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Forums > CSDb Discussions > C64 gradually losing sound output, but RF still works?

2020-10-03 12:34

Shadow
Account closed

Registered: Apr 2002
Posts: 355

C64 gradually losing sound output, but RF still works?

My "daily driver" C64, a nice VSP safe C64C started acting up a couple of years ago. Sometimes sound didn't work at all when I powered it on. Powering it on and off sometimes solved the problem. Other times, simply leaving it running for a while made the sound come back. It got worse and worse, and finally I couldn't get any sound at all.
I've read about SID chips dying left and right, so my fears were that this was what had happened.
However, in my very limited electronics understanding, the gradual degradation seemed more like some like a capacitor or other component slowly getting worse and worse.

Today, I dug the machine out again and hooked it up with my S-video+audio cable that I always use - still no sound.
But then I tried hooking the RF up to an old TV, and sound worked immediately!
So SID chip seems to be alive! Could there be any other (capacitor or otherwise) hardware explanation to why sound output via A/V port doesn't work but RF does?

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2020-10-04 13:48

TWW

Registered: Jul 2009
Posts: 541

Some things you could try:

- measure for shorts in the AV plug itself.
- measure for continuity between the AV plug output pin and the branch point for the audio out signal to ensure the trace is intact. If it's broken solder in a wire to replace the tracing.
- Try to re-solder the A/V plug to the board as sometimes the solder points on the board can come loose (due to mechanical wear of plugging/unplugging the cable or exerted force to the cable itself while plugged).

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