infos gathered from http://www.gpain.com/


I can't say that this info is 100% legitimate, as it is based off people's first hand experience with the console, but there seems to be alot of hardware issues rising amongst the first batch buyers in Korea.

Majority of people complained about this already-well-known battery problem, which seems to last not much more than 2 hours.
There seemed to be an issue with Stereo jack which sinks in because of bad soldering, and also people are reporting that practically no video is playable without capping for it - there are reports of Xvid playing too fast, and divx sound not in sync with video.


Also GP2X seemed to be made with cheap parts that are easily breakable, as stated from a source I cannot specify. It claims that most of the soldering on GP2X are rushed and/or poorly done, and many of its parts are more or less in a poor quality.

The machine itself does not seem to be government approved either. GP2X has not taken on a vertification process that is required for all electorical devices in Korea before going retail. This can lead to some serious legal problem for GH.


Hopefully these will be an issue that can be solved without drastic changes.


Cheers.

nevermind. you guys already seem to be aware of most of the gp2x problems.


cheers.

Awesome! ANOTHER one of these threads.....

GP has said that most of the problems are software wise though. The battery life is software, the GP2X is set for full power 100% of the time, wihich can be fixed via firmware update. Also the video and sound playing sounds firmware wise too. But the headphone jack and button problems are definatley hardware...hopefully they can fix it soon, and maybe accept refunds

Sweet, I am buying one for sure then!

First, seems there's a lot of various stories flying around about the GP2X

About the battery thing, I'm sure they're mostly talking about the cheapo batteries that GPH shipped out with the unit itself.

As for the headphone jack, there's lots of possible reasons why it could be sinking in. Maybe the circuit board isn't properly seated in the unit, for example.

How would they know the soldering is shotty if they haven't opened up the GP2X which they shouldn't do?

The DivX sound sync and Xvid speed problem could just be encoding problems with the files themselves.

As for cheap parts, we're sure they imply poor quality, but I doubt there's many poor quality components. If they meant cheap as in low cost, I agree with that.

I'm sure the Korean authorities will look into anything that needs looking into but I doubt GPH would sell units to the preorder customers in Korea without such a crucial step.

Agree. (from first-batch owner and has OK headphone jack)



Well, It seems the Xvid decoding has some problems, but no big deal, isn't it? I believe it could be fixed easily

were tested on 2500mha nimh


It's the bad soldering. It was described as cold soldering/press process.


What would prevent anyone from opening it if they wanted to find out?


Nothing is implied when I speak the language. The defects seems to be wide-spread. And for one it is true that their parts have been outsourced to Chinese operation working at less professional quality.


Which they did.

Cheers.

hmmmmmmmmmmmm.........

Best reply ever.

I am kinda thinking of waiting a bit till the second shipment with the normal firmware gets out. If these problems still exsit, I will take my money elsewhere. Don't think that I am a traitor or anything, I just want something that is of quality even if it costs $180.

So, the only real problems are the headphone jack thing and the buggy firmware? Well, if it doesn't work, I do have a nice 1 year warranty to fall back on.

We'll be getting some first-hand reports from regular board members shortly when they get their units from GBAX.

So far all *first-hand* reports from here from Koreans have said there were NO hardware faults at all (only firmware), and 2500mAh batteries last 6 hours.

Only the 2nd-3rd-4th hand reports have said otherwise. So let's wait and see for ourselves...

yeah...
still looking forward to my unit despite these things. headphone jack issue is the most worriesome, of course.

edit:
yeah, some regulars here should be getting theirs from gbax soon looking forward to the reports.

It's called voiding the warranty.

I ordered from gbax...the day mine shows up you can expect many pictures and videos of the thing


BTW, to the original poster...why did you start this thread without looking at other threads? Since you were the first to reply to it, stating "nevermind. you guys already seem to be aware of most of the gp2x problems." why didn't you just look at the forum first before posting? Did you think you might be bringing some breaking information that you wanted "credit" for saying?

Just curious...

Actually, I read at least a dozen people saying their 2500mAh batteries last 2~2.5 hours, and I read 1 person saying his unit lasted 6hours. Actually, if you count in the one who said he buffed off the battery connectors with sand paper, that would be 2.

Regarding headphone jack, I saw the picture and it did look like the jack was not installed to withstand the pressure from inserted headphone (connector pins are installed sideway not against the direction of insertion).

Funny thing is that those who opened up their units in search of answers are usually ones that came up with solutions and tell others to wait for firmware updates. So, don't mix them up with usual whiners.

pooloo2 is a reliable source, he has been translating Korean news for ages on these boards. I don't see why people keep going off at Koreans bringing us news....

I have mine pre-ordered and I am not cancelling but i still want to know what is being said on the Korean forums.

Thanks Pooloo2

Yes at last the headphone socket issue. I recieved the Beta unit and within 10 mins the headphone socket fell off the mainbaord. 2 reasons, 1st the soldering of the socket to the mainboard very poor. Secondly the way the socket is sunk into the units case. I work for a very big golbal retailer and for this reason is why we will not carry it. For a machine to have such a major fault we expected up to a 90% return rate. I contacted anna and she said that these issue's would not be in the final version. I did posts this issue at

http://www.gp32x.com/board/index.php?showt...83&#entry284583

It just feels as if there are people out there who just want the GP2x to fail.
FUCK OFF!

The headphone issue is a valid issue. If the connection is likely to come off with regular use, it is going to cripple the GP2X's popularity. Don't get me wrong, I'm not going to cancel my pre-order over a "possible problem", but if I get it and the headphone port breaks, I will send it back to GPH and make sure that they fix it so it won't happen again.

I'm sure it'll turn out that this, along with all the firmware bugs, is just a minor issue and is not a cause for concern.

Josh certainly doesn't want the GP2X to fail, mate.

Hopefully the issue is confined to the beta units.

One guy just confirmed his unit plays movie during 3.4hours with 2x2500.
(Isn't it okay with no power-save function? )

As the speaker is one of the power-drainer, he is now testing again with earphone.

Cross my fingers.


EDIT: It is posted on GPain.com forum.

Thanks Gaterooze. Sand Man, Never have I a stated or thought the the GP2X would fail. I have tried to do what i can for the GP2X. I think that the GP32 created an awesom commuity much like the Commodore Amiga did in its day. And I want the GP2X the continue were the GP32 got to. And for the record I run everyday and untill last week my trusty GP32 was my mp3 player of choice. (Finally gave in and got a an ipod nano). So for all users thinking that GP2X will be your games/movies and music player, take care of that headphone socket or like myself just resolder it.

You are either an idiot or a 13 year old...

Nobody here want's the GP2X to fail.

Little question for you all: Would anyone be willing to pay an extra US$20 to US$40 more for a well-built unit? I would. And thats probably about all it would take them.

Rushing is bad. Don't rush companies, programmers, or dentists, or you'll be sorry.

personally i wasn't expecting the first release of the gp2x to be perfect. the gp32 went thru 3 revisions before it finally reached it's current state. i wager that the gp2x will go thru revisions as well, especially if the aforementioned becomes a big deal. stay tuned, refinements will take place. when all that happens is another question only GPH can address.

Not concerned with any software issues but definitely worried about the headphone socket as it is something that is not easily fixable by everyine. Hopefully it is confined to a small percentage of units or fixed before any outside media (eg Slashdot) finds out...

ahahaha nice LOL plx

but, what are the people here calling "beta units"?? the first 500 ones? Since o ordered from gbax yesterday, i will probably receive a defective one right?

For the people who bought from gbax.com (or any other site wih a warranty) and are worried - I wouldn't be. We get a 1-year warranty, meaning that people who get crappy units will be able to send them back... And if it becomes too much of a problem, something will probably be done because of the ridiculous return rate.

few people have problem in earphone connection.

and mine has long batter time.

and there are ALMOST NONE DEAD PIXELS!

hardware bugs are few. it's just factiory inferiority rate.

gp2x is much better than other console's like *cough psp *cough first release

The main problem with this is the cost of postage. I paid $260 for the unit from GBAX including postage, and if I have to ship it back to get something fixed, it'll cost me another $40, which I don't have after buying both an SD card and several good batteries.

Certainly, I don't want GP2x to fail; I've invested too much to want that. BUT, I also subscribe to the idea of no one deserves anything. You HAVE to earn everything you have/want. GPH is going through the painful "earning" the customer's trust process. Have I been disappointed so far? Yes, but at the same time I wish the best luck for them because the promise of GP2x is too great to fail! GP2x forever.

What? I bought from gbax and payed less than $200 after shipping... And my 1 GB SD card was free after rebates...

Why would it cost $40 to ship back to him, anyway? Wouldn't it only be like $10?

$260 AUD for console - works out to be $194 USD
$50 for 6 rechargable Energiser 2500mah's with charger
$50 for 1GB SanDisk SD card

$360 AUD or $270 USD total

And, our postal system sucks, so I expect it will cost $30-$40 to send it back, unless I send it by ship which will take a month or two.

Shipping depends on where you live...
Skitso and I are both in Australia.

AUD, right. That certainly is no good.

I think mine ended up being about $360 AUD approx with a 1gb SD card.

BTW: Iorgy77, sorry for for my stupid post earlier. I'm not a 13 year old I am just sick of these threads because these problems are minor and people don't seem to realise it. Plus that thing about GPH doing something illegal in Korea, I don't know if it's true, none of us do, but it just sounds like bad rumour.

No problem man, I can't wait to get mine either, but I would rather any info false or otherwise be out in the open. We will find out about any real problems soon enough I guess.

Thank you.

I just stopped posting news as there was nothing significant. Everything was over and the units were ready to ship. The waiting was over so the need for info was less desperate.

All the important news will soon happen here once the units are in our hand.
The scene is here, with us. Not in Korea.


Cheers. It's time for me to fade away. lol

I... don't understand... doesn't everyone crack open new hardware to take a peek at it? (especially with rumors of poor manufacturing). yes, yes, void warranty, etc etc.. but i mean.. i think *every* other console out there has mods that involve taking off the back of the case and having a peek (afterburner for gba, modchips for ps/other consoles, handfuls of other GBA additions).

there is no end to chatter about rewriting the firmware from scratch, but people are scared of a couple of screws? psh.

edit: I am not saying that it has poor manufacturing, so please don't attack (At least, not on that point), just that the idea has been brought up.

Do the retail GP2X's actually have stickers over them stopping you from opening them up then? Unless they specifically say "Warrantee void if casing removed" or similar, opening the thing up doesn't void it.

Warranty is generally voided when tampering with the device. It comes under abnormal operation. Engineers should do that, etc.

what you mean with ALMOST NOME dead pixels??

All the negativity in these threads over the last few days is really getting me down

/me returns to lurking till the niceness returns to the forums.

Fifty Aussie Dollars, including shipping?

Wow -- can you tell me where please? I might grab two!

You don't even have yours yet, how could you be disappointed?

That's not about the GP2X, he just found out life can suck and taxes are expensive and school blows.

Hey, you all calm down
Think about what small retailers like me are going through at the moment
All my private money is invested in my shop.

And I still know it will not fail.

Sure, some say it's faulty, some say it's not.

I guess the truth is somewhere inbetween.

There surely are some hardware faulty units, that's normal in such a mass production.

But: It is the nature of humans to complain if there is something to complain and to not say anything if it works fine.

So it may look like most devices are faulty, though these are only a few ones.

And: Craig (gbax.com) and me (gp2x.de) are testing every single gp2x before sending it out to you, to make sure you won't get any faulty devices.

So, relax

Some of the most reassuring words I've heard all day.
So we can get back to drooling over the new emulators now, right?

And appreciated ( by myself at least), thanks.