Cobalt 2 not powering on

[deeper thoughts]

Contacted the dealer and they sent the computer back to Atomic(4 months old)

The problem is with the magnets that activate the buttons

 

[RonR]

Can you give a little more information about the circumstances? The Cobalt 2 should always be able to be reset by holding down the SELECT and BACK buttons for 11 seconds or more. If the Cobalt 2 gets a completely dead battery, for instance, this may be necessary to restart the computer- after charging the battery a bit, that is. If the buttons or switches were not working that might prevent the Cobalt from starting- particularly if it were the SELECT button.


You mention a problem with the magnets. The Cobalt 2 is now shipping with magnets that are totally encapsulated to prevent corrosion, something that happened in some Cobalt 1’s. If Atomic found a problem with your magnets in the buttons I’m sure that is what they will replace your keypad with.

Ron

 

[deeper thoughts]

The power button would not activate the computer. The battery life was about 90 pct. the dealer looked at it and was able to get it to work when the the cover was off with another magnet. The power magnet was very worn and possibly corroded

I will see what they find,thnx

 

[RonR]

That makes sense- kudos to your dealer for trying another magnet. I know Atomic now has kits they can supply to dealers that contain replacement magnets in case they come across corroded ones. If the Select button is corroded the Cobalt won't power on- though in a pinch another one of the magnets could be substituted in the button- you can dive without the UP or DOWN, but not without Select. With the current encapsulated magnets this should be a problem we will no longer see.

Ron

 

[Dr. Lecter]

Weren't all of the Cobalt 2s supposed to have encapsulated magnets, given this was a well-known issue with the Cobalt 1s long before the Cobalt 2 release?

 

[kerrycorcoran]

My Cobalt 1 has worked flawlessly. Knock on wood! Hope your 2 returns in solid working order.

 

[RonR]

Correct, they have always been encapsulated in some fashion- the difference with what is now being done is that it's a machine process that encapsulates them in thermoplastic, previously it was a manual procedure that was more subject to error.

The difficulty was to develop a molding process that would not subject the magnets to so much heat that they lost their magnetism. The magnets are very small, so they heat rapidly. Cobalt 2's have been shipping with these newly manufactured magnets, but it is possible that the OP got some of the earlier ones. In reality, this was mostly a problem with early Cobalt 1's, the failure rate of the buttons in recent years of production has been very low as procedures had been well refined. But any time there is potential for human error, there will be some failures, and Atomic is trying to minimize that.

Ron