A rare Commodore 1551 disk drive arrives for testing on TheRetroChannel, but instead of a quick check, it turns into a full-blown repair project. Initially, the drive’s motor spins endlessly with no response, and it fails to communicate with a Commodore 16. Opening it up reveals a typical 1541-style layout, but the issue isn’t immediately obvious.
Voltage checks confirm power delivery, but the gate array chip isn’t behaving as expected, preventing the ROM and RAM from being accessed correctly. Swapping in a replacement chip from a 1571 drive restores communication, but another problem emerges—the read/write head is dead. A donor mechanism from a 1541 is installed, bringing the drive back to life.
With the 1551 fully operational, it demonstrates significantly faster performance than the 1541, successfully formatting and reading disks. The video showcases the full troubleshooting process, highlighting the quirks of aging Commodore hardware and the importance of having spare parts on hand.
