Hi, I inherited an Archos Gmini 402 from my sister after she told me, and I quote 'the battery doesn't last 2 seconds'. She really wasnt kidding. You could give the unit a full 4 hours charge till the led flashes at you. Turn it on and without even playing music you could watch the battery indicator go from full, to half, to empty, then off and dead all in the space of about a minute.
Nevertheless I tried to contact archos who wouldn't cover the battery replacement and I would have to send them half a million pounds to fix it (not likely). So I went down my own route and sourced a replacement battery. The swap was simplicity (how could it not be with only 2 coloured wires) and after screwing the case back on I tested it and: Yay! It fired up first time; but thats it. The screen illuminated with the archos gmini logo and the HDD led blinked once. And thats all it will do.
I led it 'sit' there on that screen until the battery went dead, then I charged it fully again but when I switched it on it still does exactly the same thing. I have found out that by holding the back/stop/escape arrow button you can turn the unit off, but it still doesn't do anything when you turn it on again.
What have I done? Have i killed something by swapping the battery? Surely everything is kept on the hard drive right?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Dan
I came up with a solution (finally!). Only try this if you have exhausted all other possibilities.
First, make sure the unit if turned off, remove the backplate, and set the battery aside, still connected. Peel back the gold foil where hard drive connects to the motherboard, and loosen the small silver plate at the other end, sliding it to the side. Remove the hard drive by sliding it off the pins. Turn the unit on, and you should get a screen that asks if you would like to reformat. Replace the hard drive, carefully, and quickly, and reformat.
I had to reformat twice, but I eventually got the thing working. I was almost ready to toss it, so any extended life I get is worth it. If nothing else, this should get you off the dreaded logo screen. Good luck!
Thank you bignely!! Your solution worked! You saved me not only my player after looking like it was hopeless, but you also saved me some extremely valuable recordings. You rock!
SOURCE: archos gmini 402 camcorder
Try turning the unit on with the hard drive disconnected. When I did this (mine had a similar problem) a screen came up and asked me if I wanted to format. I plugged the hard drive back in and reformatted. I had to format twice, but after that it worked fine.
SOURCE: I need a replacement screen for my Archos 402 Gmini
Broke the Back on my Archos Gmini 402 20GB and if anyone has one for sale broken i am willing to buy it from them for the parts as all i need is the rear panel and the screws for the Rear panel.
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Same problem. I have done everything possible to fix it, including contacting Archos. They told me they wouldn't repair it because the 402 has been discontinued, and that they would give me a discount if I bought a new media player from them. I'm going to continue to try and find a solution though.
Ah a new plan!
I will let you know how I get on!
Thanks a lot.
ITS WORKS!!!!!!
You da man bignely!
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