[SPARCbook] Error Codes Sparcbook 3xs

[Ian Spray]

On 11 Apr, 2005, at 20:41, christer at a-son.net wrote:

> I looked at:
> http://www.tadpolecomputer.co.uk/~iws/s3tech.html#FAQ
>
Aha.  That's just a collection of stuff I found lying around - Hugo's 
one covers more ground and I just chipped in a bit towards the end.

> I also got the impression you had used the external battery connector,
> not the charger inlet. I think it is the voltage regulator that is 
> fried
> already om my S3, so I was hoping to be able to supply a regulated
> voltage to the external battery connector, but it has 4 terminals and
> I have no idea whether they are different voltages or som kind of sense
> for charging or what.
>
Yup, sense pins.  They carry out the same functions as the internal 
battery, but I don't know any more than that - I'm not sure if they're 
a 1:1 match for the internal battery as I've not had an S3 open in a 
while to look at it.  I also can't say what the pins actually sense, 
but there is a chip inside the battery pack that is used to help the 
microcontroller work out what it should be doing with the power.

> Maybe it can't be run with a faulty voltage
> regulator at all, I don't know. Well, I have another one in better
> condition, so this one can serve as spares, but it is always fun to see
> them running. I have managed to see that the screen works and obviously
> the boot process starts as the screen lights up. Unfortunately the
> battery from the somewhat better S3 can't hold the charge for more than
> a couple of seconds, and since this particular S3 doesn't take any 
> charge
> from the AC/DC convertor, it just dies after showing the intitial 
> screen.
>
Tricky.  Because the battery charging logic is more involved than 
turning the charge on and off, you need to be able to satisfy the unit 
that there is a valid battery in there (via the extra pins) - just 
putting a few volts over the main terminals is unlikely to power the 
unit (as I'm sure you've found).

Unfortunately, I don't know enough about the power input stage of the 
S3's to be able to suggest anything other than the obvious: loose 
solder joints on the DC socket, blown PCB track or fuse on the main 
power rail, etc.

TTFN,
-- 
Ian Spray             | Software Engineer     | Tadpole Computer Ltd.
ian_spray at tadpole.com | http://hw.tadpole.com | +44 (0) 870 432 4161
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