Seagate FreeAgent Theater streaming box tear-down and debug - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: reagle
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: October 15, 2012, 04:08:44 am
content: I just posted my tear-down and repair of the Seagate set top media streaming box on my bloghttp://kuzyatech.com/seagate-freeagent-theater-usb-debugTwo of three USB ports quit working and a tear-down shows a very obvious reason why. Beancounters ...A few pictures-can anybody spot the problem before reading?

author: aluck
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: October 15, 2012, 06:36:47 am
content: Nicely done!

author: amyk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 15, 2012, 07:14:25 am
content: Not long ago someone on this forum wrote to Genesys requesting samples of a deviceand received some, so getting a replacement GL850G might not be as hard as you think.

author: reagle
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: October 15, 2012, 12:15:16 pm
content: In the past I've worked for a company who wanted to design Genesys part into a portable paper scanner. It was an absolute nightmare getting anybody to talk to us (not me an individual but a real company), simply because our volumes were not expected to be the 10 million pcs a year they wanted. I looked on ebay as well- there are Chinese companies selling these chips, but none had QFP version, only TSSOP. Seeing how I don't really need three functional USB ports, I am pretty happy with the solution.One place for improvement is picking a proper ESD array. The one I used is good maybe up to Full Speed devices, but will add too much capacitance for the High Speed ones. I am just a bit lazy for a brute force scan of all manufacturers. Digikey/Mouser search did not yield SOT143 devices with four channels outside of the one I already used. It also does not appear to mater for streaming Video from a thumb drive- the effective data rate is still good enough.It just annoys me that with anything you buy these days, you have to take it apart and populate parts that somebody decided are not needed, or things go boom in normal use.. Almost sounds like what Soviet cars used to be (and maybe still are). Once you finally pick your shiny new car after waiting for it for like 20 years in the line, you had to go over and tighten every bolt just to make sure nothing falls off

author: reagle
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: October 15, 2012, 12:48:09 pm
content: Oh, for those asking. The laser cut case for my bus pirate is fromhttps://www.synthetos.com/webstore/index.php/enclosures.html

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 15, 2012, 03:49:57 pm
content: Why not look up the datasheet for the hub chip, find the input pins and then disconnect them and wire a cheap hub in it's place, connected to 5V and GND, and route the data wires from the new hub to the USB ports. Then it will have working USB again, and 4 ports to boot. You can even use a SD reader to add one to the unit as well. The new hub might have ESD protection, but if not it at least will be easy to get and cheap to change.

author: reagle
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: October 15, 2012, 03:53:35 pm
content: Even easier is to install a USB hub inside the HDD dock space and plug it into the existing mini USb connector there. The reality is all I needed was one functional port, so this solution is good enough and cost is essentially zero