IHP-120.. first stuck in USB mode.. then almost dead.. then brick.. Ideas?

[ben]

I have an IHP-120.. which was working perfectly on a recent rockbox build (several weeks old) with bootloader installed back in February...

Until this past weekend...

Here's what happened:

Player is working perfectly most of the weekend, I make some recordings of myself and friends djing at a party, go home, listen to them, everything is fine.

At friends house, we plug into his computer (Dell laptop running XP).  

I also plug in power adapter.  

He copies the recordings with no problem.  I didn't watch him do it but I am pretty sure he did nothing weird there...

Then he unplugs from USB.  He doesn't "safely remove hardware" first.. dumb.. but I have made that mistake before and never had a problem...

I notice player is still in USB mode, backlight is on.
I cannot turn player off.

I can connect back to computer, player is really in USB mode, not frozen.  I can access the hard disk.

Disconnect again, I still cannot turn it off, it's still in USB.  I believe it is in the iriver firmware USB mode (since I have been running rockbox only a little while, I can't remember what the rockbox USB screen looks like).

I try the reset button.  It goes to boot loader, then to iRiver firmware splash screen, quick glimpse of iRiver menu, then USB mode...  It is not loading rockbox.  I try holding down various buttons but cannot get it to do anything different.

I think, well maybe rockbox disk files were corrupted when USB was unplugged, I can reload them when I get home...

Anyway I go to sleep.

When I get up, player is off.  I figure battery is dead, I can plug it into the charger and get it to boot into something.

I plug in charger, the left light lights up green.. so far so good.

Player will NOT go on.  At all.  Blank screen.

Charge a few minutes, but no.

Later that day..  at home.
I go to plug in player at home, NO LIGHT.

Totally dead.

And that's it.

I thought it was corruption on the hard disk at first.
But then, when it wouldn't power on at all, and wouldn't reset or go into the original firmware, I thought it was firmware corruption.

But now the charge light won't go on.. so maybe a hardware problem?  I don't know if that light is driven by software or only hardware...

ANY hints or things to try would be appreciated.

Also, if I can't get it going, is it still possible to get these repaired, where should I send it??

This player + rockbox has been the ideal player/recorder for me.. for the 3 glorious weeks I've had it...  Now I am sad.

Thanks.
-Ben

[ben]

Ok I have opened up the IHP-120...

First thing I notice is that the negative wire on the  battery was pinched right through the insulation on one side, I wonder if it contacted something it shouldn't...

Second thing I figure out is that if I put some pressure on the board down near the bottom, the charge light goes on and I can then turn on the player.  It boots into the iriver firmware, accesses the disk, and displays the number of songs.. I don't know what happened to rockbox but I guess I will take one thing at a time...

So maybe this will give someone a hint...

I read another thread where someone said the USB/disk daughterboard an get bad connections.  I am fairly handy with a soldering iron...  But I don't want to start unsoldering the daughterboard without knowing what I am doing.  If someone could give me some hints it would be appreciated!

Thanks
-Ben