Soundbridge M1001 -- is it dead? or playing possum?

[macjockey]

My SoundBridge M1001 was in storage for four months, and now it won't start up. I bought a brand-new power adapter from Roku, but it doesn't help.

When I try the Safe boot routine -- switch off power, hold down any button on remote pointing at M1001, switch power on -- here’s what I get on the display:
----------------
ROKU
Soundbridge M1001
Let the music play
Standby… (then, it fades out, then OFF)
----------------

Any ideas? Is it really dead? or can it be revived?

Thanks for any replies.

[amdb7]

After you see "Let the music play" and it goes to Standby, are you then pressing the power button once on the remote?

[macjockey]

No, I'm not.

But something else curious has developed… Last week, I ordered (and received) a replacement power adapter for my SoundBridge M1001.

Unfortunately, the new adapter did NOT revive my SoundBridge unit. In examining the adapter, however, I noticed something odd:

The NEW power adapter is rated at 5V. But the adapter that originally came with the SoundBridge is rated at 9V.

Does this provide a clue that indicates what is wrong with the unit?

Could the 9V. adapter have damaged the unit?

Why was the SoundBridge sold to me with a 9V. power adapter? And why is the replacement adapter only 5V.?

Inquiring minds want to know.

[alanmc]

Well this really is an unusual situation

Firstly we need to establish which model of SoundBridge you actually own - so please advise by answering all of the following questions:

1. Do the cables that connect to your SB enter sockets at the rear of the unit?
2. Do the cables that connect to your SB connect under the end-caps?
3. Did you purchase your SB direct from Roku?
4. If the answer to "3" is NO, where did you buy your SB?

[amdb7]

No, I'm not.

After it boots, unless you have it set differently, it goes to the last state it was in. So if the last state was Standby, once it boots up, it goes to Standby.

Let it boot. Let it go to Standby. Press the power button once on the remote.

What happens?

[amdb7]

My M1000 and M1001s behave exactly the same way when they have been unpowered, then I plug them into wall power:

I see Roku, M1000 or M1001, Let the music play, Standby, then dark.

I press the power button on the remote, and the unit lights up and plays music.

[askay]

Apologies for piggybacking on this thread, but I just got an M1001 and I'm having precisely the same problem, except that pressing the power button once doesn't wake the machine up. In fact, I get no response to any button presses on the remote. (Yes, the batteries are good; no, the IR port isn't obstructed.) I'm new to this device, and so welcome any troubleshooting help. I'm suspecting, though, that the remote isn't working.

In fact, I just followed a pointer in another thread to use my browser to get to the SoundBridge settings and changed them so I can now see something on the display: a choice of server sources. But the remote won't scroll through the choices.

So: Dead remote? Any way to confirm this or do something about it? Or some thing else?

Thanks in advance for the help!

[alanmc]

Hi askay, welcome to the forums

A good way to check if you’ve got a ‘sticking button’ on your remote control is to point your Soundbridge remote-control unit 75mms (3â€

[amdb7]

If the SoundBridge has power attached, and has been issued an address by the DHCP server on your network, then it will be reachable on the network no matter whether the display shows anything and the remote control works or not.

Access your router so that you can determine the IP address that was issued to your SoundBridge. Then, type that address into the address bar of your browser. This will bring up the Now Playing page of the SB. Click on Presets. Then go to one of your presets and click Play. The SB should light up and play that station.

[amdb7]

Also, while you're trying to determine whether your remote control is working or not, I might suggest that you can control your SB via the excellent SoundBridge Commander. It does everything the remote control does and more.

http://sbcommander.sourceforge.net/

[askay]

Thanks for the suggestions! It seems pretty clear it's the remote. The PC-based app is pretty cool. The one thing it can't do, unfortunately, is configure the wireless setup, since that won't turn on unless the unit is disconnected from Ethernet. Ah, well -- two steps forward, one step back.

[amdb7]

Well, two forward one back is still some progress, right?

One more suggestion:

Get a copy of the Roku Control Protocol Functional Specification from
http://www.rokulabs.com/community/docum ... ion2-4.pdf

Starting around page 33 of that document, it tells how you can configure the device by entering RCP commands to the SB via its telnet interface. It would seem that commands like ListWiFiNetworks , GetWiFiNetworkSelection, SetWiFiNetworkSelection, SetWiFiPassword and WiFiNetworkConnect would be useful after going through the commands to do the initial setup.

So from a command prompt, type
telnet 192.168.x.xxx 4444
to access the SB on port 4444. Then you can enter the RCP shell and enter commands to configure it. You may be able to configure the wireless interface this way even while using the SB's ethernet connection.

[jhelland]

i was having a similair/same problem and after reading this thread i decided to test my "wall wart" power supply.

With no load it was showing around 5V, but when i plugged it into my soundbridge 1001 it would drop to 4.3 - 4.5V, despite the display not turning on and also not being able to locate it on my network through my computer.

I happen to have an old desktop power supply unit which has outputs of 3.3, 5, and 12V. I UNPLUGGED my wall wart from the outlet and made a small split in the plastic insulation to expose the copper wire and then hooked the 5V leads from my computer power supply to the roku power adaptor wires (the wire with the white lettering was in my case the + and the all black wire is the - lead, pretty standard.)

After hooking up the desktop PC power supply, I had a perfectly working soundbridge. problem diagnosed, bad power supply.

I might poke around to see if i can find a 5V 1500MA (or higher) wall wart and cut and splice it to the factory plug that goes into the soundbridge. Hope this idea helps somebody else having the same issue.

Oh and FYI my Soundbridge 1001 is about 4-5 years old? It still works great... power supply aside.

[jjaf]

Finding a replacement PSU with the correct connector is not difficult, see this thread.