Gp2x Seems Dead. No Screen On Powerup.

[gruso]

Straight to the point - my GP2X stopped turning on last night. Right at the start of a two hour train ride. <_< Here are the pertinent points:

- Black screen with no sign of life.
- I do get a crackle through the headphones when connecting the plug, so it seems there is some life in there.
- I can't see if the power light is on, because I blacked it out from the inside. D'oh. May open it up tonight.
- It doesn't appear to be powering the cradle (no red LED).

Leadup:
I had spent the afternoon managing content on three SD cards, all via mini USB (yeah, lame). I was using my GP2X power supply the whole time. Before I headed for the train, I disconnected the USB, turned the unit off, and unplugged the power. All normal like. The next time I turned it on, was on the train.

I really have the urge to try it with the power supply again, but I won't have access to that until Friday night. In the meantime, I have the cradle so I'll look into the J-tag thing tonight.

Other than that, any advice?

 

[senquack]

Did you remove the batteries when using the AC plug earlier, before you noticed the problem?

Also, when trying gp2xrecovery.exe, a piece of advice: it can take dozens of times before the recovery "takes". No matter how I played with the timing of the GP2X power-on versus the start of the JTAG recovery tool, it was just pure luck after dozens of tries before it came back to life.

 

[gruso]

I had the batteries out and on charge all day, so it was only powered by the adaptor. I put them back in before getting on the train.

Thanks for the recovery advice. It sounds much like trying to read an Xbox EEPROM with PonyProg, so I should be prepared.

 

[slaanesh]

Are the batteries going in nice and tight or are they a bit loose? I find with my F100 that the terminals occasionally need a bit of flexing to make better contact with the batteries.

 

[gruso]

Battery terminals are all good, I flexed them out a little to be sure.

I ran gp2xrecovery last night, many many times without effect. I think there are a few potential problems here, including but not limited to: (i) I had to solder up my own parallel cable, which I'm certain is all good, and (ii) I don't have a power adaptor for the cradle, nor is the cradle getting powered from the 2X (there is no red LED).

Here's the screen I'm getting:

Any ideas? If it gets too drastic I'll see if the friendly guy at gp2x.net.au is up for looking at it (at least he'll be properly equipped with power supplies and confirmed good cables).

 

[gruso]

It's working again. I don't know how.

After last night's lack of success, I figured I had a freshly loaded firmware on the SD so I might as well give the old reflash a bash. I saw nothing happen, gave up, and slotted it back into the cradle. This afternoon I get home from work, and the cradle LED is lit. :blink: I'd accidentally left it switched on, and now it was powering the cradle. Still nothing on screen though.

I turned it off and back on, still nothing. So I thought maybe the firmware fairy had come, and the batteries had since died. I swapped in some freshies and it fired up, asking me to press B to continue the firmware update. Press B I did, and after five seconds I was in!

What have I learned from this? Not a damn thing. Except maybe that turning a dead GP2X on and leaving it alone for 20 hours can in some circumstances fix everything.

Feeling pretty lucky right now.

 

[gruso]

Ok, so now it won't autorun Gmenu2x on boot. Just looking at the firmware versions in the archive, I'm getting confused. I flashed it with 4.0.0, but...

The 4.0.0 page in the archive says don't use it on an F200, but my F200 came with 4.0.0. I've previously flashed it with this version number, which I got straight from gp2x.com.

The 4.0.2 page says "use it to reflash the F200 (the one that came factory shipped with 4.0.2)." But my didn't come with 4.0.2, and I don't plan on putting it on now.

*sigh* Bring on Open2x. I'm still happy it's not bricked, anyway.


PS. triple posts make me feel like a big man.

 

[Manjuu]

That's a misnomer. <_<

Some people thought that the "new" F-200s were labelled as (as written on the sticker at the back), but in fact the "old" F-200s (like yours & mine) were also labelled as .

 

[Squirrel61]

The 4.0.2 page says "use it to reflash the F200 (the one that came factory shipped with 4.0.2)." But my didn't come with 4.0.2, and I don't plan on putting it on now.

If your GP2X came with 4.0.0 factory preinstalled, don't use this firmware to upgrade. It will break your touchscreen. Instead, use the firmware from gp2x.com, it's newer and touchscreen has been fixed.

My F200 came with 4.0.0 factory preinstalled, has the (B) on the back and I found out the above by trial and error :blink:
If you wish to upgrade, use the 4.0.2 from gp2x.com, then 4.1.0 from archive.gp2x.de and then 4.1.1 from either site. Gp2x.com doesn't offer the 4.1.0 but I found that by upgrading straight from 4.0.2 to 4.1.1, several programs don't work anymore.

 

[gruso]

Odd, I've used 4.0.0 before without problems. It was direct from gp2x.com though, not the archive, which makes me wonder if there's anything different between them. And while autorun is borked, the touch screen is fine!

On my other PC I have the 4.0.0 that I used before, which I'll have access to on the weekend. I'll try that, and if no luck I'll try your advice (thanks btw).

 

[Manjuu]

The 4.0.2 page says "use it to reflash the F200 (the one that came factory shipped with 4.0.2)." But my didn't come with 4.0.2, and I don't plan on putting it on now.

If your GP2X came with 4.0.0 factory preinstalled, don't use this firmware to upgrade. It will break your touchscreen. Instead, use the firmware from gp2x.com, it's newer and touchscreen has been fixed.

My F200 came with 4.0.0 factory preinstalled, has the (B) on the back and I found out the above by trial and error :blink:
If you wish to upgrade, use the 4.0.2 from gp2x.com, then 4.1.0 from archive.gp2x.de and then 4.1.1 from either site. Gp2x.com doesn't offer the 4.1.0 but I found that by upgrading straight from 4.0.2 to 4.1.1, several programs don't work anymore.

Hmm... I updated mine by going from FW 4.0.0 to 4.0.2, then directly to 4.1.1. I didn't bother with 4.1.0, and it is working fine. All the programs I play with are working, and the only problems are the known quirks of FW 4.1.x.

Can you give an example, so I can check mine? :huh:

Odd, I've used 4.0.0 before without problems. It was direct from gp2x.com though, not the archive, which makes me wonder if there's anything different between them. And while autorun is borked, the touch screen is fine!

On my other PC I have the 4.0.0 that I used before, which I'll have access to on the weekend. I'll try that, and if no luck I'll try your advice (thanks btw).

I'm thinking of downgrading to FW 4.0.0 to get the autorun back, if Open2X can't come any faster, but the only copy of it I have is from the archive. Is the autorun indeed broken for this copy?

Tell us if the copy you have from gp2x.com is better, and possibly share?

 

[gruso]

Indeed I will! I'll test when I get home late tomorrow night.

 

[Squirrel61]

First, I need to clear up a bit, because I realised that my post wasn't very clear. Changed part are in bold.

If your GP2X came with 4.0.0 factory preinstalled, don't use the 4.0.2 from the archive. It will break your touchscreen. Instead, use the 4.0.2 firmware from gp2x.com, it's newer and touchscreen has been fixed.

My F200 came with 4.0.0 factory preinstalled, has the (B ) on the back and I found out the above by trial and error :blink:
If you wish to upgrade, use the 4.0.2 from gp2x.com, then 4.1.0 from archive.gp2x.de and then 4.1.1 from either site. Gp2x.com doesn't offer the 4.1.0 but I found that by upgrading straight from 4.0.2 to 4.1.1, several programs don't work anymore.

Symptoms when upgrading straight from 4.0.2 to 4.1.1:
- The second booting screen shows 4.0.2, while system information displays 4.1.1. When upgrading through 4.1.0, the second booting screen also correctly shows 4.1.1
- Vice doesn't run anymore
- Mame still runs, but doesn't load any roms.
- Gpsp has issues, but I don't remember exactly what
- Pocketsnes has issues too, but I don't remember exactly what
All these symptoms disappeared when upgrading from 4.0.2 to 4.1.0 to 4.1.1.

 

[Manjuu]

[...]

Symptoms when upgrading straight from 4.0.2 to 4.1.1:
- The second booting screen shows 4.0.2, while system information displays 4.1.1. When upgrading through 4.1.0, the second booting screen also correctly shows 4.1.1
- Vice doesn't run anymore
- Mame still runs, but doesn't load any roms.
- Gpsp has issues, but I don't remember exactly what
- Pocketsnes has issues too, but I don't remember exactly what
All these symptoms disappeared when upgrading from 4.0.2 to 4.1.0 to 4.1.1.

All those you mentioned are showing or working correctly in mine.

Could yours probably had been a botched update? :huh:

 

[Squirrel61]

All those you mentioned are showing or working correctly in mine.

Could yours probably had been a botched update? :huh:

Maybe something could've gone wrong on the first update, because the second time I used the very same files, but with 4.1.0 as an intermediate step and then everything was allright.

 

[gruso]

I'm thinking of downgrading to FW 4.0.0 to get the autorun back, if Open2X can't come any faster, but the only copy of it I have is from the archive. Is the autorun indeed broken for this copy?

Tell us if the copy you have from gp2x.com is better, and possibly share?

I'm back baby, and the news is good. I no longer had the firmware saved on this PC, so I got to some serious Googling. Around the world I went until I found myself back at dev.gp2x.com, where several versions including 4.0.0 are still hosted!

http://dev.gp2x.com/release/

I flashed 4.0.0, and I'm back in autorun heaven. B)

The previous few posts have got me thinking that maybe the gp2x archive version of 4.0.0 is fine, and my flash was just a little botched, breaking the autorun? It seems odd that it would be different. Not that I'll be flashing any time soon to experiment.

Interestingly, it does have a slightly different filename;

From dev.gp2x.com: gp2x-f200_4.0.0_071220.zip

From GP2X archive: gp2x-f200_4(1).0.0_071220.zip

Doesn't mean much on its own, as anyone can change a filename. Curious though.

 

[gruso]

It's done it again! :angry: Thankfully I'm not stuck on a train this time. After doing some USB transfers via the GP2X (not card reader), I powered it off and then back on with only batteries. No screen!

And it seems that my instincts when I said this:

QUOTE
I really have the urge to try it with the power supply again, but I won't have access to that until Friday night.


...were right. It's working fine via the plug pack. My batteries are confirmed good, so it's not a power thing. I did numerous transfers during the week, using a card reader on my other PC, and it didn't happen. So, I've narrowed the problem down to managing SD content through the GP2X.

What I don't know, is how to fix it now. The solution before was either (i) doing a "blind" (no screen) firmware flash, or (ii) leaving it on all day to let the batteries die. Logic says (i) I guess, so I suppose I'll flash again.

Definitely have to go out and get a card reader for this PC. Today. Now.

 

[Squirrel61]

It's done it again! :angry: Thankfully I'm not stuck on a train this time. After doing some USB transfers via the GP2X (not card reader), I powered it off and then back on with only batteries. No screen!

I've read about users with an F100 who fried the internal power regulator by using an AC adapter with a too high voltage or with reversed polarity. They had the symptom that the GP2X only ran when the batteries where fully charged and if they where only slightly discharged, the GP2X wouldn't start. On external power, the GP2X still worked. It proved that the fried regulator needed a much higher input voltage to work.

To me, it sounds a bit like you're having the same kind of problem, although the F200 has a different regulator which seems to be reverse-polarity resistant (at least, it survived with mine).

Try running the GP2X on a set of alkaline batteries, they provide a higher voltage. If it boots up, it must be the power regulator which is faulty.

 

[Manjuu]

I'm thinking of downgrading to FW 4.0.0 to get the autorun back, if Open2X can't come any faster, but the only copy of it I have is from the archive. Is the autorun indeed broken for this copy?

Tell us if the copy you have from gp2x.com is better, and possibly share?

I'm back baby, and the news is good. I no longer had the firmware saved on this PC, so I got to some serious Googling. Around the world I went until I found myself back at dev.gp2x.com, where several versions including 4.0.0 are still hosted!

http://dev.gp2x.com/release/

I flashed 4.0.0, and I'm back in autorun heaven. B)

The previous few posts have got me thinking that maybe the gp2x archive version of 4.0.0 is fine, and my flash was just a little botched, breaking the autorun? It seems odd that it would be different. Not that I'll be flashing any time soon to experiment.

Interestingly, it does have a slightly different filename;

From dev.gp2x.com: gp2x-f200_4.0.0_071220.zip

From GP2X archive: gp2x-f200_4(1).0.0_071220.zip

Doesn't mean much on its own, as anyone can change a filename. Curious though.

Thanks for the link.

I looked at the CRC of the contents, both files are the same. So I guess your first update was a bit botched.

I hope you sort out the issues with your unit. Good luck. B)

 

[gruso]

It's running again!

Squirrel - thanks for your ongoing advice in this thread. Your post on power regulators put me on the right track. I couldn't find any decent alkalines, so I just chucked 3v (from the official plug pack) straight onto the battery terminals, and it fired up. Now it boots from my usual batteries as well.

Seems like the regulator has an intermittent issue, and just needed to be reminded who was boss. All signs point to the cause of this being the use of the GP2X as a card reader, so I'll be using external readers only from now on.

Manjuu - scary thought that, botching a firmware upgrade and leaving the batteries to die. :lol: I'm so lucky I don't have a brick right now.

Here's hoping the saga is over.