White Screen Of Death

[Infornography]

In case anyone had my problem like last night, I documented it:

Defect: UNRESPONSIVE WHITE SCREEN UPON BOOT
Unit: Cowon A3
Firmware: V1.23
Modifications: Custom Boot Screen

[Symptoms]: Unit is working fine with custom boot for months. Unit is working fine with firmware 1.23. Plugged in unit to powered usb port ( front ) but the AC Adaptor is not plugged into the unit. Left on to transfer the files. Approximately 4-5 Hours later, the unit is unplugged from the USB and turned off. Approximately 5-6 Hours later on trying to power on the device, a white screen appears. All buttons are unresponsive. No sound can be heard from the HD. No Boot logo is seen. No 'X' icon ( regarding hard drive or other hardware failure ) is seen. The only way to turn off the device is to press the 'Reset' button. Upon turning on the device again, the unit hits a white screen. Trying to plug in the device via USB doesn't show any response either on the computer or the device. Plugging in the A3 just leaves the white screen on indefinetly, no response.

[Solution]: To fix the white screen of Death you need to completely drain the battery. Leave the white screen of death on and in a couple of hours the battery will kill it. Plug it into the AC adaptor and charge it from there. DO NOT TRY AND CHARGE IT FROM THE USB ( don't think it'll work anyway. ) You should see the boot logo again. Run chkdsk on the drive to be absolutely sure. Now pray and thank your god(s).

[Nodnol]

Nice fix Infornography - perhaps a sticky thread needs to be set up for user work arounds to problems on the A3.

[whateverman]

Wow, I'd be shitting my pants if something like this would happen to my baby.

Thanks for the update !

+1 for the sticky.

[camtheman2005]

haha lol, yea this happened to my player when i first got it, it was screwed for a couple days so i left it and was about to send it back when all of a sudden it was working again.

[elviselvis]

this happened to me too with firmware 1.21

[mogbert]

I might be wrong, but I thought it only charged from the USB if the Hold switch was on when you plugged it in. I don't thing that it is charging while you are transferring files or when it is in transfer mode.

[joejoe_s]

Hi,

I'm having the same problem mentioned above.
I tried to drain the battery out, and indeed after approx. 1 hour the screen got turned off.
As I connected the device to the power adapter, the white screen was simply lit on again, and turned off as soon as I disconnected it.

Any ideas? I'd rather find a simple solution than send it someplace abroad...

[AustinSooner]

can't address this issue... but on my X5 I had an issue where it wouldn't charge and what I did was hit the "reset" button while it was plugged into the power. And then I just left it alone for 24 hours.

Something to try.

[cjcox]

I sometimes get the half white (inverted) screen after a FULL charge. Just a bit of drain fixes that one.

[joejoe_s]

Originally Posted by AustinSooner

can't address this issue... but on my X5 I had an issue where it wouldn't charge and what I did was hit the "reset" button while it was plugged into the power. And then I just left it alone for 24 hours.

Something to try.

Just tried it, and it didn't work.
I'm trying to charge it again for a while to see what happens, though I'm pretty sure I'm screwed.
And Jeff from Cowon America customer's support wasn't much of a help either...

Please guys, if you have any other ideas, I would extremely appreciate it.

[zaphanathpaneah]

Thanks for the update. Tried it and it worked

[NNK]

Looks like I have the same problem, but draining the battery and/or resetting the player white it is plugged in did not work for me either. and I only had my A3 for one day.

[joejoe_s]

Hi,

Since the last time I checked my A3 unit it had the WSoD problem, and draining the battery didn't work. That was a week ago.
Since then, I didn't do much with my unit (I tried for 2-3 days to drain the battery and then charge it, but to no avail.), and I'm very happy to report that it is now working properly.
I connected it to the charger, and after one blink of white screen, the red led lit up, and pressing the power button simply turned it on normally.
I have no idea how the problem occurred in the first place, and there might be a serious fault in these units, and I will replace it if this happens again, however, I'm happy to announce that the immediate solution to this problem is simply time.
If you have the same problem and it's problematic for you to replace the unit immediately, simply drain the battery and wait a few days. Don't touch it, just wait. After about a week or so try do what I did.

[nikolaic]

Sigh…my unit arrived with the same defect. Unfortunately it was shipped from America to Europe, so I’m desperately trying to see if there is anything I can do before I spend another $50 just to send it back.
Whenever it is connected to power (either AC or through USB), the screen turns white, but the unit is otherwise unresponsive. When it isn’t connected to power, the screen is off, and it still doesn’t respond to any of the buttons. So, while I’m not sure if there is any charge in the unit, as I can’t switch it on I can’t drain the battery. Nor can I update the firmware, since isn’t detected when connected via USB.
Is there anything I can do with this brick?

[joejoe_s]

If you will look trough my previous post, you should keep it in the drawer for 1 week, then try to connect it to the AC adapter once again.
That sort of solved my problem. If your player's screen lights up even when it's not connected to the adapter, make sure you turn it on and let the battery drain (when the screen is turned off, the battery is drained).