won't turn on / no green or red lights

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Don't Panic. Please wash hands.
  • Hi team,


    2 hours ago, I just installed the following chips:


    2x CIA 6426

    2x SID 8580R5 + 6581

    VIC II 6569R5

    CPU 8500


    Chips with notch facing rear, used a power supply 12v DC center positive. When turned on I got the message that VIC II detection failed. Is VIC II 6569R5 compatible? I took it from my old c64 and it was working just fine...


    Now I cameback to continue my testings and the board doesn't even turn on... Checked the power supply and even changed and nothing happen...


    Could you please advise?


    Thank you

  • alexrmsantos

    Changed the title of the thread from “won't turn on + 6581” to “won't turn on / no green or red lights”.
  • The ICs are all fine. Please double-check that they are inserted the right way (notch to lever).


    Then, please use the remote control menu and paste the chip info here, the numbers may tell something :)

  • ..and both PSUs with settable, yet badly-understandable polarity setting. It is *very* likely that the protection diode has tripped and you therefore don't see any light any more.

  • What do you mean about tripped?

    The protection diode might just be melted inside if you have connected a wrong-polarity PSU even once.


    Will this one work?

    The polarity is correct, amperage is OK as well, so yes, this will be OK. Please connect it and see if the unit comes up. If it does not, please see if diode D8 (close to the power switch of the C64 Reloaded MK2) gets hot. Caution: If it's really tripped, you might burn your finger!

  • Ok tried the power supply, it turned the green light (no blinking) but screen has garbage (something wrong with one of the chips?)


    I turned it off, connected to pc and and when I turn it ON again, no green light and the cursor of the terminal stops blinking. Does it means that the board is connected? If so, I can't have the menu on the terminal...

  • press a key on the terminal, then it will spit out some info. or just start the terminal before powering on the MK2


    for a first check, i'd remove all the ICs, the board should power on (blinking LED) and you should see the remote control menu. if that works, try again with the ICs

  • Hello Jens amd Tobias,


    As stated on our emails, the post office advised me that this will take a long time to be delivered due to this coronavirus situation (and not talking about 40€ of postage here).


    I asked if you (or Thomas) could be kind enough and do a conference video call in order to guide me and check if it's really my fault or if it's the board that is faulty. I just ask you this because we live in a very delicate and unique situation and this kind of support should be possible (we all need to adapt). I have several power supplies so the answer I got that the problem might be the power supply doesn't make sense imho.


    I'm a bit gutted to have spent $$ on the board, I can't even turn it on and the answer I get is that you are busy and don't have time to do it...


    Once again, would it be possible to get just a few minutes of your time on a conf call so we can be certain what is going on? If the board is faulty, I'll wait for this coronavirus situation to calm down and send you back the board, no prob on that.

  • I understand that you want to fix it now, however "no green light, no response on the terminal.." means there isnt much we can do - the board isnt getting power (protection diode tripped). If you have a powersupply that works with other devices, and on the C64R it doesnt make the green LED light up, then you have already proved that :)


    As said in PM, i dont have equipment for video conferencing, nor experience with any of the existing software/platforms. Jens is trying to set something up right now, but this will likely also still take a bit (and we still have to test if the bandwidth available to him is even good enough for this kind of thing).


    Do you have a multimeter? I'd prefer to walk you through this using some pictures and written text - since then i can put it on the wiki for other people to see.


    (just curious, where are you living anyway?)

  • That sounds doable then. Start with measuring the output voltage of your PSU when it is NOT connected to the C64R, it should be very close to 12V :) I can make a few pictures then that show a few points on the board and the expected voltage.

  • Hi Thomas,


    Got a multimeter today. I'm completely new at this so please bear with me. What should I do now?


    I would appreciate if you could explain with some photos so I understand what you're saying...


    Thank you.

  • OK, well :) First of all switch the multimeter to the highest DC range it offers. If the probes are not fixed to the multimeter, connect the probes to ground (black one) and voltage input (red one) like in the picture. Stick the red one into the plug of the PSU, put the other (black) one on the outside of the plug. Make sure the two dont touch each other (that will make a short circuit and possibly destroy the PSU). Power on the PSU and read the measured voltage (should be around 12V). Now you can switch the range of the multimeter down to the smallest range that is still more than 12V to get a more accurate result. You can safely hold and touch the plug and probes in the process to make sure they dont make a short.



    I'll make more pictures tomorrow that show what to measure in the C64R, need to remove a bit of the chaos around my desk first =)

  • Ok, so the first thing to check is the protecion diode D8 and the fuse F1 ... for this the safest way is to put your multimeter into continuity testing mode, this is usually indicated by a small "diode" symbol, or a musical note, often located next to the resistance mode range select (see the previous picture (at about "11 o'clock"). You can verify your multimeter is in this mode by just making the two probes touch each other, it should show "0" or perhaps even beep. Make sure you understand what it shows when its "open" (the probes do not touch) and "closed" (they do touch).


    Now, locate D8 and F1 on the board (shown in the picture below). Do NOT connect the power supply to the board.


    Now put one probe at the top solder joint, the other at the bottom solder joint of F1 - you should see the "0" and/or hear the beep. You may need to apply a bit of pressure, or twist the probes a bit to make proper contact, as the surface of the solder joint may be oxidized. If this does not work, then the fuse has done its job (and needs to be replaced). Measure in both directions (once red probe on top, black on bottom - once black probe on top, red on bottom) to be sure its "closed" both ways.


    Next is the protection diode D8. Measure like above, in both ways. In one way it should be "open", the other way the multimeter will show some number (mine says 460mV, with black probe on top, red on bottom). If it shows "closed" in one way or the other, then the diode did its job and "tripped"/"melted" and needs to be replaced.


  • The last reply was more than 365 days ago, this thread is most likely obsolete. It is recommended to create a new thread instead.