That's correct Tony, shows 100%, but actual brightness could be anything.

Just to update the capacitor fix, I've applied it to my other player and it is also now cured. I have noticed however, that in very low temperatures (hijack says 2 Dec C) the problem is back again but clears a few degrees higher. I may try a slightly larger value capacitor.

Does anyone have any more updates on their dimmer fix? Is the capacitor still doing the trick?

Still working fine on both my units.

I can verify that the cap fixed my problem 100%. I was finding that the unit would some times start up at the wrong "dimness" setting. Going to the dimmer menu and adjusting the dimmer by 1 notch and back again and the dimmer would be at the right level. After the cap, I have never noticed it start on the wrong level.

Is support accepting players still under warranty for this fix? Has anyone sent theirs in for this?

My Player (10Gb Rio Player) had exactly the problem
described here, i.e. Random dimmer levels, but mine
diddnt appear to be temprature related - it happed all
the time! ...

Added the cap, and the probelm is fixed... Thanks Altman,
you are truly the man!

My Mk2a has the same issue, now I'm pretty competent with a soldering iron but don't want to bugger my warranty. What is the current reckoning? If I do this mod is my warranty stuffed? If so, then I might as well add the button hack. Or is it better to return to Cambridge just for the extra safety factor?

Always contact support before opening the player.

I have over the last two days had a repeat of this dimmer problem.

I got the case open today with a couple of SMT 10n's ready, to find "Kilroy woz 'ere" - someone (I suspect Hugo ) has already done the fix, probably during the last warranty fix I had. Thanks!

However, it does tend to imply that the fix is not 100%. Any ideas about this?

You may have had a 20nF cap fitted - I've had another case of it, so it is worth replacing it to be sure you have a 10nF cap fitted.

OK, I'll give it a go later on today and then let you know over the next few days.

Wow, I forgot about this issue, making me think mine only exhibits this issue when it's a colder day. I'll have to remember to have it fixed when I get the button light hack installed.

Just to follow up on this thread:

I replaced the 20nF SMT cap that had been soldered onto my display board with a 10 nF leaded, micro-ceramic type (I coluldn't get SMT in my neck of the woods ). Despite great variation in local temperatures over the last few weeks it's been installed, there has been absolutely no repetitions of the dimmer problem (it used to happen about 3-4 times per month). So it looks as if (in my case, anyway) it was in fact just a matter of the wrong value cap.

Resurection of old threads... Haven't seen that done in a looong time.

Anyway, I read all the original messages when they were posted last year. My unit had always been fine regardless of temperature. Then a couple of months ago it had the random level startup problem. Move dimmer up then back down and fixed. Then a couple of weeks later it had a similar problem, but with the inability to fix itself with an up and down. Restart the player and all was good. This happened again a couple more times over the past month. Now this week I have seen the inability to fix with a restart. Total random dimmer selection when moving its value. Random dimmer setting when trying to increase beyond 100.

Exactly the same problems described by most people. The strangest thing is that I've been using theplayer for over a year and it was never an issue before. I'm going to ask someone here at work to add a cap to my board and I have every expectation it will work.

Moving this thread back to light is sort of timely right now because it's been extremely cold in this neck of the woods. Hopefully it will spark the attention of anyone else that may recently have been plagued by the issue.

Bruno

ah i had this happen to me i think the other week and it was damn cold first time ever and hasn't done it since

Hey just so you guys know, its not good for the player to be in super cold weather. You can damage your hard drives if they spin up when it's super cold out... When I forget to take my player out of my truck in cold weather, I actually pull it out of the sled about an inch so it doesn't spin up when I start my truck. Then I leave the heater on for 10 minutes or so before I put it all the way into the sled. Please dont wreck your hard drives!!

As a side note, the cap fix worked 100% for me. Only thing I'm not sure about is now my 'Fast Forward' doesn't always work. Sometimes I have to let go of the button and then hold it down again before it will cue through a song. I'm not sure if thats a problem with 2.0 Beta 13 or if it's because of the Cap fix though... It seems to happen with the buttons on the front of the player more than it happens when I use the remote to cue through a song...

Only thing I'm not sure about is now my 'Fast Forward' doesn't always work. Sometimes I have to let go of the button and then hold it down again before it will cue through a song. I'm not sure if thats a problem with 2.0 Beta 13 or if it's because of the Cap fix though...

That's a 2.0 beta 13 bug. Not related to the cap fix.

How cold is super cold?