commodore 1541 bites the dust...

[Osbo]

well, it was working fine (at least with original diskettes)... but now won't even load nothing. All I get is a flashing red light, anyways... do I need a 1541 or another drive to run 64HDD, star commander, etc, in the C64?

 

Thanks

 

oh, forgot to mention, my atari joystick works fine with the C64

Edited June 12, 2005 by Osbo

[cimerians]

Looks like the drive was knocked out of alignment.

 

You'll probably need a new drive.

 

I think they are still fairly cheap so I'd just get another.

 

Star Commander is a DOS app which can be used to transfer files to a 1541 provided you have the proper PC to 1541 cable.

[Ze_ro]

Well, if it's an alignment problem, then there are ways to fix that. Generally, you have to open up the drive and run a C64 program while you physically realign the drive until the program tells you you have it right. If you feel like trying this, search the web for a better explanation. I've never done it myself, since 1541's are plentiful around here, and I have at least 8 of them already.

 

do I need a 1541 or another drive to run 64HDD, star commander, etc, in the C64?

Uh, what exactly are you trying to do here? 64HDD and Star Commander are PC programs... and 64HDD doesn't use a 1541 for anything...

 

--Zero

[Osbo]

Well.... I fix it! looks like the old floppies are full of dust or something, I opened it up, cleaned the read/write head with a q-tip with alcohol, and is reading the original EA games (those are clean) it also worked fine with the Demo Disk, so I guess the 1541 is ok, the disks with games are the problem (to make sure, I tried to load one of the 'dirty' floppies and the same problem all over again).

Another thing I did, was to remove the Fast Load cart, and listing the directory seemed to work faster without the cart.

 

What I'm trying to do is to use 64HDD same as SIO2PC in the 800xl.

I was reading a howto in Star Commander and to my understanding ya have to transfer the C64 program from the PC to a floppy in the 1541 and then run it in the C64 from the disk drive, or can I just LOAD a program direct from the PC?

 

Little something I'd like to add.... my idea for the future, is to build a big table and use the C64 and 800XL from 1 PC acting as a server (2 serial ports?) and 1 small TV.

Edited June 12, 2005 by Osbo

[Mayhem]

Pretty much... if the drive was working and suddenly stops reading disks, then as you did, it nearly always needs a head clean and adjustment, as dirt, grime, disk eroding over time and copy protections can knock it out of read alignment.

[Ze_ro]

What I'm trying to do is to use 64HDD same as SIO2PC in the 800xl.

I was reading a howto in Star Commander and to my understanding ya have to transfer the C64 program from the PC to a floppy in the 1541 and then run it in the C64 from the disk drive, or can I just LOAD a program direct from the PC?

Well, I was using 64HDD a while back (Or maybe it was server64... I remember I had trouble with one of them, but got the other working fine. Can't remember which was which). It worked quite well actually, but I eventually gave up on it because the server PC I was using had a dead CMOS battery and would continually forget it's hard drive geometry... and since I was running it without a monitor, changing those settings was quite difficult. Plus, I always felt it was just easier to use real disks. The good part about 64HDD though is that it can use the same X1541 cable that Star Commander uses.

 

I'm not familiar with SIO2PC, so I can't say for certain that you can serve both computers off a single PC, but I can't see any reason why it wouldn't work. By the way, the X1541 cable uses a parallel port, not a serial port.

 

--Zero

[Osbo]

Thanks Zero!

[Luigi301]

I thought when that happened you played Elite (it thrashed the drive and might put back into alignment)?

[Flack]

If some diskettes are working and others aren't, it could mean a lot of things. The drive could just be slightly out of alignment, which can cause some disks to work and others not to. Also, if the disks are old original ones chances are they're approaching 20 years old. They'll go bad eventually.

 

All the other suggestions in this thread were good ones. 1, clean the drive. 2, try and realign it. Then 3, look for another drive. I, like Ze_ro, have over half a dozen of them lying around. I've got one permanently attached to an old 486 for disk transfers, another one hooked up to the 64 on my coffee table, and three or four more out in the garage waiting to get rotated into service. Most of them still have their $1.98 or $2.98 prices written in grease pencil on the top of them.

[icbrkr]

If the drive isn't working on a real C64, open a channel and initialize it. I've had games knock my 41 into some weird mode where even turning it off and turning it on won't fix it. On a real C64, just issue a validate command or something:

 

open 15,8,15

print#15, "I0:"

close 15

 

or

 

open 15,8,15

print#15, "V0:"

close #15

 

hopefully my syntax isn't wrong, it's been awhile

[Osbo]

The drive is working fine, the problem was the old nasty floppies, after taking appart and washing the disks with warm water and dishwasher liquid, I've got some of the games to work (Qix, Pogo Joe, Pitfall II, Defender) I was going to put together a XE1541, but RatShak doesn't carry the 1N5818 or a 6 plug din.

 

ok, this is the list of games so far:

 

Commando

Qix

Pitfall II

Pogo Joe

Choplifter

Elevator action (bad clone)

Defender

 

Can't wait to get me a XE1541 So far I'm loving my C64.

Edited June 17, 2005 by Osbo