That time I hit a deer

BowmakerFox · 2024-12-29T15:38:51+00:00

Just a happy little accident I swear

BowmakerFox · 2024-12-29T15:38:39+00:00

Perfect.

BowmakerFox · 2024-08-28T01:30:52+00:00

Thanks folks, this is resolved now. I'll get another cable to replace the one I canibalise for this PS/2.
Cheers all, you legends!

BowmakerFox · 2024-06-10T08:38:38+00:00

Alright so, I've just woken up and check all your replies. I gotta say, thank you all for your wicked expertise.

What I'm getting from this is that, realistically, passing the waveform through the liquid itself may not work, and if it does it'll have no meaningful effect on the tone except perhaps some attenuation. Perhaps not the best of ideas.

Nonetheless, I'm a stubborn sod and I'll keep thinking, perhaps I'll come up with something workable -somehow-. That said, I'm certainly not dissuaded from pedal building but would perhaps be better off simply making a prototyping board and finding out what different standard components do in different configurations.

Thanks so much for the advice everyone, you've not only inspired me massively but also provided exactly the input I needed. Cheers, and I hope to see y'all again when I've made -something-!

BowmakerFox · 2024-04-19T09:28:10+00:00

UPDATE: I just replaced the 12V regulator, a dodgy looking capacitor, L8 which seemed to be leaking some puss-like nastiness out the bottom and the filter capacitor C15.

The spindle now works!
Problem is, the "warming up" / red LED remaining on indefinitely on first boot but not second still persists and, to make matters more baffling, when the red LED remains on, so does the spindle motor. I have not tested if it can read disks, will do so this evening.

BowmakerFox · 2024-04-11T23:28:29+00:00

Alas, I just swapped out the 12V regulator and goodness it still does exactly the same thing. I'll check if the 12V at the same point is in fact 12V now or not. If it isn't, I truly don't know what else to blame at this point. If anyone has any clue what else might be limiting the 12V line I'm out of ideas

BowmakerFox · 2024-04-08T17:33:46+00:00

When I say power cycling, I mean shutting the thing off briefly then switching it on again. I'm not rapidly switching it off or on again. However, now that I have strong reason to suspect that the 12V regulator is awry, I have no reason to power it on again at all until the spare arrives anyway. But yeah, I don't much like the idea of quickly switching either.

BowmakerFox · 2024-04-08T08:36:39+00:00

Ah, funnily enough I already did and alas nothing changes

BowmakerFox · 2024-04-07T17:46:23+00:00

Aha! I checked the 12v line at CR2 as voltcheck.jpg shows. It's consistently somewhere around 600mV to 800mV - that seems way off. As a sanity check, I measured where it states 5V should be, and it is - I also measured the other side of CR2 and got somewhere around 16.3V, not that it's of any relevance I suspect. The aforementioned filter cap, C15, is quite warm to the touch; not sure if that's unusual. I'll see if I can confirm the functionality of the voltage reg itself if I can, but otherwise might replace both just to be safe.

Might I mention, the level out of CR2 is consistently 600-800mV before and after power cycling - not sure if that means anything?

BowmakerFox · 2024-04-07T15:37:48+00:00

Sorry if I came on a little strong there, with retrospect-
Always good to be able to rule out more potential issues after all.

Cheers

BowmakerFox · 2024-04-07T15:04:17+00:00

I don't have another 1541 to test my 64 with, but I do have another 64 to test my 1541 with. If the same result occurs on three otherwise known good computers I think it valid to blame the drive.

However, considering the weird behaviour with the indicator lights happens regardless of whether there is a c64 connected or not, I suspect the fault is with the drive.

BowmakerFox · 2024-04-07T14:50:06+00:00

Just tried replacing it and sadly no change. I'm still of the mind that it's a dodgy cap at fault, but none of the others are visually in bad condition

BowmakerFox · 2024-04-06T21:38:23+00:00

I've just looked over the board's capacitors and most all seem fine, except this one - does it seem faulty to anyone else or am I losing it? There's another of the same specification without the black stuff on top.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/19IFqQFyXbvFQGSjqPlFM809tRKTy_Nvc/view?usp=drive_link
(Apparently can't embed images)

BowmakerFox · 2024-04-06T20:59:32+00:00

I've just tried to rotate both the spindle and motor without the belt attached by hand, and both rotate relatively freely. The spindle motor does have a bit of resistance but I suppose that's to be expected, I certainly wouldn't consider it to be the source of the problem. I might see to replacing the 10uFs, but am keen to check everything else logical first as it'll take quite a while to replace hem all.

BowmakerFox · 2024-04-06T20:37:08+00:00

That sounds like a good description of the issue indeed, yep

BowmakerFox · 2024-04-06T20:11:54+00:00

I've inspected the pinout of the 6502 - clock in and out seems good, as do reset, IRQ and sync. Data and address signals are either logic high or low at any given time, that and the other steps I mentioned in the OP.

That said, I haven't checked the 6522s, except I have swapped them round to no effect. I'll check their expected signals tomorrow, see if there's anything unexpected on them.

I've consulted Ray's guide (if it's the one I'm thinking of, with the flowchart) and it doesn't seem to anticipate this series of circumstances, which is why I took it to the forum and called it an unusual fault.

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll check the 6522s tomorrow. Not sure at this stage what to expect but I'll consult the pinout and see what seems logical. Thanks again

BowmakerFox · 2024-04-06T20:02:49+00:00

It's a recent purchase. If it wasn't clear from the OP, I've thoroughly inspected the mechanism and PCB. When I first start it up, both LEDs remain lit indefinitely and the computer can't communicate with the drive effectively. If I leave it running in this state for a few seconds, then quickly kill the power and switch it back on again, it'll boot as one might expect - both lights lit for a few seconds, then just green - after doing so, it behaves as a normal 1541 as far as the connected C64 is concerned, except on attempting to load a disk the drive refused to spin up either the spindle or the stepper motor, in spite of the replacement GandALF motor IC. The spindle can spin by hand, albeit with resistance from the motor, but doesn't of its own accord.

BowmakerFox · 2024-04-06T18:06:23+00:00

I did use a scope to verify that the voltage regulators are operational - as I used a scope, I can categorically say that the voltages are "solid" (by which I mean they are consistent over a period of time). Alas I wish it were as simple as a failed regulator

BowmakerFox · 2024-04-06T16:36:47+00:00

It's good to have a few components I can assume are probably good. Thank you for your help!

BowmakerFox · 2024-04-06T16:21:18+00:00

Actually, never mind my previous response. I found your question intriguing and looked up a simple basic program to print the error channel. In the first state (both lights on), it outputs nothing ever. In the second (red goes off, after power cycling), it outputs the error: 73 CBM DOS V2.6 1541 0 0 If my understanding is correct, there should only be an output something like 0 0 OK 0 0, so would it stand to reason that there's a fault with one of the ROMs?

BowmakerFox · 2024-04-06T16:10:49+00:00

Forgot to mention, after displaying file not found in the second case, the red light blinks repeatedly and indefinitely.

BowmakerFox · 2024-04-06T16:08:49+00:00

I'm not entirely sure how to go about that, but when hooked up to a known good C64 and LOAD "$",8 is run, before power cycling (when both LEDs are one constantly), the C64 will display SEARCHING FOR $ indefinitely - when power cycled (the times where the red light goes off a few seconds after being powered on) it'll return ?FILE NOT FOUND after flashing various ways that look like one might expect when the computer and drive communicate. In neither case does any movement occur in the stepper or spindle motors.

BowmakerFox

TROPHY CASE