C64 breadbox outputs in black and white.

[The Mr. Video]

So my c64 got delivered, and it outputs in black and white, I tried opening it up and turning the screw near the VIC 2 chip and nothing happened. If anybody has an idea on how to fix the video problem, let me know. Also, the letter K has a line under it. Is that normal?

Edited November 16, 2015 by The Mr. Video

[+FujiSkunk]

How are you connecting the Commodore to your TV or monitor? Depending on the cable, you may be tapping the "luma" feed instead of the "composite" feed. "Luma" is one of the two connections needed to give what is basically an S-video picture. By itself the "luma" feed will only offer a black and white picture.

[The Mr. Video]

How are you connecting the Commodore to your TV or monitor? Depending on the cable, you may be tapping the "luma" feed instead of the "composite" feed. "Luma" is one of the two connections needed to give what is basically an S-video picture. By itself the "luma" feed will only offer a black and white picture.

I'm using a composite cable with 8 pins on it. Also the picture is in black and white on RF too.

[+FujiSkunk]

Ah, cool. There's a thread on Lemon64 where people had similar trouble, and one suggestion was to replace the RF modulator. Apparently the modulator has a hand in the video feed even when you're using the A/V port instead of the RF port. That thread has links to other docs also that might help you.

[The Mr. Video]

I hope I don't have to replace the RF modulator, I don't know where to find a new one.

[The Mr. Video]

Update: Somehow I got color when using RF, problem is, I get white noise when I use RF on my tv, but there is no white noise when I use it on a different tv.

[+FujiSkunk]

White noise as in audio hiss, or white noise as in video interference? Are you getting color on the other TV that doesn't have this noise?

 

A black-and-white picture when using the RF port is sometimes because the TV is not quite in tune with the channel the Commodore is broadcasting. Audio hiss or video "noise" can also be a sign that the TV and the computer are out of tune with each other. If your TV has a fine-tuning control, try fiddling with that. If your TV has automatic fine tuning, leave the Commodore on, change the channel on the TV, then change it back again. That should force the TV to try fine tuning again.

 

If you solve the issues with the RF connection but are still getting only black and white when using the A/V port, I would go back to my first suggestion and verify that you're using the right cable and tapping the right feed supplied by the A/V port. The cable you use will matter here. A Commodore "3-tail" cable with red, white and yellow cables won't work for a connection to a TV's composite input. A more generic "4-tail" cable with red, white, yellow and black (sometimes blue) is more likely to work, provided you use the right cable to tap the A/V port's composite feed.

[The Mr. Video]

I've tried changing the channels in hopes of fine-tuning it, but nothing happened. Also, the RF signal went black and white again.

[+FujiSkunk]

The culprit may indeed be inside the computer then, which throws suspicion back on the RF modulator. If you're comfortable doing swaps and you have the spare parts to do so, you can also try replacing the VIC-II chip. I once had a Commodore that exhibited color issues when its 6567 started going bad. Honestly I'm not very confident that is the solution, but it's something that would take only a few minutes to try if the chips are in sockets instead of soldered to the motherboard.

[The Mr. Video]

Update I figured out how to hook up a c64 to a tv using a monitor cable. You plug the yellow and red cables into a y adapter, This way, both the chroma and luma signals are combined into one signal and plug, you plug the male end of the y adapter into the video port, and you plug the white cable into the white audio port. Now I have a good, color picture with no white noise.

Anyway, thanks for the help.

[+FujiSkunk]

Happy to hear it! So likely with the old composite cable you had only the luma signal connected. That doesn't explain the loss of color when using the RF port, though. Black-and-white plus noise plus no help from fine tuning still suggests a flaky RF modulator to me, just not flaky enough to affect the output of the A/V port. Also possible though unlikely is interference from some other radio source.

 

But either way, if you have a working connection to the A/V port and you're happy with that, run with it and don't worry about the RF port.