Time to repair a box of old broken Clips - advice appreciated

[fullclip]

Howdy

So the time has come to repair some old clips (Zip and +) I have stored away. Various ailments will require patching over different parts and soldering.


I'm looking for some advice. Your best guesses are most welcome.


1] I would like to avoid soldering batteries to devices that are bricked in some other way aside from the battery. Being a repair n00b, how could I test for this? Perhaps this can be answered in my next questions. In most cases devices that are not working as normal are due to water exposure.

2] Is it likely that water damage can also brick the drive?

3] I have some devices that do not turn on at all when plugged in. In this case is it likely to be more than a battery issue (like a drive also), or is this behaviour possible with only a battery issue?

4] I have a 2 Clip Zips that connect when plugged in via USB, but dead when not. So the drive works. Does this likely need a complete battery replacement or could the battery potentially still function but a cable is loose?
4b] There is also one Clip Zip that flashes BATTERY EMPTY upon connection but drive does not mount on computer. When disconnected, it flashes on once more. (It has been tested to give charge for 15 mins)

5] While writing this post I just got a Zip working. I plugged in a microSD to test music and it gave me a panic error and now will not turn on. Did I just brick it? I plugged the same microSD into another Clip plugged into computer and it caused a power surge that temporarily KO'd my keyboard - Adventures! The partially broken Clip that hosted this destructive SD still connects as before, so not all is lost. It is now back to life! =]

6] I have a Zip that temporarily connects as 2 "Removable Devices", not with the usual Clip Zip name, then instantly disconnects via USB. There is no microSD connected, so not sure where the "2 devices" come from. Any knowledge on this, or similar experiences? Any way to flash and re-install firmware.

Any help is greatly appreciated!

[saratoga]

I think they will start up without a battery, so the devices that power off when you unplug battery probably have a dead battery. 

Realistically a lot of these devices will have failed NAND chip, which bricks the device.  So far no one has figured out how to get a 3rd party NAND chip to be recognized by the SOC, so these devices are probably not fixable (at least without a source of working NAND chips).  I would look over the PCBs of any devices that don't boot and unless you see damage, assume a failed NAND chip.

[fullclip]

Thank you saratoga,

That's unfortunate to hear about the NAND chips, but thanks for clearing it up.

Appreciate the work of you and all the developers involved with bringing this great firmware to fruition!

[jsr_278]

4] I have a 2 Clip Zips that connect when plugged in via USB, but dead when not. So the drive works. Does this likely need a complete battery replacement or could the battery potentially still function but a cable is loose?

Try to charge them for a while. If they don't charge, you will need to replace the battery. You can get another battery from a not working player or from aliexpress. Soldering skills are required to replace the battery, though.

4b] There is also one Clip Zip that flashes BATTERY EMPTY upon connection but drive does not mount on computer. When disconnected, it flashes on once more. (It has been tested to give charge for 15 mins)

Set this: Settings->System Settings->USB Mode->MSC

6] I have a Zip that temporarily connects as 2 "Removable Devices", not with the usual Clip Zip name, then instantly disconnects via USB. There is no microSD connected, so not sure where the "2 devices" come from. Any knowledge on this, or similar experiences? Any way to flash and re-install firmware.

It's normal, one is the internal memory and the other is the microsd drive.