Topic: Dead H120?

[travelinbeat]

Hey guys, I believe I may very well have a dead h120 on my hands, I just wanted to run the symptoms past you first to confirm that this isn't some easily fixed and well known issue that I'm not aware of.

I just tried turning it on by turning off the Hold switch and pressing the play / pause button.  The screen lit-up like normal, and all seemed fine initially, then I noticed that it was staying on the "loading firmware" screen.  I listened closely and heard that the device was winding up, then stopping; then winding up and stopping, etc.  I turned it off by holding the Stop button, and have tried turning it back on to no avail.  I have tried turning it on with the Hold switch on in order to prompt it's "Hold on, Rockbox Off" screen, but it's unresponsive.  I've tried plugging it in to charge, and the little green / red light(s) are not illuminating at all.

Any shot at an easy fix or is it back to eBay for me?

thanks in advance
-Brian

[petur]

1) give it a reset (little hole at the bottom)
2) while off, connect the usb to the computer
3) on the pc, check the disk / reformat / reinstall rockbox (depending on what the check says)

Possible causes
1) disk thrashed - first try reformatting, if that doesn't help, get a new disk
2) IDE/USB daugtherboard broken soldering - open up and resolder
3) hardware malfunction - damn....

[travelinbeat]

Reset has no affect; computer does not know that the unit is pluged in unless it's powered on (which it won't do  )

Anything else?

(....please?) 

[petur]

Reset has no affect; computer does not know that the unit is pluged in unless it's powered on (which it won't do  )

My bad - h3x0 powers on when you connect them, h1x0 doesn't.

so, replace the top (2) with: make sure its off, connect usb cable and then power on

edit: I pointed to your problem in the #rockbox IRC channel and this is what further came up:


<amiconn>If the green led doesn't light up when plugging the charger, my first guess is that the battery is really low, or even completely dead
<amiconn>The led is purely hardware controlled (by the battery charger chip), so if it doesn't light up it means it doesn't charge
<amiconn>But it might be that it just takes a while, LiIon chargers often employ a soft start if the battery is really low
<amiconn>Might also be that the charger is broken
<amiconn>(the chip and/or the thingy that plugs into mains)


As I don't have an h1x0, I can't help much further, sorry...

[travelinbeat]

That's great; I'm leaving for just over a week so I'll leave it plugged in while I'm away, I'm sure that would be more than enough time to charge anything!  I'll see what happens, thanks for looking around for me.

If anyone else has any input, especially considering the initial onset issue (of the stuck "loading firmware" screen and spin, stop, spin, stop...), PLEASE let me know-- Thanks folks!

[petur]

I wouldn't leave it plugged in for over a week, but that's just me

[travelinbeat]

I wouldn't leave it plugged in for over a week, but that's just me

I didn't get this in time and left it plugged in.  Strangely enough when I tried to turn it on it flashed something very quickly, all I got was the last few words, something about "BATTERY" (in caps).  Maybe it's just the battery after all...

Can anyone recommend a nice place to find a replacement h120 battery?

thanks!



EDIT:::  I was able to capture my h120 exhibiting this weirdness.  Please check out this little video I made and posted at YouTube and let me know what you think.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drJeptkJpDs

[Todd R]

It may not be the battery, but instead it might be that there is a problem with the connection for the AC adapter on the main (or daughter) circuit board, so the h120 isn't getting power or correctly charging the battery.  You had mentioned you're not getting a green light -- when you left it plugged in for a week, were you ever getting a green light?

If you're not getting a green light, it probably is not charging correctly, so the battery isn't necessarily bad, it is just near completely uncharged.  I had gotten a broken h120 that had this problem, and also had a broken h120 previously where the reset circuitry ripped off the board.  Can't remember which problem was on the main board and which was on the daughter board, but either way, each problem was on a different board.  So I took the one working board from one dead h120 and the other working board from the other dead h120 and rebuilt one working h120 from the 2 dead ones.

Anyway, I mention because I've seen a problem much like what you described, and it wasn't a bad battery or a bad HD, but instead was a problem with the AC connector inside the h120.

[travelinbeat]

Todd your insight couldn't have come at a more opportune time!  Just after I edited my last post to include the video I plugged my h120 back in to charge and magically enough my green light had miraculously reappeared!  I jostled the charger around a bit, turning, twisting, tugging gently and as I'd expected, the green light was very very sensitive to any alteration of the charger's positioning within the unit.  I am not a particularly bright person when it comes to fixing problems like this, but I feel pretty confident that I have now identified it as an issue very similar (if not identical) to the one you've outlined.  Considering that I only have just the one h120 and little to no ability with a soldering gun, I'm assuming that you would agree that my best course of action is just to hope that the issue does not worsen, and to simply take care when connecting it to charge.  If however you are inclined to think that I would be able to solve the problem fairly easily, please let me know. 

Thanks to everyone for your input, these forums are truly an invaluable resource for me!

[Todd R]

Yep, I would think if you are just aware of the problem and set up and situate your h120 when charging to be sure you're getting a good connection, you should be able to get some more life out of it.  Maybe not for use as an mp3 player where you're using it all the time, but at least as a recorder.

As to fixing it, with mine I didn't see any obvious signs that the AC connection had just come unsoldered from the board, so I assume the connector itself had gone bad.  Thinking more on it, I'm pretty sure it was on the daughter board.  From a fixing standpoint, I'd think that finding the exact right coaxial connector as a replacement might be difficult.  Probably easier if you can find another broken h120 and hope that it isn't the daughterboard that's bad.  And then just do what I did.  Still, not the easiest solution, so it may be best to just baby what you have and/or look towards getting another one.

[bugg100]

Check around at misticriver.net and see if anyone has bought a dead 120 for parts that might have the board your lookin for.  With luck someone may be willing to offset some purchase cost of their donor 120.


BTW, for sale/trade board reqiures 5 posts to browse.....  Introductions and Hello's could get you there.

Joe