Commodore 1541-II - Troubleshooting Common Disk Drive Issues

TROUBLESHOOTING GUIDE
Symptom
Red indicator light
on the 1541 not on
Cause
Disk drive not
turned on
Power supply not
plugged in
Power off to
wall outlet
Remedy
Make sure power switch
is in the "on" position
Check both cords of power
cable to be sure they
are fully inserted
Replace fuse or reset
circuit breaker in house
Green error light The disk drive is Turn the system'off for
on anve Hashes failing its power-on a minute and try again,
continously on self-test If it repeats, try again
power-up, before with the serial bus
any disk commands disconnected. If it
have been given still repeats, call your
dealer. If unplugging
the serial cable made a
difference, check the
cable for proper
connection at both ends.
This can also be caused
by some cartridges on
the C-64 and always by
a 16K cartridge on the
VIC 20. Remove the
cartridge and power-up
the disk drive again to
determine where the
problem is.
(The principle behind unplugging the serial cable is "divide and conquer.'1 The drive can do its
power-on test even when not connected to a computer. If it succeeds that way, then the problem is
probably in the cable or the rest of the system, not the 1541.)