Comodore 64 Disk Drive problem

TheDuke

no.... you didn't read it wrong...

Note: Under 21s need not read this

I unpacked my attic and came accross my old C64 (and Spectrum 128 +2) which I left there cause some day I wanted to fire them up and mess about a bit (seeing that these were my first ever machines).

Everything worked fine but the floppy drive doesn't stop running - i.e. when I start it it should stop after a few seconds but it just keeps going.

Anyone know where I could turn to for this...

I know this is a total long shot .. .but hey, maybe there's more nerds like me out there ... :rolleyes:

The Duke

ZENER

TheDuke wrote:

no.... you didn't read it wrong...

Note: Under 21s need not read this

Under 31's more like . . .

Awww nooo !! Now I feel old again . . back to therapy I go

As a total longshot the original Agents for Commodore in Ireland were EMCEE Distribution on the Longmile road although I think they bought out Midia and took over their premises a few months back. The number used to be 01-4567911.

They may just point at you and snigger ! So be prepared !

Good luck.

ZEN

Zapho

Don't go to extremes just yet! Its likely a problem with a fault floppy, rather than a damaged floppy drive. I own an old BBC Master Compact and anytime the floppy drive wouldn't stop running it was because it was trying to read bad sectors of a disk. I hope that helps!

Khannie

ebay also have an "antique computing" section if you need new hardware.

Oh, you can also get C64 emulators for the PC (it turns your PC into a C64). Save yourself a bit of hassle

ZENER

Heh heh . . . three old codgers talking about BBC's and C64's . . . ah thems were the days - Dig Dug anyone ?

ZEN

Lemming

is the floppy drive a 1541 mk.1 (alias: twin cavity brick) or mk.2?

The mk.1 (which I have) was prone to having its internals go slightly out of alignment. What would rectify this was inserting a disk (whilst turned off) and closing the bay handle to lock it in place, and then removing the disk. Short term solution at any rate.

There's a place on Parnell street that I used to take it to for fixing, and the place still appears to be there. It's opposite "Cycle-Ways" bike shop beside a newsagents and it's literally a door on the street with a sign above the door in blue writing: "Something"-Tech etc.

Thordon

Note: Under 21s need not read this
Under 31's more like

Pfft, Im 19 and I had one... and no I have nothing to contribute

Edit: Yay 5^3 post

Canis Lupus

Manic Miner!!!!!! Best and most frustrating platformer to ever exist and even more annoying cos my tape was corrupted after the fifth level

And galatic gardener... and and mayhem in monsterland..... brilliant platformer at the end of the c64's life... and and.... sooooo many cool games..... oh Spy vs Spy!!! and creatures...... argh!!!!! nostalgia overload *faints*

davmigil

Attack of the Killer Mutant Camels. I still have the tune in my head. Aghhh, it's back again (anybody know what it is, classical piece Egyptian something something).

Dara Robinson

Canis Lupus wrote:

Manic Miner!!!!!! Best and most frustrating platformer to ever exist and even more annoying cos my tape was corrupted after the fifth level

ahhhh....... Manic Miner. Had to be the best game at the time. Ahhhhh.... Amstrad. Was Manic Miner avaiable on multiple platforms?? cause I had it on my Amstrad, Bloody tape games. What A nightmare. You remember getting the latest game that took up 2 or 3 tapes and you are on the 3rd tape and it crashes. AAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!! you'd spend the next 30 mins just trying to get the game running and when you get the game running... DINNER TIME!!!!! TURN THAT THING OFF!!! but mom I, I SAID TURN IT OFF!!!!

those were the days

Anyone remember when floppys were cutting edge??

P.S: Someone told me that Manic Miner is out on the GameBoy

tuxy

Dara Robinson wrote:

Anyone remember when floppys were cutting edge??

yup
i didnt have one and had to make do with the slow loading cassettes

SantaHoe

Lemming wrote:

There's a place on Parnell street that I used to take it to for fixing, and the place still appears to be there.

Is that the shop with the really cheesey 80's style shopfront logo/text?
I've passed it a few times on the bus, but thought the bus was traveling through a time-warping wormhole of some sort.
I've never ventured into it, just marked it off on my map as "here be blocky 4-bit monsters".
I'd be genuinely scared if they still handled commodore stuff tbh

Canis Lupus

Ocean loading music. a thing of beauty... I can still hum it. Or while I'm thinking of sound I don't think the noise those balls made when they hit yur shield in the bonus levels of IK+ when they were going reeeeeal fast will ever leave me.

Thinking back I had so many games that were corrupted it was horrible.

Lemming

SantaHoe wrote:

Is that the shop with the really cheesey 80's style shopfront logo/text?
I've passed it a few times on the bus, but thought the bus was traveling through a time-warping wormhole of some sort.
I've never ventured into it, just marked it off on my map as "here be blocky 4-bit monsters".
I'd be genuinely scared if they still handled commodore stuff tbh

I doubt it. This place is literally a door. There is no "shop-front". It's a door with a placard sign above it, wedged between a newsagents and the place next door.

TheDuke

JEEEEESUUSSSSS... I was expeting one reply at best... tnx a mill guys!!!!

Lemming wrote: is the floppy drive a 1541 mk.1 (alias: twin cavity brick) or mk.2?

It's an Mk.2 - the white slick(er) version. I'll give your idea a shot anyway to see if it'll work

Anyone remember when floppys were cutting edge??

which is why I got it first day - I started with the ZX Sprectrum +2 with inbuilt datadrive...

Don't go to extremes just yet! Its likely a problem with a fault floppy, rather than a damaged floppy drive.

checked for that - it does this when there's no drive in - it just runs and runs and runs... tnx

Oh, you can also get C64 emulators for the PC

not the same thing mate - it's not the old games, it's the whole rig I wanted to get back

I'll work through the contacts and see if anyone can help - it's not a priority but I've said to myself for years that some day you'll take these out of their box and get the rig running again - which is like now and 20 years later... so pretty impressive it hums at all really.

Tnx again for all the great replies,

The Duke

Canis Lupus

I have 2 commodores.... recently I took one out and set it up and played a few games and then realised I was better off not playing anymore cos I was ruining my memory of them.... Games have come on so much these days

TheDuke

played a few games and then realised I was better off not playing anymore cos I was ruining my memory of them

that is an interreting quite because if you asked me which was be better game - Rambo First Blood or Call of Duty I'd be very hard pushed to give an answer... I remember clearly how unbelievable impressed I was with the sound effect and graphics of Rambo...


maybe I should just keep it a memory.... thank you for the warning, oh wise man Lupus

SantaHoe

Lemming wrote:

I doubt it. This place is literally a door. There is no "shop-front". It's a door with a placard sign above it, wedged between a newsagents and the place next door.

Ah ok, I'm thinking of another place then.
I must get a photo of this shop though, it's spooky... it's what you'd imagine a haunted computer shop to look like. :eek:

Canis Lupus

TheDuke wrote:

that is an interreting quite because if you asked me which was be better game - Rambo First Blood or Call of Duty I'd be very hard pushed to give an answer... I remember clearly how unbelievable impressed I was with the sound effect and graphics of Rambo...


maybe I should just keep it a memory.... thank you for the warning, oh wise man Lupus

God Rambo was such a tough game imo.... great tho

TinCool

I still fire up Impossible Mission on my C64 emu every couple of months. Still holds it's own. Love that game. "Another visitor, stay a while, staaaaay forever...."

Old Skool

Woden

Lemming wrote:

"Something"-Tech etc.

Multi-tech computers is ringing a bell for me, that might be it

i got my commadore 64 with a cartridge (perhaps one of the later version?). anyway the cartridge had flimbo's quest on it, freddies international circus, the soccer game (not sure of name perhaps early iss thingy) and klax.

flimbo's quest was the doggies bollox, got the tape drive for my birthday which was shortly after xmas. used to pick up games for it in paddy barratts.

ah memories

Krusty_Clown

I had a very simillar problem with my 1541 mk1. As far as I can remember (it was about 20 years ago!) the only solution was to bring it back to where I purchased it. Unfortunately, I think 'Tomorrow's world' closed down about 15 years ago, so not much help.

I do remember the problem being incredibly frustrating.. May have been caused by having a dot matrix printer switched on before the drive..

Favourite games:
Racing destruction set
Paradroid
Lazer Squad

fade2black

....Mouse trap....Cjs Elephant Antics....Dizzy...New Zealand Story.....Street Beat (no one remembers that but every one has a C64 game that no one else remembers..)

Canis Lupus

I know NZ story, great game. Dizzy... actually can I take this moment to ask if it was just me but was dizzy the most confusing game ever? I could never play any of them cos they didn't make any sense. Street beat rings a real faint bell with me....

TheDuke

Lupus wrote: God Rambo was such a tough game imo.... great tho

indeed... the base was cool but that fkn helicopter that kept shooting you up the ass towards the end was extreemly frustrating.... I can still hear the music as you go accross the final river... nearly made it.... bam, and another enema takes you down!.. lol... ah the memories :rolleyes:

the only solution was to bring it back to where I purchased it. Unfortunately, I think 'Tomorrow's world' closed down about 15 years ago

now that's exactly the sort of advise that I need... ... lol... only mesing m8

Lemming

Dataisgod wrote:

Multi-tech computers is ringing a bell for me, that might be it

That's the place!!!

i got my commadore 64 with a cartridge (perhaps one of the later version?). anyway the cartridge had flimbo's quest on it, freddies international circus, the soccer game (not sure of name perhaps early iss thingy) and klax.

That was one of the last bundled packages released if I recall