Digest for sci.electronics.repair@googlegroups.com - 15 updates in 2 topics

Cursitor Doom <cd@noreply.com>: Jan 10 06:32PM

On Sun, 10 Jan 2021 17:35:35 +0000, Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk>
wrote:
 
 
>also you may have linked the device to an online account via
 
><http://www.wifiradio-frontier.com>
 
>Might your account have been locked-out?
 
I don't have any such account! Certainly nothing that *I* have created
anyway. Unless this is something Roberts do without telling you.
Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk>: Jan 10 03:43PM

Cursitor Doom wrote:
 
 
 
>> Does it manage to remember your WiFi credentials every time you turn it
>> on? Try a factory reset if it has one buried in the menus.
 
> Yes, it remembers the password and accesses the router no problem.
 
So it has *some* functioning non-volatile storage then, wonder if it
constantly writes your favourites to flash and has worn it out?
Bertrand Sindri <bertrand.sindri@yahoo.com>: Jan 10 04:55PM

>>three quarters you have not yet disassembled?
 
> Yeah, I know, I know. I'm not a technician so I don't think like a
> technician; sorry about that.
 
That is just a copout.
 
Realizing that you've not seen 100% of the boards in the housing is not
"thinking like a technician". One does not have to "think like a
technician" to realize that if you have not found what you are
searching for, but have only searched one quarter of the total, that
just maybe the item you seek is in the remaining three quarters.
 
Although your other posts have opened the very good possibility that
the device has zero local storage beyond WiFi credentials.
Cursitor Doom <cd@noreply.com>: Jan 10 04:45PM

On Sun, 10 Jan 2021 16:34:13 +0000 (UTC), Bertrand Sindri
>>>> before developing dementia, so I think it's fair to assume there's
>>>> an internal power supply of some sort.
 
>Why is this "safe to assume"?
 
Fair point. Assumptions are the mother of all fuckups - as I've said
here many times myself!
>stored in a tiny amount of flash on the main chipset to provide the
>bootstrap necessary to find the rest of the settings on some cloud
>server.
 
You see this is all like rocket science to me. Never in a million
years would that have occurred to me. If my favourites are stored in
the cloud rather than locally then that's a major breach of trust
Roberts has committed. And confidentiality!
 
>wage phone worker having a table of "customer quoted symptoms" vs.
>"quoted repair cost" and the minimum wage worker just reading you off
>the quote for the item that sounded most close to your description?
 
Look, I'm an old dude. I have no idea what goes on in these places
nowadays. I can only go by my increasingly outdated experience which
is set firmly in the past (25+ years minimum).
 
>> are showing as anything between 1000uF and 1200uF on my Peak ESR70
>> meter. I've never known caps so far out of tolerance before.
 
>In circuit or out of circuit measurement?
 
In circuit. And they're not in parallel.
Adrian Caspersz <email@here.invalid>: Jan 10 01:51PM

On 10/01/2021 13:33, KenW wrote:
>> Maybe it doesn't have internal power !!??
 
>> KenW
 
> And preprogrammed freqs. are in a rom.
 
There are no "freqs" on the 105.
There is no traditional AM/FM/digital radio tuner in the thing.
 
Internet only.
 
Settings beyond WiFi could well be in the cloud.
 
--
Adrian C
Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk>: Jan 10 05:35PM

Bertrand Sindri wrote:
 
> maybe the price quote you got from their phone support was really
> the cost for: "replace the worn out flash chip".
 
You can nuke its settings
 
press menu, main menu, system settings, factory reset, yes
 
also you may have linked the device to an online account via
 
<http://www.wifiradio-frontier.com>
 
Might your account have been locked-out?
Adrian Caspersz <email@here.invalid>: Jan 10 09:55PM

On 10/01/2021 20:36, Bertrand Sindri wrote:
> also contains an embedded CPU as well).
 
> [1] yes, this is not secure, because if you learn someone's radio's MAC
> address, you could read/write their settings.
 
Ok, I had a look at the manual. Like my earlier model, it's a
ridiculously complicated book more suited to a computer product than an
entertainment gadget.
 
http://www.aeldownloads.com/robertsradio/userguides/STREAM105%20ISSUE.1.pdf
 
There is also a troubleshooting guide
 
http://www.aeldownloads.com/robertsradio/TSguides/STREAM%20105%20TS.ISSUE.1.pdf.
 
 
In the UK, Roberts was a British brand of radio manaufacturer that
catered mostly to the middle class purchaser, and I can hardly see some
of those that have remaining memories of old, having some ability left
to waddle through that nonsense.
 
However, I had a waddle. Page 64 of the wordy user manual.
 
"You should not attempt to update your radio unless it is recommended to
you by Roberts Customer
Services. Updating the software may remove all network settings, radio
station presets and alarm settings
from your radio"
 
So, station presets _are_ stored in flash memory on the device. Have
they been lost in a recent software update?
 
Suggest, (if it still works) registering an account (Page 30) and
storing favourites there.
 
Mr Doom. You won't find a battery or a cap. Give up.
 
--
Adrian C
Cursitor Doom <cd@noreply.com>: Jan 10 01:54PM

On Sun, 10 Jan 2021 13:51:00 +0000, Adrian Caspersz
>There is no traditional AM/FM/digital radio tuner in the thing.
 
>Internet only.
 
>Settings beyond WiFi could well be in the cloud.
 
Yes, and it remembered my choices perfectly well for many years before
developing dementia, so I think it's fair to assume there's an
internal power supply of some sort.
Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk>: Jan 10 02:31PM

Cursitor Doom wrote:
 
 
> Yes, and it remembered my choices perfectly well for many years before
> developing dementia, so I think it's fair to assume there's an
> internal power supply of some sort.
 
It might send its unique ID to the cloud, which remembers your
favourites and tells the "radio" every time it boots?
 
Does it manage to remember your WiFi credentials every time you turn it
on? Try a factory reset if it has one buried in the menus.
 
Maybe the "favourites" part of the cloud has gone away? Or is
geo-restricted?
Bernie <bernie.usenet@gmail.com>: Jan 10 07:05PM

On Sun, 10 Jan 2021 15:34:07 +0000
> know already what the problem was since they quoted me 40 quid to fix
> it I'm just wondering if they don't do anything to the radio but just
> renew my subscription or something like that.
 
https://forums.digitalspy.com/discussion/2337021/roberts-internet-radio-no-access-to-favourites
Cursitor Doom <cd@noreply.com>: Jan 10 10:59PM

On Sun, 10 Jan 2021 21:55:28 +0000, Adrian Caspersz
>> the radio and to either return (for a read request) or save (for a
>> write request) the user settings in association with that serial
>> number.
 
I see. Well, I never wanted *anything* to do with 'the cloud' - ever.
So if that had been the case I'd have had strong words with Roberts!
 
 
 
>Suggest, (if it still works) registering an account (Page 30) and
>storing favourites there.
 
>Mr Doom. You won't find a battery or a cap. Give up.
 
Many thanks indeed for that summary, Adrian; much appreciated.
I have never - knowingly - ever done any updates at all since I bought
the thing. I bought Roberts because I've had their broadcast recievers
in the past and been very happy with them in all respects. They were a
bit pricey (though not as much as a Hacker) but the build and sound
quality was very good. Their internet radios, OTOH, have none of that
reassuringly solid feel about them.
I think I'll reassemble it and have a think about how to proceed from
there tomorrow....
amdx <amdx@knology.net>: Jan 13 12:54PM -0600

On 1/13/2021 9:11 AM, Ralph Mowery wrote:
> specilizes in restoring old electronics. Hard for me to see any shop or
> one doing much work would not have a soldering gun that could be used.
> Maybe many do not know the soldering gun could be used.
 
 30+ years ago, I put two automotive speakers with big magnets near my
TV. It caused a problem on both sides of the screen.
 
Turning it on and off, hoping the internal degausser would fix didn't.
Even waiting for the PTC to cool.
 
I used my soldering gun and that fixed it.
 
I found this at $48,
 
> https://www.zoro.com/gc-electronics-specialty-tool-degaussing-coil-9317/i/G2187702/?msclkid=6f57a35d108c1b09d9b6fca2506be797&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=PLA_US_Bing_SSC&utm_term=4586131721760512&utm_content=All%20Products&gclid=6f57a35d108c1b09d9b6fca2506be797&gclsrc=3p.ds
                               Mikek
 
 
 
--
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Phil Allison <pallison49@gmail.com>: Jan 13 01:47PM -0800

Ralph Mowery wrote:
=================
 
 
> I thought most crt screens had a coil around then that helped degauss
> them every time they are turned on. Unless someone puts a magnet near
> the screen I doubt that many would need degausing.
 
** Correct = ALL crt colour TVs and monitors have automatic degaussing at switch on.
Most monitors have user operated de-gaussing as well.
 
TV techs may need a de-gausser for that rare event you mentioned .
 
> Maybe many do not know the soldering gun could be used.
 
** Such guns are getting hard to find.
Demand is so low, few wholesalers stock them.
 
..... Phil
Ralph Mowery <rmowery28146@earthlink.net>: Jan 13 06:02PM -0500

In article <632321b5-734e-4874-b4e3-ffd3def22e8bn@googlegroups.com>,
pallison49@gmail.com says...
 
> > Maybe many do not know the soldering gun could be used.
 
> ** Such guns are getting hard to find.
> Demand is so low, few wholesalers stock them.
 
Except for the shops that restore old devices with CRTs in them I doubt
that very many shops even work on the CRT units. You can buy some of
the newer LCDs for what it would cost for many shops to look at the
older sets of the same size screens. I am not sure if any TV sets that
had the CRTs in them are even capabile of the new format of the TV
signals with out a converter.
 
I do know of one man and wife that still use the old set with the
satalite dish. To top it all off he was an electronics engineer with
the Bell and Western Electric system. He is 80 years old and somehow
seems to mostly be stuck in the years before transistors. He is a ham
radio operator and has much gear produced from about 1930 to 1970 and
can work on that with no problem.
 
Local wholesellers may not stock them,but there are plenty on the
internet. Even Home Depot has them for about $ 45. About 5 years ago I
bought just the replacement housing for a gun I have had over 50 years.
I had dropped it several times during that time and the last time
finished off the housing. As just a hobbiest I do not use one very
much, but do not see how I could get along with out one. I do use the
SMD rework hot air and small iron most of the time.
 
You did jog my memory. I remember monitors that had the degauss switch
on them. They probably put that on them as many of the computers did
have speakers with magnets close to the screen.
Phil Allison <pallison49@gmail.com>: Jan 13 05:15PM -0800

Ralph Mowery wrote:
==================
 
> You did jog my memory. I remember monitors that had the degauss switch
> on them. They probably put that on them as many of the computers did
> have speakers with magnets close to the screen.
 
** Never seen a PC speaker that did NOT use shielded magnets on the drivers.
 
FYI Consists of a second ferrite ring magnet to cancel external fields - plus a steel cover..
 
 
..... Phil
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