Rio Chiba Disassembly and Internal Views

Introduction:

This tutorial was created to help people with the disassembly of the Rio Chiba 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:

After I took apart my Cali and posted the information, I got curious as to what was in my Chiba. Thus, this page was born.

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, or simply cut away the part of the label that covers the small Phillips screw. Remove the screw.

The second step is to carefully pry apart the shell of the Chiba. There are several 'tabs' around the Chiba'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 one of the rectangular slots near 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 TOWARD the volume switches, until you get to the first tab as seen in Figure 5.

When you get to the areas where the tabs are, a little more extra effort may be needed to release the tabs. What works for me is to insert a small screwdriver into the crack and "twist" the halves apart. Continue to work around the case past the power switch, headphone jack and USB port until you have the case apart.

Lift off the back side of the case, making sure you clear the battery connections. This is what you will see when you remove the case:

Like the Cali, the Chiba internals consists of two printed circuit boards which are mated together through the use of a small connector. However, instead of a small screw holding them tight, the Chiba has a piece of double-sided tape underneath the area where the SD/MMC card is inserted.

Referring to Figure 8, pry up the corner of the 'memory' board where the connector is, by using a small screwdriver. Be very careful on how far and how hard you insert the screwdriver past the edge of the board; you do not want to damage the very tiny pins on the connector. When you have separated the connector, continue to lift up the board up until you have removed the adhesive pad from one of the 'chips'.

Be very careful on how you handle this board! You have the Chiba'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).

As you can see in Figure 9, this is a 128MB Chiba (it's missing the second flash memory on the right side of the picture). One of these days I'm going to try to install another memory device and see if I can turn it into a Chiba 256MB! There are no other important (or easily replaceable) components on this 'memory' board so let's turn our attention to the getting the 'main' board loose.

Looking at Figures 10 and 11, first remove the small Phillips screw. You will see that the black strip of plastic that encircles the case can be detached by pulling up and outward next to the battery '-' connection and USB port.

Continue to peel back the strip of plastic past the USB port and headphone jack. When you get to the area where the connector is, you will see a small piece of plastic that holds the board down. Using a small screwdriver, pry the black plastic strip out until the tab allows the board to lift up and out of the case (Figures 12 and 13).

Once again, be careful on how you handle this board! Proper anti-static handling procedures MUST be followed, otherwise you may end up with a fried MP3 player.

Figure 14 shows the 'front' side of the main board. Here is where you can get access to the 'Menu', 'Volume +' and 'RioStick' switches.

Figure 15 is a close-up of the front side showing the 'Riostick', 'Menu' and 'Volume +' switches.

Figure 16 shows the 'back' side of the main board. The 'Power', 'Lock', and 'Volume -' switches are located on this side.

As I have explained on the Cali information page, I have found a source for replacement volume, power, lock, RioStick and menu switches.

Assembly:

• Assuming that you have taken the 'main' board out of its case, begin by placing the edge of the board containing the switches in first (see Figure 13).
• Drop the 'main' board down into the case, while at the same time pulling the black plastic strip slightly outward.
• Make sure the 'main' board is fully seated into the case. Replace the black plastic strip over the USB port and headphone jack.
• Re-attach the screw that holds the 'main' board down inside the case.
• Carefully reconnect the 'memory' board back to the 'main' board by aligning the connectors between the two boards and gently pushing straight down.
• Press on the area where the adhesive pad is located to insure that the 'memory' board is sticking to the 'main' board.
• Begin snapping the case back together starting at the USB port and headphone jack.
• Work your way in reverse order around the case past the 'power', 'lock' and volume switches.
• Finally replace the screw inside the battery compartment, re-install any SD/MMC card, and the battery.