I agree with Matt's suggestion to having a selectable return of power state.  Most (all?) new PCs have this option in their BIOS. 

I cannot begin to imagine under what circumstances anyone that's used a Chumby for a while would ever want it NOT to power itself back on due to power loss.  But then my understanding that perspective doesn't matter.  What does matter is that I dislike it not returning to life after power failure and would appreciate having it as an option. 

I'd be willing to pay to ship my chumby back to have it upgraded, or be willing to swap out it's guts with a field replacement option.  I'd be willing to secure the transaction through a credit card or paypal.  As in, take my CC#, send me the parts and bill me if I don't return them within X number of days (or bill me and refund it). 

It's enough of a deal breaker for me that it does limit my desire to encourage others to purchase one.  I've been in this business long enough to know better than to espouse a gadget that I'll only catch flak for it's perceived problems.

Check the Wall-Wart and make sure its not dead. It should read 12volts DC. Do you have a volt meter (DMM) or access to one that you can check it with? If not, see if you have a wall-wart from another piece of equipment that will fit it and that you know works.

You need to make sure of serveral things first.
That its the correct voltage. Too much will blow it up and too little can damage it, can supply the needed current and the polarity is correct

The OEM wall-wart is rated at 12-volts DC 1-amp.
So if you have one that is 12volts DC, and at least 1amp or larger and has the same polarity (outside ring is negative and the middle is positive) then it should work.

You could also try putting a 9V battery in the clip inside the case on the bottom. It won't run very long, but can help track down where the problem is.

Wow...good idea.  Thanks for all the help.  I am going to try these tips and see if I can get any life back in my Chumby.  Everything else powered back up fine on that power bar, so the Chumby must be extra sensitive.  Missing my chum already.

So, back on topic. We really need the device to power on after power failure, just like every other electronic appliance in existence. I would really like this to be done without needing any special equipment or tearing the thing apart.

I think the problem stems from the CP not having persistent storage, correct?  The default behavior is either 1) turn on when AC power is applied or 2) the opposite.  To restore to the last state you have to know the last state and that isn't stored anywhere that the CP can access by itself.

I would like to see this as a possible scenario:

1) Power is removed, CP recognizes it and shuts down the system keeping just itself alive at low current (assumes 9V connected).  Sets a flag.
2) Power is reapplied and if the flag set it will turn back on.  If no flag then its the first time AC is applied and it will stay off.

Crap I was thinking of the TSC2100 which has nets for battery and DC.  Looks like on current hardware all we can do is reprogram the STR711 to just power up *shrug*

The current device operates as it operates.  The firmware in the STR711 cannot be modified in the field without taking the device completely apart and using special equipment.

To make a change like this in the STR711 functionality requires a change on the manufacturing line in China.  Nothing practical can be done for already manufactured units.

Wow. You guys really dropped the ball on this. I wish I would have known prior to purchasing the Chumby that it is pretty much useless as an alarm clock. So, no plans to offer a service of sorts to fix this huge oversight? Maybe an exchange program to get a non-broken Chumby? I can't even fathom the reasoning behind doing this. Was it just so the Chumby could be different from all other electronic devices?

I hate to be rude about this, but this is very frustrating. Once I found out about this, I figured it would be okay. I could just put a 9V in there and it would come back up after a power failure. Well, it doesn't. Having to purchase a UPS for an alarm clock is absurd as well.

You know what? I don't think any of my electronic devices switch themselves back on after a power outage. My TV doesn't, my computer doesn't, my HDMP doesn't. Oh, my router does, so that's one. My washing machine doesn't. My turntables don't.

Oh, but hang on - my Batman alarm clock does. But...when the power comes back on, it's set to midnight and it's forgotten what time the alarm should go off. So that's no use either.

To suggest that this is standard behaviour that no other electronic device exhibits and  the Chumby is somehow perverse to do it the other way round is disingenuous at best.

(and tbh, I still can't believe that power outages are such a common occurrence for you guys. Weird...)

Well said, lets fix the problem, not the symptom...

The symptom is the Chumby not waking up, the problem is power loss.
This is not meant to hack anyone off or be a flame, but it's 2008 and unlike 1989, my power is very robust. I might loose it twice a year.

Caveat: I live in a big town, perhaps that is why. Some people in smaller towns (one in the country with many, many trees) still might see power loss a lot. If so, call you pwoer company and lodge a complaint (not that it will help, but it makes you feel better ). THe COA (City of Austin) comes around every two years and trims tree limbs back from the power lines to keep pwoer loose down and to prevent any fires from sparks.

Regards, Matt

That's a good point.  I've wanted a Chumby for a while (waiting for one on order at the moment), but I don't think I really knew _why_ I wanted it so much until I read your post.  I thought I wanted it as a cool alarm clock that I could wake up to different stuff... but really that's not the case at all.

I want it because it's eminently hackable, highly distinctive, geeky (in a cool way), and most of all, because it's primary function is determined more by the user than the designers (which is also I feel where the problem of how to define what "Chumby" is to the non-tech person).  Oh, and not to forget the open-source/community driven development.  And I love that Chumby developers seem dedicated to sticking with it for quite some time while it matures.

So,  now I think about it, I agree there is a real danger in completely losing the point of what it's about, if reviewers and critics are going to refer to it as an alarm clock, then that's what people will be looking for in it if they see something in the review that they like.  It doesn't help when you visit chumby.com, and the first sentence you see is "wake up to your internet life", and a clock saying 7am, which definitely conveys "alarm clock", albeit almost on a subconscious level.  If you want to make Chumby's image more dynamic and versatile than a humble clock, then perhaps some of that wording and imagery could change...

When asked why I wanted a Chumby, I found a similar problem... all I could think of was that it "does stuff", and that they would need to look at one to see for themselves.  Hopefully when mine arrives, and I can show them the cool stuff I'll get installed on it, then Imight be able to convince them to buy one too ;-)