Power problem, unit is "dead" (Odyssey X86J4105)

Products & Technology ODYSSEY Serials
#1

I have a Odyssey X86J4105, the version that was delivered with an 128 GB SSD (not eMMC) and the blue case, and it will not start.

My questions are:

  • Is there a way to reset/bypass/force the Odyssey-internal power converters to turn on?
  • Is there something else that can be done to get the Odyssey to turn on when it is supplied with 12 V?
  • If not, how does the repair flow work?

And also, which is the closest equivalent to my unit, in case it is not possible to repair? Is it this one: https://www.seeedstudio.com/ODYSSEY-X86J4125800-p-4915.html (SKU 102110539)?

This is the background:

The first indication was that the supplied 12V/2A power supply delivered less than 2 V, while disconnected from the Odyssey, so that supply is obviously broken.

I then connected the 12 V from a 250 W computer PSU, which can deliver > 10 A on the 12 V rail. When I pushed the power button, the blue LED lit up for about 3 seconds, during which the voltage on the input dropped from about 12.3 V to about 11.5 V (and from this 10+ A power supply, it means a large current went into the Odyssey, but I did not measure the current itself).

And then, after pushing the power button a few times, it did no longer even try to start (no blue light at all, and no voltage drop on the 12 V input).

I disassembled the unit, but saw no visible damage, no metallic shavings that caused a short-circuit, no burnt components. I also removed the heatsink, noticed way to much thermal paste, but that did not appear to be the problem either.

I did measure about 3.2 V at the test points near the power switch, which means that 12 V enters the device, and some low-level control voltage converter is active to supply the power-up logic, so it is not the input connector that is broken.

Without schematics of the board, I have no way of doing anything more right now.

#2

You can remove the BIOS battery for a while the try again.
@lakshan Pls support it.

#3

Hello @seeeder,

Did the product work out of the box or did the problems start to appear after using it for a while?

Thank you.

#4

Hi. I did remove the BIOS battery, let it sit undisturbed for a while, reconnected the battery and plugged in a power supply. It then seemed to behave correctly, and it even booted up.

So problem solved? The fact remains that for a while, it did not react to pressing the power button at all, as I wrote above. Perhaps there is a self-resetting fuse inside the Odyssey that had tripped, and needed some time to cool off?

@lakshan : The unit worked fine for about a year or so. It seems to be up and running again now. But even if it seems to work now, something caused the original power supply to break down, and I can’t tell for certain if the problem was in the external power supply or in the Odyssey itself.

What is the normal current that this unit consumes from a standard 12 VDC power supply, both when completely turned off and during the bootup phase? I measured about 30 mA when off, about 600 mA immediately after the power button was pressed, is this normal?

#6

Hi @seeeder ,

The currents you have mentioned are completely normal. I am not quite sure what your problem is now. You have mentioned that you can now successfully boot the ODYSSEY.

Please help me clarify. Thank you.

#7

It works now, so right now I don’t have any problem with it.
It did not work for a while, as I wrote in the original post. So whatever the problem was, it does not appear for me now.
(Except for the first power supply, which broke down but I have now replaced that one.)

No futher help is needed on this issue.