Hardware Total manual overhaul of my Pandora

[liveunderwater]

Right now I have big issues with my Pandora. Issues that have existed for years. Issues that caused me to all but put my Pandora into storage. (I don't think I could ever sell one) I do have a persistent nub response issue. I have not opened the case myself so far to try anything drastic but yes I have been hoping and trying forced air and brute force to free solder debris to no avail. After my upgrade to the 1ghz unit my Pandora case came back cracked and warped. I cannot reliably do much of anything with this Pandora because the slightest "bad" touch can cause the machine to temporarily drop voltage and restart. Losing anything I had been working on or playing. I only had a bad right nub issue, normal Rebirth model, before I sent it in for an upgrade. What I received in return I would hardly consider an upgrade at all. A downgrade indeed.

My very cheapest option to ship from the US to Germany is approximately ~$110 and I do not get much luck with US customs on the way back in. What I am looking for here and now is a fulfillment in my faith in this community as a whole. That is, to help me fix the problems with my Pandora without sending it anywhere.

Initially I will only ask a few questions. Beyond that I will attempt to further pry open the knowledge base available here.

I see that replacement cases are available right now through ED's shop should I just start there right away? Perhaps some here have insight into adjusting a warped case that I might avoid such a large somewhat risky step. Yes, I am beyond paper shim approach at this point.

I do not see replacement nubs available through ED's shop Is this part gone forever? Available elsewhere? Found a fix for hitting extreme values in all directions in the last five years that just flew right by me and is not showing in my search results?

The time has come for me to tinker with the inner workings of my 1ghz Pandora. Your help as I push through this will be greatly appreciated.

Robotron is waiting for me.

 

[FBnil]

Ouch, I would have said to get a broken PCB, from which you can cannibalize parts, like a nub. But they are out of stock... https://www.dragonbox.de/en/73-pcb

Can you show some pics? lidless battery case, and with battery inside. Some of use are more visually oriented. Not sure why you need a new case...

What many of us do with the battery (I had a "dancing" battery too) is to snug it down. I used elastics called LOOM and snug in 2 to keep the battery from moving (so they make an elongated O). Stops the horizontal wiggle. If you need to stop the vertical wiggle, i.e. the battery disconnects because the battery lid is not holding it, then use some cut out toilet paper. But note that paper-shims will compress and stay that way, while elastics in general keep their elasticity. Alternatively: Use a stanley knife on ikea rubber nubs (the things you get too many of to stop the doors from slamming into wood, usually transparant. those have girth.). also: superglue comes to mind...

As for the nub, you can repair it if you are willing to disassemble it. Depends on how broken it is, but once opened you can lift the plastic frisbee, and get a small pole and round base;If you carefully remove the black round cilinder case around it (which is so brittle, putting it back is very hard). once you lift that thing, you have a look at the inners of the nub, those, clean, windspray, and the nub should work again for a while.

else: start using the pen for mousing... and there is an app to use the side buttons as a mouse...

last resort: As your screen still works, you can still sell it to somebody who whats a screen and has a screenless pandora.

 

[levi]

If it reboots at the slightest touch, your battery is probably loose - mine is. I've packed mine with little bits of folded paper to keep in it pressing against the contacts. Dodgy nubs are another Pandora feature, and while most of us have ones that can be cajoled into working most of the time, some people got especially ropey ones unfortunately. I suspect that by now, stocks of available unused nubs have been exhausted, although ED is possibly holding back a few for repairs (if he isn't limited to harvesting them from dead boards already).

Edit: I hadn't read FBNil's response properly before posting. That tip about getting into a nub is interesting - I might have to give that a go myself. I take it the plastic frisbee is the bit that you touch to move the nub around, is that right?

I used some paper from the heading of a letter sent by estate agents fishing for properties. It's not as soft as toilet paper, and I suspect better for packing out your battery - any laser printer paper will do.

 

[FBnil]

To get into the nub is actually hard if it is not broken. You need to desolder it, then in the hidden back there are these 4 black screws to keep the outer ring in place (mine is cracked at these 4 points and I have a very hard time keeping it together while I put it back in the case). Then remove the ring together with the black nub. You are left with a pointy white plastic mini joystick that can move. It is this thing that can be "cleaned" with air (by moving it around). So far, it works again for me, but pushing left is still erratic (so I use the stylus). copy/paste (up/down) is very hard. So if the black nub is still in place, blowing air is not that effective, you really need to nubdance while holding the air spraycan.

@levi: Read about nub disassembly at : http://pandorawiki.org/Nubs

 

[liveunderwater]

Thanks for all of the helpful information so far. I found some orthodontic rubberbands in my attic that I'm trying to use for the battery. Also, would shoving clay in the abscess be a terrible idea? I've been saving junk mail that uses that plastic adhesive stuff to hold fake credit cards to paper thinking that I could use that as well. I'll grab some photos and start disassembly in the couple of days. I may pop up from time to time to ask further questions. Thanks again

 

[levi]

Clay might be a good way to get a self-shaping bung, but the problem is you need to experiment to find the best sizes of bung to use. It may be that equal bungs on either sides of the battery is right, and using identical rubber bands to support it would suggest it is. Also, I personally sometimes need to be able to remove my battery, and clay might make that harder.

 

[liveunderwater]

I was thinking of oven hardening the clay after fitting. Shrinkage will definitely be a problem I understand. Its an overhaul. Ready to take this head on

 

[FBnil]

be careful if the clay package says "C4".
Good luck!

 

[rygD]

Because C4: Mythbusters

 

[FBnil]

conclusion: C4 is not explosive... just handle it with gloves.

 

[rygD]

Also, be careful if stomping on burning C4 since it may stick to you.

 

[liveunderwater]

So, I got my battery seated pretty well with the stretchy plastic adhesive bits used to hold a credit card to a letter. I gave my problematic nub a rub and did a clean install to SuperZaxxon 1.73. After install I no longer had drifting nub values. The nub completely quit on me once but came back after a reset. I've been using my pandora for a few days like this. Cleaning up my sd cards getting rid of pnds I no longer use. Then my pnd manager disappeared. That shouldn't be a problem, Ill just reinstall it. So I started on some other configurations like no power save with the lid closed to see if 3d games still hang the system. While digging around for config files I noticed that my touchscreen suddenly stopped working. Rebooted and still failing. Searched forums for touchscreen suddenly no longer working and found a few common solutions. My nubs are still working for mouse. The cursor is not being dragged to any part of the screen without my touching anything. No noticeable grit between the bevel and the screen but I gave a thorough cleaning anyhow. Admittedly, I am unclear where these screen clips are located by I have compressed around the screen without hearing any clips clicking into place. I'm about to reflash a clean 1.73. Anything else to try to get my touch screen back? I was making some pretty nice progress until this.
[doublepost=1454551042,1454550186][/doublepost]<<< Wipes sweat from brow. I reflashed and the problem persisted so I tried pressing different parts of the screen again. I got a click at the top center of the bevel and my touch screen revived! Plus the clean install noticed I had no pnd manager and dropped an installer on the desktop for me. Everything is coming up Millhouse.