Breadbox C64 with "Out of memory" error

[QuantumII]

Hi,

I recently found a C64 original breadbox which gives "Out of memory on line 0" error.
I assume this means a dead RAM chip or a few.

What is the easiets way of troubleshooting this? Piggybacking a known working RAM chip maybe? I don't have any at the moment, but I should be able to order some.

It was also missing the fuse for the AC input inside. Weird, I wonder why it was taken out. Maybe a power surge killed some RAM chips and took out the fuse, and the previous owner removed it and forgot about the machine for 20 years?

 

[MikeS]

Hi,

I recently found a C64 original breadbox which gives "Out of memory on line 0" error.
I assume this means a dead RAM chip or a few.

Not necessarily; have a look here, especially your symptoms about 6 lines from the bottom:
http://cbm8bit.com/articles/raycarlsen/raysarticles.php

 

[WMH]

Hi,

I recently found a C64 original breadbox which gives "Out of memory on line 0" error.
I assume this means a dead RAM chip or a few.

What is the easiets way of troubleshooting this? Piggybacking a known working RAM chip maybe? I don't have any at the moment, but I should be able to order some.

It was also missing the fuse for the AC input inside. Weird, I wonder why it was taken out. Maybe a power surge killed some RAM chips and took out the fuse, and the previous owner removed it and forgot about the machine for 20 years?

Interesting. I don't know much about C64s, but this guy apparently had the same exact problem with his C128 back in '09, and it seems that replacing RAM was the solution.

I'm guessing that the original owner forgot about the machine for 20 years. My Apple //c came with bad RAM, and it was in such perfect condition that I shared your suspicions...

 

[QuantumII]

Thanks for the link.
It appears that I would need an extra RAM IC first to be able to test anything further. In addidion to giving "Out of memory on line 0" it also draws a couple of garbage squares around the screen.

This is a direct link to the article btw: http://cbm8bit.com/articles/raycarlsen/memorytxt.php

 

[Dave Farquhar]

You may be able to borrow a RAM chip out of an XT clone or memory board, if you have one of those handy. Some PCs and XTs used 4164 RAM chips too.

 

[QuantumII]

Cool, thanks for the tip. I have several XTs so I will take a look and see if I have any =)

 

[WMH]

Thanks for the link.
It appears that I would need an extra RAM IC first to be able to test anything further. In addidion to giving "Out of memory on line 0" it also draws a couple of garbage squares around the screen.

This is a direct link to the article btw: http://cbm8bit.com/articles/raycarlsen/memorytxt.php

Yep, garbage on the screen of a vintage computer is always a bad sign...

That, and being out of memory before storing anything in memory.