Nibble has no sound

📋 Support
#1

Hi there!

I bought a Nibble a couple of weeks ago or so, and I put it together right as I received it. Everything worked nice, but after some time, the sound began to be intermittent. A day later the sound came back, but now it has stopped again, and been like this for 3 days. I have tried resetting it, checking again and again the sound settings but it still has no sound. I have restored the firmware using CircuitBlocks, but that didn’t help either.

I am starting to think it has to be a hardware problem. I will remove the case panels and take a look at the piezo speaker maybe tomorrow. Have this happened to anyone?

Thanks!

#2

Did you turn off the sound in the settings menu?

Please send photos of the board.

Btw. thanks for being here since 2017, I remember you from the early days when CircuitMess was just lil old me in a garage with a bunch of boxes

#3

Hehehe, nice to know from you, Albert! :slight_smile:. I’ve been pretty much absent since my first game, because of busy life and stuff. Cleaning up my house I found the old makerbuino and decided to check your new stuff, that’s why I bought a Nibble. Nice job, it is incredibly easy to assemble :wink:

The settings seem to not be the problem here. I changed them several times already. I’ll disassemble it tomorrow and take a look and attach photos.

Stay safe! :wink:

1 Like
#4

Cool stuff, I love having you around here :slight_smile:

Send the photos, we’ll help

#5

I have taken it apart and I suspected of the solder pads on the piezo speaker. I reflowed them and the sound worked! But, just for a little bit, as the first time. It is now mute again :frowning:

DSC00156
DSC001562048×1365 1.63 MB
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DSC001572048×1365 1.42 MB

Taking a look at the schematic, I don’t see any component between the ESP microcontroller and the speaker so, maybe the solder joints in the microcontroller need reflow? I’ll investigate :slight_smile:

#6

Hi,
Please try reflowing it and see if it helps.

If you cannot fix it yourself like that, you’ll send us the console back and we’ll fix it or exchange for a working one.

Sorry for the issue

#7

Hi!

The piezo speaker seems to be the problem. Sometimes when I reflow the solder joints, it works for a while, and stops suddenly. Other times it makes no difference.

I’ve tested using a oscilloscope, and the square waves are sent by the microcontroller, and into the speaker’s lead, but no sound is produced. My guess is the internal contact between the piezo leads and the piezo disc itself is not making good contact.

How would the replacement process work? Maybe sending only the defective component is better than expending shipping for the whole console :slight_smile:

#8

@ladbsoft if we send you a replacement piezo, will you be able to replace it yourself?

#9

Sure, no problem. I have some experience soldering and desoldering by now :slight_smile:

1 Like
#10

Hi!

Only to let you know that the new piezo speaker works great! I have tested it for more than a week and no problems, so that was the culprit.

Thanks a lot for the support!

#11

Glad to hear that and thank you for supporting our work :slight_smile: