next week, ill pull it out of the cupboard and get going with it. Going to go for new caps for the PSU first, see if that will elevate the PSU isues, and ill fix that ribbon cable. Ill be able to make a bit of a mess in the kitchen as the wifey won't be home. hopefully my new soldering iron will be here by then.

Ill need to find the part number of the PSU first before i can order the cap kit. any other cap kit i should be looking at guys?

 

From what I can see in pictures (I don't keep our 128D with me - it belongs to my brother, so it's at his place), there's maybe 8 caps on the mainboard and FDD daughterboard. While there's probably kits available it's likely easier to just make a list by hand of what you need and then get some decent ones (though we've had success using Suntan caps from Jaycar). At least that way you avoid the possibility of getting a kit for the 128DCR by mistake due to the different naming conventions.

While you're in there, take a look at the ceramics at the end of each chip. Generally these should be fine (electrolytics are the ones that give problems), but if they've got discoloured (ie green) legs it could be worth replacing these as well (beware the evil alloy this green makes with tin/lead solder). From memory they're 47uF, but do check the markings (XXY in pF, where XX is the significant digits and Y is the number of following zeros - eg 473 is 47000pF, or 47uF).

Also, if you don't already have some, it could be worth getting some thermal paste (decent stuff, but don't go overboard - I used NT-H1). While testing the system it's fine to run it without the metal cover (even the VIC cover), but when you put it all back together some nice, fresh paste is a good idea. The shroud is primarily for EMI compliance but it does get used as a heat sink, and it would suck to have anything fail early due to avoidable heat (PLUS/4s were renowned for this due to their small form factor).

 

Might want to check your maths. 473 would be a 47 nF or .047uF

 

I'll have a look when i pull the cover.

Anyone know what this is? Found it in my pile of crap in Sydney.







Is that an 80 colums cable?

 

I believe that is a C64/128 Chroma/Luma video out to a 1084S-D2 RGB in lead.

40 col only.