From: <elinenbe_at_umich.edu>
Date: Wed, 24 Dec 2003 11:37:32 -0500

I had already taken apart the Gmini, but did not go further then listing all the
chips, etc. You can check it out in the archives. This was about 2 months
ago.

-eric

> Hi,
>
> given the low number of answers, I decided to disassemble the GMini
> yesterday. So, here's what I found so far.
>
> I made a few pictures, they haven't been sorted or appropriately scaled yet
> so they are quite crappy but it's better than nothing for those who may be
> interested : http://lgiroud.chez.tiscali.fr/photos/
>
> Note that many of them look the same, it's raw material and not a
> presentation/documentation of any kind :)
>
> The Gmini is quite hard to disassemble without any insight and I broke a
> screw "support" and bent three pins during the process so take care if you
> are willing to try it too.
>
> A tork screwdriver size 6 is needed to remove the two screws on the cover,
> after this, the back cover must be removed first, it can be acheived by
> inserting a flat screwdriver in the separation between the two covers and
> gently pulling one cover up while pushing the other down (I'll take
> photographs, it's not easy to get it textually ;).
> After that, a copper plate must be removed (easy) and then the hard drive can
> be pulled off after "squeezing" one of the two rubbers on the sides and using
> a flat screwdriver to separate it from its plug.
>
> Here's what the inside looks like after the hard drive is removed :
>
> http://lgiroud.chez.tiscali.fr/photos/IMG_0182.JPG
>
> The writings on the only visible chip of the board can be read on this
> picture.
> -> the chip is a USB97C202, ie an "USB 2.0 ATA/ATAPI Controller" which data
> sheet can be found here :
> http://www.smsc.com/main/catalog/usb97c202.html
>
> I have no idea if it's better than the ISD 200/300 chips on the other archos
> models.
>
> The grey rectangle on the above picture seems to be the battery, it's
> soldered on the mother board on at least two points and I had to stop the
> disassembly there since I haven't got my soldering iron with me now. I hope
> to have one within two days at most.
>
> I guess the CPU lies under the battery, but there are screws maintaining the
> front cover stuck to the mother board and those screws are lying under the
> battery. So the CPU cannot be seen without removing the battery and thus
> unsoldering at least two points. So I can't go much further for the moment on
> the hardware side.
>
> Until I have a soldering iron again, I'm going to have a look at the firmware
> files now and try to descramble/disassemble them. I will start with the
> hypothesis that the CPU is the same than on the original archos since I
> haven't been able to get that information yet but I don't think I will get
> anything interesting without knowing the CPU type. Once again, if anyone has
> more information it will be much faster. If you fear legal assault from
> Archos, then I can bear all responsability for this "work", all this is
> perfectly legal in France and probably even under the DMCA if I understand it
> well.
>
> Also, please tell me if I'm off topic and should not post here, I don't want
> to bother you with this if this is not the place ;)
>
> Regards,
> Laurent
>
Received on 2003-12-24