"Left for dead" Commodore 64C RF audio fix
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- Опубликовано: 21 окт 2024
- [This is part 3 in my left for dead Commodore 64C series] I had many suggestions on how to fix the silent audio on my RF output (as seen in Part 2.) In this video let's try to fix the audio and see what it takes to make it work.
This is part 3 *
Part 1: • Commodore 64 left outs...
Part 2: • "Left for dead" Commod...
Demo disk used: SIDBurners 7
csdb.dk/releas...
Song heard here: Legend Intro
By: Martijn Schutten
Released: 1992 Martijn Schutten
csdb.dk/releas...
I hope this isn't the last video on this computer! This is the computer equivalent of finding a car at the bottom of a lake and bringing it back to drivable, like-new condition again. You've done a great job, man. This is awesome. Head and shoulders above just about any "retro-restore" jobs I've seen before. You're pushing me to buy that Vic-20 sitting on the shelf at a local thrift store to tinker with...
The 8-Bit Guy has a video of a Vic-20 that was in a factory or workshop and the board was covered in oil.
thedungeondelver You should definitely go and buy the VIC-20.
thedungeondelver buy it, buy it, buy it!
I don't often comment on RUclips videos but just seeing your excitement about this being your favorite C64 made me smile. That's awesome, and I could see why after this restoration!
Glad I was able to nudge you into the right direction.
Keep on saving, restoring and refurbishing those treasures of our youth
You have perfected the rescue mission. You not only have saved this cutie's life but also you have given her a voice. 😊 keep doing your amazing job.
If the caps ever went bad, you could snip them from the top side and solder new caps to the legs that are left behind. Great work on restoring this computer!!
I thought you were outputting to the monitor, TV and your phone until I realised it was just a reflection 😂
It's so awesome people still know RF tuning these days. I thought it was a lost art akin to knitting. Faded out with CB radio.
The fact that you were able to get the C64 working despite the condition it was originally in is simply incredible.
Great to watch this series, I used to repair all the 8bit computers in the late 80's, early 90s. ZX Spectrums, C64's, Atari ST, Amiga's etc. it was a real blast from the past seeing your restoration. The fuse on the C64 though, I seams to remember that fused the tape only. We used to get a load of C64s in at the shop with dead tape drives and it was always the fuse that had blown. Anyway Thanks, loved seeing the restoration.
I feel your excitement, I felt the same when I repaired one I've found in the trash in a very bad condition.
Love bringing old stuff back to life and it's just as fun to watch others do the same. Keep it up can't wait to see the next project.
This made me smile :-)
Correct adjustment for the audio subcarrier is 4.5MHz , the NTSC standard. You’ll want to use a scope to dial the adjustment in precisely.
Actually 90% of TV repair shops back in the day never touch a scope for their repairs. "Eye Balling it" was good enough for the 70s, 80s and early 90s.
So the proper repair was done as intended.
@@lukasperuzovic1429 Especially with the TV quality of the 80's I remember one aspect of a TV was that it was always blurred and I was floored when I plugged my Amiga to a SCART (amiga video is fully combatible with SCART btw. just solder a cable) video monitor and saw how crispy clear that image was.
I'm so glad to see this small computer in fully operational state
Completely awesome! Your enthusiasm comes across wonderfully in these videos. Thanks for sharing your journey with us!
Hey Adrian, where'd you get the MECC shirt?
@@adriansdigitalbasement I've seen one with the muncher on it!
Dude! This is killer! You guys are all awesome.
Just subbed, I have watched the 8 bit guy and LGR do stuff like this and it actually gives me the warm and fuzzys. :D This stuff was before my time but it's still fascinating to me because I'm a Windows 98/XP era up to now type of computer guy and it intrigues me to learn about older tech. . This was so cool! Nice work man! That song is nice for an 8bit song.
Love the MECC t-shirt! I also love your enthusiasm, to have the audio come out of the TV from the RF adjustment actually made me so happy I got a little teary-eyed :D
That's so cool. Great to see some one showing a bit of love to this old C64 after all those years out in the cold. Awesome. It has a good home now.
The changing of the channels in the other vid helped. TVs have an automatic fine tune control, in your case the audio was so far off that the automatic fine tune couldn't compensate. As far as accuracy is concerned for the RF side, you have it working for you and that's what really matters when you are dealing with closed circuit systems like this. I'm sure there is documentation on how to properly align the RF modulator, but you seem to be good enough.
So exciting to see what it was, and what it is now! Fantastic job!
Wow that is totally amazing that you got it to work after being in a field sheltered by ants but now everything is functioning. Thanks, Adrian for sharing this video
Good job! I'm loving watching the ongoing saga of this computer.
This computer is so cool. Thanks for sharing the whole process with us.
Soo awesome! Thanks for sharing your experience restoring this poor once left-for-dead C64! :-)
Thanks for this video! One of my C64s had this problem, and this fixed it!
Pure bliss. Nailing that last issue. =)
That's awesome that it was such a simple fix. Congrats!
Those caps look so good I'd thought you'd replaced them, lol. I would recommend replacing all the electrolytic, the ceramic I think would be fine to leave. As far as the caps in the RF portion, I agree with you leave those because it is working and what you had mentioned about the difficulty of removing the assembly.
Told ya. ;)
Glad to see (and hear) it working.
You can see how moving the inductor too far actually affects the picture, as it's moving the audio subcarrier too far, and interfering with the composite modulation.
(Certain models of the ZX Speccy have a weird circuit were I believe it modulates the audio carrier onto the composite signal *before* it enters the modulator. That can cause slight disturbances of the video image.)
I tend to agree about not replacing the caps in that modulator atm. Unless they show any signs of bulging or leaking, then they should be OK for a while.
I mean, ideally you would want to do a full recap of every retro machine, but it's not always necessary, can potentially cause more damage if the vias are brittle, and the cost of the caps does start to add up when you're recapping many machines.
I really do need to recap my Amiga 1200, though. They've been slowly leaking for a while now.
I can't believe you had the proper adjustment tool all along, too. I don't have one of those any more. lol
(I haven't done TV / VCR repairs in quite a few years.)
Huh, nice and easy, and I learned something new.
Who the hell down-voted this? This is awesome! Glad you brought another C64 to life.
Some of the ants that are now homeless ;-P
The internet is awesome; even if you don't know how to fix something, chances are that someone else will tell you how to do it.
Nice! Good to hear it plays music as it should again :)
Just to share. I have same issue right now. An older breadbin. The RF is different, it was covered with a metal bracket , so i can't see the inside, tried to pry it open but something seems stuck and i don't want to break anything. Anyway, there are 3 adjustable screws on top unlike the one in the video with only one screw hole adjustment. So i tried all off them. What i can gathered is, 2 of them are for the video and the bottom left most screw is for the audio. Anyway, it didn't worked for me, maybe the Caps are blown. No idea. Now i will just have to wait for my S-video/RCA cable to arrive, to determine further if the SID is dead or otherwise. Great video anyway, pretty sure it is useful to someone.
Glad it worked! Nice to see this recovered.
This is so great! I have a Commodore 64c in storage... hope to play with it when I have some free time (eg, retire)...
The C64 that refused to die ❤
At last an closure for the story of restoration of comadore 64!
Very cool! Though my first computer was an Atari 800xl (still has a place in my heart as the computer I cut my teeth on), I will always love my C64 as well. :)
You have awesome viewers. :) Your content is awesome as well.
Oh yeah... Love that tune!
Any reason you calibrated this to use channel 4 on the TV, instead of channel 3? Just curious -- I know devices often had multiple channel outputs to choose from on their switches or configurations; it just seemed like using channel 3 always worked perfectly. Nice to see it working.
Exactly what Adrian said. Where I live, prior to Cable TV, we only got channels 3, 6, 12, and 13... ABC, NBC, CBS, and the PBS (public broadcast station) out of Shreveport. So I always kept the switch set to channel 4, because there was always interference on channel 3.
Omg I have the same problem on my breadbox, does it look the same on the inside?
In other words: It Freaking Works!
I think I heard Bil Herd say in a videos once something like that their job at Commodore was to make a computer as cheaply as possible, and if it lasted more than a year, it meant they had made it too expensive. Don't remember the exact words but it was something like that.
Source of that quotation is required please.
This computer should go on inspirational posters
Awesome repair/restore!
Good news. Well done. Keeping another one out of the trash.
So freaking cool! Congrats
Great conclusion!
I really enjoy your channel!
As far as "proper RF gear" goes, a really cheap RTL-SDR stick for about 15$ could also be used to tune the RF modulator (at least the audio part)...
i wonder if no sound is why they ''Left it for dead" that would be a real shame if they tossed it over a simple thing like this
The carrier modulation differs country to country, a radio would have different spacing etc. caps could be the next thing that goes. But to keep it locked, dab a snot of hot glue to lock it 🔐
Dont use hot snot.Just use a SMALL dab of fingernail laquer.
I hate to see things thrown away and love to try and repair stuff. If only I had your knowledge and time AND SPACE! 😂😂😂😂
Yep, the only variable and shielded transformer on any C64 RF modulator version I can find a schematic for is in the AUDIO path.
you can cut the legs of the capacitors off close to the bottom of it leaving the legs in the board then solder to those
Great stuff. While everybody is suggesting to at least recap your old machines, your c64 survival fighter, who faught more than a decade against the elements, prooves, how tough and stubborn these old boxes really are...
If anything, I would just add a new cap to the output of the voltage regulator. Generally, though, these old machines run at too low a frequency to be bothered by a little bit of noise on the power rails; often times, every single decoupling capacitor could be removed from the board and the computer could still work flawlessly (although the radio noise it produced as a by-product would be another matter).
Question: prior to retuning the RF, why does the sound come through on your Commodore monitor but not the TV?
If you need to in the future, you could replace those capacitors in somewhat brutal fashion by physically ripping out the material on the old ones and soldering to their legs. It's ugly, but I'd much rather do that than unsolder that massive shield.
Also, would you happen to know the controls for the program that runs the SIDBurners music? I loaded it in an emulator because I like the tunes and I can select a song in the list, but then it just keeps playing that one on repeat indefinitely. I'd like it to go to the next one, or even perhaps randomise?
That could work. I did something similar when I did a bypass of the Audio amp on my Sega Genesis (Mega Amp mod).
If you really wanted to replace the caps inside the modulator, I suppose you could cut them in half from the top and pull them apart and maybe resolder the new ones to the old pins.
it was probably your TV cutting out the static noise? i seen tvs that do that when they get a image but not audio
Amazing! Well done
The Lazarus 64!
Nice work bud!
Two years later, now. Is the commodore still working?
Nice vedio thanks for the new information
No worries mate 👍🏻
Awesome
Thx for the demo too!
when r u going 2 to the tape deck hack video?
Having somethiinng 30 years old and not wanting to change any components......eventually something will have to be replaced to keep the 64C running. All original doesn't make it better if you can replace an aging/out-of-spec component with a newer/better one. That's just part of having "vintage" electric/electronic devices as a hobby.
@Bruno Primas Yes, but until there are obvious problems (leakage, bulging, etc), you may as well maintain that originality as long as possible.
Given everything else seems to work I wonder if the cartridge slot works.
awesome !!
This was the half plants half commodore one??? LOL. Plz send me some of your good luck haha
Still very confused on how to play sidburner 7, is anyone ABLE to teach me how to go through the menus?
xD , this is your favourite computer, me too
Great👍
I wish you could work on my Tandy 1000 TL.
goddam if you tried to do this with anything even remotely newer it would still be dead
commodore is beastly
For anyone that also wants to play the sid file on a modern OS: VLC media player can do it ;)
ruclips.net/video/3hybyw3of7U/видео.html
Setting the speed of the video to 1.25 almost does the trick too ;)
It's a Zombie 64 XD
If you could de-rust the old fuse and put it back in, that'd be perfect
The fuse was the one part that was intended to be End user replaceable.
It's hardly worth spending too many resources to fix a $0.10 fuse. Yes, it could be done; but why?
Hey^^
What is a sodering iron or desodering?
Ask AvE ;)
Soldering. The L is silent.
Americans do not pronounce the L in Solder or Soldering.
Not in real English.
www.circuitspecialists.com/blog/solder-not-sodder-the-story-behind-the-silent-or-not-so-silent-l/