No Audio Left Speaker

[tyke]

I love my pandora and was lucky enough to receive one of the very first ones way back in May. Yes I have dodgy shoulder buttons and a bowing bezel but none of these niggles would make me send it back. I've noticed today that I get no audio from the left speaker and I can't be sure how long it's been like this! Does any one know a quick way of checking if it's software or a hardware fault before I send it back for repair?

 

[sebt3]

just a head-up : did you try the included mixer ? (maybe the left channel is muted)
oh and try with headphones

 

[tyke]

Mixer settings all OK. Headphones work in stereo but seem abit off when changing volume with the wheel keeps flicking between mono and stereo at different levels. This doesn't effect built in speakers I get no sound out of left speaker at all

 

[sebt3]

Hum, sound like a case of RMA

 

[Xabier]

Pandora is behaving worse than first gph units, i didn't expect that from the people who bashed gph for unfinished products

 

[Prometheus]

Do you actually have a Pandora, Xabier? I had a First Edition GP2X. They're *nothing alike*.

 

[EvilDragon]

Yep, First Edition was terrible. I had change the resistors of over 200 units AFTER delivery (200 of about 250 I sold...) and most of the units lost a part due to bad soldering and rattled (it was always the same part falling off)

Still, it was a lovable device
And thankfully, it worked out nicely for GPH. Otherwise, these boards, the WIZ, the Caanoo and also the Pandora probably wouldn't exist

 

[Prometheus]

Yeah. I'm only sorry that the second bunch after the First Edition had screens that gave me migraines just from looking at them! :lol: I would have joined this place a lot earlier if I hadn't had to sell mine after my First Edition one self-bricked.

 

[tyke]

Well good news I fixed it!

The fear of having to send it back prompted me to have a look myself being the hardware hacking kinda guy I am. I stripped the screen out and removed the speakers testing that they both functioned correctly which they did but only when soldered to the right channel on the LCD connector cable. I came to the conclusion the problem must lie in either the cable back to the mainboard or something deeper. Upon stripping the bottom off the pandora I found the LCD cable not correctly fitted I.e slightly loose on one side. I plugged It back in and bobs your uncle my pandora is now doing stereo

I'm chuffed as my pandora doesn't have to leave me and can coming camping again this weekend. Frees up some precious pandora building time for the team instead of dealing with my RMA!

 

[WizardStan]

A word of caution: by opening it you've voided your warranty, especially on the LCD cable, and it has been reported that if the LCD cable isn't set just right in it's tube thing, it could wear out prematurely, breaking after only a few months, leading to the infamous Purple Tint Of Death. If that happens, you'll likely be expected to pay replacement cost for a new cable as it won't be warranty covered anymore.

 

[EvilDragon]

A word of caution: by opening it you've voided your warranty, especially on the LCD cable, and it has been reported that if the LCD cable isn't set just right in it's tube thing, it could wear out prematurely, breaking after only a few months, leading to the infamous Purple Tint Of Death. If that happens, you'll likely be expected to pay replacement cost for a new cable as it won't be warranty covered anymore.

The warning is correct - however: If the LCD cable was properly inserted and he didn't completely remove it (which isn't easily possible ), it shouldn't be affected by that.
So: Don't try this at home, kids - but I think he is safe here