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Troubleshooting and Repairing your Commodore 64

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Troubleshooting & Repairing Your Commodore 64 is a 1985 repair book by Art Margolis, published by TAB Books of Blue Ridge Summit, Pennsylvania; the hosted scan is the first edition, first printing. ISBN 0-8306-0889-3 (hardback) and 0-8306-1889-9 (paperback); Library of Congress call number TK7887.M374 1985, card number 85-4640.[1] The Library of Congress record gives the extent as xii, 351 pages.[2]

It is a component-level repair book for the Commodore 64 and also a course in how the machine's circuits work. Margolis describes it as the manual a technician would refer to, giving voltages and parts as well as theory.[3]

What the book provides

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  • Test point charts: each shows a chip's pinout, the direction of signal flow on each pin and the reading to expect with a logic probe. The front matter lists 22 of them, from the 2114 colour RAM (figure 6-4) to the 6581 SID (figure 18-1), covering the 4164 DRAMs, the ROMs, the 82S100 PLA, the TTL support chips, the 6510, both 6526 CIAs and the 6567 VIC-II.[4]
  • A chip location guide (chapter 3) and chip removal and replacement techniques (chapter 4).[5]
  • A master schematic in the appendix (pp. 319-348), drawn in numbered sections. Margolis says it uses the designators printed on the board, so that U7 on the schematic is the 6510 marked U7 on the board, and the capacitors and resistors are identified the same way.[3][6]
  • A power supply chapter. It covers checking the external adapter for 9 V AC and +5 V DC, the computer's fuse (1 A, 250 V, 3AG type) in the 9 V AC line, the bridge rectifier (about +12 V DC out), the line through a 7805 regulator, the +9 V unregulated line for the cassette motor, and the +5 V main line from the adapter.[7]

The book does not say which board revision its master schematic shows. It is a third-party book; for part numbers and values check it against Commodore's service manual and technical manual.

Contents

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Page numbers are from the book's contents list.[5]

  • Test Point Charts; Introduction
  • 1: Interpreting the Symptoms, p. 1
  • 2: Disassembly, p. 16
  • 3: Chip Location Guide, p. 31
  • 4: Chip Changing Techniques, p. 42
  • 5: LSI Chips, p. 57
  • 6: Random Access Memory, p. 73
  • 7: Read Only Memory, p. 90 (including the 82S100 PLA pinout and inputs, p. 102)
  • 8: Other Integrated Circuits, p. 109
  • 9: System Block Diagram, p. 138
  • 10: Servicing Logic Gates, p. 153
  • 11: Servicing Digital Registers, p. 174
  • 12: 6510 Microprocessor, p. 192
  • 13: Memory Maps, p. 214
  • 14: Clock, p. 224
  • 15: Address, Data, and Control Buses, p. 236
  • 16: Complex Interface Adapters, p. 253
  • 17: Video Interface Chip, p. 269
  • 18: Sound Interface Device, p. 290
  • 19: Inputs and Outputs, p. 305
  • 20: Power Supply, p. 313
  • Appendix: Master Schematic, p. 319
  • Index, p. 349
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Download: TabBooksInc Troubleshooting and Repairing your Commodore 64 -600dpi-.pdf

References

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  1. ↑ Art Margolis, Troubleshooting & Repairing Your Commodore 64 (TAB Books, 1985), title page and copyright page (PDF pp. 7-8).
  2. ↑ Open Library, Troubleshooting & repairing your Commodore 64, record OL3024323M, from Library of Congress catalogue data. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Margolis, Troubleshooting & Repairing Your Commodore 64, Introduction, pp. ix-xii (PDF pp. 14-17).
  4. ↑ Margolis, Troubleshooting & Repairing Your Commodore 64, list of Test Point Charts (PDF p. 13), and Introduction (PDF pp. 15-16).
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Margolis, Troubleshooting & Repairing Your Commodore 64, Contents (PDF pp. 9-12).
  6. ↑ Margolis, Troubleshooting & Repairing Your Commodore 64, Appendix: Master Schematic, pp. 319-348 (PDF pp. 335-362).
  7. ↑ Margolis, Troubleshooting & Repairing Your Commodore 64, chapter 20, Power Supply, pp. 313-318 (PDF pp. 329-334).
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