C64 floppy drive - busted?

[BoneSnapDeez]

I don't buy Commodore 64 games (and especially not disk games) very often, but I snagged a couple cheap ones online a couple of weeks back.

I dug the computer and floppy drive out the closet - floppy drive has a little problem. Excuse my lack of terminology here, but the tab you press down once you insert a disk is broken. It just flops around and thus it doesn't seem like I could properly "lock" a disk into place. Is this an easy fix, or just I just junk the thing? I didn't test it out with an actual disk because of was scared of damaged a disk.

I'm an impatient dude, so I already purchased a nice refurbished drive from eBay, but I'd like to repair this one if possible too.

[Curlypaul]

There are a couple of different drives for this thing, I have disassembled one of these:



It had the same problem, and the moving parts needed a clean and some fresh grease.

The locking mech was an annoying series of levers and springs which was a pain to get back together, but I was able to fix it.

I'm really scratching my head here but I can't remember exactly what I did. When I looked at it it was something obvious though, something had been dislodged and just needed resetting. Definitely worth looking inside before you bin it

[BoneSnapDeez]

Thanks, I too have a 1541 but it looks completely different than the one you posted.

I presume it is the moving parts, it actually (barely) worked about two times when I tested it - then it was like I felt something physically "pop" off. I'll open up this bad boy sometime soon and see if I can piece it back together.

Anyone know of a decent diagram that shows the guts of this thing?

[CRTGAMER]

Smart not to risk damaging a floppy game disk until you find out what is wrong with the drive. Take this a step further on any floppy drive by starting with a blank disk. Do a format, save and load just to be sure the drive is solid before risking a thirty year old game disk. You can even get a cleaner disk, just let the alcohol dry off for a few hours before inserting a floppy. Again do the blank disk test after any cleaning before risking a game disk.

Is you drive the latch style above or the lever pictured in my reply? The commodore Vic20/C64 floppy drives started out in white, then went to tan and the newest are an off white with a light grey logo. The older latch style above sometimes has to be coaxed outwards after pulling down. Curlypaul is right, a little bit of grease inside on the moving parts helps it spring out. Have care the grease does not drip onto the head or floppy disk. However if it is loose then something might have popped off inside.

If yours is the lever style below, it is more forgiving since there is no floppy disk eject involved. The handle could shear in its pin if flipped too hard.

Either drive is easy to open, only four screws on the bottom. Just be sure to cycle the power switch off and on a few times to discharge after unplugging. While you have it apart and find it is repairable, a reset button and 8/9 address toggle switch can easily be added. Both switches come in handy once you really get into C64 gaming.

[BoneSnapDeez]

^ My drive is similar to that, though not identical. I can't find a picture of the exact one I have online and I'm at work so I can't snap my own photo.

I bought a plastic disk holder at Goodwill some years back and it came with about 8 disks. I believe all are blank. When I get around to fixing the drive I'll test these first, then my junky dictionary/database type software, then I'll eventually work my way up to games.

I'll repost in this thread if I get it up and running again.

[ApolloBoy]

1541s are garbage, I'd suggest replacing it with a 1571 or 1541-II if you can.

[BoneSnapDeez]

Update: I ended up buying one of these.

http://lyonlabs.org/commodore/hardware/ ... 00x600.jpg

It rules.

[ApolloBoy]

Update: I ended up buying one of these.

http://lyonlabs.org/commodore/hardware/ ... 00x600.jpg

It rules.

Those are good too, but those third-party drives aren't 100% compatible so you might have some games that may not work with it. The Excelerator is one of the better ones out there though!

[BoneSnapDeez]

Good to know - I have heard of a few incompatibilities. Everything I own works without a hitch though, thankfully.