Archos dead...

[VelveetaFog]

Has anyone had their Archos Recorder 20 just die violently?  And by violently, I mean it turns on and attempts to boot but the hard disk just clicks every few seconds and then it shuts off.  It's like the machine is trying, but can't get past something to continue its startup.  This has also happened recently to another Archos friend...

I was able to resurrect mine somehow and am feverishly downloading all material, but my friend fears his hard drive is dead.  I'm just curious if anyone else has had similar problems and how they solved them, if they solved them?? 

cz

[LinusN]

Sounds like battery problems, or battery connection problems.

1) Try with a fresh set of batteries

2) Open it up and examine the solder joints near the battery contacts:

http://www.rockbox.org/docs/repairbattery.html

Linus

[SoftJunkie]

i had the same thing happen within minutes of installing rockbox. i am suspecting that rockbox initializes the hardware in a different manner and stresses it differently. it is way too much of a coincidence.

anyway, i was able to revive the device by removing the rechargables that came with the archos and replace them with alkalines.

i'm going to remove rockbox and see if i can recharge the original batteries.

[Fairhope]

Do either of you get the same error message that I got - *Panic* Disk:  Null ?

I was just curious if change out the rechargeables with alkalines if I could get mine to boot back up.

[VelveetaFog]

I don't believe Rockboxx was the culprit that killed our Archos.  I loaded Archos onto my friend's machine and later he wanted to remove it and reinstall the orginal OS to do some recording.  A month or so later it completely died. No revival techniques have worked (e.g., replacing batteries).  I'm willing to open it up and operate for him...

I'm curious though... is the Archos like a true hard drive in that it's performance falters when there is little disk space left (he had it maxed out - almost 19.25g!!) ? 

[SoftJunkie]

here's an update. restoring the original os didn't help. i plan to get a new set of rechargables and try again. i'll try to keep you posted.

[Jaffar]

I can confirm that the rockbox OS does not kill the unit. It gave a second life to mine. Very much impressed!!! Thanks. Specially with the voice feture, it makes my 6000 the MOST advanced MP3 on the market, eventhough it is 3 years old.