PM4 Not Working (Help Carl Watts!)

[InDoorRower]

Hi Carl Watts,
I have a DOA PM4 with a "10/2007" label in the battery area. (Looks like the old PCB design?)
1) I installed 2 new D cells and pressed the "MENU/BACK" button - no display
2) I pressed the reset button, removed the 2 D cells and waited 30 minutes, installed the cells and pressed "MENU/BACK" - no display.
3) Installed Concept2 Utility on Win10 PC
4) Connected USB cable (w/ 2 D cells) from PM4 to Win10 PC - PM4 was not recognized by PC or Concept2 Utility
5) I removed the 4 PM4 case screws, and carefully separate the case back from the case front. I did not see any battery corrosion damage.

Are there anything more tests I can perform ?

Thanks

[Carl Watts]

The PM4 has two main connectors on the board, make sure the ribbon cables are plugged in.

You possibly not getting the battery Voltage to the board itself, are the terminals clean ? Any rust on the terminals ?

Have you tried two more brand new batteries straight out of the pack ? have you tested the batteries ?

Remove the two screws on the board and check the side of the board thats on the keypad, thats where the corrosion will be if there is any.

After this point you need a milliammeter to see what sort of level of activity is going on as it tries to power up. Its unlikely the screen has died as your not seeing any USB activity either.

Does it have the Motorola DragonBall Micro on the board, if so its the older version of the PM4.

Buy a new PM5.

[InDoorRower]

Hello Carl,

Thank you for your reply.

There is the Motorola DragonBall Micro on the board.
The Battery terminals are clean. I tested the D cell V >1.57volts
I checked the back of the board that is in contact with the keypad. I saw no corrosion on the button PCB copper pads.
The ribbon connector from the display was loose. I secured it but still no display or USB detection

I also checked the USB cable on another USB device; no problems.
So check the power up with an milliammeter?

I am curious; why is the USB detection not working? Does it get 5 volts from the PC?

Erik

[InDoorRower]

Hi Carl,

I was looking at an area (C47+) on the PCB. It looks like the capacitor(?) has a dried brown residue around the top.

Erik

[Carl Watts]

Hi,

I see all sorts of problems with these caused by external "Forces" !

Insects can be a problem, in particular cockroaches.They can leave err..."deposits" on your board.

Yes the USB port supplies some of the power when connected.

Chances are its not repairable and its also now over 10 years old anyway. The new firmware version that came out a year after yours used an ATMEL micro and it was a big step up in terms of reliability, the speed of it processing your logcard results was like 4 times faster and the shutdown current dropped to about 1/10th that of the Motorola micro.

Motorola ran into legal issue with the BGA micro package and suddenly discontinued it. I should imagine that Concept 2 were pretty pissed and it forced them into a redesign that was NOT going to use a Motorola micro for obvious reasons. The subsequent design was a BIG improvement over the old one in every respect.

Keep the PM4 for parts if you can find another late model PM4 as you can use the display if you ever have problems with it but I would just go and get a new PM5.

The PM5 fits onto the same plastic are as the PM4, it just has an additional hole through the plastic web that makes routing the cable tidier. A new arm is cheap or you could just drill a couple of holes in the old arm and join them together with a file.

[InDoorRower]

Thanks for your response Carl.

I guess I will continue to go with my trusty PM2.