All,

My empeg has managed to get itself into a confusion over which power supply it's got (again).

Currently it won't detect home power supply (it always thinks that it's in car).

I've already mailed carsupport@riohome.com to get it repaired, but I'm concerened that this is happening to me a lot - this is the third time for my player. I'm wondering if something in my car/home setup could be breaking whatever it is that detects AC/DC to the empeg.

I'm very concerned that this may continue to happen outside of the 1yr warranty period, since the only time I notice is when I want to upgrade the software, which I can't because the upgrade program can't find the empeg.

So my questions are:

1) Are other people experiencing this problem as well, or is it just me?
2) Can anything in my home power brick have gone wrong, such that when I connect it it's frying something in the empeg?
3) As per question 2, but with the car installation (which was done by CambsCar).
4) Is it possible to alter the kernel, or some such, so that I *can* upgrade the software even when it thinks that it's in car mode? I'm happy to live with a longer bootup time in car.

Thanks!!

Paul.

Paul Haigh, Reg. 4120
(mk1) 6GB, Blue, 00254
(mk2) 12GB, Red, 00357

I just got mine back from being repaired for that same problem, but it was the first time. I hope it doesn't make a habbit of it!


|| loren.cox ||

I was struck with this problem pretty much from the get-go with my Empeg. Sent it back and had it repaired, and everything's been fine since.

-Tony
MkII #554

There was a number of threads on this topic. Basically, nothing in your install should be able to ruin empeg's capability of recognizing its environment, as this is done in extremely simple way: home power connector on empeg has a switch that recognizes whether something is plugged there or not.

Somebody suggested that inserting AC adapter connector obliquely and off-center could hasten the demise of the switch. Somebody else (from empeg, I think) described how to use a tweezers to try and bring the switch back to its senses (on warranty-voided empeg, naturally), as well as how to replace the whole connector, which is a rather standard part.

But, since your empeg is still under warranty and you are (I gather) more or less next door to Cambridge, perhaps you should skip home remedies this time .

Cheers!

Dragi "Bonzi" Raos
Zagreb, Croatia
Q#5196, MkII#80000376, 18GB green

Hey,

I'm probably closer to cambridge than you are, but it's still a 2+hr drive (unless bad traffic, in which case 4+ hrs), which rob and hugo will attest to (Rio's admin place is very close to Reading), so probably not an option (especially since I'm going to be in Rekjavik next week).

I think that both of the times previous to this one the component has had to be replaced, rather than fixed, but I can't be 100% on this (I don't have the old emails).

I'll do a search for the other postings (I did one before, but didn't get much).

Cheers,

Paul.

Paul Haigh, Reg. 4120
(mk1) 6GB, Blue, 00254
(mk2) 12GB, Red, 00357

It's very unlucky to get three power connectors go bad - I don't have the stats to hand but I'd estimate that we only get a couple of these per month from the whole userbase.

Do you use the supplied AC adapter? If you used one with a larger diameter connector I could imagine this would provoke the failure.

Rob

Rob,

I believe that I do use the supplied connector - I'll check as soon as I can.

Is it really just a case of the connector being pushed down? If I can fix this without sending it back to empeg, that'd be great, especially if it happens in the future..

Do you have any instructions on how to do this (someone mentioned that this was on the board, but I can't find it)?

Thanks...

Paul.

Paul Haigh, Reg. 4120
(mk1) 6GB, Blue, 00254
(mk2) 12GB, Red, 00357

The metal tab gets bent and no longer makes a connection. You could possibly fix it with some tweezers but I'm not sure how reliable that would be.

Rob

Make sure you send the power supply back with your empeg in case the power supply plug is causing you to keep having this fault.

The problem is pretty rare - the powerconnectors aren't *that* unreliable! As rob says, use of non-specified AC adapters may cause the problem, but all the ones we replace are replaced with a different brand of connector which appears to be more resilient - I don't remember ever having to change one which had already been changed.

Obviously, if this is the 3rd time you've seen this, I must have - either that or the problem one of the previous times was due to a different issue (this can happen if you plug an AC as opposed to DC adapter into the unit).

Hugo

I'm not 100% sure of the details of the failures previously, I've since deleted the emails.

I wasn't implying that the problem was very common - the fact that so few people have replied to my post is tenstament to that - but I was curious if i'd just been really unlucky.

Thinking about it, one of the previous times the player always thought it was at home, not in the car, which I thought would have been the same problem, but perhaps not.

Anyway, it's a ship back to empeg issue, so you guys should have it soon - perhaps the power connector hasn't failed...

Paul.

Paul Haigh, Reg. 4120
(mk1) 6GB, Blue, 00254
(mk2) 12GB, Red, 00357

I've just fixed your player, the problem isn't (and wasn't) the power connector issue others have seen - your power connector has never been replaced and didn't need replacing this time either (but I did anyway!)

Units whose connectors physically fail always think they're at home (even when they're in the car) as the connector is physically bent out of shape and unable to make contact.

Your unit thinks it's in the car, even when it's at home. However, a blown buffer can show either way depending on how thoroughly the chip was toasted (it's fairly random).

Your unit appears to be getting reverse polarity supply somehow, as a buffer chip is getting blown up. This is definitely what happened the time before, as I can see I've changed the chip in question at least once before now.

Are you ever powering the unit from the car connector with a power jack in the home connector or anything else strange?

Hugo

Hugo,

In reply to:

---

Your unit appears to be getting reverse polarity supply somehow, as a buffer chip is getting blown up. This is definitely what happened the time before, as I can see I've changed the chip in question at least once before now.

Are you ever powering the unit from the car connector with a power jack in the home connector or anything else strange?

---

Er, no. I've got a home power supply next to the computer for use when I'm loading songs, and I've got the sled in the car, nothing else.

Could it be the power connector or an issue with the car install?

Paul.


Paul Haigh, Reg. 4120
(mk1) 6GB, Blue, 00254
(mk2) 12GB, Red, 00357

I don't believe it can be an in-car install issue - well, I'm sure we would have seen it on other units had it been...

Hugo

Well the only other time I use the empeg outside of the car is to plug it into the power supply long enough to sync music on to it.

I've not got any fancy home docking sleds or anything like that.

I'm really concerned that something is causing this, and I can't afford to keep paying for it to be shipped back to you guys.

Any ideas?

Paul.

Paul Haigh, Reg. 4120
(mk1) 6GB, Blue, 00254
(mk2) 12GB, Red, 00357

Does the unit rest on anything conductive that might be at a different ground potential? Just wondering if the case might be touching something when at home.

What PSU do you have? If you don't have an IEC we could swap yous out for one, I prefer these as they are earthed...

Hugo

I'm not sure what type of PSU I have - It may be the one shipped with the MK1 possibly.

As for resting on conductive materials - here's a picture of my working environment (attached) - I tend to rest the empeg on the bottle of screen-clene, which isn't conductive. Could the power supply be knackered?

Cheers,

Paul.

Paul Haigh, Reg. 4120
(mk1) 6GB, Blue, 00254
(mk2) 12GB, Red, 00357

Looks like a mk2 wall-wart PSU (smaller ferrite moulded onto the cable?). Actually, I don't remember us ever shipping such PSUs - we wanted to but get got ones without ferrites so we had to fit ones manually. Sure that's an empeg PSU (ours are 15v, 1A, marked "sunpower")?

Hugo

Hugo,

I am humbled. I would have put money it being an empeg one, but obviously not - and I apologise for misleading you. It definitely couldn't be a mk1 one, either?.

BTW It's not a wall-wart (ugh), but a two cable affair - one for the wall -> converter then converter -> plug.

Looking at the box, it's DC output is 12V 1A box - the connector to the empeg is identical to the empeg one (which was in the office) - since it's under-rated, do you think that this could really be the problem?

Lots of other people are using non-empeg power supplies as well. I thought that any 12-15V 1A supply would be okay.

Paul.



Paul Haigh, Reg. 4120
(mk1) 6GB, Blue, 00254
(mk2) 12GB, Red, 00357

In theory it should be ok, but as it isn't a real empeg PSU I can't vouch for it.

It's not a mk1 unit, these were all IEC boxes (ie, wire, box, wire, like yours) but all were sunpower and 15v/1a.

Can you find your original PSU and use that?

Hugo

It's already in the bin.

Even if it's not the problem, I'm not taking the chance.

Paul.

Paul Haigh, Reg. 4120
(mk1) 6GB, Blue, 00254
(mk2) 12GB, Red, 00357