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Duo 230 Buzz?

30pin

6502
I used an ac adapter from my 1400(24V/45W) to start the duo without the dock for the first time. Everything worked fine. Tried it an hour later and got an odd buzzing sound. It buzzes when you plug in the adapter and again when you press the start switch. It is not a very good sound. the buzz stays as long as you are pushing the start button, then goes away as soon as you release it. If you hold the start button down for more than a couple of seconds you get the chimes of problems and no start. A fast push of the button gives you the statup bong and it works fine? Anyone have this happen with their Duo 230???

 
Is the noise coming from the speakers, or from the inside of the Duo? And is the noise sort of a quiet sizzling/buzzing sound? I've heard that sound from my Duos in the past, and they're still working ok, so it may not signify a serious problem.

 
Yes the sound is from the inside of the duo, not from the speaker. I find the sound a bit disconcerting coming from an electronic component!! Otherwise it works well. So I will just ignore the buzz/hiss sound!! I want to put more v-ram in the dock. Will add a 20mb ram strip to the duo when I find one. Interesting little unit!

 
Try to identify the area that the buzz is coming from. Put your ear down near the keyboard at the left and see if it's coming from there.

Capacitors can emit a low-volume but high pitch whistle when failing, and there are some large caps on the duo logic boards, located near the power jack.

 
There are some small transformers and inductors in there that can start to buzz or squeal or something equally unpleasant when they start to die. You might try looking for some instructions for testing and replacing such components - I don't think they get quite as much attention as leaking capacitors and thus aren't likely to be as well-documented. At least, I don't recall seeing any threads on here devoted to the problem.

 
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