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Some Commodore 128 Help

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Rakoth

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Sep 23, 2010
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'ello, good folks, just registered to see if I might not get some advice. My neighbors were throwing out a C128, in its original box (with only minor warping on one corner of it!) along with various cables and one power supply. Owing to that I adore the machine, I couldn't let it sit out there in a trash heap, so I took it in and cleaned it off, curious to see whether it would even work.

Externally, it seems quite fine after a bit of a scrub down, as it had a bit of grime on the keys and the surface of the back. Plugged it in and flipped the switch, and the power indicator light does turn on, but to a nice bright red. Even tho' I was but a wee young thing in the 80s, I do seem to recall that red was a bad color. Without a monitor and disk drive, I guess there's really only so much testing that's possible, but I'm still wondering: Could I even get a green light without those items, or is this just indicative of a broken machine and I'm wasting my time? I don't really expect hand-held repairs (though if it's cheap and someone has the time and patience to walk a fellow through it...) but I'm curious to know whether I have a really awesome but ultimately functionless conversation piece, or if this bad boy could once again run the likes of Legacy of the Ancients and Forbidden Forest.

Any suggestions or thoughts would be most appreciated!
 
Have you tried connecting to a TV with an RF modulator?

I've been trying to find out if a RED light means anything... SAMS ComputerFacts for the 128 says nothing, I'm skimming a few other books to see.
 
I'm almost 100% certain the power LED on the 128 was just a power indicator, and just a single-color LED. I don't remember anymore if some were red and some green--I'm struggling to remember what color mine is.

I would say go ahead and proceed. Track down the cables you need to hook it up to a TV or monitor, test the SID by hitting CTRL-G in 128 mode, let it sit for a few hours to make sure it doesn't lock up (maybe have it run a color-cycle loop: 10 for i = 0 to 15 : poke 53280, i : next i : goto 10 ) and if all that checks out OK, see about tracking down a disk drive and whatever other peripherals you need to complete it.
 
Yes, the power light should be red, there should be no other color.
If you have a disk drive to go with this then the lights will be like this for the common drives:
1541: green power, red activity
1541-II, 1571: red power, green activity
The C64, C64C, and 128D also have red power lights.

I should know about the 128 because it was my main computer 88-93 ;)
 
Red might be the standard color - But man I could *swear* it should be green. Maybe that's just conditioning over the years of "green good, red bad" or some thing.

Regardless, I hauled out an older television and tried hooking it all up. The power supply plugs in fine, the power indicator is a good brightness of red, so at least the power supply checks out. The .. RF modulator (these phrases are alien to me!) is one of these, except missing the bottom-right piece, and it certainly looks as old as it... looks; once I plug these all in (the cable plugs into the back of the C128 into the RF jack, right?) I get nothing on the television. So, either the modulator isn't functioning, or it's something internal with the C128 itself... or maybe something else I'm not even considering.

What I wouldn't give for a plain monitor that I -know- functions, hah, to at least rule that part out.

Edit: Y'all are gentlemen and scholars for taking the time to help a poor, hapless newbie who has only an inkling of an idea of what he's doing, by the way. Much love. <3
 
Two things to check: the channel on the TV, and whether the "40/80 COLUMN" key on the top row of the keyboard is clicked down (make sure it's clicked up to get proper video on the TV.)
 
Trust me when I say that a red light is normal. The light is a single color. You can use a composite cable with a television using an SVideo connector or a composite connector. The composite connections only requires a cable with male RCA plugs on both ends. The SVideo cable is a little more complicated but still reasonably priced.
 
A composite cable for a C-128 is a bit more complicated than that. The RCA plug on the back is RF out. Composite comes out the video plug in the back, which is a DIN plug. It's probably been 20 years since you could buy that cable at Kmart or Target but they're still available online. Or you can make one with Radio Shack parts.

But, given the right cable, a modern TV with composite inputs will make an excellent monitor.
 
Dave Farquhar said:
A composite cable for a C-128 is a bit more complicated than that. The RCA plug on the back is RF out. Composite comes out the video plug in the back, which is a DIN plug. It's probably been 20 years since you could buy that cable at Kmart or Target but they're still available online. Or you can make one with Radio Shack parts.

But, given the right cable, a modern TV with composite inputs will make an excellent monitor.
Click to expand...

Phew, tell me about it. I just got back from Radioshack, and the lass there gave me a perplexed look when I explained the situation before she laughed. Since this stuff is -definitively- not my forte, and since she was younger than I am, we were both partially guessing on what cables would be needed from their selection, heh.

I've been poking around on monoprice.com, but the M/M RCA cables there were all audio, that I could see. The SVideo cables DID have M/M results, though (These are the results.) To do one step at a time for the monitor-stuff, would any of these cables work to that end, or should I look for something more specific? If I do get a SVideo cable, what would I still need, if anything?
 
Rakoth said:
I get nothing on the television. So, either the modulator isn't functioning, or it's something internal with the C128 itself... or maybe something else I'm not even considering.
Click to expand...
The TV needs to be tuned either to Channel 3 or Channel 4.
Turn the 128 on first, then change the channel (in case your TV has an auto-tuning circuit, where it tries to find the best signal).

And if you get a picture, you can replace that switchbox with a simple adapter, Radio Shack part #278-255
 
Rakoth said:
Phew, tell me about it. I just got back from Radioshack, and the lass there gave me a perplexed look when I explained the situation before she laughed. Since this stuff is -definitively- not my forte, and since she was younger than I am, we were both partially guessing on what cables would be needed from their selection, heh.
Click to expand...

You won't find anything ready-made there. You'd have to get a DIN connector for one end of the cable, an RCA plug, and a length of two-conductor cable, then put it together yourself. Finding help at Radio Shack these days is, um, challenging....

Rakoth said:
I've been poking around on monoprice.com, but the M/M RCA cables there were all audio, that I could see. The SVideo cables DID have M/M results, though (These are the results.) To do one step at a time for the monitor-stuff, would any of these cables work to that end, or should I look for something more specific? If I do get a SVideo cable, what would I still need, if anything?
Click to expand...

eBay is a better bet. Specific search terms: Commodore composite cable (which will have a DIN plug on one end and two RCA plugs on the other), or Commodore s-video cable (which will have a DIN plug on one end and a mini-DIN plug on the other). Since these are specialty items these days, a place like monoprice probably isn't going to have them anymore. Wild guess on the price would be about 10 bucks, plus $3-$5 for shipping.

But try AHM's suggestion first, and make sure the TV actually lets you tune it to 3 or 4. Do the channel search with the computer plugged in if it won't let you.
 
Man, oh freaking man, guys.

I spent about three hours today meticulously cleaning the Commodore with small alcohol swabs, cleaning off the keys and the little nooks and crannies and what-not. After wiping out many a little stain on the insides of the keys, or in the back vents, picking out two chunks of what I hope is just chocolate, and tweezers-ing out a finger or toe nail from the number pad keys (!), the ol' gal looked mighty presentable. Then I picked up something simple - Just a lil F-connector male to RCA female - and jammed it on the cable that was already in the box. That apparently was all that was needed.

I am now once more a proud owner of a functioning Commodore 128. :D

Thank y' all very much for your aid, folks - If it hadn't been for the suggestions here, I'd not have had an idea on what to grab for connecting the Commodore to a television. Gentlemen, I salute you.
 
Rakoth said:
Then I picked up something simple - Just a lil F-connector male to RCA female - and jammed it on the cable that was already in the box. That apparently was all that was needed.
Click to expand...

Glad to help. Enjoy the machine!
 
So I know this thread is now 10 years old, but I just dusted off my C128D ready for selling. It has a red LED as the power light (that's what brought me here). Thanks to the tips posted here, it looks like it's still working!
 
This is a new one for me - asking for help before trouble is even established.

But since we're discussing, a lit power LED doesn't confirm that the PSU is working correctly - it only means that the supply that powers the LED is intact, which I believe is the 5VDC supply from the PSU. Any other rails derived from the 9VAC section could be down.

But until you've actually tried it with some sort of display, it's all just academic.

Also, there is some erroneous info in this thread. The C128 does not have an RCA composite video connector - the RCA is an RF output for connecting a TV. As such, no external RF modulator is required. The round DIN connector supplies composite And S-Video as well as audio. The DB-9 connector supplies IRGB video, used in C-128 mode only.
 
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There's a lot of talk lately about Commodore power supplies (at least the C64 supplies; I'm not sure if the C128 supplies are different) going bad due to age, and frying computers. You might want to check the voltages before using it. There are even devices being sold now that are designed to protect against overvoltage from C64 power supplies, although for the price, you could get a whole new power supply of modern design.
 
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