From: Nuutti Kotivuori <naked_at_iki.fi>
Date: Sun, 10 Nov 2002 14:47:18 +0200

Nuutti Kotivuori wrote:
> Felix.Arends_at_gmx.de wrote:
>>> Peel back the silver stickers in the battery compartment, and
>>> ensure the solder joints there are sound, as this provides Ground
>>> to the circuit boards.
>>
>> I'm not quite sure weather that was what helped because there are
>> no solder joints below the silver stickers - or at least I didn't
>> find any - but after removing them and just fingering around a
>> little it seems to work perfectly now!
>
> Ah! That _might_ be it. There are solder joints below the silver
> stickers - they just are not connected by only lie on top of each
> other. Or atleast for me they do on this Recorder 20. That could
> mean that if it "rattles" up and down, the ground connection
> disappears for either of the boards.
>
> We'll see, I'm seeing if I can replicate my problem by manually
> trying to move just those.

Ah! That _is_ it! :-)

There are six solder "joints" on the top board - under the silver
stickers - three on each side. These solder "joints" connect the top
board to the ground - eg. the battery compartment metals and so
on.

None of them are fixed, they are just two soldered connectors lying on
top of each other. If I lift the top board even a little little bit -
*wham* unit turns off. When I press it down again - *zoom* the unit
powers on again.

So, now I'm wondering how to best fix this. I am considering on just
warming all the solder points and seeing what comes out of
that. Perhaps adding a bit more soldering tin there.

Completely redoing all the solders seems tricky, as the top board is
firmly attached to the front end board and I have to bend it just to
separate these connection points. I guess I _could_ remove those huge
solders to the front board (the one where the ide-connector lies) and
then separate the top board altogether, but I fear I might do more
harm than good.

What is puzzling me is that are these solders just supposed to be
lying on top of each other or actually soldered together? It seems a
bit weird to see them just lying there, but it seems even more weird
to think that some freak accident made them all break off at the same
time.

Anyway, I'm doing something to these things later today - so give me
good hints while you are at it :-)

-- Naked
Received on 2002-11-10