Nova just shuts off!

Gothboy · Posted: Fri Sep 26, 2008 10:34 am Post subject: Nova just shuts off!

All is NOT well in Novaland! Only 6 weeks of owning the Nova and already a problem! Mad

I bought my Nova laptop about a month ago on Ebay: thing was packed great with no sign of damage to the box. It sounds awesome, a nice compliment to my other synths. However, 2 weeks ago as I was doing some Pro Tools editing I look up and the Nova is off! I didn't turn it off....but it turned itself off! So I turned it back on....and noticed that in doing so just touching the on/off switch turned it on...not pressing the switch but just touching it with a finger. Odd. Confused

In the past 2 weeks though it's been playing games with me. Some days I turn it on and it stays on and some days it goes off and won't STAY on. I've got the problem down to the on/off switch...there's play in the on position where it can rock back and forth and it seems like the switch is not locked in the on position. I opened the Nova up and looked inside, evrything looks fine to me...there's not much that can come loose or unsoldered as there's no wires or ribbon cables in there. But like I said I suspect the switch and I would repair it myself but the cpu is Sooo close to the switch solder points(as you can see in the picture) that I dare not DIY it. Shocked

I've written to Novation and they referred me to the nearest repair center, I'll be taking it there next Friday but I thought I'd post here and get another opinion before I go. Anyone seen this issue before?

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blue hell · Posted: Fri Sep 26, 2008 1:42 pm Post subject:

The switch looks like soldered to the board, and it looks like the board has to be taken out to reach the soldered leads ... that's one thing,the other would be to find a replacement ... unless you'd permanently bridge it and turn the machine on/off with the power supply ... but then again when you don't trust yourself to do it maybe it's best to have it serviced.

Gothboy · Posted: Fri Sep 26, 2008 2:42 pm Post subject:

So you think it's the on/off switch then Jan? I've set up next friday as the day I'll bring it to the repair shop. They have the switch and said they'd do it while I waited since they're an hour away from me.

blue hell · Posted: Fri Sep 26, 2008 3:00 pm Post subject:

From what you wrote everything points to the switch. It shouldn't switch by touching it and when it's in one of it's positions it shouldn't wiggle, but I could imagine this happening when the internal spring doesn't work anymore. Maybe it jumped out or something broke internally so the spring could move a bit.

I'm surprised ¹ people in repair shops are able to replace switches Laughing

but they should be if course!

¹ see this G2 horror story Shocked

Gothboy · Posted: Fri Sep 26, 2008 5:34 pm Post subject:

Oh God no horror stories Jan! Laughing

I won't read it....I can't even....I'm already horrified by this. Shocked

Ummm...what's an....internal.....spring? Embarassed

blue hell · Posted: Fri Sep 26, 2008 6:15 pm Post subject:

Ok, no more horror then pale

On/off switches often are bi-stable, they lock in both the on and off position but when you try to set 'm in between they'll flip to one of the sides. Anyway, this uses a construction with a spring that forces the switch into either one of the positions and that's what I meant with the internal spring. I tried to find some how-does-it-work pics through google, nothing simple showed up ... you should try to take one apart once!

Gothboy · Posted: Fri Sep 26, 2008 6:25 pm Post subject:

OK the spring in the switch! Idea

Ahhh...ok, right I understand that now. Here's another thing I forgot to mention becuase I just went to fool around with it..when it shuts off the display goes out, there's no sound but the control lights stay on. I don't know what that means...if anything. Confused

blue hell · Posted: Fri Sep 26, 2008 6:41 pm Post subject:

Gothboy · Posted: Fri Sep 26, 2008 6:44 pm Post subject:

Which manual is that? I have the Nova manual here....what did you see? Question

blue hell · Posted: Fri Sep 26, 2008 6:50 pm Post subject:

I saw : http://nova.fritzzz.nl/nova/web/nova_manual.pdf and it says nothing about an indicator light, or so it seems.

Gothboy · Posted: Fri Sep 26, 2008 7:28 pm Post subject:

It's late here and I'm confused again....what indicator light are we talking about here. I meant the button lights that light up on top, every button has a light on it.

EdisonRex · Posted: Sat Sep 27, 2008 2:36 am Post subject:

Intermittent switch bounce could very easily confuse the internal logic. So you could end up with parts thinking they are on and parts in inconsistent states. Does it all come back if you shut it off, wait a few seconds, and turn it back on?

Another possibility is cold solder joints somewhere in the PSU. Close inspection would be needed for that too.

Gothboy · Posted: Sat Sep 27, 2008 6:03 am Post subject:

EdisonRex · Posted: Sun Sep 28, 2008 12:25 pm Post subject:

I think it's the switch then, and the spray of transients from bounces confusing the logic. At least from here, not seeing it.

Good luck with it mate. I hope it works out ok.

Gothboy · Posted: Sun Oct 05, 2008 5:27 pm Post subject:

Well, it was the switch. Not only that but the solder points were bad where the switch meets the main display board AND the solder points where the power connector meets the board....that's why the unit would switch off when my finger grazed the switch...so in 2 places. $62.50 was the basic bench charge for the fix in this case. I haven't used the Nova yet but I'm going to assume it's fixed. These guys at HighTech know their stuff and were super nice guys to boot. I dropped it off on my way to NH and picked it up 2 hours later on my way back to MA. Smile

blue hell · Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2008 12:29 pm Post subject:

Ah, good to see it got fixed so quickly!

Gothboy · Posted: Fri Oct 17, 2008 2:52 pm Post subject:

Yeah...it's nice to have it back again so I can now start using it! Laughing

Thanks Jan!