Right Speaker has gone out...


ChaosWarmech

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Gah... Third thread in support today... I hate life :angry:


My right speaker no longer works. It was working one second and the next it wasn't... I tested it with Input tester and with a music file. I've tried rebooting and taking out the battery for 10minutes. Nothing. Anyone else had this problem? I doubt it's something I could fix with a generic solder gun and electrical tape, but is it worth opening up to have a look see?
 
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That depends. There's a good chance that the work you would need to do in order to get the screen cover off would void your warranty (especially considering the fragility of the LCD cables).


That said, the fact that it suddenly cut out makes me think that it's a dodgy connection somewhere (but there's no telling where), so if you were so inclined it probably could be solved with a soldering iron.


EDIT: it just occurred to me that the problem may be with the LCD cable. I'd say RMA if it really bothers you.
 
That depends. There's a good chance that the work you would need to do in order to get the screen cover off would void your warranty (especially considering the fragility of the LCD cables).


That said, the fact that it suddenly cut out makes me think that it's a dodgy connection somewhere (but there's no telling where), so if you were so inclined it probably could be solved with a soldering iron.


EDIT: it just occurred to me that the problem may be with the LCD cable. I'd say RMA if it really bothers you.
Does the LCD house the speaker cables as well?


And I'm afraid the dodgy connection might be the connection to the board. My soldering isn't accurate enough for that. If its at the speaker then it should be an easy fix.


I probably won't worry about RMAing it, it doesn't bother me enough to go through that hassle.
 
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Does the LCD house the speaker cables as well?


And I'm afraid the dodgy connection might be the connection to the board. My soldering isn't accurate enough for that. If its at the speaker then it should be an easy fix.

I *believe* that the LCD cable includes the speaker connection in it, in order to save having a bunch of different cables being bent by the hinge. Either way, if it does not bother you that much I'd just suggest leaving it, in case you encounter a *real* issue that would require an RMA later on.
 
Do you hear the right channel when using headphones?
Yea, headphones work fine. That was one of the first things I checked to make sure it was hardware related.


And today in IRC sebt3 informed me that in order to open the top part of the case you have to break it. Can anybody confirm this?
 
Do you hear the right channel when using headphones?
Yea, headphones work fine. That was one of the first things I checked to make sure it was hardware related.


And today in IRC sebt3 informed me that in order to open the top part of the case you have to break it. Can anybody confirm this?

You don't have to break it, I open and close the parts without destroying anything.


However, it's not easy and you need to be careful, so I wouldn't really suggest it.


It might also be that the cable moved a bit out of the connector though.


If you want, you can try to open the back and see if the connector opened a bit or if the cable slipped out a bit.
 
Do you hear the right channel when using headphones?
Yea, headphones work fine. That was one of the first things I checked to make sure it was hardware related.


And today in IRC sebt3 informed me that in order to open the top part of the case you have to break it. Can anybody confirm this?

You don't have to break it, I open and close the parts without destroying anything.


However, it's not easy and you need to be careful, so I wouldn't really suggest it.


It might also be that the cable moved a bit out of the connector though.


If you want, you can try to open the back and see if the connector opened a bit or if the cable slipped out a bit.
Thanks for the reply ED. Yea, I figured the first thing I would try would be to reconnect the ZIF on the board, but I kinda doubt that if that got loose it would only affect one speaker. That's good to hear it's possible to open it up without breaking it. I was really confused why it would be built like that. The bezel below the LCD is also bowing slightly, I'm thinking about checking out the speaker and fixing that in the process. I'm off work the next couple days so if I'm feeling confident I'll try it then. Any tips for opening it up if I do decide to try? Which part is the most susceptible to breaking, so I know to watch out for it.
 
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Any tips for opening it up if I do decide to try? Which part is the most susceptible to breaking, so I know to watch out for it.

Well, first, remove the screws, that's for sure :)


Then start with the right side: Try to bend the outer shell a bit so that the snaps go out. Work yourself round the LCD then, bend the outside trying to snap out the inside.


Be careful to not break the LCD or the thin plastic on the top.


Once you've got it completely open, you can CAREFULLY move the front with the LCD to the right and front.


CAREFUL, as the LCD cable is twisted on the left side.


You can then unplug the LCD cable and check for the speakers. Maybe one has come off?


Once you fixed it, try to reinsert the front part without damaging the LCD cable, snap everything back in and put your screws back in.
 
Be very careful taking it apart. I cannot stress this enough.


When removing the board, lift it straight outward out of the case. I forgot last time I opened it to fix my shoulder button, and accidentally snapped the microphone off.


Also be wary of the LCD cable. The clip holding it in place flips up, not out as I had originally thought, resulting in yet another broken part.
 
Be very careful taking it apart. I cannot stress this enough.


When removing the board, lift it straight outward out of the case. I forgot last time I opened it to fix my shoulder button, and accidentally snapped the microphone off.


Also be wary of the LCD cable. The clip holding it in place flips up, not out as I had originally thought, resulting in yet another broken part.

You only need to open the case if you want to replace the LCD cable.


No need to open the bottom part if you want to take a look at the speakers :)
 
Once you've got it completely open, you can CAREFULLY move the front with the LCD to the right and front.
What exactly do you mean by completely open. Will the inside cover come off(the one with the screw heads and the speaker holes) and the LCD/speakers will be attached to the outer shell? And then slide the LCD to the right and out, or to the right then down? I'm assuming this will be more clear once I actually see it, but would still like some clarification.
 
Bsexm.png
 
Wait, what? There is a microphone in the pandora? Where?
According to the specs it has, but:


arecord -D"hw:0,1" -f cd -d 10 xyz.wav


never did what it's supposed to do :-(.


So how do I use the microphone?
 
Huh? Are you talking to yourself?
Well, yes and no...


On the smartq5, I had it working within a day or 2 after getting it, while there still was a debate going on wether or not it had a microphone.


I tried on the pandora, but I never got any sane output, so I figured there was no microphone, just a jack, to connect one. But now I look at the specs, it seems there must be on inside. So either it was broken to begin with (which I am not assuming), or I am still not using the right arecord incantation.


BTW: that: arecord -D"hw:0,1" -f cd -d 10 xyz.wav


results in a wav file that records silence for a while at MIN_INT, and slowly goes to -1 and then 0. I bet I would see a capacitor discharge graph in that...
 
BTW: that: arecord -D"hw:0,1" -f cd -d 10 xyz.wav


results in a wav file that records silence for a while at MIN_INT, and slowly goes to -1 and then 0. I bet I would see a capacitor discharge graph in that...
Finally found it...


In alsamixer under playback the inputs for the recording source are chosen (so they are under the wrong tab).


I cannot find amixer to script it else I would have pasted the right way to record from the microphone.
 
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