New Zealand Vintage Computer Forums

So yeah, we played a LOT of games on Saturday night. The new 64 ran like a real champ and didn't miss a beat.

The same cannot be said of the 1541 though. The one that came with my latest 64 is a non-runner at the moment, it's an Alps mech and appears to need an align. One of my 1541Cs doesn't run with no power LED and constant access LED (probably 5V rail issues), and the other WAS running like a champ. Now, it's out of alignment too!

So what's the story here? Anyone got any tips or tricks on realigning a 1541? A lot of information suggests using alignment disks, but how do you load the software on an alignment disk when the drive is too far out of alignment to load anything else?!

but how do you load the software on an alignment disk when the drive is too far out of alignment to load anything else?!

Could it be as easy as loading a copy from tape? Or using a second floppy drive... it is a serial 'BUS' device after all, so daisy chain them? (I take it you have access to a still good drive or can borrow one from a good friend?)
Sorry, it was too easy a question to pass up a dumb answer ;o) http://www.scribd.com/remow/d/24394891- ... sers-Guide (long slow page)

try here

http://personalpages.tds.net/~rcarlsen/cbm.html

http://personalpages.tds.net/~rcarlsen/cbm/1541/

BTW Just got a Brand new C64 test cartridge, if its better than the one I have, you can borrow the old one for a while for the duffers.

Sorry to hear about the bad drive. I don't have any experience with these 1541s. I have a standard one and a 1541-II model. Both are behaving themselves at the moment.

recycled wrote:

but how do you load the software on an alignment disk when the drive is too far out of alignment to load anything else?!

Could it be as easy as loading a copy from tape? Or using a second floppy drive... it is a serial 'BUS' device after all, so daisy chain them? (I take it you have access to a still good drive or can borrow one from a good friend?)
Sorry, it was too easy a question to pass up a dumb answer ;o) http://www.scribd.com/remow/d/24394891- ... sers-Guide (long slow page)

Sadly, no... I now have no working drives. I also have no workable Datasette either.

I suspect that I'm going to need a cable to interface the 64 to one of my PCs in order to get some software over there.

I think one of my drives has gone out of alignment again too :/ wouldn't format any disks last night.

You could do it the slow way - adjust a little - try to load program - repeat? Hardly a pro-fix but if it gets things working again.