12 Mar
2001
12 Mar
'01
3:16 a.m.
Hi
Lucky guy a SX64,,,but it depends how much you paid...I was offered one for
$500CAN not too long ago....sure I am crazy...
I would check all chips on the boards and push on all of the socketed
ones...specially the ROMs....
By the way, I have been told that 5000 of these SX64 were made...does that
sound right or can someone confirm this?
Claude
----- Original Message -----
From: Phil Guerney <guerney(a)bigpond.com>
To: <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org>
Sent: Tuesday, March 11, 2025 6:00 AM
Subject: Found a Commodore SX-64 but with a strange problem.
OK - So it might not be strange to those experts in
Commodore hardware,
so
I hope one of them reads this!
This was one of the few missing things in my CBM collection until
yesterday.
The system first appeared dead, showing just a blank
screen. But then it
worked fine with any of my assorted game cartridges in the cartridge slot.
To test the disk drive, I pulled out a cartridge-based spreadsheet which
had
load and save commands and the disk drive worked OK.
The big surprise was when I put in the Simons Basic cartridge and this
heavy
old "portable" C64 came up with its normal
opening screen "SX-64 Basic"
etc
and it loaded and ran a variety of programs from disk
without a problem.
But
without a cartridge, or with a C64 Super Expander
cartridge, just a blank
screen.
Could it be a RAM chip that is faulty, with Simons Basic causing some
relocation of memory that allowed the system to work? Unfortunately, the
insides are not nearly as easy to get at compared to a standard C64.
Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
Phil
(Brisbane, Australia)
11 Mar
11 Mar
3:50 a.m.
By the way, I have been told that 5000 of these SX64
were made...does that
sound right or can someone confirm this?
Judging by how often they show up for sale, I'd say the
number is likely larger than 5000 units. Sure, I've never run into
one while thrifting, but I've seen enough of them posted for sale
locally in the newspapers, as well as on eBay and such, to suggest
they aren't that rare.
Jeff
--
Collector of Classic Microcomputers and Video Game Systems:
Home of the TRS-80 Model 2000 FAQ File
http://www.geocities.com/siliconvalley/lakes/6757
4:23 a.m.
By the way, I
have been told that 5000 of these SX64 were made...does that
sound right or can someone confirm this?
Judging by how often they show up for sale, I'd say the
number is likely larger than 5000 units. Sure, I've never run into
one while thrifting, but I've seen enough of them posted for sale
locally in the newspapers, as well as on eBay and such, to suggest
they aren't that rare. 
3:52 a.m.
I had 4 of them at one time about 3 yrs ago and couldn't give them away and
they were complete and in good operational condition. I ended up trading all
4 for a handful of 72 pin SIMMs. NOW everyone wants them huh? Go figure.
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org
[mailto:owner-classiccmp@classiccmp.org]On Behalf Of Claude.W
Sent: Monday, March 12, 2001 8:17 AM
To: classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org
Subject: Re: Found a Commodore SX-64 but with a strange problem.
Hi
Lucky guy a SX64,,,but it depends how much you paid...I was offered one for
$500CAN not too long ago....sure I am crazy...
I would check all chips on the boards and push on all of the socketed
ones...specially the ROMs....
By the way, I have been told that 5000 of these SX64 were made...does that
sound right or can someone confirm this?
Claude
----- Original Message -----
From: Phil Guerney <guerney(a)bigpond.com>
To: <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org>
Sent: Tuesday, March 11, 2025 6:00 AM
Subject: Found a Commodore SX-64 but with a strange problem.
OK - So it might not be strange to those experts in
Commodore hardware,
so
I hope one of them reads this!
This was one of the few missing things in my CBM collection until
yesterday.
The system first appeared dead, showing just a blank
screen. But then it
worked fine with any of my assorted game cartridges in the cartridge slot.
To test the disk drive, I pulled out a cartridge-based spreadsheet which
had
load and save commands and the disk drive worked OK.
The big surprise was when I put in the Simons Basic cartridge and this
heavy
old "portable" C64 came up with its normal
opening screen "SX-64 Basic"
etc
and it loaded and ran a variety of programs from disk
without a problem.
But
without a cartridge, or with a C64 Super Expander
cartridge, just a blank
screen.
Could it be a RAM chip that is faulty, with Simons Basic causing some
relocation of memory that allowed the system to work? Unfortunately, the
insides are not nearly as easy to get at compared to a standard C64.
Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
Phil
(Brisbane, Australia)
5:38 a.m.
There were quite a few of them made, I was a service center for commodore, used
to have semi's pull up full for repair. May actually still have chips for
them..You may have a rom problem or pla problem.
Bill
"Claude.W" wrote:
Hi
Lucky guy a SX64,,,but it depends how much you paid...I was offered one for
$500CAN not too long ago....sure I am crazy...
I would check all chips on the boards and push on all of the socketed
ones...specially the ROMs....
By the way, I have been told that 5000 of these SX64 were made...does that
sound right or can someone confirm this?
Claude
----- Original Message -----
From: Phil Guerney <guerney(a)bigpond.com>
To: <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org>
Sent: Tuesday, March 11, 2025 6:00 AM
Subject: Found a Commodore SX-64 but with a strange problem.
OK - So it might not be strange to those experts
in Commodore hardware,
so
I hope one of them reads this!
This was one of the few missing things in my CBM collection until
yesterday.
The system first appeared dead, showing just a
blank screen. But then it
worked fine with any of my assorted game cartridges in the cartridge slot.
To test the disk drive, I pulled out a cartridge-based spreadsheet which
had
load and save commands and the disk drive worked
OK.
The big surprise was when I put in the Simons Basic cartridge and this
heavy
old "portable" C64 came up with its
normal opening screen "SX-64 Basic"
etc
and it loaded and ran a variety of programs from
disk without a problem.
But
> without a cartridge, or with a C64 Super Expander cartridge, just a blank
> screen.
>
> Could it be a RAM chip that is faulty, with Simons Basic causing some
> relocation of memory that allowed the system to work? Unfortunately, the
> insides are not nearly as easy to get at compared to a standard C64.
>
> Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
> Phil
> (Brisbane, Australia)
>
> 
12 Mar
12 Mar
12:34 a.m.
Lucky guy a SX64,,,but it depends how much you
paid...I was offered one
for
$500CAN not too long ago....sure I am crazy...
Only 30 Aussie dollars which is just 15 US dollars today (bad news for us
who like to buy imported techie goodies).
I would check all chips on the boards and push on all
of the socketed
ones...specially the ROMs....
That was the first thing I tried to do (and about the limit of my technical
abilities)
By the way, I have been told that 5000 of these SX64
were made...does that
sound right or can someone confirm this?
Definitely not common. In the mid-80's I was in a club of over 1,000
Commodore users and as far as I know only one person owned a SX-64 and it
was a major "show and tell" when he brought it along!
Phil
12:38 a.m.
From: Claude.W <claudew(a)videotron.ca>
Lucky guy a SX64,,,but it depends how much you
paid...I was offered one
for
$500CAN not too long ago....sure I am crazy...
Only 30 Aussie dollars which is just 15 US dollars today (bad news for us
who like to buy imported techie goodies).
I would check all chips on the boards and push on all
of the socketed
ones...specially the ROMs....
That was the first thing I tried to do (and about the limit of my technical
abilities)
By the way, I have been told that 5000 of these SX64
were made...does that
sound right or can someone confirm this?
Definitely not common. In the mid-80's I was in a club of over 1,000
Commodore users and as far as I know only one person owned a SX-64 and it
was a major "show and tell" when he brought it along!
Phil
8534
days inactive
8534
days old
6 comments
6 participants
participants (6)
-
claudew＠videotron.ca -
elecdata＠kcinter.net -
guerney＠bigpond.com -
jhellige＠earthlink.net -
rhblake＠bigfoot.com -
spectre＠stockholm.ptloma.edu