F200 & Cradle Problems

[NEIL L]

Hi, I'm new to the GP2X forums (but an old hand on the Wiz one!)

I recently bought a used F200 and cradle but I'm having a few problems with both of them:

1. The F200 isn't giving out any sound from either of the speakers but there's sound from the headphones (when plugged in) and from the TV through the cradle.
I opened the back to remove the rubber flap on the bottom (which causes an obstruction on the cradle) and checked that both speakers are plugged in to the motherboard. (They are!)

2. TV out doesn't seem to be working, I can get sound through the TV and the USB ports work on the cradle, but all I'm getting on the TV is the occasional flash of scrolling colour with the GP2X menu showing through! (I'm using a S-video to composite lead and tried it on every TV in the house!) This has now been sorted, thank you. Number 1 hasn't though!

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers, Neil

 

[darionapole]

disconect the speakers and test them with something. The circuit that provides sound to the speakers and the cradle is the same (both pass through the headphones jack) , so is you have sound in the TV and plug the headphones, you should have sound in the headphones, but the TV should go mute.

and as for the TV out, check if the S-Video - Composite adapter is mixing croma and luma together (if using the 20µf ceramic capasitor better) , and both gournds to. It happened to me that if i didn't use both grounds, the gp2x would freeze and the tv signal would die (black screen).

PD: have you tried both, NTSC and PAL-M?

 

[NEIL L]

Thanks for the quick reply.

I'll open it back up and check the speakers and I've ordered an S-video to S-video cable, I'll give that a go. (I've tried with both NTSC & PAL.)
The GP2X doesn't freeze though as I can sometimes make out the menu screen and I can change the menus.

I'll let you know how I get on, Neil

 

[NEIL L]

I reopened my F200( B ) again and checked the speakers, they're both working. (Also the TV out sound cuts out when the headphones are plugged in as they should)
Last night while playing the batteries ran out, I (stupidly) turned it off and turned it back on and the speakers both worked upon start up.
I tried turning on and off a few times and the speakers worked every time until the batteries gave up completely. I replaced the batteries with new ones and the speakers aren't working again!
What could be causing this? (Maybe a firmware problem, I'm on V4.1.1)

Cheers, Neil

Edit: Exactly the same thing happened again when the second lot of batteries ran out, but this time the sound worked for a few restarts after putting in new batteries, then it stopped working again. :huh:

I'm still awaiting my S-video lead, I'll edit this post (again) once I've tried it.

 

[darionapole]

HAHAHAHA LOL your gp2x surely smoked something

i really don't know what could it be....btw you should get some numbers, with a variable resistor between the bateries and a multimeter, sometimes it's something silly but that isn't at plain sight.

PD: i noticed that if I turn the gp2x on, conected to the craddle, conected to the tv, with the tv volume a little high, you shoud hear the boot up sound in both the gp2x and the tv, see if that happens with yours.
you should ask EvilDragon or Craigx anyway, they fixed lots of GP2Xs in the past, surely they saw this problem

 

[NEIL L]

Thanks for the advice.
I tried turning the GP2X on while in the cradle, all I get is sound from the TV.
I'm still awaiting my S-video cable and I've ordered an AC adapter, I'll try both of those before I get in touch with EvilDragon or Craigx.

Cheers, Neil

Edit: I received my S-video to S-video cable today, I've now got TV out, it must of been my S-video to composite lead giving me trouble.
But is slowdown normal when using TV out? (I've had to put frameskip up to 2 on MAME, but it's fine on the GP2X screen)

Thanks for your help, just the weird speaker problem to sort out now!

I've also just noticed that the GP2X is always telling me that my batteries are full, even a couple of minutes before it dies of no power! (Could this be related to the speaker/battery problem?)

 

[NEIL L]

I received my adaptor today. (3.3V 2.5A) I'm using this instead of batteries now and I've still got the same problem with the speakers.
I'll send a PM to EvilDragon & to Craigix, hopefully one of them has seen this problem before and can help.

Cheers, Neil

Edit: Craigix has replied but can't help. (Thanks for the quick reply)
Hopefully EvilDragon can.

 

[EvilDragon]

Hm, never heard of that. Doesn't make any sense.

Are you sure it's battery related?
AFAIK the headphone jack has a switch that switches off the speakers. Maybe that hangs sometimes?

 

[canguy247]

This is a question for someone who know the hardware/low level software of the F200. The switch in the jack could switch the speakers, or send a signal to the sound driver to do it. Using software control in pdas/computers is quite common actually. That is how my Zaurus did it.

 

[NEIL L]

Thanks for the replies.
I don't think it can be the headphone jack causing the problem because when headphones are inserted the TV out sound stops and resumes when they're unplugged.
Cheers, Neil