Gp2x Mutates Into Battery Eating Monstrosity

[Tobriand]

Hey all!

In the last couple of months my 2x has started to much batteries a LOT faster than it used to - my runtime on a full charge is down to about 1 and a half hours compared to 3-4 on comparable batteries, and I was wondering if anyone knows of a component that might malfunction to have this sort of effect - i.e. the running of the 2x is entirely uneffected, but the efficency of poewr usage shoots down.

Fairly sure it's the 2x's fault since I got my dad to get one of those C9000 WizardOne charger for himself and used it to check my batteries... at 2500mAh confirmed taken charge, they give me an hour and a half or so (if not a little less), which is way less than I used to get.

Help would be appreciated if anyone's got any ideas!

Oh, just in case it's relevant, I've also noticed a very niceable hum, with the volume turned down when using headphones, on the right headphone. It sounds not dissimilar to the interferance that SD access sometimes causes except it's continuous, and somewhat louder.

EDIT: Just as an update (see below), my GP2x is NOT missing the capacitor that Evol mentions further down the thread. 19/08/2007

 

[geo12]

I seem to be having a similar problem; my rechargeables don't last as long as they once did. In addition, after playing for a couple hours the batteries become hot (not just warm but actually HOT) and I'm afraid there is some kind of internal problem.

 

[Tobriand]

Well, rechargeables are prone to gradual loss of charge. I'm still getting the same results with brand new cells, after charging them on at least 3 different chargers though lol! There's no excuse for the loss of time. Definitely with you on the internal problem though...

 

[sam fisher]

I too am having this problem! My GP2x is a MK1 but not a first edition, it's one of the first mark ones, I preordered but didn't quite get into the first edition run.

 

[Alex.]

I had the same thing happen. Then I bought new rechargeables (same brand I used before), and my battery life went up from <2 to ~4 hours.

 

[thumpgun]

recharge batteries dont last forever........get some new ones....

 

[sam fisher]

recharge batteries dont last forever........get some new ones....

I already have :rolleyes: No difference I can discern, they last *slightly* longer.

 

[camiga64]

I'm having the same problem, my rechargeables also become hot after a while of using my '2X (MK1 , no first edition). And the rechargeables don't like heat, maybe that would explain the loss of charge.
I guess, the uptake of current is just too high. The cpu-core voltage in my '2X is 2.03v (to measure at testpoint T7 and T9) and the default voltage should be ~ 1.8v. To reduce it, and thus to bring down the uptake of current, one have to decrease the resistor value of R202 (56K) or increase the value of R204 (91K) (in any case for a MK1).

I'll check this out in the next few days...

 

[QuasaR]

I seem to have the same problem after getting a 2GB SD card and using this one instead of my 1GB I had. Maybe the bigger SDs are using more power so the GP2x drains faster...

 

[evol]

i had the same symptoms until i unscrewed my gp2x and saw that a capacitator (or resistance) had broken off i resoldered it and battery life went back to "normal"

 

[markiej]

QUOTE
i had the same symptoms until i unscrewed my gp2x and saw that a capacitator (or resistance) had broken off i resoldered it and battery life went back to "normal"


Maybe GPH should consider bundling a soldering iron in their value pack.

 

[pcklee123]

i had the same symptoms until i unscrewed my gp2x and saw that a capacitator (or resistance) had broken off i resoldered it and battery life went back to "normal"

I have the same problem . A capacitor fell off (right from the start when I got it) I had no idea where it goes. Can you tell me where its supposed to be? I always had bad battery life.

 

[flammablepiss]

Ha ! I had this.... but for me it turned out i was charging my NiCD \ NiMH batteries on the other setting.
But i am kinda brain-dead sometimes !!

 

[Pickle]

I had bad battery performance and if i remember right my dc plug wasnt working either. I sent it to GPH and the problem was described as a bad diode.

 

[camiga64]

i had the same symptoms until i unscrewed my gp2x and saw that a capacitator (or resistance) had broken off i resoldered it and battery life went back to "normal"

That sounds interesting, do you know the type designation of that component (on the board) ?

 

[evol]

hard to say. ill unscrew it once more (seems like i bloody could have built it myself by now unscrewed it to many times)

Edit:
i found it in another thread (so i dont have to open my own) the components name is C106 if you see the line of 4 c106 to the left of the SDcard slot the 4,th (bottom one) fell of for me just be careful to resolder it with the right polarity

http://www.gp32x.de/board/index.php?showtopic=24888

take a mental note of that it could be ANY off the c106 in your machines that fell of so take this information lightly. be careful and use a magnifier to trace any ruptured soldering and resolder with right polarity
good luck and dont camp outside my lawn if anything breaks.

 

[Dimacus]

i had the same symptoms until i unscrewed my gp2x and saw that a capacitator (or resistance) had broken off i resoldered it and battery life went back to "normal"

I had that problem as well, got quiet upset when I first noticed that ratteling noice.
Now that I think about it, I have way better battery life now than I had before i fixed it.

 

[euro48k]

jesus .. same thing here ..with new akkus the "low-power" led is very active after a few minutes of mame play @ 66-100mhz

what`s wrong?

 

[Tobriand]

Update (on my unit, at least)...

Opened it up to check to loose capacitors - and there aren't any. Not, if you compare the insides of mine to the photos that turn up on Google by typing in "gp2x innards" into it, is there any obvious capacitor missing from mine but present in that.

So either it's not that part (could be something else I didn't spot, since I wasn't looking for other things), or it is that part, but it's failed whilst still attached. No idea how I'd go about ascertaining whether that's the case though, nor indeed how to fix it if it turns out to be!

 

[PokeParadox]

Another problem that can occur is that batteries can become mis-matched... and you have one battery contain more charge than the other. So the the higher charged battery fills quicker than the other, but the charger says they are both charged...