Commodore 64 problem

[spleenandpie]

ok so heres the problem. I have a commodore 64 that i found at a thrift store and would like to save from the trash and use it to play some old games. i hooked it up to a tv and it work. i turned it on and off 2 times cause i was just seeing if it worked and it did. 2 minutes later i turned it on again and it was just a pixelated mess of like green blue purple white black and other colors. it was always a different pixelated mess each new time i turned it on. sometimes there was also some weird bleeps and bloops to. also sometimes it was just a black screen. is there a way i can fix this cause as i said it worked for a little bit than broke down. i looked inside and there no blown fusses or anything burnt out i can see.

 

also if any pictures or video is needed i can provide.

[NightSprinter]

Pictures may help, but it does sound like at least one chip may have gone bad.

[spleenandpie]

Pictures may help, but it does sound like at least one chip may have gone bad.

 

here are some pictures that i uploaded

 

http://tinypic.com/r/24vqjkp/5

 

http://tinypic.com/r/5p30c4/5

 

http://tinypic.com/r/qrlpit/5

[NightSprinter]

Not an expert, but it seems it could be the basic rom, character rom (which holds all of the text and related data), and/or the VIC-II chip. I think there might be some owners who can better diagnose.

[Mirage]

This may help. Basically, could be one of three or four different chips.

 

[spleenandpie]

thanks people i probly will never fix ti since i have to replace some chips to do that and i dont want to spend like over 5 bucks to fix it. but thanks anyway

[+thegoldenband]

Ray Carlsen's troubleshooting guide is extremely useful for this sort of thing. Our C64 had somewhat similar symptoms, and in our case it was a blown PLA chip, which Ray was kind enough to replace for us.

 

If you're not going to fix it, there are definitely C64 users who would be happy to take it off your hands for the cost of shipping. If I had the skills, I'd do it, but I don't. Whatever you do, don't send it to the landfill, because 99% of the machine is probably still just fine!

[NightSprinter]

I do concur. For someone who may be able to fix it, there's more than a great gaming system and iconic microcomputer to behold. The C64 still sees a lot of musical application (thanks to the Mssaiah cartridge and SID2SID expansion).

[Rybags]

I reckon VIC is screwed.

Border colour is changing, which shouldn't occur unless under software control.

 

[Mirage]

Oh, yeah, I couldn't get the photos to load before, but that does look like most likely culprit is the Vic-II chip. If yours is socketed (most that I've seen are), I could send you a replacement. Unfortunately, I can't easily re-test it right now, but I would pull from my "tested good" pile and send you a couple of them for just the cost of shipping (hardly anything if you're in the US, actually, if it's only around a buck or so, don't even worry about it). At least then you could try it out and maybe fix it, if that's something you're interested in doing, and if it's not the Vic-II, well, you can go with Plan B.

 

I could also probably dig out a couple other chips too, in case it's not the Vic-II.

 

Let me know, PM me and I can get them out this weekend.