I have a Rio Karma...And some pics.

[Jourdy288]

I have a Rio Karma, last night I took it apart and put it back together. I can't get it to work, I'm not sure what's wrong. Still, that 20 gig HDD, USB port, monochromatic LCD, and headphone jack are looking Mighty Tasty right about now! Any ideas what I can do with mine? The scroll wheel is apparently broken, but the 'stick' works just fine.
I bought it secondhand.
Here is the guide I used for dissection:
http://www.schenkzoola.com/karmaopen.htm

 

[Jourdy288]

Fixed.

 

[Jourdy288]

Anybody?

 

[Caredo]

My only suggestion would be to fix the thing. Chances are, you couldn't use its HD otherwise.

It'd be a waste if you didn't fix it.

 

[Jourdy288]

To repair it is my first instinct. However, I haven't a clue what went wrong in the first place... Still, though, supposing repair impossible, what would be my next best option for this kind of hardware? I'm unsure, because of the controls...

 

[robm]

What, exactly, isn't working? Not powering on, can't read from hard drive, LCD not coming on?

 

[Jourdy288]

The hard drive spins, I can hear it whir, the screen comes on, but its just blank. Just a pretty aquamarine glow.

More info on my problem here:

http://www.riovolution.org/thread/1049

 

[PalmerTech]

If you are just gonna gut it for parts, I have a few working MP3 players I would gladly trade for your Rio, even without the HDD. Keep me in mind, I have wanted one for a while now.

Like robm said, we need more information. Does it charge?

 

[Jourdy288]

Also, the scroll-wheel is very loose. It just fell right out when I dissected my Karma. When I jiggle it, the screen comes on, and flickers, but it's still a a blank screen.

EDIT: Yes, the battery is fine. When I took it apart, I also saw the temp. sensor.

 

[PalmerTech]

Does it charge?

 

[Jourdy288]

Yes, it does charge.

 

[PalmerTech]

What happens when you charge it? Anything light up?

Also, what happens if you run it without the HDD?

 

[Jourdy288]

I didn't try to run it without the HDD, but the screen does light up. The base lights up just fine too.

 

[Jourdy288]

Anybody else?

 

[robm]

Soooo... can you get any sound out of it at all? What we're trying to find out is if your LCD's just dead. If it's a dead LCD, then either A) connection's problematic (and it sounds like there's some of that anyway,) B) you need a new LCD, or C) trade it to Palmertech for an MP3 player.

Don't know how easy (or cheap) it is to find a replacement LCD for it, though I suspect you'd be better off buying a new Rio.

 

[PalmerTech]

Keep in mind, even if you get nothing but a flicker of sound, it is important to know. That way, we can rule out the headphone jack.

Try running it without the HDD if you can.

 

[Jourdy288]

OK, I'll try running it without the HDD. Did you look at the thread on Riovolution?

 

[robm]

Quoted for everyone else's benefit:

peter 2008-11-24, 14:10 #6
User title: Former Rio Developer

If the backlight comes on but there's no text, my first suspicion would be that the screen, or the data connection to the screen, is broken. The backlight coming on probably means that the firmware is OK. What do you get when you connect it to a PC? Even without installing all the drivers, you should at least get a question-mark icon among your USB devices in Device Manager.

Peter

jourdy288 2008-11-24, 17:27 #7
I get nothing, I tried to go into recovery mode, nothing. The screen just stays blank. I connected it to my PC, nothing at all.

I can't hear a hard drive spinning, I don't see anything but a blank blue screen. Any idea what's going on? I really would like to have a Karma (I like to be different) so is there anyone who could help?

jourdy288 Yesterday, 15:00 #30
Subject: Sorry for taking so long...
I'm so sorry, I've been (and still am) extremely busy.
I took apart my Karma, and put it back together. Still nothing. The HDD works, I know that, the battery is good, and the screen is still blank. Oh, did I mention? The scroll-wheel just fell right off. If I jiggle it just right, the screen comes on. Any ideas?
More info here. (Link to Modretro)

You've been working on this for some time. Here's the deal: Point blank, do you get any sound out of the headphone? At all? Anything? Even a blip when the unit is first powered on, signaling that the headphone jack is connected, would be extremely useful in diagnostic. Beyond that, get ahold of a decent camera, tear the thing back apart, and get some good pics of the system's various parts, particularly the motherboard - otherwise, you're basically asking someone to fix your car over the phone with their ear pressed against the handset.

If you've any electronic experience whatsoever, go over the obvious points of common failure with a multimeter, check solder joints, look for burned spots, look for any cabling disconnected/torn, anything. If you don't have a lot of electronic experience, you may want to see if you can ship it out to someone, but I wouldn't expect much, and fully expect to get it back not working.

 

[Jourdy288]

I did look over it's insides for any damage, but nothing torn, come out, burned, etc. No trace of magic smoke. I'm going to try the headphone jack... Yes, it works. I plugged a two-way audio cable into the jack of the Karma, and another end into the mic jack of my computer. Than, I jiggled around the little scroll wheel. Lo and IGNORE, I heard the 'popping' noises, like when you flip on a pair of speakers.

 

[Bibin]

Ooh, wait, screen glows? That's EL foil backlighting it! Worst case scenario, take out the inverter and EL foil, and use it to backlit a GB Pocket or DMG!