ScuzzBlog: Diaries November 2018
Entry 7th November 2018: Post 01: C64 SHADO PM-44026
C64 - SHADO PM-4402C Data Recorder
I have been meaning for some time to check over this clone data
recorder for the C64. It has been lying around unloved for ages
and so I dragged it onto the bench and tried it out.
The unit has the standard connector for the C64 and so should work.
Sadly I got very little out of the machine. It barely made a noise
when I switched on the C64. Another issue appeared to be the
power supply for the C64 which I swapped out with little joy. I
sense the recorder was broken and was about to give up.
Anyway I used my fingers to turn the drive heads and without a
tape inside the machine endeavoured to get the unit running. After
a while I managed to get some movement on the fast forward but
still nothing on the play or rewind for some reason.
I simply kept fast forwarding tapes and then like magic the rewind
kicked into gear. Sadly still no play. So I literally spent a good
while going through a tape. And then it actually started to play.
I rushed upstairs and got a few tapes...Ghostbusters, Batman,
Turrican II, Uridium and Empire Strikes Back. No luck I am afraid.
The games just hang at the loading and I was getting all kinds
of errors on screen. I then cleaned the heads with a tape cleaner
and tried again. This time using a bogus program I had created
of Ms Aguilera... Just a few lines of nothing. But no joy as I
kept getting a Syntax error.
I tried again and again but no joy.
I began to suspect the computer so plugged in a C64 Datasette and
that ran Turrican no problem. This was a bad move as I then spent
the rest of my time playing Turrican.
The SHADO PM-4402C will have to sit busted for now as I didn't have
any more time to try further. Never mind.
Please note that when I work on the bench repairing stuff I use an
old black and white TV so that is why images are in bw.
SHADO PM-4402C
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