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Not Prompted to Press Play on Tape

Posted: Wed Aug 09, 2017 3:56 pm
by DavMe
I received my Vic-20 for my birthday in 1983. There were no accessories so I had only the computer and had a blast.

Using the pinout of the cassette port in the book, I wired up a portable radio shack cassette recorder that Mom had. It worked great and would load and save programs, but the computer never said "Press Play on Tape" ever again, even after later acquiring a Commodore unit. (I had to use my intuitive superpowers and press play without being prompted.)

I'm considering fixing it. Nothing inside appears scorched. Any idea which component/chip would have been damaged by my 34 year old hack job?

Thanks!

Re: Not Prompted to Press Play on Tape

Posted: Thu Aug 10, 2017 1:44 am
by srowe
Welcome to Denial.

The cassette sense switch is connected to PA6 of VIA 1. Are you able to check whether the joystick and serial bus are working? They are also connected to that VIA. Does the [STOP]/[RESTORE] sequence work?

The most likely fault is that VIA 1 is completely or partially fried, if they're socketed on your board try switching the two VIAs (6522) around. You'll probably find that the keyboard then stops working.

Re: Not Prompted to Press Play on Tape

Posted: Thu Aug 10, 2017 10:01 am
by DavMe
Thank you kindly. The joystick always worked fine. They are socketed on my board so I'll do the quick swap test this evening.

Thanks!