Charging from non PC USB device caused malfunction?!

[Bazwaldo]

Hi everyone,
In order to avoid having to switch on my PC just to charge my recently purchased Nano clone 1.5" screen mpxplayer I tried charging it from the USB port on a Freeview box attached to my TV.
Normally a USB wireless adapter plugs into the port to give Broadband connectivity to the Freeview box and enable surfing on the TV and firmware upgrade support.
After connecting to the Freeview USB port the player started to flash alternately between the switching on sandtimer and the charging battery screen. I felt this wasn't right and so tried charging from the PC as normal.
Now the WinXP PC doesn't recognise the USB devise anymore and the screen keeps flashing on/off on/off with the sandtimer screen gradually getting faster until apparently turning off.
This is going to be really awkward if I can no longer add/remove files from the player or charge it properly.
Please can anyone offer any help with this - I haven't tried upgrading the firmware - so don't know why this fault has developed.
Thanks,
Bazwaldo.

[tadad1]

Bazwaldo, A USB plug may not necessarily denote a USB port. A USB port delivers 5volts whilst a wifi port can deliver between 16-24 volts. I am no expert but you may have done some unrecoverable damage to your players circuitry.

[Bazwaldo]

tadad1 thank you for your reply.
The USB port on the Freeview box is also supposed to accept USB memory sticks as well so it is not dedicated purely to WiFi adapters.
Your observation may be correct though I don't know.

[admin]

Bazwaldo

I have to agree with tadad on this one too.
I think the voltage coming out of that USB port might be too high for your player and hence causing the screen to do funny things.

Are you still able to turn on your player and use it though?

[Bazwaldo]

Hi Binh,
Thanks for your reply and the great website.
The player will turn on and go to the first Music logo screen, then it gives the Low Battery indication screen shows Bye Bye and turns off.
My 2 main problems are Windows no longer recognises the USB device and I am unable to charge the device.
I tried taking it apart and if it helps in finding a solution the mainboard ID is:-

MP-693C-SL MAIN V1.3 2005.12.14

The Memory/CPU?! chip is:-

SAMSUNG 613
K9K8G08U0A
PCB0

Thanks,
Bazwaldo.

[Bazwaldo]

Some more background to my problem.
Before it stopped working I previously tried charging the player using the mains adapter sent with it, when it was set up I switched on the mains and the charger blew up/fused.
Fortunately the player still worked after this but the point is if it is designed to charge from a non PC source which has no drivers and does not recognise the player logically it should be able to charge from any standard USB power source.
Charging the player from the Freeview box USB socket which as I said before is designed to accept USB memory storage devices shouldn't really cause the player to malfunction - although that seems to be what has happened.
I have emailed the vendor now asking for assistance - I will post back with the response.
Any comments and thoughts welcomed.

[admin]

Bazwaldo,

What if you plug in a USB memory stick or USB external HDD into the Freeview box? Does that work?

The wall charger that came with your player is designed to charge your MP3 player but the Freeview, I'm not sure. I know a customer I have had their wall charger 'blew up' as well. I sent them a new one and it's still working fine, so that charger blowing up didn't cause any problems with the MPx player.

I would say, check with the Freeview box guys and find out if that's the cause.

Let us know what happens....

[Bazwaldo]

Ok! The Freeview box is a BT iPlayer there is a link to a review here:-

http://www.radioandtelly.co.uk/iplayer.html

In this review it gives this information about the USB:-

USB Port The iPlayer's USB port allows connection of hardware such as a wi-fi or ethernet adapter (for broadband), printers, USB drives (for accessing files), memory card readers and webcams. A series of built-in drivers support a wide number of USB devices, but as it is not possible to install new drivers, not all USB devices are supported.
Note that it is not possible to use the USB port to stream video onto a disk drive or network - the port is to connect add-ons to the iPlayer.

Technical Specs USB: 1.1

The vendor replied to my help request and has very kindly offered to replace the MP4 Player, I have already posted it back by signed delivery to Hong Kong.
I must say this level of after sales support is great and shows that international ebay sellers have an increasing level of integrity and customer service.

After this experience I won't be trying to charge the replacement via the Freeview box, it will be by PC only!

All's well that ends well!

[admin]

Bazwaldo

Humm, interesting how it saids "USB drives (for accessing files)" - so you would imagine it takes an mpx player in that case........

I would write to the guys at Freeview and ask them about it to see what they say. Interesting to see if it happens to anyone else who has a Freeview.