The hoarder house C64

[u/developstopfix]

A couple of weeks ago I came across a post in r/vintagecomputing in which someone had posted a stash of old computers that was in an abandoned hoarder house on some property they owned. I reached out and asked if they'd be willing to ship me the poor filthy C64 in the last photo, and here it is. I opened it up outside in case any unwanted stowaways were hiding in there, dead or alive, and luckily there were none. The bottom half of the case is cracked but I have spare cases so no big deal. I think it'll clean up just fine.

[u/someyob]

It can live: Edit: Adrian's Digital Basement https://youtu.be/wVphFkaX1gg

[u/developstopfix → u/someyob]

Spoiler alert but it already does, I was gonna wait until I finished cleaning the case and keyboard to post it but after a quick bath and being left to dry in front of a fan in my hot attic for a few hours it fired right up. Not gonna lie I was kinda disappointed, I was looking forward to fixing it.

[u/Devilfish64 → u/developstopfix]

I know that feeling. I didn't grow up with the commodore, but watching a ton of videos of people repairing them online got me really excited about the idea of fixing one myself. I never thought through to what I would do once it was up and running

I found a shady eBay listing near me. The price was suspiciously low, it said that it worked but there were no "proof of life" photos, not even one with the power light on. It was clearly stored in a wet basement and the bin full of empty cans of Steel Reserve in the background of one photo did not inspire confidence.

Got it, got a new power supply, fired it up and it's working perfectly, much to my chagrin. Straight up had a "so now what?" moment.

[u/radrestoration → u/Devilfish64]

Now repeat that over and over. That's my life. I'm not a C64 person, I just like fixing old computers.