Quote Originally Posted by Gamevet View Post
Did you actually hear a popping sound when you turned on the disk drive?


I'd suggest opening it up and looking for a cap that is leaking, or has the wrapping separating from the center of the cap at the top.


You might get lucky with the other 2 C64s. I'd suggest taking a pick, or the end of a mechanical pencil to flick the pins of the chips on the underside of the board. You may just have a loose solder joint that is causing the issues.
Oh! And I did not hear a pop. I heard a smooth whirring noise and saw that the green LED power indicator had lit up. Then it started pumping gross smoke out through the disk slot.