Broken Phono Port

[clarky2o2o]

I whent to use my gp2x the other day and noticed the Phono port had broken off inside I opened up the gp2x (yes the machine still works) and noticed how badly it was fastened (i.e none <_< ) any suggestions greaty appricated.

 

[Epicenter]

If you are decent with a soldering iron, you can reattach it yourself. The solder points are significantly larger than those on the rest of the unit. You'll need your own solder naturally; those points generally have none on them (same goes for quite a few of the capacitors inside the unit which commonly fall off.)

 

[senquack]

If you're lucky, it didn't rip the circular metal pads off when it came out of the holes on the circuit board. If it didn't rip them off (usually this doesn't happen), it would be very easy to fix:

Soldering is pretty easy, just get a 60W gun and the smallest-diameter solder you can find. It should be "rosin-core" NOT "acid-core".

Let the soldering gun warm up for 5 minutes, then "tin" it with the solder, which is to melt some of the solder onto the tip of the gun so it's coated. Put the connecter back into the holes from where it came, and hold it in place with a piece of tape on the other side, if necessary. Then, go to the other side of the circuit board where the ends of the connector poke through.

On each connector end (there's probably three of them), apply the soldering gun for 1-2 seconds, hold it there, and poke the end of the roll of fresh solder into the connection. You don't need very much, but don't worry if it doesn't look as factory-fresh as all the other connections around it. As soon as it melts and pools around the end of the connector, remove both the fresh solder and the gun. After it cools for several seconds, it should look shiny. If it doesn't look shiny, it's not a good connection.

Whatever you do, don't go crazy and keep re-applying the gun and solder over and over. If you heat it up too much, you can lift the pads of the circuit board and really screw yourself. It would be a good idea to practice your soldering on another junk circuit board from a broken alarm clock or something before you start on this.

If you want to strengthen the connection so it doesn't break again, you can do what I usually do when fixing broken connectors: get some 30-minute or 5-hour epoxy (not the 5-minute stuff, it sets way too quick). Mix it up after doing the soldering, and put a blob over the top of the connector so it holds it against the board and nearby components. Let it cure before re-assembling and try not to let the epoxy get over the solder connections of the connector (in case you ever have to re-do it).