Rattle After 1 Day

[pagefault]

I received my GP2X 1 day ago, and have since had a play with placing some apps on the SD card, compiling some small test apps I wrote, and generally getting to know the system.

Today I decided I would remove the protective layer that comes with the screen, and place on the LCD Protector which I ordered at the same time, as the tiny scratches that come with the standard screen were getting annoying.

In doing so I was moving the unit around more than I had before, and noticed a rattle coming from inside.

However it turns out to be more than just a rattle, it sounds like something is loose inside. The unit seems to be functioning correctly, as far as i know, but i'm a little worried about this.

I havn't dropped it or allowed it to perform any crazy somersaults so i'm not sure why this would be loose inside.

Should I be sending this back to Lik-Sang(where I bought it), or is this a known and common issue that you are supposed to fix on your own? (i.e. i've heard about bad soldering jobs on the headphone jack, but i havn't plugged headphones in yet)

Any help or recommendations or similar problems/solutions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Pagefault.

 

[yaustar]

How loud is the rattle?

 

[Tobriand]

Check the headphone connector; it is known to be badly soldered in on some units, and who knows - a journey from Hong Kong to wheresoever you are might have jolted it just enough to send it loose...

Otherwise, God knows...

 

[pagefault]

The rattle is quite audible. It sounds like a piece of plastic or a small screw rolling around, from one end of the unit to the other.

I've checked the head phone socket, and it seems to be intact.

I'm wondering if I should open it to discover what it is, or if this would void any warranty.

I'm in Australia, so the journey was not too long.

Thanks for your help

 

[yaustar]

I be tempted to just open it up and taking a look. The whole thing is relatively easy to put back together without anyone knowing it was ever opened.

 

[pagefault]

Thanks for your reply, I'll see how it goes, and when I find out what it is, ill post here.

Cheers,
Pagefault.

 

[pagefault]

So...I found out what the rattle is.

I carefully opened up the system to find a loose component.

I'm not completely into the electronics side, but its one of the pill shaped flat topped silver components with 30.000 written on it.

The other two that are still soldered have 13.500 and 24.576 written on them.

It looks like it comes from the bottom left hand side (just underneath the USB port).

Which is rather interesting as I can't seem to get USB working.

Has anyone else experienced this? Should I be sending it back or attempting to solder this myself?

I'm pretty sure it either was that way from the beginning, or the journey from hong kong dislodged it.

Any help would be very welcome.

Also, if I am to solder, which way round should it go?

(I.e. if you have the back off, should the writing go from bottom to top, with the bottom of the writing facing right, or from top to bottom, with the bottom of the writing facing left)

Thanks,
Pagefault.

 

[pagefault]

Anyone ?

 

[WrongEyedJesus]

Anyone ?

​

I suggest you send it back for replcement. You can get away with pretending you haven't opened it but once you start soldering, if you begger it up you are knackered warranty wise. It's a bit of a git I admit but seems sensible to me.

 

[nickspoon]

Non-working USB is a common problem, and has nothing to do with the dislodged part.

 

[pagefault]

Any idea what the dislodged part is actually for then?

During one of my debug sessions I noticed a log from one of the apps that can relay the serial information, and it said that it can't find any usb devices. I assumed this was because the connection was broken due to the loose component.

Pagefault.