Creative MuVo TX mp3 player shuts down

[SuperDuty]

Hello,

I've had this little USB thumb mp3 player since 2006 and I really like it for its simplicity and strength. It's a Creative MuVo TX 512Mb.
I stopped using it two years ago because it started to shut down by itself. It had been sitting in a box since then. The other day, I decided to give it a try with some new batteries I had. It worked fine at first, I've even used it for several hours while working on my car in the garage. I thought it was back to life but then the problem came back...
The more I turn it on, the shorter it stays on.

I've opened it and it's full of CMS components of course, but there are three tantalum capacitors.

The internals are divided in two boards. A mainboard with the USB connector, the volume buttons, the switch to change tracks, the jack output and a Sigmatel STMP3510 on the back, and a daghterboard with the screen (the flash memory chip is hidden underneath), the microphone and the pause switch.

This is not my picture, but mine is the same except there is no TEA57G7 chip on the right, or the components around it :
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_xfgY61-qtL...icture+004.jpg
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_xfgY61-qtL...icture+001.jpg

Any clue what could happen ?

Thanks !

[999999999]

Re: Creative MuVo TX mp3 player shuts down

It might be a silly suggestion but have you checked the battery voltage? The symptom is consistent with a drained battery that recovers voltage a little when not under load.

Otherwise perhaps one of the ICs have an overheating shutdown circuit in it, you might feel the chips to see if any are getting excessively hot. Another possibility is there is a broken solder joint and as a component heats up the connection is broken.

However, modern MP3 players are relatively inexpensive for basic functionality and with more memory than 512MB.

[SuperDuty]

Re: Creative MuVo TX mp3 player shuts down

Hadn't seen your answer...

Well I've checked the two batteries I have, one shows 1.467V and the other 1.489V.

I know 512Mb is not much, but if I can save it I would be happy I was a birthday gift

I've noticed the boards were a bit dirty around the solder joints so I've just cleaned them and it seems to be working for longer than before. It hasn't stopped since about two minutes.
Actually, it lost it's screen cover a while ago so maybe some dirt got in and made connection problems...it wouldn't stay on for more than 20 seconds with either batteries and now it seems to work fine...if it really is just that, that's great but a bit random...

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

Re: Creative MuVo TX mp3 player shuts down

The Sigmatel is a SoC (System on Chip), so there isn't much else that can go wrong. There's at most a couple voltage regulators on that board, maybe a dc/dc converter but that would be all. Shouldn't be difficult to check.

The SoC is in a BGA package - if it keeps shutting down and everything else seems okay, you can try reflowing it with a hot air gun. Flip the LCD out when you do that, as you may damage it otherwise.