[slim] Slimdevices Squeezebox Classic stopped working

[tdehan]

My Classic Slimdevice appears to have stopped working. It continually
reboots itself. I've reset it a number of times but it keeps rebooting
after so many minutes of play. I've had it for about 15 years or
longer. Perhaps it is time to let it go. However, wondering if there
is a place I can send it for repair?

26016


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[ModelCitizen]

Have you tried seeing that the wireless card is properly seated? It's a
fairly common issue and can cause this behaviour when it becomes a bit
loose.



Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known
Last.fm/user/ModelCitizen
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[tdehan]

Post by ModelCitizen
Have you tried seeing that the wireless card is properly seated? It's a
fairly common issue and can cause this behaviour when it becomes a bit
loose.

Are you suggesting taking the Squeezebox apart? Not sure how it would
become loose as it's never been moved since I got it other than to dust.


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[ModelCitizen]

Up to you but it's very simple to take apart and push the card in
securely. All you need is a small screwdriver. 5 mins max.



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[alfista]

Could be the WiFi board, but my money is on the power supply. Generic
replacements aren't prohibitively expensive.


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[tdehan]

Post by alfista
Could be the WiFi board, but my money is on the power supply. Generic
replacements aren't prohibitively expensive.

I don't think so. I have 3 other Squeezeboxes and tried it on 2 of
their power supplies and the same thing happens.


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[philippe_44]

Post by tdehan
I don't think so. I have 3 other Squeezeboxes and tried it on 2 of
their power supplies and the same thing happens.

As other said, there are 3 options

1/ External power supply ==> you tried PSU from other SB and it still
does not work, so excluded
2/ WiFi card ==> remove the 2 screws on the back, that frees up the
front cover. Then you have 4 other screws to release the PCB and in the
back of it, you have the WiFi card that can be removed by just pulling
the 2 small levers right/left. Don't bother removing the antenna cable,
just connect an ethernet cable and the power and se if it works
3/ If it fails on ethernet, then 99% these are the electrolytic
capacitors inside that have failed. It's a very typical failure. I just
fixed 2 SB3 recently by changing them all. You should then contact
@JoeMcu2009 if you are in EU as he can fix that for you if you want to.

Just a last "request": if you don't want to fix it, don't throw it away,
others will be happy to get a non-working SB3 and either fix it or use
it for parts



LMS 7.7, 7.8 and 7.9 - 5xRadio, 3xBoom, 4xDuet, 1xTouch, 1 SB2. Sonos
PLAY:3, PLAY:5, Marantz NR1603, JBL OnBeat, XBoxOne, XBMC, Foobar2000,
ShairPortW, JRiver 21, 2xChromecast Audio, Chromecast v1 and v2, , Pi
B3, B2, Pi B+, 2xPi A+, Odroid-C1, Odroid-C2, Cubie2, Yamaha WX-010,
AppleTV 4, Airport Express, GGMM E5
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[tdehan]

Post by philippe_44
As other said, there are 3 options
1/ External power supply ==> you tried PSU from other SB and it still
does not work, so excluded
2/ WiFi card ==> remove the 2 screws on the back, that frees up the
front cover. Then you have 4 other screws to release the PCB and in the
back of it, you have the WiFi card that can be removed by just pulling
the 2 small levers right/left. Don't bother removing the antenna cables,
just connect an ethernet cable and the power and see if it works
3/ If it fails on ethernet, then 99% chance this is the electrolytic
capacitors inside that have failed. It's a very typical failure that
manifests itself by this reboot problem. I just fixed 2 SB3 recently by
as he can fix that for you if you want to.
Just a last "request": if you don't want to fix it, don't throw it away,
others will be happy to get a non-working SB3 and either fix it or use
it for parts

I just tried plugging it into an ethernet cable and after a few minutes
it rebooted. So, it doesn't appear to be the power supply or the
wireless card.


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[slartibartfast]

Post by tdehan
I just tried plugging it into an ethernet cable and after a few minutes
it rebooted. So, it doesn't appear to be the power supply or the
wireless card.Did you remove the wireless card first?

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk




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[tdehan]

Post by tdehan
Did you remove the wireless card first?
Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

I can't get the screws out


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[mrw]

Post by tdehan
I can't get the screws out

A torx #10 fit mine quite nicely.


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[tdehan]

Post by mrw
A torx #10 fit mine quite nicely.

I got the screws out and removed and reset the wireless card. Same
thing happens. It reboots after a few minutes. I then took the
wireless card out and plugged an ethernet cable to it and the same thing
happens. It reboots after a few minutes.

What's the next repair I can try?

thanks


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[mrw]

Post by tdehan
I got the screws out and removed and reset the wireless card. Same
thing happens. It reboots after a few minutes. I then took the
wireless card out and plugged an ethernet cable to it and the same thing
happens. It reboots after a few minutes.
What's the next repair I can try? a previous post says to replace the
electrolytic capacitors. Is this the only one?

As mine was 'repaired' by acquiring a replacement PSU, I don't have any
further suggestion ! But there have been recent posts on the forum
pointing to some expertise.

Long shot: I know you verified with two other apparently OK PSUs, but
might they be a bit old in the tooth ? If you can get access to an
adjustable bench top PSU you might carefully feed it from that and see
if the problem persists. I set a maximum current limit before attaching
the bench top PSU.

I recall that the SB took up to about 0.8A at some point during its
start up, and did not fully power up with input voltage much less than
5V. In reality I probably started with a maximum current of, say, 0.25A
to start with, and a lower voltage, and worked my way up to successful
operation. So a new PSU solved it.

Caution: I seem to recall that there is power to the display at a
relatively high voltage, more than 50V, so take appropriate precautions
before you poke around or handle it with the covers off.


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[tdehan]

Post by mrw
As mine was 'repaired' by acquiring a replacement PSU, I don't have any
further suggestion ! But there have been recent posts on the forum
pointing to some expertise.
Long shot: I know you verified with two other apparently OK PSUs, but
might they be a bit old in the tooth ? If you can get access to an
adjustable bench top PSU you might carefully feed it from that and see
if the problem persists. I set a maximum current limit before attaching
the bench top PSU.
I recall that the SB took up to about 0.8A at some point during its
start up, and did not fully power up with input voltage much less than
5V. In reality I probably started with a maximum current of, say, 0.25A
to start with, and a lower voltage, and worked my way up to successful
operation. So a new PSU solved it.
Caution: I seem to recall that there is power to the display at a
relatively high voltage, more than 50V, so take appropriate precautions
before you poke around or handle it with the covers off.

I don't believe the issue is the PSU. I have 4 other working
Squeezeboxes and have tried the failed unit on all 4 power supplies.


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[philippe_44]

Post by tdehan
I don't believe the issue is the PSU. I have 4 other working
Squeezeboxes and have tried the failed unit on all 4 power supplies.

As said above, I really do think this is the capacitor on the
motherboard



LMS 7.7, 7.8 and 7.9 - 5xRadio, 3xBoom, 4xDuet, 1xTouch, 1 SB2. Sonos
PLAY:3, PLAY:5, Marantz NR1603, JBL OnBeat, XBoxOne, XBMC, Foobar2000,
ShairPortW, JRiver 21, 2xChromecast Audio, Chromecast v1 and v2, , Pi
B3, B2, Pi B+, 2xPi A+, Odroid-C1, Odroid-C2, Cubie2, Yamaha WX-010,
AppleTV 4, Airport Express, GGMM E5
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[sgmlaw]

I agree with Phillipe on this one. If you pulled the wi-fi card and it
is still rebooting, then it is likely the mainboard.

The output couplers are the typical cap failure point on these. And
that would not cause this problem. If you want to take a blind stab
without deeper circuit testing, try replacing the conventional axial and
radial electrolytics. SMD electrolytics tend to have better seal
integrity than larger conventional types. The industry service life of
an electrolytic properly spec’ed should be 15-20 years. But ones
sourced from a lesser quality manufacturer and occasionally even a
top-tier Nichicon or Sprague have been known to fail prematurely.

A complete recap of a classic is not worth the effort, IMO. The SMD
ones can be a PITA to work with unless you have the right iron and an
experienced touch. You’re going to invest around $20 throwing parts at
a unit now worth $75, with no assurance of success. And one with
enough mileage on it to requre a full recap means the display may be
closer to the end than the beginning.

If the unit has had any prior work done on it, double check for cold
joints and overheated/lifted traces and pads. That kind of flaw can
also cause intermittants and spontaneous reboots.

If you can say goodbye to it and have the funds, the Touch is a
decidedly better player and a more reliable one, IMO.


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[philippe_44]

Post by sgmlaw
I agree with Phillipe on this one. If you pulled the wi-fi card and it
is still rebooting, then it is likely the mainboard.
A complete recap of a classic is not worth the effort, IMO. The SMD
ones can be a PITA to work with unless you have the right iron and an
experienced touch. You’re going to invest around $20 throwing parts at
a unit now worth $75, with no assurance of success. And one with
enough mileage on it to requre a full recap means the display may be
closer to the end than the beginning.

The one good thing with the Classic MB is that you can remove the SMD
caps with the "twisting" method. It works, no damage, the PCB pads &
traces are strong enough so it makes it super easy and fast. Having said
that, resoldering the new ones can be difficult as space is limited for
a few of them and you need to proceed in the right order. I personally
did that with a combination of hot air gun and soldering iron. The whole
thing is a ~60 minutes job. But if you have no experience doing that
sort of things, it will be too difficult. As said before, if you don't
want it, sell it for parts on eBay, don't scrap it!



LMS 7.7, 7.8 and 7.9 - 5xRadio, 3xBoom, 4xDuet, 1xTouch, 1 SB2. Sonos
PLAY:3, PLAY:5, Marantz NR1603, JBL OnBeat, XBoxOne, XBMC, Foobar2000,
ShairPortW, JRiver 21, 2xChromecast Audio, Chromecast v1 and v2, , Pi
B3, B2, Pi B+, 2xPi A+, Odroid-C1, Odroid-C2, Cubie2, Yamaha WX-010,
AppleTV 4, Airport Express, GGMM E5
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[philippe_44]

Post by tdehan
I got the screws out and removed and reset the wireless card. Same
thing happens. It reboots after a few minutes. I then took the
wireless card out and plugged an ethernet cable to it and the same thing
happens. It reboots after a few minutes.
What's the next repair I can try? a previous post says to replace the
electrolytic capacitors. Is this the only one?
thanks

Unfortunately, you'll have to replace a lot of the Surface Mounted
Capacitors that are all over the PCB (the silver cylinders). There are
~20 of them, you could in theory selectively replace them, but it's
better to do them all. I did that twice on two boards successfully
recenetly. If you don't have experience doing that, I don't advice doing
it yourself, instead contact @JoeMunc2009 who can do that (if you are in
EU). AS said before, if you don't want to have it done, at least don't
recycle it, sell it or give here on on ebay to somebody that wants to
fix it.



LMS 7.7, 7.8 and 7.9 - 5xRadio, 3xBoom, 4xDuet, 1xTouch, 1 SB2. Sonos
PLAY:3, PLAY:5, Marantz NR1603, JBL OnBeat, XBoxOne, XBMC, Foobar2000,
ShairPortW, JRiver 21, 2xChromecast Audio, Chromecast v1 and v2, , Pi
B3, B2, Pi B+, 2xPi A+, Odroid-C1, Odroid-C2, Cubie2, Yamaha WX-010,
AppleTV 4, Airport Express, GGMM E5
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[bpa]

Post by tdehan
I just tried plugging it into an ethernet cable and after a few minutes
it rebooted. So, it doesn't appear to be the power supply or the
wireless card.

A faulty/dying wireless card will reboot the player even if not using
wireless.


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[tdehan]

Post by ModelCitizen
Up to you but it's very simple to take apart and push the card in
securely. All you need is a small screwdriver. 5 mins max.

If you are referring to the 2 small screws in the back, they are hex and
I tried to loosen them and they will not budge.


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