Knackered My Gp2x Within A Week


Doppleganger

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Sep 6, 2008
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I forgot to change the settings on a multi-voltage adaptor that was being used on a Megadrive.
Plugged it into my GP2X F200. Oh dear. Now it won't work with batteries.
The good news is that it still works with the adaptor (at about 4 Volts setting, not the 12V I had it on!).

I actually wasn't that fussed at the time that it now only works with the adaptor
because I was using it only at home and it was eating my batteries anyway.
But the annoying thing is the position of the adaptor socket to the right of the D-Pad.
Couldn't they have placed it at the bottom to make it easlier to play with the adaptor plugged in?

Anyway, I'm thinking of just using the GP2X in TV-OUT mode now.
Am I better off buying the TV-OUT lead or going for the Cradle?

Any other options? Opinions please (yes, I know I'm stupid)
 
the cradle is good but is kinda annoying the way the gp2x doesnt like sitting in it (or maybe thats just the f200 that i have) depends really if u want to take advantage and use the USBs on the cradle for a controller or not
 
Doppleganger said:
I forgot to change the settings on a multi-voltage adaptor that was being used on a Megadrive.
Plugged it into my GP2X F200. Oh dear. Now it won't work with batteries.
The good news is that it still works with the adaptor (at about 4 Volts setting, not the 12V I had it on!).

Any other options? Opinions please (yes, I know I'm stupid)
Try this:

http://www.gp32x.de/board/index.php?showtopic=35602&hl=

Hope it works for you!
 
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Thanks for the suggestions.

The batteries (I had some 2100MH and 2500MH) were working before I used the apaptor at 12V, so
I assume that that has now caused the problem of the GP2X now not working with batteries.

The blue light does come on with Batteries but the screen is dead, so I don't think it's a switch problem.

If just using the GP2X for TV-OUT I could really do with a joypad as I find the adaptor is in a really awkward position to use the controls, but I assume there is no way to use a joypad with the console unless you get the cradle?
 
You can build a USB Host adaptor cable, but unless you good with a soldering iron and electrical knowledge, it's a lot easier to just buy a cradle.
 
Squidge said:
You can build a USB Host adaptor cable, but unless you good with a soldering iron and electrical knowledge, it's a lot easier to just buy a cradle.

Thanks Squidge.

A couple of more questions then I'll leave you alone :D

1. Where is the best place to buy a cradle from? (I'll obviously keep on eye on the Marketplace forum and eBay).

2. With the batteries being a no go, how would I get the cradle set-up to my TV.
Would I have to buy one of those Argos 2.5mA Masterplug jobbies?

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/part...EMASTERPLUG.htm

Thanks again.
 
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Sorry, can't help you there!

Do I remember correctly that some GP2X's can be powered by the cradle? Anyone?
 
My F200 can power the cradle (at least the red light comes on) but the cradle doesn't power the F200. So to use the best of both, you need two AC adapters.

The F200 needs 3.3V (3.7V would be better) @1500 mA and the cradle needs 5V @2500 mA (officially).

While it is possible to plug joysticks or gamepads into the cradle, you can't use them unless the software is specially designed to do so. Eg. the latest vice2x mods by Gnostic allow the use of two joysticks/gamepads and a keyboard over USB.

You should really consider having the power regulator replaced since playing the F200 while in the cradle is not very comfortable.

Btw. The F200 uses a different power regulator than the F100, which is harder to replace.
 
As a quick little "loop-hole" for games not supporting gamepads, MAME on the GP2X (atleast one of the older versions anyways) had a little hack in it to make the GP2X controls and one of the usb controllers act as one controller, and I used to use that to boot MAME, quit, then switch to programs that didn't support usb controllers and still use them ;) Definitely a sub-par solution, but better than nothing I guess...
 
Hooka said:
As a quick little "loop-hole" for games not supporting gamepads, MAME on the GP2X (atleast one of the older versions anyways) had a little hack in it to make the GP2X controls and one of the usb controllers act as one controller, and I used to use that to boot MAME, quit, then switch to programs that didn't support usb controllers and still use them ;) Definitely a sub-par solution, but better than nothing I guess...

That's an interesting discovery, because someone else answered to Zakhooi that it isn't possible to use a usb joypad as a replacement or in parallel with the internal d-pad. But if this mame hack is working, it must be possible to write a general hack that does the same, thus enabling external joypad control on all games! (Did your method indeed work on all games?)
 
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Since it still works with 3,5V and higher, I'm pretty sure it's the LTSK that's been fried.
Ugly beast to exchange...
 
Squirrel61 said:
Btw. The F200 uses a different power regulator than the F100, which is harder to replace.

I have to correct myself here. I based my remark on a post by someone who mentioned that in the F200, a 40-pin MAXIM chip is used as a voltage converter. This is not true!

This night, I opened my F200 just to find out the correct type of the converter (I need to replace one for Darth Gazak and I needed to know what to buy). I've been feeding all text found on every chip to Google and ended up finding that U27 is the voltage converter. It has LTAJT printed on it, which is short code for Linear's LTC3426ES6. As you can see, the 3426 has only 6 pins opposed to the 10 of the 3402, which makes it in fact easier to replace.

I've updated the information on the wiki page (I especially created an account for this) and as soon as I've figured out how to add pictures, I'll upload one or two.

Btw. I'm also surprised by the build quality of the power jack. If it weren't so important, I would seriously consider never using it again :(

And since my F200 was open anyway, I also removed a spot of solder on my nand, that might have been shorting two pins (or maybe not, couldn't tell, not even with a microscope), possibly causing some problems I've had with my firmware. :lol:
 
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Squirrel61: Been awhile, it might have just been that some programs had code to support joysticks in sdl and MAME just loaded the joydev module that was needed, I'd have to give it another try and test it out. Given how much I have on my plate already I won't be trying anytime soon...
 
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