Broken Gp2X Diagnostics


jcabrer

Still Fresh
Joined
Dec 10, 2004
Messages
45
Age
55
Location
Orange County, California, USA
Website
Visit site
I just got back into the scene, purchasing first an F-100 and breakout board, followed by an F-200 and a few cradles to use and share. After playing with the F-200 for a couple of days, the unthinkable happened. I put it on the couch, and when I sat down, it fell to the floor. About a 12 inch drop onto ceramic tile. I briefly turned the unit on, and it came up seemingly fine, so I turned it off and put it away for the weekend, when I would have more time to sort out development tools, etc.

When I finally sat down to use it again, I first noticed that windows reported an unrecognizable USB device. This was the first red flag that something was wrong, as I have installed many an ARM device with USB networking, so you could say I know what I'm doing, at least when it comes to setting up network over USB...

Next I grabbed my trusty MAME4ALL SD card and put it into the slot. First I noticed that the icon in the bottom left (I run Open2X) did not (1) Turn Blue, and (2) did not indicate size and amount used. I went to check settings, and then noticed that the buttons did not work. I instictively removed the card, and the buttons began to work. Backing with the SD, and no worky worky.

To say the least, I was in utter disbelief and despair. Since I had been away from the scene for a while, I decided to look on the forums to check my sanity. Maybe it was my pot smoking days catching up with me, and I was missing some obvious step.

It's amazing the amount of misinformation out there. After reading more than a few stories about dropped GP2Xs with "loose battery connectors" and "low quality USB cables", I came to the conclusion that the cause of my problem is actually from the fall itself, and is one or more of the following:

1. One or more point on the ARM ball grid have become disconnected (hairline open fault)
2. One or more of the Clock Crystals has shattered (I did not even think this was possible, but apparently it is).
3. Some other solder joint has a hairline fracture causing an open fault.
4. Some critical voltage path to the USB and SD interfaces has been damaged.

Since I do not have the electronics background to troubleshoot most of these potential issues, I'm putting together a series of possible approaches that I, or anyone else will be able to handle, and hopefully get these broken units working 100% again. Of course, some of these approaches are going to have the potential to make things worse, so if you decide to follow me, do so only after you have exhausted every other possibility.

And in case anyone out there knows a good place to have GP2X repaired, LET ME KNOW!!!

Idea # 1: Solder Reflow
Probably the worst idea I've ever come up with. The plan is to get my hands on one of the DIY surface mount solder reflow tutorials involving old toaster ovens, and adapt it to treating the GP2X mainboard. The expected outcome is that after warming up the board, and cycling it through a few short high heat cycles, the ball grid, and any other hairline fracture will heal themselves, and solve the issue.

My biggest concern here is that the board is populated with components on both sides, and if things get too hot, the heavier components on the underside will fall off. To mitigate this, I will face the board so that the side with the most large component count will face up. In any case, I will run the board over my scanner, just in case I need to put something back on later.

Idea # 2: Replace the crystals
This one is easy, and well within the reach of anyone with half-ass soldering skill, as the crystals are fairly large. The trick will be finding the exact replacement parts. Digikey should be my first stop I guess.

Idea # 3: Cut my losses
I've got one working F-100, 3 working cradles, a break out board, and one hosed up F-200. Sell Two of the cradles, and the breakout board, sell the F-200 to some bloke with a cracked screen, or even better, sell the repair as a service, and charge a modest fee, and use the proceeds to buy another F-200.

Considering that the unit is essentially useless without SD and USB, I guess I can totally wreck the mainboard with options 1 and 2, and then fall back to #3 in the end if things don't work out.

I'll keep everyone posted.

Peace!
 
Somehow I can't seem to convince myself that sticking the mainboard in an oven is going to fix it:)
I have to admit though, it's an admirable (or at least original) try.
TBO, I am thinking the heat will damage more components that it could possibly randomly repair.

Chris
 
My F200 is starting to crap out (batteries won't power it) so I know how you feel :(
 
This is exactly (well not totally) how the boards are put together. Most of the components are porous and don't absorb heat very well, but the solder does. In order for it to work, you have to warm up the board to a safe, but hot temperature. I don't know the exact temperature yet, but it's in the 200-250 F range. The heat is then turned up for 15 to 30 seconds, in cycles, to get things soft. If the drop caused any solder joint cracks, they might repair themselves.

Plastic, and other components will only be harmed if the temperature gets too hot for too long. By the way, the board has to bee cooled down slowly to prevent other cracks from forming.
 
Sorry to hear that.. I hope your Gp2x will recover.. (I had similar incident where I dropped my F-100 as a result the LCD doesn't work at all.. just shows rainbow coloured lines.. sad ;_ ;)
 
Ok I am about %99 sure that a plated through hole has let go, a plated through hole is where they go through the board to make a connection to the other side very fragile, it would require you to re solder every one with low tempture solder and a big magnifier lens
 
is that even posible considering that there are some of those under some surface soldered chips?
 
yes it is possible generally if you cant get to it from one side you can get it from the other side

laharl said:
is that even posible considering that there are some of those under some surface soldered chips?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Hi, The reflow is a good idea, at work we have a reflow oven and 90% of bad BGA chips are repaired simply by heating it up. if it's lead solder we heat the board to about 190 degree's if its lead free solder you go to 222 degree's. any plastics on the board need to be covered up with silver tape to reflect heat. also if your doing this you need to make sure the weight of the board is not supported by any chips underneath or you will risk them sliding past there contacts and killing the board. i use penny coins on all corners of the board were there are no contacts so the board is slightly raised from the bed of the oven. no chips will fall of if you dont exeed those temp's and risk of actually braking it further are very small as long as your carefull and the board is flat
 
Back
Top