1 (edited by tim_gallagher 2018-12-26 14:01:26)

Topic: My chumby seems to have died. Anyway to bring it back?

My Chumby turned itself off the other night and when I went to turn it back on, it showed the initial screen with the bubbles then went to blank white screen and did nothing else.

Is it a total goner?  Or can I resurrect it in some way?

Guess I should mention it's a Chumby One.

Re: My chumby seems to have died. Anyway to bring it back?

It's *probably* just the power supply, not the machine itself.

There's a link in the wiki pointing to a video someone did where they opened it up, and replaced a couple bad capacitors, and resurrected their supply.

Alternatively, you could get a new 5 volt 2 amp supply and put the fairly hard to find plug that fits into the back of the Chumby on to that.

Cleaning up any loose bits and bytes.

Re: My chumby seems to have died. Anyway to bring it back?

Thanks for the reply.  Hope it's just the power supply.  The little guy has sure grown on me over the last 9ish years.

Do you happen to know or have a spec on the plug?

Re: My chumby seems to have died. Anyway to bring it back?

If you have the old supply, then you can graft the end of that on the new power supply.

The barrel is a 0.90mm ID x 3.2mm OD, center positive.

We also sell new C1 power supplies at http://thechumbystore.com

Re: My chumby seems to have died. Anyway to bring it back?

Thanks for the info.  If I can't find anything locally I'll take a look in your store.

Re: My chumby seems to have died. Anyway to bring it back?

OK, tried another power adapter and still getting the same thing.  the initial bubble screen shows up, changes some of the bubble colors then fades to all white.

next steps?  could it be a corrupt OS?  bad SD card?

Re: My chumby seems to have died. Anyway to bring it back?

I had a C1 that started to behave like this: https://sweh.spuddy.org/tmp/nonbooting_chumby.mp4

My second C1 worked fine.  So I swapped the power supply.... and then _both_ started behaving this way!

So they sat idle back in their boxes for 10 months.  Then I got a "USB 2.0 A Male To 3.2 x 0.9mm" cable from ebay and used a 5V 2A USB power supply... and they both worked. 

For a sanity check, I tried both with the original PSUs... and both failed again.

It makes me wonder if the first C1 somehow caused the second power supply to fail.

Re: My chumby seems to have died. Anyway to bring it back?

What is the power rating of the new power supply?

Can you get the device into "Special Options" mode (ie power up while touching the display)?

9 (edited by tim_gallagher 2018-12-28 00:58:57)

Re: My chumby seems to have died. Anyway to bring it back?

rating is 5V 2.5A.  I will try to get into specual options mode.  if I do get there, what would be next?

I think it may not work since it seems to go to the white screen pretty early in the boot sequence.

Ok, quick update.  I can get into special options, sort of.  It shows special options losing, but the screen still goes all white before it gets the menu open.

Re: My chumby seems to have died. Anyway to bring it back?

OK, I found a 5V 3A supply.  I'm going to try that tonight.

Re: My chumby seems to have died. Anyway to bring it back?

The "going all white" is the classic symptom of insufficient power, but it's possible that's not it.

The fact that you get *anything* says that the processor is running, the SD card reader is working the display works, etc.  That you can get partially into Special Options say that the touchscreen is working, and that it will run the alternate kernel.

It *might* be that you're supplying enough power, but something else is wrong with the device or the power subsystem.

Re: My chumby seems to have died. Anyway to bring it back?

Well, some good news.  The 5V 3A supply makes the chumby happy.  Maybe something on the board went partially bad and is drawing more current than when it was new.

Re: My chumby seems to have died. Anyway to bring it back?

tim_gallagher wrote:

Well, some good news.  The 5V 3A supply makes the chumby happy.  Maybe something on the board went partially bad and is drawing more current than when it was new.

More likely the original power supply's capacitors are slowly going bad and the power supply does not perform as well as it did originally. In any case, we are glad your Chumby is happy again.

Tar, feathers, congress. Some assembly required.

Re: My chumby seems to have died. Anyway to bring it back?

BoloMKXXVIII wrote:
tim_gallagher wrote:

Well, some good news.  The 5V 3A supply makes the chumby happy.  Maybe something on the board went partially bad and is drawing more current than when it was new.

More likely the original power supply's capacitors are slowly going bad and the power supply does not perform as well as it did originally. In any case, we are glad your Chumby is happy again.

Whether or not the original power supply went bad, the chumby does not work with the spec power supply of 5V/2A.  So, either the power supply spec is wrong or the chumby needs more juice in its old age.

Re: My chumby seems to have died. Anyway to bring it back?

I purchased an I8 that I was told was a bit flaky. The person I purchased it from had replaced the power supply and reused the power connector. I do not remember why I replaced the power supply but since I did, the unit has never given me a lick of trouble.

Re: My chumby seems to have died. Anyway to bring it back?

C1 power supplies not only have to supply the correct voltage and current, but the device is also somewhat sensitive to ripple.  The voltage needs to be a very stable 5V under load.