u3 repair Up
This is a guide for fixing or looking at the inerds of the Cowon iAudio U3. I had a problem where the sound would periodically go out of one of the ears. It turned out that the connection of one of the headphone jack leads to the circuit board was soldered poorly or not at all. So, this is how I reconnected it to the board. Tried a temporary fix of jamming a piece of plastic between the jack and the board for mechanical coupling, but that didn't last for long. If you have similar symptoms and are using ear buds, make sure the bud has not died do to sweat, e.g., before doing this.



Camera: Canon PowerShot A540
Focal length: 5.8mm (35mm equivalent: 37mm)
Flash used: No
Exposure time: 0.077 s (1/13)
Aperture: f/2.6
Whitebalance: Auto
The Cowon iAudio U3
If you have this problem and need a temporary fix or are unwilling to take it apart, this may work. It puts pressure on the opposite end of the connector to mechanically make the connection.

Camera: Canon PowerShot A540
Focal length: 5.8mm (35mm equivalent: 37mm)
Flash used: No
Exposure time: 0.077 s (1/13)
Aperture: f/2.6
Whitebalance: Manual
A Temporary Fix


Camera: Canon PowerShot A540
Focal length: 5.8mm (35mm equivalent: 37mm)
Flash used: No
Exposure time: 0.067 s (1/15)
Aperture: f/2.6
Whitebalance: Manual
Ready to go.


Camera: Canon PowerShot A540
Focal length: 5.8mm (35mm equivalent: 37mm)
Flash used: No
Exposure time: 0.050 s (1/20)
Aperture: f/2.6
Whitebalance: Manual
Need a small philips screwdriver.


Camera: Canon PowerShot A540
Focal length: 5.8mm (35mm equivalent: 37mm)
Flash used: No
Exposure time: 0.050 s (1/20)
Aperture: f/2.6
Whitebalance: Manual
Take out the four screws at the corners.
You want to remove them the rest of the way with a small pliers because they can strip easily.

Camera: Canon PowerShot A540
Focal length: 5.8mm (35mm equivalent: 37mm)
Flash used: No
Exposure time: 0.050 s (1/20)
Aperture: f/2.6
Whitebalance: Manual
Partial Removal.


Camera: Canon PowerShot A540
Focal length: 5.8mm (35mm equivalent: 37mm)
Flash used: No
Exposure time: 0.050 s (1/20)
Aperture: f/2.6
Whitebalance: Manual
All out.


Camera: Canon PowerShot A540
Focal length: 5.8mm (35mm equivalent: 37mm)
Flash used: No
Exposure time: 0.040 s (1/25)
Aperture: f/2.6
Whitebalance: Manual
Splits in two easily.


Camera: Canon PowerShot A540
Focal length: 5.8mm (35mm equivalent: 37mm)
Flash used: No
Exposure time: 0.050 s (1/20)
Aperture: f/2.6
Whitebalance: Manual
Your flash.


Camera: Canon PowerShot A540
Focal length: 5.8mm (35mm equivalent: 37mm)
Flash used: No
Exposure time: 0.067 s (1/15)
Aperture: f/2.6
Whitebalance: Manual
Your battery.
No tools required :-)

Camera: Canon PowerShot A540
Focal length: 5.8mm (35mm equivalent: 37mm)
Flash used: No
Exposure time: 0.050 s (1/20)
Aperture: f/2.6
Whitebalance: Manual
Remove battery here.


Camera: Canon PowerShot A540
Focal length: 5.8mm (35mm equivalent: 37mm)
Flash used: No
Exposure time: 0.040 s (1/25)
Aperture: f/2.6
Whitebalance: Manual
Remove it.


Camera: Canon PowerShot A540
Focal length: 5.8mm (35mm equivalent: 37mm)
Flash used: No
Exposure time: 0.040 s (1/25)
Aperture: f/2.6
Whitebalance: Manual
This too.


Camera: Canon PowerShot A540
Focal length: 5.8mm (35mm equivalent: 37mm)
Flash used: No
Exposure time: 0.050 s (1/20)
Aperture: f/2.6
Whitebalance: Manual
Comes apart easily.
This is a result of previous exploits in an attempt to figure out the problem. I removed the line in jack. Don't do this!

Camera: Canon PowerShot A540
Focal length: 5.8mm (35mm equivalent: 37mm)
Flash used: No
Exposure time: 0.033 s (1/30)
Aperture: f/2.6
Whitebalance: Manual
Don't do that.


Camera: Canon PowerShot A540
Focal length: 5.8mm (35mm equivalent: 37mm)
Flash used: No
Exposure time: 0.033 s (1/30)
Aperture: f/2.6
Whitebalance: Manual
Comes off by hand.


Camera: Canon PowerShot A540
Focal length: 5.8mm (35mm equivalent: 37mm)
Flash used: No
Exposure time: 0.033 s (1/30)
Aperture: f/2.6
Whitebalance: Manual
Like so.
Slide these out to (carefully) loosen the LCD. We don't want to take off the LCD because we will probably have a hard time reconnecting it. We just want to be able to move it to the side.

Camera: Canon PowerShot A540
Focal length: 5.8mm (35mm equivalent: 37mm)
Flash used: No
Exposure time: 0.040 s (1/25)
Aperture: f/2.6
Whitebalance: Manual
Slide these out.


Camera: Canon PowerShot A540
Focal length: 5.8mm (35mm equivalent: 37mm)
Flash used: No
Exposure time: 0.040 s (1/25)
Aperture: f/2.6
Whitebalance: Manual
Carefully slide it over.


Camera: Canon PowerShot A540
Focal length: 5.8mm (35mm equivalent: 37mm)
Flash used: No
Exposure time: 0.050 s (1/20)
Aperture: f/2.6
Whitebalance: Manual
I needed to solder t..ection to the board.
A little can go a long way. Don't drink a bunch of coffee before you do this because you need a steady hand.

Camera: Canon PowerShot A540
Focal length: 5.8mm (35mm equivalent: 37mm)
Flash used: No
Exposure time: 0.067 s (1/15)
Aperture: f/2.6
Whitebalance: Manual
All done.
Check to make sure it's working before putting it back together. In my case, I fixed the problem I had. However, I may have introduced other problems. If you bump the connection, it may go out periodically and sound warbly. Overall, though better than when I started. I used a cheap soldering iron and wonder if I may have gotten the board too hot. Your milage may vary. Please let me know about any successes or failures. --thewtex

Camera: Canon PowerShot A540
Focal length: 5.8mm (35mm equivalent: 37mm)
Flash used: No
Exposure time: 0.100 s (1/10)
Aperture: f/2.6
Whitebalance: Manual
Check it out.
u3 repair Up
Album created by album a MarginalHack written by Dave on Fri Feb 8 03:48:39 2008