[NTLK] eMate issues (not display cable for once!)

[reilly001os at aol.com]

Maybe one of the cells in the pack is on the edge? I had a nimh AA cell that would register in my slow charger (which needs two AA or AAA in series to charge) but it never actually charged. Not sure if maybe it was because its mate was still good but that cell was definitely bad, maybe same problem with one cell. HTH

Joe Reilly

------Original Message------
From: Robert Zimmerman
Sender: newtontalk-bounces at newtontalk.net
To: NewtonTalk
ReplyTo: NewtonTalk
Subject: [NTLK] eMate issues (not display cable for once!)
Sent: Feb 10, 2010 03:32

I am in the process of repairing an eMate.  For once, it's not the display cable.  I got to the hinges in time, I just had to spend forever and a day stretching out each spring.  I haven't fully reassembled it yet, just enough to verify that it powers on.  I noticed two odd issues.

Problem 1: I haven't soldered the speaker back to the logic board because I will need to remove the board to replace some of the plastic bits on either side (namely the PCMCIA bezel and the serial/NIC door).  I've been using the headphone jack so I can hear the boot sounds and so forth and make sure the device is working.  I get this low-frequency clicking.  It is a very loud click several times per second (I would estimate 7).  There are a few other sounds that I believe are logic crosstalking with the audio (high-frequency warbling and chirps), but the loud clicking concerns me.  I didn't see anything in my quick search of the archives.  I would really rather not have to get out my oscilloscope and trace the problem down.  Has anyone else encountered anything similar?

Problem 2: It doesn't seem to be charging the battery.  It sees that the battery is present and says "Charging", but I don't see any progress.  If I don't have the eMate connected to mains power, it won't boot.  The battery could just be completely flat, but it definitely booted the device a few days ago when I did some exploratory surgery.  I left it alone for a bit and Extras reported "Fault".  I unplugged the battery and AC power, then plugged the battery in again, plugged in AC power again, and booted it. I'll let it try to charge overnight.  Before I break out the multimeter, does anybody know of other problems that could cause this?

This eMate does not have the 2010 fix yet, but I wouldn't expect a date problem to cause audio clicks or battery charging issues.  Then again, I have seen weirder software problems that look like hardware problems.

--

 Zimmie
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