Rattle, heatsink detatched

Hello!

I noticed my osmc had a rattling noise inside, like something was loose. When I’d turn it sideways, I could hear something move inside. Then I noticed that the power wouldn’t stay on, unless I moved things around a bit and then it would work. I got a little worried that it was a screw and it would short out components, so I opened it up and I found the cause.

There is a plastic bit in the middle of the top that has a metal plate, presumably a heat sink, attached to it by a screw. The plastic part had shattered into multiple little pieces, and they were what was rattling around. The metal plate was free and was likely shorting things inside.

There is a small sticky pad on the other side of the plate, that I presume goes over one of the chips inside, but I’m not sure which. If I can figure that out, I might be able to superglue the plastic bits together to hold the plate in place properly.

If the plate isn’t a heat sink, and just an RF shield or something, maybe I can just run the device without it?

Hi,

This looks like an early model Vero 4K.

Some older models had a slightly loose thermal plate which, if shaken, would make a slight rattle. This can be solved by tightening the screw.

When we realised this was an issue, we promptly rectified it, and before shipping, used to shake the device slightly to check if the plate needed tightening.

But this isn’t what I can see here.

The plate being slightly loose should not cause an issue. It is not an RF shield.

But you should have a rubber thermal heatsink between the plate and the SoC, which does not appear to be present. If the metal plate causes contact with parts of the boards, this could cause shorts and damage the board.

I am not sure why you have these broken plastic pieces in your device.

I think this device must’ve suffered some damage like a drop or pressure on top of it and cannot anticipate that it would have functioned in this state for so long.

Can you please clarify this – as this is quite concerning

Sam

Sorry, I missed this.

This would cover the SoC. The nearest chip opposite the AP6255 chip which should show AMLogic S905X.

That really looks like a damage by external violance. Whatever, this is junk.
If you leave out the thermal plate and stick copper heat sinks (Raspberry Pi size?) on the three four chips in the middle … this could be a workaround … but I never would feel good with it. Time to buy a new Vero?

Does the device start with the lid and heatsink removed? It should do and you won’t hurt it if it’s not already died from a short.

If it does still work, try replacing the screw with a bolt. But you need to check that the soft pad still makes contact with both the SoC and the heatsink.

It’s a heatsink and these pictures show you how it should look like. You can also see the chip that the heat pad should go on its the one covered in white heat paste

Sorry, the picture is a bit hard to see. The plastic pieces are pieces that broke off from where the screw was attached in the middle of the plastic cover:

The screw that secures it is still in the metal plate, with the plastic part that broke off:

That really looks like a damage by external violance. Whatever, this is junk.

Yes, it does. I was able to watch some things last night this way.

Thanks for these, I couldn’t tell the right orientation or which chip the sticky pad should be on.

OK, hard to tell but some superglue on that piece the screw goes into might do the trick.

Even better would be if I could purchase a replacement back cover. That way I could screw it back in and be as good as new!

Where are you? I could send you one for the postage money.

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I’m in Canada, I’d be happy to pay for the cost!

We should get some new shells with the next batch (ETA end of this month).
I’m not sure if it’s what you need, but I can take photos post receipt.

You would need to transplant the board to the new case, taking care of the WIFi antenna.

Beware that Canada Post are experiencing significant delays at the moment. So it would be a while until you received anything.

Sam

Thanks @sam_nazarko ! It turns out that @grahamh has sent me their unused one, so I think I can transplant that when it comes. :smiley: