Reviving A Long Dead F200

[DarthGazak]

In 2008 I bricked my GP2X F200. I posted this plea for help:

I had left my power adapter in my living room, it's one with the switch where the voltage can be changed. I always leave it on 3v for my GP2X, but someone changed it. I plugged it in to my GP2X, not aware the setting had been changed to 12v, and switched on. BOOM. Well, not so much boom; the LED flashed and now nothing works. No power whatsoever. Batteries don't work either.

I have an F-200 with firmware 4.0.0. I bought it in February of this year.
I'm very upset because i have been realising the GP2X's value as it had occupied me on several long journeys recently. I only just fixed my FBA2X ROM problem minutes before. Plus, im going on holiday for a fortnight; now my plans to complete Star Control 2 are ruined!

I realise this may not be fixable, after all, the whole circuitry could be fried. But perhaps its simply a fuse or capacitor that has blown, and can be replaced.

Has anyone else ran too high a voltage through their machine? Anyone have any idea how my beautiful GP2X could be resuscitated?

I'm not an expert in electronics, but if the problem can be identified, i can take it to a shop and have them look at it, to see if they can fix it. I doubt they will ever have encountered a GP2X before!

Thanks in advance for any suggestions, i'm very desperate!

4 years on, I'm now in my 3rd year of Electronic Engineering and I feel ready to attempt breathing some life into the old boy. Previously I sent it to a guy in Holland who was unsuccesful in repairs: he suggested buying a new MAXsomethingOrOther voltage regulator and soldering it on. It's been sitting for years in my cupboard collecting dust, so I thought I'd ask here if anyone has experience with a similar problem. Do you reckon I could purchase the replacement part and fit it by hand? Alternatively, if anyone has the expertise and know how(I'm not the best with a soldering iron) I will pay handsomely for the service.

I have a 4GB card packed to the brim with quality games and emulators, plus I assume much improved software is now available. I'd love to get it up and running for some old school action on the move, so any advice will help!

 

[erico]

Can´t help on this issue as I would not know how.

But I have to say attempting to revive an old machine is an extreme noble cause!
I had to do it a few times on my old atary linx and a rare panasonic boom box(which I have 2 here, the second I could never make it work, but it boots), not something as deep as you need but hey.
Good luck on that! Hope some people can help you out on this.

 

[DarthGazak]

I remember spending hours modifying and optimising my GP2X and SD card before I went on holiday, I had Duke3D, Quake and the Doom/Hexen games all running fabulously and then bang! Dead. I'm going to break out the multimeter today and see if I can identify the problem, then look at ordering some replacement parts. I'll attempt the solder myself, but I'd appreciate some advice as I've only ever worked with larger components. Worst comes to worst, I'll ask a professor at my uni to have a look!

 

[senquack]

It's probably the LTSK chip, a SMT component that is a DC<->DC converter. I am not sure of the part # but it has been discussed many times on here back when the gp2x was popular. Use "site:gp32x.de ltsk" as your google search term.

To complicate things, the F100 is different than the F200 and most discussions referred to the F100 and it seems the location or even the part # of the chip might have changed going to the F200.

To make desoldering the chip easier, I suggest this product:

www.chipquik.com

It is a special solder that turns liquid at a much lower temp than normal solder so you just heat all the pins one by one and slide it right off like magic:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTQqjggeklo


To solder it back on, get yourself some solder paste, or some quality flux and solder from dealextreme.com or those chipquik guys. This video shows all you need to know, mainly how important additional flux is when doing SMT work:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NN7UGWYmBY