Commodore 64 Troubleshooting
Commodore Business Machines introduced the Commodore 64 in 1982 at a price of $595. The early models used a cassette drive until Commodore introduced the 1541 disk drive. This increased the ability of the machine. The Commodore 64 was sturdy and considered advanced at the time. It had two joystick ports on the right-hand side that fit the same style joysticks as the Atari 2600. However, the Commodore 64 was prone to a few problems.
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Instructions
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Computer Will Not Turn On
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Flip the switch on the right-hand side of the computer to the up position. The power light is a red LED on the top right of the keyboard. If the light does not come on, locate the power cord and see if you have it plugged into the wall.
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2
Examine the power cord to the right of the machine. It is the back port on the port portions that holds the joystick ports and the power switch. Make sure you have it pushed in fully. If you still have no power, pull the power cord out, look at the pins and make sure none of them is bent.
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3
Examine the toggle switch on the side. This also has a tendency to fail. Remove the bottom of the keyboard and remove the toggle switch. This plugs into the motherboard and you can replace this with any small toggle switch.
Monitor Will Not Come On
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4
Look at the red power light on the keyboard if the monitor will not come on. If the keyboard is getting power, that means that the monitor is not getting power or the computer keyboard is not reading it.
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5
Examine the monitor's power cord to see that you have it plugged into the socket. Examine the monitor's connection into the keyboard to make sure it is not loose. If the monitor is getting power, you will see the green light on the monitor. If the monitor is receiving power but still does not work, turn the monitor off. Turn the keyboard off.
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6
Turn on the monitor. Turn on the keyboard. The monitor will turn on. Commodore 64 has a method of turning on the computer that requires you to turn on the periphery items first and the keyboard last. If the monitor still does not work, examine your cables between the computer and the monitor. They may be loose or severed. These are simple plug-in speaker cables and you can purchase them at any electronics store if you need replacements.
Floppy Disk Drive Not Reading
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7
Turn on the disk drive. This is a switch in the back lower-left of the drive. Place a floppy disk in the drive, and make sure the notched side is on the left. If the green power light in the front of the drive does not come on, locate the power connection to the wall and make sure you have it plugged in.
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8
Look at the green power light on the disk drive to see if it receiving power. Turn off the drive and turn the drive back on. If you are getting power, you can turn on the monitor and the keyboard in that order.
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9
Type in "LOAD"$",8" and press "Return." Type the word "LIST" and this will give you the list of information on that disk. If you receive a "Cannot locate device" error, remove the floppy disk and turn everything off. Examine the cable on the back of the disk drive. Examine the cable on the back of the keyboard from the disk drive and make sure that it is not loose.
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Tips & Warnings
Always turn on the disk drive first, followed by the monitor and the keyboard, in that order. This was Commodore 64 system for recognizing the periphery items.
