I Fried my trusty Archos Rec. 20

[shiggins9]

After ~4 years of a loving relationship with my Archos Rec. 20 v.1, I killed it!  I realized that I had a screw that was a hair too long, figured oh well, must have got it mixed up with another unit, and screwed it in anyway.  My Archos then started smoking!  I shorted out a connection on the board.  Now I get a HD error.  You can see where the screw messed up a connection, but also, there looks like some burn marks near a chip on the left.  Does anyone know if I stand a chance with this unit, or just give up.  I'm decently competent with a soldering iron.  

I'm extra sad because I'm a musician and record all my gigs with this unit.  And I upgraded it to 60GB and JUST got new batteries too!  It WAS in mint condition.  

http://eden.rutgers.edu/~ehiggins/archos-edit.jpg

[scorche]

Many of the chips on the AJBRs are quite old and can be tough to find.  You are best off buying a new one on ebay.  I can't see one going for more than 50USD without shipping these days, so it shouldn't be that much of a dent.  If you are lucky, you can also get a broken one (depends on what is broken) and replace the screen/HD/batteries with what you have.

[shiggins9]

Hey thanks.  You know sometimes it's just tough to accept that the board may be done for it.  I've repaired a few things on this one to keep it going for so long, but this repair may be over my head.  I do have another board that I believe to work, but the power connector is broken off.  I wrestled with it and a soldering iron and could not get it back on the board solid.  The camera tech people at fuji fixed the same thing on my present one a while back, but maybe my soldering skills just aren't up to that level.  Anyone here been successful and soldering the power connector back onto the board when it's totally off?

Sean
Archos JBR

[scorche]

The board isn't necessarily done for.  You could solder new chips on there and use wires for the traces that you need to, but the reason I said what I said was because the hardest part is finding the replacement chips.  Unless you have those handy, you are better off just using a new board.

As long as you still have the leads or can affix new leads onto the connector, I don't see a problem with not being able to re-solder that connector on.

[dreamlayers]

The fried thing is that little 2-terminal device with a bit of black around it on the circuit board, right?  That's almost certainly not an IC but a discrete component like a resistor or a fuse.  You should be able to find a replacement.  If it's a fuse or something acting as a fuse you could just short across it even though that's not a good idea.

[scorche]

That resistor is not the only thing that looks like it could be damaged on that board, but it is a moot point, as he hasn't been back here since asking...it has almost been a month...

[shiggins9]

Well I guess I wasn't too encouraged by the responses and kind of gave up on it.  I thought it best to look towards other units.  I got an IRiver H10, but am disapointed that the mic level cannot be turned down enough and it is distorted the whole time.  Now I am looking towards an IRiver H320 as I think the mic sounds better than the Archos Recorder 20.  I do have 20, 40, and 60GB 2.5in HDs though and it is a shame for me to go to a 1.8in unit because I cannot use these drives.  I will also continue to stay on the lookout for cheap recorder 20s with broken HDs as I really was quite happy with mine for years.
Sean

[dreamlayers]

I don't think it's hopeless.  Parts can be replaced.  What other than that one component seems damaged anyways?  The darkness between the top pins of the left SO-8 chip seems suspicious, but I'm far from sure that's a sign of damage.    That device is probably a MOSFET and it can be replaced.  I am guessing that the small component is a fuse for the hard drive and the MOSFET is used to shut off power to the hard drive.  

Personally, I'd be tempted to try bridging the fuse and if that doesn't work connecting from any of the bottom left 3 pins of the MOSFET if they're electrically connected together to the top of the fuse.  This could very likely make the Recorder work, and you'd know what you have to replace.  To make the test safer you could use a fuse (doesn't have to fit physically or a test, just connect wires to it), probably 1.5A or 2A is ok.