Calling All 1540 Owners!

[gklinger]

I've noticed a few odd things about my 1540 and I've started wondering about other people's drives. The first thing is that the faceplate on the drive mech is black, not dark brown like the one on my VIC-1541 and every 1541 I've ever seen. The other difference is that the power plug on the rear is white rather than black. I'll take some pictures late this evening in the hope that the black/brown difference is clear enough to see.

If you've got a 1540 please check the colour of your drive's faceplate and the power plug on the back and report back. Thanks.

[Schema]

My VIC-1540 has the black faceplate and white power plug.

Interestingly enough, my VIC-1541 also has the black faceplate (but black power plug).

[eslapion]

Last year I mentioned my VIC-1541 with very long board was internally identical to a VIC-1540. It has the black faceplate.

Drives with this faceplate are the ones which are a nightmare to realign.

Call me stupid but the last time I had to realign a VIC-1541 which had that type of mechanism (and the black face plate), I just trashed the mechanism and put in the mechanism of an Alps type standard 1541 as a replacement.

I just had one 1541 who's transformer was damaged. The mech ended up as a replacement in the VLB VIC-1541 and the electronics ended up in Golan's hands.

[eslapion]

Interestingly enough, my VIC-1541 also has the black faceplate (but black power plug).

You VIC-1541 therefore more than likely has the very long electronics board which is common with the VIC-1540.

[gklinger]

I just had one 1541 who's transformer was damaged. The mech ended up as a replacement in the VLB VIC-1541 and the electronics ended up in Golan's hands.

This is news to Golan.

[6502dude]

I just had one 1541 who's transformer was damaged. The mech ended up as a replacement in the VLB VIC-1541 and the electronics ended up in Golan's hands.

This is news to Golan.

Eslapion seems to have a slightly different version of reality than the rest of us and seems to mis-remember facts.
I don't think this is intentional and I attribute this to his metal handicap.

[eslapion]

Eslapion seems to have a slightly different version of reality than the rest of us and seems to mis-remember facts.
I don't think this is intentional and I attribute this to his metal handicap.

Then my nice postal office worker also has a slightly different version of reality...He gave me something known as a tracking number.

Last week I mailed a nice big box destined to Dave Ocovich. In it is a replacement electronics board for the faulty 1541 I supposedly sold to a gentleman on dec. 1st which Golan said he replaced free of charge.

Dave said he will give this board to Golan.

Now take a deep breath through the nose. Calm down and now take the necessary time to carefully remove your foot from your mouth.

[6502dude]

Last week I mailed a nice big box destined to Dave Ocovich. In it is a replacement electronics board for the faulty 1541 I supposedly sold to a gentleman on dec. 1st which Golan said he replaced free of charge.

Dave said he will give this board to Golan.

The previous post implied that Golan was already in receipt of the parts, or had an expectation of receiving defective 1541 hardware.

Thus, I believe this is why the post appeared as news to him.

I do recall seeing a bunch of hardware at last Thusday's TPUG meeting that Golan had brought to fix up people who had received defective hardware.

However, I am not aware of the transaction details.

Calm down

I am not upset and seldom become angry.

My post was intended to convey that we ought cut you some slack and be understanding that due your mental disability, sometimes what post may not make sense to the rest of us.

[Jeff-20]

c'mon guys. no negativity.

[gklinger]

Last week I mailed a nice big box destined to Dave Ocovich.

My name is Golan Klinger.

In it is a replacement electronics board for the faulty 1541 I supposedly sold to a gentleman on dec. 1st which Golan said he replaced free of charge.

For the record...

At the WoC you sold a 1541 to an older gentleman. He came to the December TPUG meeting looking for you because the drive didn't work (he was led to believe that it did). He was disappointed to discover that you weren't there and most likely wouldn't be at any TPUG meetings in the future and that TPUG couldn't fix the drive for him. I felt bad for him so I offered to give him one of my 1541s which I did at January's meeting. The next day I let you know about the incident since it involved you. I didn't ask for a replacement drive because I need more 1541s like a hole in the head. I didn't tell you what was wrong with the drive because I didn't know (and don't care) and since I have no interest in becoming your repair technician/agent in Toronto, I declined your offer of a replacement drive. Had you offered to PayPal me $10 + fees I would have passed the refund along to the gentleman in question. As an aside, you'll recall that I didn't ask for a refund for the defective item you sold me at the WoC...

Dave said he will give this board to Golan.

1. Why?
2. Who is Dave Ocovich?

Now take a deep breath through the nose. Calm down and now take the necessary time to carefully remove your foot from your mouth.

This is good general advice. I gave you similar advice once, albeit with a more polite tone, and you went postal.

/me sighs

So, anyone want to talk about 1540s because this thread is about, you know, 1540s.

[eslapion]

Eslapion seems to have a slightly different version of reality than the rest of us and seems to mis-remember facts.
I don't think this is intentional and I attribute this to his metal handicap.

...

My post was intended to convey that we ought cut you some slack and be understanding that due your mental disability, sometimes what post may not make sense to the rest of us.

Actually it seems to imply that I cannot think for myself.

At the WoC you sold a 1541 to an older gentleman. He came to the December TPUG meeting looking for you because the drive didn't work (he was led to believe that it did). He was disappointed to discover that you weren't there and most likely wouldn't be at any TPUG meetings in the future and that TPUG couldn't fix the drive for him. I felt bad for him so I offered to give him one of my 1541s which I did at January's meeting. The next day I let you know about the incident since it involved you.

I received a payment of 99$ from a guy who's nick on Lemon64 is CDN64.

He says he knows you and he seemed perfectly aware that you gave a replacement 1541 to the gentlemen in question. I don't remember from whom exactly but I do remember the symptoms of the problems with that 1541 were indicated to me in a message I received at Lemon64.

I don't know if its from you or CDN64 or perhaps even the old gentleman himself using a nick which I don't remember. To me, these symptoms made it clear only the electronics board could be at fault.

CDN64 indicated that it was ok for me to send a replacement electronics board along with the stuff he bought and paid for via paypal. I just assumed you and him had been in touch with each other.

He even posted this to indicate he was happy with what I sent him.

Now if CDN64 used somebody else's paypal account to pay me then I have no way to know what his real name is.

I assumed you kept the faulty drive until a quick and easy fix could come along. Replacing the whole board should be relatively easy, even for somebody with no knowledge of electronics. Its a drop-in replacement, no solder or anything like that. I had no clue that 1541s were something you have in excess.

As an aside, you'll recall that I didn't ask for a refund for the defective item you sold me at the WoC...

Yes and you actually seemed uninterested with my offer to try and get a solution to this problem and I must say that worries me. I would very much like to either fix the faulty product or provide you with a solution that would satisfy you.

[gklinger]

I received a payment of 99$ from a guy who's nick on Lemon64 is CDN64.

Ah, okay. Now I know who you're talking about. That guy's name is Dave (I don't know his surname) and I've met him a couple of times. In fact, I think I might have introduced you two at the WoC but I can't say for sure because I was stoned out of my gourd on cold medicine. What I do know is that he has never been to a TPUG meeting so I don't know how he would know about this 1541 business. It really doesn't matter because the older gentleman now has a working 1541 so all's well that ends well.

I assumed [...]

Ah, there's the problem.

Yes and you actually seemed uninterested with my offer to try and get a solution to this problem and I must say that worries me.

My disinterest was in spending the time and the $10 on postage to send you a power supply that only cost me $10 in the first place and then having you invest your time to repair it and then spend another $10 to send it back to me. I did a cost/benefit analysis and determined it was easier to bin the thing so don't worry about it. I know you would never misrepresent a defective item as working so I don't have any negative feelings about this. It was just bad luck.

[carlsson]

"Metal handicap" Is it what Terminator suffers from when he gets one of his robot limbs damaged?

[ral-clan]

About a year ago I posted photos of a VIC1540 beside at VIC-1541 (both white). There are slight differences as you noted:

- both do not feature a Commodore logo embossed on the top.
- the VIC-1540 has a black faceplace, as stated, vs. the 1541s brown faceplace.
- the texture of the plastic on white case of the VIC-1540 is smooth, vs. on the VIC1541 and later C64ish 1541s there is a slight granular texture embossed on the plastic.
- the sticker on the face of the VIC-1540 has a black background (like the PET) whereas the VIC-1541 sticker has a brown background.
- I don't know about the power switch colour, because when I first turned on my 1540, this part went up in smoke (literally) and I had to replace it with one from a later 1541.

[wiskow]

I just checked the VIC-1540 that I have here, and compared it to the VIC-1541 I have, and there is, indeed, a difference in color of the faceplate and label as well as the texture of the plastic of the overall drive as Ral-can pointed out.

-Andrew