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8285
October 19th, 2014 19:00
Dell DJ 15GB 1st generation, worth fixing?
A couple weeks back I found a Dell DJ 1st generation 15GB music player at a yard sale and the owner was asking very little for it. So I gave it a try. I was able to charge it up, but I hadnt used it enough to determine the condition of the battery. It has been sitting in a drawer for the last 2 weeks or so, and I was going to try using it and I discovered the player wouldnt power on. The player wont power on even when plugged in via USB and via the AC adapter at the same time. So there is also no indication that the battery is being charged. Strangely enough back when the battery would charge, it would only charge with the USB cable and the AC adapter plugged in at the same time, and not one at a time.
I would consider trying a replacement battery, but there are 2 concerns I have before that. First concern is I really dont have that much need for a portable music player. Its kind of a "nice to have it on rare occasions" type thing. So I'm not really crazy about buying a replacement battery especially on a device this old. Second concern is about the age of the player and the fact that the player uses a mechanical hard drive. For all I know the battery isnt the problem, and instead it could be the hard drive or another component in this aging player. I don't want to replace the battery to find out the battery wasnt the problem.
So whats your opinion on trying to fix this older player? Does it sound like its just a dead battery, or could it just as easily be something else? Perhaps a common problem in these players when they get to be ~10 years old?
konzole
4 Posts
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October 25th, 2014 17:00
For now the battery seems to be holding a ~14 hour charge when used immediately, though its unclear how quickly the charge dissipates when the player isnt being used. So it may have a fast dishcharge to it. Also the hard drive noises seem to be very consistent, which leads me to believe its either normal operating noise, or normal operating noise for an aging drive. I would guess that if the hard drive was on its last legs there would be some chaos with how and when the noises appear, not predictable and consistent how they are heard now.
konzole
4 Posts
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October 20th, 2014 22:00
UPDATE - The player started to take a charge and it appears to be up to a full charge, even though it seemed to reach full charge in less then half the time a full charge normally takes (6 hours?). Maybe the battery is ok, maybe its on its last legs who knows. However the hard drive has the clicking noise that failing hard drives sometimes exhibit. Its not a constant clicking, but if I'm making the player work non-stop (constantly changing songs), the clicking is heard every 10 seconds or so.
My guess is that other then the faint humming, spin-up, or spin-down noises coming from the drive, there shouldnt be any other noises, especially no clicking? From a desktop hard drive I would equate clicking to a failing drive, but I don't know if occasional clicking is normal to the seemingly unique drive this player has?