my HHKB Pro 2 stopped working

[pexon]

I use my HHKB to test cables before I ship them, I have been making cables as per norm, but it's decided it doesn't want to live anymore. I have tested in excess of 600 mini USB cables on this board and even ones with issues have not caused issues with the board. I was testing a cable which worked first plug in, plugged it in a second time and it is now not working. The cable works flawlessly, so that's not the issue.

Anyone ever had this happen? I've had a look inside, nothing seems to have blown, no burn marks anywhere, so the pcb looks fine, any ideas? I'm sad, I don't want to loose my baby.

I had a friend bring it back from Japan around 8 months ago, I know PFU have 1 year parts and labour, how would I go about approaching this?

[SpAmRaY]

You did try another cable right?

[pexon]

I tried several others, my own, cheapo ones etc

[jorgenslee]

I am not an expert on this but have you check if the mini usb is the issue? Seeing that you have use this as a test subject for your cable, this might be the cause. I have a laptop cooler before that stop working because of a faulty mini usb due to tear and wear.

[jabar]

I would imagine the micro USB port wasn't intended for such throughput of pluggings. Does the port seem loose at all? Even if not, something could have happened to an internal solder joint over time.

International warranty support will likely take months to fix your HHKB.

[pexon]

Looks like getting it sent to PFU is out the question. I may solder a new female connection on it tomorrow when I'm back home. I really hope I can fix it, it's too much money and too epic of a keyboard to have dead. Good job I am having some poker and pure boards in that I can have as a spare for home use.

[Puddsy]

Like others have said, it's probably the connector.

[pexon]

Thanks dudes, I will have a go at soldering a new female connection on tomorrow. Fingers crossed that's all it is 

I have my other boards but muh Topre!

[Matt3o]

mini usb has a very low lifespan. Depending on type/quality even just 2-3000 cycles. It's a really flawed connector. Micro-usb that is smaller has 10 times the cycles of the mini-usb.

[hasu]

I believe PFU use reliable Hirose connector but not ever lasting, as Matt3o said. From Hirose datasheet Mini has 5,000 cycles duability and Micro has 10,000.

My Poker's Mini connector broke few days ago, it was bad contacts of connector, not solder joint. I think you may need new connector.

[adhoc]

What is a cycle when it comes to mini USB?

[jwaz]

What is a cycle when it comes to mini USB?

Plug/ unplug?

[adhoc]

Yeah thought as much, but it doesn't necessarily make sense why plug/unplug would be a cycle. I'd say more like a turn on/turn off. Doesn't matter, thanks for the answer.

[tuxsavvy]

Using HHKB as a "test bed" sure is not cheap. Have you also thought about making your own little USB -> mini USB cable tester?

On second thoughts hopefully if the issue with your mini USB port on your HHKB Pro 2 has been fixed. You could look at some alternatives in prolonging the life of the female mini USB socket by investing in some cheap "gender" changers.

Here is an example of what I mean:
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Mini-USB-2-0-5pin-Male-to-Female-M-F-Extension-Adapter-90-Degree-Left-Angled/955949375.html

It does not have to be that, it can be right angled, etc. Those adapters are cheap so if they wear out you can simply swap them for another one thereby eliminating the need to wear the female mini USB socket on your HHKB. It'll also look ugly but hey! at least you won't have to worry too much about wearing your HHKB Pro 2 out as much by having that cheap adapter plugged in constantly and using the other end of it to plug all your mini USB <-> USB cable needs.

[pexon]

Using HHKB as a "test bed" sure is not cheap. Have you also thought about making your own little USB -> mini USB cable tester?

I live on the edge, with a #YOLO frame of mind. An adapter is often used to test cables to avoid damage/wear to my boards. Ijust hope to **** it's only da female usb

[ZestMyu]

Will this be slowing down your cable production at all?
I was planning on ordering a few things soon.

[osi]

Using HHKB as a "test bed" sure is not cheap. Have you also thought about making your own little USB -> mini USB cable tester?

I live on the edge, with a #YOLO frame of mind. An adapter is often used to test cables to avoid damage/wear to my boards. Ijust hope to **** it's only da female usb

Why waste the time trying to repair and buy another one. #YOLO

[rowdy]

Using HHKB as a "test bed" sure is not cheap. Have you also thought about making your own little USB -> mini USB cable tester?

I live on the edge, with a #YOLO frame of mind. An adapter is often used to test cables to avoid damage/wear to my boards. Ijust hope to **** it's only da female usb

Why waste the time trying to repair and buy another one. #YOLO

These are somewhat expensive keyboards - spending $50 to repair it is less than 1/4 the purchase price for a replacement.

[osi]

This is true

[tuxsavvy]

Personally I would have gotten some sort of adapter to prevent excess wear and tear on the said socket. Though for about 600 cycles and if I were facing the same issue I probably would have looked at getting microUSB socket instead of mini USB or even just a big USB socket instead. Then for any tests run it through some cheap converter/adapter/gender changer.

[fourzeropooh]

Good luck, that sucks to have your $260 board break. But it looks like only the port is bust

[pexon]

I will be attempting the operation this afternoon, please wish me luck.

For those asking if this will halt cable manufacturing, its Christmas tomorrow, I won't be working, I need time off too. I will be back making cables on the 27th.

[adhoc]

Good luck!

[terran5992]

I will be attempting the operation this afternoon, please wish me luck.

For those asking if this will halt cable manufacturing, its Christmas tomorrow, I won't be working, I need time off too. I will be back making cables on the 27th.

Ill pray for your hhkb

[kyb]

Well, looks like it's time to replace the controller with a teensy

It's only around $20 and you get more functionality with it. It's what I would do if my HHKB would have stopped working. (Hell, I'll probably do this mod anyway.)

[pexon]

I AM A WINNER!

I FIXED IT!  I have so many emotions!  )

Pics of my operation to come! MERRY CHRISTMAS GUYS!!!  ) ) )

[riotonthebay]

I AM A WINNER!

I FIXED IT!  I have so many emotions!  )

Pics of my operation to come! MERRY CHRISTMAS GUYS!!!  ) ) )

Christmas cables for everyone!

Glad the fix worked

[pexon]

Maybe not looooll  Wish I could, but I'd be broke 

Merry Christmas dude, pexon is a happy man this year.

[adhoc]

Yaaay

[neunelfer]

Glad you were able to fix it 

[pexon]

Thanks so much dudes, I feel like a king  )

[dustinhxc]

I AM A WINNER!

I FIXED IT!  I have so many emotions!  )

Pics of my operation to come! MERRY CHRISTMAS GUYS!!!  ) ) )

Good to hear man! So you just had to re solder the usb port? or swap it with a replacement?

[pexon]

I had to remove the old one and replace it. Its super tight in the little daughter board, so I had to be very careful not to damage anything, I managed to do it without issues though

[dustinhxc]

I had to remove the old one and replace it. Its super tight in the little daughter board, so I had to be very careful not to damage anything, I managed to do it without issues though

Glad it worked! 

[taylordcraig]

Kudos to you. Merry Christmas, glad your board is back.

[pexon]

Kudos to you. Merry Christmas, glad your board is back.

my baby is back, have a great day man. I've just finished wrapping my gifts now I'm going to relax with several bottles of Leffe.

CHEERS! 

[adhoc]

Pexon would you be ready to do some kind of DIY guide how to fix this?

[pexon]

http://imgur.com/a/MNGiz 

[LONGZILLA]

Happy ending

[atlas3686]

Nice happy ending and a merrier Christmas.

[osi]

Clean!!

[fourzeropooh]

Where did you get the new USB port?

[Grendel]

Very nice. Should have replaced it w/ a micro USB port -- 10.000 insertion cycles. Mini USB connectors were deprecated in 2007/8 (!) in favor of micro USB for better reliability performance (ref.) I find it odd that they are still being used in new devices.

[adhoc]

http://imgur.com/a/MNGiz 

Nice! Where'd you get a second USB hub for HHKB? Also, where do you guys get these awesome looking key caps for HHKB?

[rowdy]

A happy Christmas story.

Good job, mate

[dustinhxc]

http://imgur.com/a/MNGiz 

Nice! Where'd you get a second USB hub for HHKB? Also, where do you guys get these awesome looking key caps for HHKB?

Elitekeyboards.com realforce topre sets (which aren't being produced again)

Nice images! Where did you get the new usb board?

[HoffmanMyster]

http://imgur.com/a/MNGiz 

Nice! Where'd you get a second USB hub for HHKB? Also, where do you guys get these awesome looking key caps for HHKB?

Elitekeyboards.com realforce topre sets (which aren't being produced again)

Nice images! Where did you get the new usb board?

He just soldered on a new USB port, didn't replace the whole board from the looks of it.

[dustinhxc]

http://imgur.com/a/MNGiz 

Nice! Where'd you get a second USB hub for HHKB? Also, where do you guys get these awesome looking key caps for HHKB?

Elitekeyboards.com realforce topre sets (which aren't being produced again)

Nice images! Where did you get the new usb board?

He just soldered on a new USB port, didn't replace the whole board from the looks of it.

Oh ok thats what I was thinking. So any MINI usb port would be equivalent right?

[fourzeropooh]

http://imgur.com/a/MNGiz 

Nice! Where'd you get a second USB hub for HHKB? Also, where do you guys get these awesome looking key caps for HHKB?

Elitekeyboards.com realforce topre sets (which aren't being produced again)

Nice images! Where did you get the new usb board?

He just soldered on a new USB port, didn't replace the whole board from the looks of it.

Oh ok thats what I was thinking. So any MINI usb port would be equivalent right?

Just solder each place together and it should work

[HoffmanMyster]

http://imgur.com/a/MNGiz 

Nice! Where'd you get a second USB hub for HHKB? Also, where do you guys get these awesome looking key caps for HHKB?

Elitekeyboards.com realforce topre sets (which aren't being produced again)

Nice images! Where did you get the new usb board?

He just soldered on a new USB port, didn't replace the whole board from the looks of it.

Oh ok thats what I was thinking. So any MINI usb port would be equivalent right?

Yeah, you'd just need to make sure you don't get one of the mini USB connectors that wouldn't mount to a PCB, though I don't know how common those would be anyway.  Typically the default mini USB port you'd find would be the one pictured here to replace on a PCB.