Datasette problems

PaulQ · Post by **PaulQ** » Fri Feb 02, 2007 9:20 pm

Okay, I finally scored a Datasette. It's a piece of junk, with a door that's broken and very difficult to close, but it does work. I tested it on my C-64. Connected to my Vic, it's a different story. When I type in "Load," I press play, the computer recognizes the "Play" button is pressed, but the cassette motor does not turn. When "Saving" a program, once again it recognizes that the record button is pressed, but again, no motor activity. Cannot fast forward or rewind. I now find myself asking those of you who know better; what is wrong? I'm suspecting the Vic isn't providing power to the datasette, but I've cleaned the contacts on the edge connector. Any ideas?

eslapion · Post by **eslapion** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 1:00 am

DigitalQuirk wrote:Okay, I finally scored a Datasette. It's a piece of junk, with a door that's broken and very difficult to close, but it does work. I tested it on my C-64. Connected to my Vic, it's a different story. When I type in "Load," I press play, the computer recognizes the "Play" button is pressed, but the cassette motor does not turn. When "Saving" a program, once again it recognizes that the record button is pressed, but again, no motor activity. Cannot fast forward or rewind. I now find myself asking those of you who know better; what is wrong? I'm suspecting the Vic isn't providing power to the datasette, but I've cleaned the contacts on the edge connector. Any ideas?

If it works fine on a 64 then refuses to spin on a VIC, then I confirm to you that the VIC doesn't provide the 9Vdc required to get the dc motor to spin.

What type of VIC do you have ?

Boray · Post by **Boray** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 5:48 am

If it's the new vic-20 model, then it could be the fuse inside of the vic...

PaulQ · Post by **PaulQ** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 8:15 am

Good call on the fuse, Boray. I checked it, and while the fuse is good, it doesn't appear to be getting any voltage. I decided to check the pins on the power supply with my volt meter, but cannot find a pinout diagram for the Vic 20 power supply anywhere! It's the 9 pin DIN plug; I'm going to keep looking, but if anyone can post the pinout diagram for this, I'd appreciate it.

PaulQ · Post by **PaulQ** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 8:28 am

After doing more research in these forums, I decided to try my Commodore 64 power supply in my Vic. Lo and behold, the Datasette drive now works! It appears to be a problem with my Vic power supply.

I'm happy to say that I finally feel my system is complete; though it'd be nice to have a datasette drive with a door that didn't put up a fight and threaten to break further every time I close it. I'd still like to see a Vic 20 pinout diagram so I can determine which pin is faulty and possibly repair it if it's just a bad connection.

Thanks again, Boray. Your suggestion put me on the right track to resolving this problem. Today is a good day.

Boray · Post by **Boray** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 3:50 pm

http://personalpages.tds.net/~rcarlsen/cbm/pinouts.txt

(It's the same for the c64 and the "new" vic-20 as you have found out)... Btw, isn't there a fuse in the power supply as well? But I think that one is for the whole power supply...?

PaulQ · Post by **PaulQ** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 6:10 pm

The power supply is one of those sealed-up jobs that warns me not to open it. I was actually surprsied to discover the VIC worked fine without that fuse; I had always assumed it was for the entire computer. I'm learning something new about this friendly computer every day, it seems.

pitcalco · Post by **pitcalco** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 4:29 am

I am sure this is a common problem with the datassette.

The play button just will not stay down when I press it. I need to hold it down for the entire duration of the loading or saving. Clearly there is some kind of mechanical problem with some latch, inside the datassette, but I am reluctant to open it up until I get some advice first.

Denial

Datasette problems

Datasette problems

Re: Datasette problems

Play button wont stay down