jcabrer
Still Fresh
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!
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!
