How do these button issues come up, anyway?


Blue Protoman

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 6, 2010
Messages
4,117
So I hear of several button issues going around in some (but not all) Pandoras. In particular, they pertain to the A button, the shoulder buttons, and occasionally, the keymats. I know they come about when the buttons themselves are being built, but is there a reason Craig and co. can't simply take a screwdriver or whatever and remove this extra bit of plastic under the A button? (Or are they already on it?) And the shoulder buttons; what's the reasoning behind those? I know that a lot of you are qualified to open up your Pandora and fix these issues, but others are not, or will not; I, for one, am terrified to open up anything more complex than a battery cover. Why? I fear breaking it. Please forgive me for sounding rude and anal, and I understand that Craig's doing a lot (no, really, to make something this professional is a big deal). I still don't see why the assembly team couldn't take an extra few seconds to scrape off that bit of plastic under the A button, or to seat the shoulder buttons more precisely, or whatever the process is. Just my two cents. I do not know 100% of how the assembly process works, or what goes on in it. For all I know, this is being worked on.
 
whats this? a useful blue protoman thread? we must keep this quite before the newspapers hear of it!
 
I'm not sure about the shoulder buttons, they certainly leave here working perfectly, it could be that on the odd one the foam pad has moved or come off in transit. We shipped 550 and I've only had two people say one button was not working at all.


It could also be that the microswitch itself has died for some reason.


All the buttons work too - there is a test screen which it has to pass before the FW is shipped then another one after which again it has to pass or it goes back for rework.
 
I'm not sure about the shoulder buttons, they certainly leave here working perfectly, it could be that on the odd one the foam pad has moved or come off in transit. We shipped 550 and I've only had two people say one button was not working at all.


It could also be that the microswitch itself has died for some reason.


All the buttons work too - there is a test screen which it has to pass before the FW is shipped then another one after which again it has to pass or it goes back for rework.

I'd love to know why my Zero key doesn't work then! Well, it *does*, but you have to really push very hard down and to the right. Bloody annoying now that I've got SpecBAS ported, as line numbers all end in 0!


And if I might go OT for a second, why the hell can SDL not see the Fn button? It's bad enough that the keyboard layout is so bad (could you not have left the shifted numerals alone?) but if I can't see the Fn button in code, then I can't get SpecBAS properly ported.


D.
 
I'd love to know why my Zero key doesn't work then! Well, it *does*, but you have to really push very hard down and to the right. Bloody annoying now that I've got SpecBAS ported, as line numbers all end in 0!


And if I might go OT for a second, why the hell can SDL not see the Fn button? It's bad enough that the keyboard layout is so bad (could you not have left the shifted numerals alone?) but if I can't see the Fn button in code, then I can't get SpecBAS properly ported.


D.

Well, you answered it, it does work. You could probably open up the unit, lift out the keymat and add some carbon to that button and it will work perfectly.


They keymat will just slide out if you gently lift the pcb up at an angle (sd cards up in the air, back of the board still in place.) and pull it out.


It slides back in easily too.
 
I'd love to know why my Zero key doesn't work then! Well, it *does*, but you have to really push very hard down and to the right. Bloody annoying now that I've got SpecBAS ported, as line numbers all end in 0!
Line numbers don't necessarily have to end in 0, do they? That's just convention. Throw convention away! End with 1! :D


But seriously, yeah, that sounds like a problem :(

And if I might go OT for a second, why the hell can SDL not see the Fn button? It's bad enough that the keyboard layout is so bad (could you not have left the shifted numerals alone?) but if I can't see the Fn button in code, then I can't get SpecBAS properly ported.
SDL uses X which doesn't pass along the Fn state: the functioned keys act as their own keys. If you need raw access to the keys themselves, connect to /dev/input/event2


libpnd I believe also has a lot of useful functions for access the inputs.


Different options with different levels of ... "rawness" or whatever you want to call it. If you need any help with either of these PM me and I'll see if I can find examples.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I'm not sure about the shoulder buttons, they certainly leave here working perfectly, it could be that on the odd one the foam pad has moved or come off in transit. We shipped 550 and I've only had two people say one button was not working at all.


It could also be that the microswitch itself has died for some reason.


All the buttons work too - there is a test screen which it has to pass before the FW is shipped then another one after which again it has to pass or it goes back for rework.

Well, perhaps you could take a closer look at the next few hundred or so A buttons you put in? I know everything passes the test initially, but will it pass the same test six months after the user gets it? That squishy A button could be squishy at a critical moment, or one day one of the shoulder buttons could crap the bed. Hey, both of mine did on my DSi, yet they worked fine when I got it new. My Wiz D-pad didn't even last a year. I'm just saying, a bit more attention into shoulder and face buttons would not be a bad idea. If they shift in transit, you could pack it a bit more carefully, maybe. (I wouldn't mind seeing my Pandora surrounded in newspapers if it meant the shoulder buttons would sit still.) It's these kinds of things that caused delays in the past, and I'd really hate to see it pushed back by eight weeks (oh ho ho) again.


Also, I believe someone mentioned a solution for the shoulder buttons involving tiny paper strips that seemed to work well. Perhaps it could be officially adopted?
 
I'm not sure about the shoulder buttons, they certainly leave here working perfectly, it could be that on the odd one the foam pad has moved or come off in transit. We shipped 550 and I've only had two people say one button was not working at all.
My left shoulder button was completely dead when I received my Pandora. It was a refurbished unit that I got on eBay during the 1-day sale a week ago, and the reason was that the foam pad was slightly misaligned with the switch underneath. Very easy to fix, and also very easy to spot, so I really think it might have happened during the transit of the Pandora's box to my house. Or something. Although it was very well packed, with several layers of bubble wrap.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
With the shoulder buttons I remember someone posting a review video where they took off the tape that was to the FCC happy, or whoever, and his button worked better. I think it was taped around the LCD ribbon.


I quote him: "FCC be Damed" and he left the tape off.


Although maybe this isn't the problem anymore, I remember reading the ribbons were going to be made a little differently so it wouldn't need the shielding tape.
 
Back
Top