Mele S1 doesn't spin drives

[mike_sanders]

Good evening,

I've Mele S1 CN made 2-bay media center, also sold in other world regions as IconBit XDS200Duo. Worked well for the last 3 years. Suddenly one day it booted OK, but can't spin any of two 3.5" HDDs, and can't switch off by pressing front Power button. I thought may be firmware went wrong, reinstalled factory FW, install progress shown normally on TV screen via HDMI, update confirmed OK on screen, but after reboot the player couldn't boot at all even with HDDs removed, just starts bootloader and hangs on reading FW. I tried a few tested FW versions, the same thing.

Since these FW packages were tested before and worked well on this player, I think there might be some issues with hardware. External power adapter tested at 12V stable. What would you suggest to do next? I couldn't find repair service offers or spare boards for this player at North American resellers. Its in good condition, doesn't make sense to dump, and now there're no 2-bay versions on the market. All chips seems working as normal picture shown on TV during FW update from USB thumb. But it still can't be shut down by Remote or pressing Power button, and can't fully launch either.

[mike_sanders]

Re: Mele S1 doesn't spin drives

I do understand guys this device is seldom found in North American stores, but there are quite a few experts on this forum from around the globe, and in Europe such 2-bayers were quite popular. Is there anyone able to suggest how to figure out what's wrong with this player?

What if a customer brings you some device you never seen before, and don't have access to schematics? Would you refuse to take it for repairs?

[goontron]

Re: Mele S1 doesn't spin drives

Ill take a shot in the dark... It probably is getting caught in a wait situation waiting for the drives to come up. Hence why is doesn't respond to acpi or remote shutdown. Did you test the power going to the drives? If they have power then its a drive controller problem most likely.

[mike_sanders]

Re: Mele S1 doesn't spin drives

This device can play stuff from internal SATA drives, USB attached, network drives, or from internet media hosting servers. It also allows to watch web TV. Internal SATA drives presence is not required for it to operate normally. I often used it without drives inserted.

This thing started after power was shutdown in the building for repairs. You might be right, there wasn't enough power for it after that to spin up drives due to some bad caps. But now it just can't finish boot even without drives inside. There might be not enough voltage to read FW from NAND. The question is, looking at the rig photos, what components should I check first and looking for what values?

[diif]

Re: Mele S1 doesn't spin drives

Have you replaced the caps ? if so what with ?
As above, measure the voltage going to the drives.

[goontron]

Re: Mele S1 doesn't spin drives

Does the wallwart have high ripple?

[mike_sanders]

Re: Mele S1 doesn't spin drives

Each internal drive is hooked to a 4-pin power connector on-board. Not sure why 4-pins are needed - my be for SMART data, and voltage between what pins is important? Haven't changed any caps, which ones to test?

I now tested a different make 12V power adapter from an external USB drive, but it doesn't make any difference. Bot adapters are high quality and came with the drive enclosures that work normally.

[stj]

Re: Mele S1 doesn't spin drives

caps in the lower-left of the board near the power input,

some are part of the 12v circuit.

[mike_sanders]

Re: Mele S1 doesn't spin drives

I started changing caps, but after replacing just one cap #13 with low on-board resistance, the board no longer shows any analog or digital picture at boot. While the resistance of that cap still low after replacement. The other caps resistance on-board with power off is high 500-to-OL.

Is it allowed to measure caps resistance under power to check if they're short, and what consequences can it cause?

Can you guys look at the board schematics as pictured to see what's going on, and what measurements to take? No such spare board or product anywhere in the world I searched.

1. 25v 100uF 5v
2. 25v 100uF 5.75v
3. 25v 10uF 2.90v
4. 25v 100uF 6.55v
5. 25v 10uF 6.55v
6. 16v 470uF 13.8v
7. 25v 10uF 6.55v
8. 25v 10uF 2.90v
9. 25v 100uF 13.8v
10. 16v 470uF 5.80v
11. 25v 100uF 13.8v
12. 25v 100uF 3.68v 36 Ohm
13. 25v 100uF 1.18v 27 Ohm

[stj]

Re: Mele S1 doesn't spin drives

you dont test them on the board,
what tool are you using to test them?

[mike_sanders]

Re: Mele S1 doesn't spin drives

I have VC9808+ Multimeter, its accurate enough. The cap I replaced measured good capacity off-board with this multimeter, it appears other caps are also good, they are all of the same make Leaguer. The board made by high volume quality manufacturer supplying OEM media players to many well known brands.

[stj]

Re: Mele S1 doesn't spin drives

you need an ESR meter, not a multi-meter

[mike_sanders]

Re: Mele S1 doesn't spin drives

Can't afford one, I'm not a pro electronics tech. Most if not all badcaps forum amateur members don't own ESR meters, yet manage to fix their broken electronics with expert advice. Any other suggestions, how to fix the board or what measurements to take? Why video was lost after replacing just one cap?

[CapLeaker]

Re: Mele S1 doesn't spin drives

Fire it up and and look at the ripple of each cap on the secondary with an oscilloscope.

[stj]

Re: Mele S1 doesn't spin drives

lol @ the scope.

ESR meters cost about $12

[martino]

Re: Mele S1 doesn't spin drives

Fire it up and and look at the ripple of each cap on the secondary with an oscilloscope.

[mike_sanders]

Re: Mele S1 doesn't spin drives

Fire it up and and look at the ripple of each cap on the secondary with an oscilloscope.

Are you kidding? Can it be substituted with measuring AC (not DC) current or voltage on caps on a powered board? Or, what software based oscilloscope solution would you suggest? Any affordable oscilloscope for amateur home techs you can point to?

ESR meters cost about $12

Pls give a link to ESR meter at this price you can recommend. "Can't afford" means repairing 2-3 units a year can't justify for most buying a broad range of electronic repair tools and spare components to keep handy.

[mike_sanders]

Re: Mele S1 doesn't spin drives

I tested UART output. There is none at boot, but voltages are 0 Gnd, 0.60 Tx, 3.67 Rx. There is one line of some garbled output at inserting the power plug that may indicate serial connection is established. This seems to show EEPROM is not read to start boot process. Can it also result in no video, as there's nothing to send to screen?

[stj]

Re: Mele S1 doesn't spin drives

did you try the uart at 19200 and 9600 with 8n1 setting and software / no handshake?

[stj]

Re: Mele S1 doesn't spin drives

ESR link
this is the best right now.
if you dont want to build it - you can get built ones on ebay cheap and just get the case-kit from here:
http://www.banggood.com/DIY-M12864-G...-p-997023.html

there will be an upgrading thread on these units soon because another member has ordered one and i already do another thread for a similar model.