Gigabeat S30 only turns on w/ external DC power

[ej0rge]

I picked up a Gigabeat S30 for about $20 shipped with the reported issue that it's not detected by windows.

It turns out to work perfectly but only when the external DC power is attached. Yes, i checked the position of the battery switch.

I haven't rockboxed it. The OFW will claim to charge the battery and even tell me the battery is fully charged.

My DMM tells me there's 3.7v on the battery after this 'full charge'.

It's the original battery, and isn't starting to bulge or anything.

Anybody have any ideas? It wouldn't claim to charge the battery if the battery switch were broken, right?

At the moment this is the only S-series gigabeat i have, so i don't have any other parts i can swap around. yet.

[dreamlayers]

3.7 V is not a fully charged battery; it should be >4V.  Maybe the battery is totally worn out or there is some bad connection or blown fuse which has disconnected the battery.

[ej0rge]

At 3.7v it should still at least blink on, right? This thing is completely dead until the DC gets plugged in, and then it immediately boots up.

As for the possibility of a fuse or diode or something - if that's it, there's probably no possibility of repair. The gigabeat S board is very tight and mostly paved with PBGA chips.

[b2k]

Managed to get the dual boot working OK but it won't seem to charge now. And it wont turn on unless its plugged into DC, then it boots up and wont turn off to charge while not in use.. any ideas?