Color Classic not powering on. Makes a chirping noise

[Outlander]

Hey there. I've got a Color Classic that no longer wants to turn on. When the switch is flicked, you can here it it energize or whatever you want to call it, then when you press the on button on the keyboard, it tries to turn on, then makes a chirping noise and shuts off. I've re-capped most of the board except the big capacitor(no one has one). Any ideas? Thanks

I think my mic on my phone is busted.

 

[HAL2001]

You are obviously suffering from Vertical Video Syndrome

 

[Nathan]

I think my mic on my phone is busted.

Could be, I can't hear any "chirping" in the video, though.

Was the computer working prior to the current problem? If you know what the capacitor is rated and can do math and find the right parts you may be able to replace it with a group of smaller capacitors as long as they have an appropriate voltage rating etc.

 

[Outlander]

I'll try and record the noise again tomorrow. Yes it was working many years ago before I put it in storage.

 

[bigmessowires]

There's something in one of Larry Pina's books about a "flupping noise" at startup. "If the set makes a flup, flup, flup noise when you switch on the power, it means something is drawing too much current." This is in reference to older models like the Mac Plus, so I'm not sure if it's still relevant for the Color Classic. The book describes a few different capacitor failures and shorted rectifiers that might cause this.

 

[MarNo84]

Hi,

So you did recap nearly everything on the Analogueboard? What about the Mainboard itself? The usual suspects - 98% for my experience - are these SMD caps on the Mainboard; they start leaking. Visible an invisible. They cause that behavior too.

I did a recap of all of them - 9 in total? - and finally the CC starts and works like a charm without any disturbing backgroubd noise except the HDD

 

[68krazy]

Try sliding the logic board in and out while pressing the power button on the keyboard repeatedly.

Back when I had a CC, I accidentally shorted +12v and ground. After the short, I got the exact same symptoms that you have now—chirping analog board—until I did the sliding trick. That brought it back. I have no idea why that worked, but it did.

 

[MarNo84]

Try sliding the logic board in and out while pressing the power button on the keyboard repeatedly.

Back when I had a CC, I accidentally shorted +12v and ground. After the short, I got the exact same symptoms that you have now—chirping analog board—until I did the sliding trick. That brought it back. I have no idea why that worked, but it did.

Yeah, in fact these tricks could help but on the other sider it's very risky... the board isn't designed for this kind of direct power input - it's like you put on a needle to a fast /aleady spinning or running vynil record. it may work but could cause damage to the system. I would go with the recapping of the SMDs - it's a neccessary job anyway - so give it a try, it's just a few more bucks (I spent about 8EUR on all parts) - I bet after recapping these, it will power up like a charm

 

[techknight]

I dont hear anything? 

 

[EvilCapitalist]

I had to crank my PC volume to max, then my stereo to max, then add a headphone amp and crank that to max and I just barely heard a faint chirp (I think you're right about your phone's mic not working right). 

Does the power light on the front also flick on and off as you're hearing the chirping?  I had a very similar sounding situation with one of my CCs after it was struck by lightening, and the analog board was toast even after having it recapped.  If you tried to power it on the machine would occasionally start and run without issue then just spontaneously shut down.  If I tried to power back on the power light on the front would turn on and off with a chirping sound coming from the analog board.

 

[joethezombie]

Lol... found this video of EvilCapitalist trying to hear OP's audio:

 

[EvilCapitalist]

That's great!  Perhaps that's what I was subconsciously thinking about when describing what I went through to try and hear the chirping sound. 

Sadly, I don't have a massive / cool setup like that, just a laptop in a dock going to a reasonable "executive" stereo system, and a portable Fiio headphone amp in my briefcase.

 

[Outlander]

Lol, sorry guys, my other phones mic was trashed. This phones mic works better, but it's video quality is very poor. This is the chirping sound.  Also, yes I have re-capped the logicboard and analog board, but also have tried another  logicboard and it does the exact same thing. One of the only caps I could not find was that huge cap on the analog board. Mouser had me waiting for 6 months before I cancelled the order.

 

[EvilCapitalist]

That's the exact same sound that the analog board made in the Color Classic I had that was struck by lightning, except mine kept trying to power on so it was a continuous chirping.  Recapping didn't solve the issue and I ended up parting the machine out.

 

[techknight]

Ah... thats the classic "shorted rail on secondary" sound... 

Check the horizontal output transistor with a DMM on diode check for shorts. If its shorted, the flyback is toast. Thats test #1. Then you can work backwards from there like if there are any bad/shorted secondary rectifier diodes which CAN happen from time to time for various reasons.