Rio Cali Disassembly and Internal Views

Introduction:

This tutorial was created to help people with the disassembly of the Rio Cali MP3 player and identification of some internal components. I am not an employee of Rio, Mouser, ALPS or any other company mentioned in this article. I own the Cali, Chiba and Nitrus MP3 players made by Rio and have posted this information so others can learn from my experiences.

Disclaimer: I cannot be held responsible for any damage to your player that may occur during disassembly, repair or assembly. You should NOT attempt this procedure unless you are willing to void any factory warranty which may apply. You should NOT attempt to disassemble your expensive MP3 player unless you are willing to end up with an expensive pile of scrap electronic parts. READ THE ENTIRE PROCEDURE FIRST! You SHOULD be aware of the proper procedures concerning anti-static protection. The components inside your MP3 player are very susceptible to damage if hit with a stray static charge. If you feel uncomfortable with any steps involved, seek the assistance of a nearby electronic hacker / nerd / tinkerer / expert.

Background:

A couple of months ago my daughter complained to me that her Cali didn't work right. The problem was that the volume '+' button wasn't working. Figuring that she had dropped it on that corner I knew that I could probably fix it myself. I took it from her and promised that I would look at it "soon". I kinda let it slide for a few weeks, mostly as a subtle lesson in teaching her some patience :). When I first attempted to get a lead on who the supplier was for the broken switch, I went directly to Rio. Rio headquarters is in Santa Clara, CA, which is close to where I work. I walked in off the street and asked the receptionist if there was anyone I could talk to in the technical support department. She looked quite surprised but called someone out to the lobby to see me. I told him my problem and asked him if he could give me any information on who the supplier was for the switch. He said that he might be able to get it for me but couldn't guarantee anything. I had assumed as much, but thanked him for his time. During the next few days I spent some time using Yahoo and Google to search the net for any manufacturers of surface mount or "SMD" switches. I finally nailed it down to about 6 different companies that were in that business. I separated the case and found that the broken switch was easily accessible. I saw that the metal frame that holds the button was loose. A piece of plastic at the back corner of the switch had broken and there would be no way I could simply glue it back together. I did find that I could trim a small piece of plastic away from the case near the negative battery connection and then I could access the switch while the battery cover was off. See Figure 1 below and look closely below the "coil" that is the battery connection and you will see a small, white piece. That's the '+' volume switch. With the metal frame holding the switch's button removed I can simply push "down" on the switch and it still worked. Anyway, I measured the switch using a dial caliper and through searching each of the 6 manufacturers web sites I determined that ALPS was most likely one. I contacted ALPS and asked for a free sample. (Some companies will provide samples to possible sales leads, and I work for a company that's in the semiconductor industry). The sales agent politely declined. I then asked if they could sell me one (1) switch. I was told that their store policy is a minimum $50 order and that they could sell me 40 switches! Needless to say I said that I would try to find them on my own. A few minutes spent with Yahoo searches yielded a link to the Mouser site. As of now (9/2004), Mouser does not have any minimum order price.

Disassembly:

Remove the battery cover, battery and any SD/MMC memory card. There should be a small label with the unit's serial number near the edge of the battery cover. Remove the label and underneath you will find a small Phillips screw. Remove the screw.

The second step is to carefully pry apart the shell of the Cali. There are several 'tabs' around the Cali's case which keep the two halves together. I have marked the outside of mine with dots so you can see where they are:

Starting from the battery compartment area, you can put a small flat-bladed screwdriver into the rectangular slot just below the screw in Figure 1 and pry the pieces apart just far enough to put a fingernail or small screwdriver between the two halves. Work AWAY from the volume switch (i.e towards the USB port), until you get to the first tab as seen on the left side of Figure 5.

When you get to the areas where the tabs are, a little more extra effort is needed to release the tabs. The first time I did it, I thought I broke the plastic tab. It should come apart without breaking; just be sure that you DO NOT try to push the tab inward. Once you get the tab near the USB port apart, keep an eye on the battery '+' contact inside the battery compartment. Insure that it works itself free as you go around prying the case apart. Continue to work around the case past the headphone jack, power switch, lock switch and the volume control switches. Once you have the case apart, you should see this:

If you are having a problem with the volume '+' switch, like I did, you can easily get to it at this point. Simply remove the plastic volume control rocker by lifting up (there's two small pins on either side of it that enables it to pivot. If on the other hand, you are having problems with volume '-', 'lock' or 'power' switches then you are going to need to separate the two printed circuit boards. Refer to Figure 7, below. Remove the small Phillips screw where indicated. You do not have to remove the 'lock' or 'power' buttons on the opposite side of the case from where the screw is.

Once you remove the screw, carefully pull the board straight up and you will have this:

Be very careful on how you handle this board! You have the Cali's internal flash memory loose on your hand! A static discharge onto the board can fry your memory! Also, extreme care is required in the area of the connector that mates the two PC boards together. The small pins are delicate and if you bend any of them out of position, when you try to push the boards back together, you can cause more damage or problems (broken pins or pins shorted together).

Through relentless pursuit via web searches, and with absolutely no help from Rio, I believe that I have found the manufacturer and a source of ordering replacement volume control and lock switches:

Assembly:

If you have separated the two PC boards, then you should follow this procedure when putting everything back together:

• Place the 'lock' slide into position with the "U" cutout facing up so that when the boards are mated together, the switch on the board slides down into the "U". See the picture below:
  
  If you're still confused on this point, simply lay this piece into the half of the case containing the face of the player and then mate the two boards to each other. If you have put this piece in upside down, then the boards will not easily go together.
• Drop the board straight down being very careful to align the white connectors to each other.
• Re-attach the screw that holds the two boards together.
• Place the volume control rocker into position on the 'front' side of the case. Refer to Figure 6.
• Begin snapping the case back together starting at the volume control rocker. Make sure that the pin on the rocker is in alignment with the hole before pressing the case together.
• Work your way in reverse order around the case past the 'lock' and 'power' switches, headphone jack, and USB port, pressing the case together. Again watch out for the '+' battery terminal.
• Finally replace the screw inside the battery compartment, re-install any SD/MMC card, and the battery.