Gp2x Hardware Problems

[polooo2]

infos gathered from http://www.gpain.com/


I can't say that this info is 100% legitimate, as it is based off people's first hand experience with the console, but there seems to be alot of hardware issues rising amongst the first batch buyers in Korea.

Majority of people complained about this already-well-known battery problem, which seems to last not much more than 2 hours.
There seemed to be an issue with Stereo jack which sinks in because of bad soldering, and also people are reporting that practically no video is playable without capping for it - there are reports of Xvid playing too fast, and divx sound not in sync with video.


Also GP2X seemed to be made with cheap parts that are easily breakable, as stated from a source I cannot specify. It claims that most of the soldering on GP2X are rushed and/or poorly done, and many of its parts are more or less in a poor quality.

The machine itself does not seem to be government approved either. GP2X has not taken on a vertification process that is required for all electorical devices in Korea before going retail. This can lead to some serious legal problem for GH.


Hopefully these will be an issue that can be solved without drastic changes.


Cheers.

 

[polooo2]

nevermind. you guys already seem to be aware of most of the gp2x problems.


cheers.

 

[iignotus]

Awesome! ANOTHER one of these threads.....

 

[g4m3r]

GP has said that most of the problems are software wise though. The battery life is software, the GP2X is set for full power 100% of the time, wihich can be fixed via firmware update. Also the video and sound playing sounds firmware wise too. But the headphone jack and button problems are definatley hardware...hopefully they can fix it soon, and maybe accept refunds

 

[PiratSS]

Sweet, I am buying one for sure then!

 

[Winterkid]

First, seems there's a lot of various stories flying around about the GP2X

About the battery thing, I'm sure they're mostly talking about the cheapo batteries that GPH shipped out with the unit itself.

As for the headphone jack, there's lots of possible reasons why it could be sinking in. Maybe the circuit board isn't properly seated in the unit, for example.

How would they know the soldering is shotty if they haven't opened up the GP2X which they shouldn't do?

The DivX sound sync and Xvid speed problem could just be encoding problems with the files themselves.

As for cheap parts, we're sure they imply poor quality, but I doubt there's many poor quality components. If they meant cheap as in low cost, I agree with that.

I'm sure the Korean authorities will look into anything that needs looking into but I doubt GPH would sell units to the preorder customers in Korea without such a crucial step.

 

[mittens]

How would they know the soldering is shotty if they haven't opened up the GP2X which they shouldn't do?

Agree. (from first-batch owner and has OK headphone jack)

The DivX sound sync and Xvid speed problem could just be encoding problems with the files themselves.

Well, It seems the Xvid decoding has some problems, but no big deal, isn't it? I believe it could be fixed easily

 

[polooo2]

About the battery thing, I'm sure they're mostly talking about the cheapo batteries that GPH shipped out with the unit itself.

were tested on 2500mha nimh

As for the headphone jack, there's lots of possible reasons why it could be sinking in. Maybe the circuit board isn't properly seated in the unit, for example.

It's the bad soldering. It was described as cold soldering/press process.

How would they know the soldering is shotty if they haven't opened up the GP2X which they shouldn't do?

What would prevent anyone from opening it if they wanted to find out?

As for cheap parts, we're sure they imply poor quality, but I doubt there's many poor quality components. If they meant cheap as in low cost, I agree with that.

Nothing is implied when I speak the language. The defects seems to be wide-spread. And for one it is true that their parts have been outsourced to Chinese operation working at less professional quality.

I'm sure the Korean authorities will look into anything that needs looking into but I doubt GPH would sell units to the preorder customers in Korea without such a crucial step.

Which they did.

Cheers.

 

[junker]

hmmmmmmmmmmmm.........

 

[PiratSS]

hmmmmmmmmmmmm.........

​

Best reply ever.

I am kinda thinking of waiting a bit till the second shipment with the normal firmware gets out. If these problems still exsit, I will take my money elsewhere. Don't think that I am a traitor or anything, I just want something that is of quality even if it costs $180.

 

[Minkoff]

So, the only real problems are the headphone jack thing and the buggy firmware? Well, if it doesn't work, I do have a nice 1 year warranty to fall back on. :rolleyes:

 

[gaterooze]

We'll be getting some first-hand reports from regular board members shortly when they get their units from GBAX.

So far all *first-hand* reports from here from Koreans have said there were NO hardware faults at all (only firmware), and 2500mAh batteries last 6 hours.

Only the 2nd-3rd-4th hand reports have said otherwise. So let's wait and see for ourselves...

 

[junker]

yeah...
still looking forward to my unit despite these things. headphone jack issue is the most worriesome, of course.

edit:
yeah, some regulars here should be getting theirs from gbax soon looking forward to the reports.

 

[gaterooze]

How would they know the soldering is shotty if they haven't opened up the GP2X which they shouldn't do?

What would prevent anyone from opening it if they wanted to find out?

It's called voiding the warranty.

 

[evilsaywhat]

I ordered from gbax...the day mine shows up you can expect many pictures and videos of the thing


BTW, to the original poster...why did you start this thread without looking at other threads? Since you were the first to reply to it, stating "nevermind. you guys already seem to be aware of most of the gp2x problems." why didn't you just look at the forum first before posting? Did you think you might be bringing some breaking information that you wanted "credit" for saying?

Just curious...

 

[codeninja]

So far all *first-hand* reports from here from Koreans have said there were NO hardware faults at all (only firmware), and 2500mAh batteries last 6 hours.

Only the 2nd-3rd-4th hand reports have said otherwise. So let's wait and see for ourselves...

​

Actually, I read at least a dozen people saying their 2500mAh batteries last 2~2.5 hours, and I read 1 person saying his unit lasted 6hours. Actually, if you count in the one who said he buffed off the battery connectors with sand paper, that would be 2.

Regarding headphone jack, I saw the picture and it did look like the jack was not installed to withstand the pressure from inserted headphone (connector pins are installed sideway not against the direction of insertion).

Funny thing is that those who opened up their units in search of answers are usually ones that came up with solutions and tell others to wait for firmware updates. So, don't mix them up with usual whiners.

 

[Iorgy77]

pooloo2 is a reliable source, he has been translating Korean news for ages on these boards. I don't see why people keep going off at Koreans bringing us news....

I have mine pre-ordered and I am not cancelling but i still want to know what is being said on the Korean forums.

Thanks Pooloo2

 

[joshadams]

Yes at last the headphone socket issue. I recieved the Beta unit and within 10 mins the headphone socket fell off the mainbaord. 2 reasons, 1st the soldering of the socket to the mainboard very poor. Secondly the way the socket is sunk into the units case. I work for a very big golbal retailer and for this reason is why we will not carry it. For a machine to have such a major fault we expected up to a 90% return rate. I contacted anna and she said that these issue's would not be in the final version. I did posts this issue at

http://www.gp32x.de/board/index.php?showt...83&#entry284583

 

[sand_man]

It just feels as if there are people out there who just want the GP2x to fail.
FUCK OFF!

 

[Skitzo]

The headphone issue is a valid issue. If the connection is likely to come off with regular use, it is going to cripple the GP2X's popularity. Don't get me wrong, I'm not going to cancel my pre-order over a "possible problem", but if I get it and the headphone port breaks, I will send it back to GPH and make sure that they fix it so it won't happen again.

I'm sure it'll turn out that this, along with all the firmware bugs, is just a minor issue and is not a cause for concern.