Just got a C128D, but is it faulty?

[BuckoA51]

Hi everyone

I'm a long time C64 user who upgraded to a C128 a few years ago, and then finally to a C128D (PAL, CR I believe, with the metal case) this month. Having paid a hefty price for it on E-bay (compared to what some of you paid) I am now concerned it is faulty, but the fault is very strange. I have the demo disk "The Very First" which came bundled with the machine. I've got a copy of this disk on my C128 too so I know what to expect, but running the disk on the C128D yeilds some very strange results. Let me show you what I mean, the picture below is the graphics demo running on my C128 (picture taken with my digicam pointing at my 1084s monitor):-



Now, this is what happens when I run the demo on my C128D:-



Likewise the colour demo, running correctly on the C128:-



And then running on the 128D:-



The C128 is using a 1570 drive and the 128D is using it's internal 1571. I'm using the same copy of The Very First on both machines obviously. At this point I was worried that my new machine was faulty, so I tried a bunch of other programs. I tried the Rocky Horror Show C128 version, that worked just fine. I tried CP/M in 40 and 80 column mode, again fine. I tried a whole bunch of 64 games including Mayhem in Monsterland, Beach Head 2, Alien Syndrome and Armalyte and they all worked fine.

Is there a problem with my machine or not? Hope someone can shed some light on this for me.

Thank you in advance!

[wte]

Very curious!

The good news: the sprite seems to look ok 

I've never heard of your test program but first I would try to load it from the external 1570 instead of the internal 1571. Maybe the program uses some features that are not available any longer on the "new" DCR floppy board (which is now a part of the main board).

Regards WTE

[BuckoA51]

I'm not sure how to use the 1570 with the 128D, the 1541-II has dip switches to change the device ID from 8 to 9 but I can't see any on the 1570.

[wte]

A) open the case, disable the internal drive (unplug the internal iec connector), close the case, and connect 1570
or
B) connect 1570 (power off) switch the internal drive by software command* to unit #9 and power on the 1570 as drive #8.

Regrads WTE

*
open15,8,15
print#15,"u0>"+chr$(n): rem n is the new device no.; n = 8 ... 30
close15

[ddw]

I want to disable my 128D's internal 1571, but which connector is the internal IEC connector? I have four to choose from Many thanks.

[Sasha]

Are C64 games working good at C64mode?

[Hydrophilic]

Yes, Sasha, most every game / program works fine in 64 mode.  Some work better than on a real C64 because they use fast mode in the border area or use VDC RAM to buffer data.  There are very few programs that fail in 64 mode.