I think my box is dead

[outkasted1]

My VW Phatbox decided to quit playing the other night. Upon inspection I noticed moisture it the hard drive slot but the HD reads on the PC fine. I also tried the original HD that came with it to test to see if it could read that, both are not reading. Head unit says NO CD solid redlight and blinking indefinate green. So am I basically SOL? These things are discontinued so looks like I may have to go with a Zune or Ipod and a RF adapter.

[outkasted1]

A little more clarification. On bootup with both disks when I connect the box up to the car I get a slow blinking green light for about 4-5 flashes, a pause then the everlasting rapid flash.

[Firefox]

Link to some blink codes.....
http://forum.phathack.com/index.php/topic,1391.0.html

[sbingner]

Do you get anything in a bootload.log?  Does your DMS work in a computer?

[outkasted1]

I saw the blink codes thing. As far as bootlog, I forgot what the status was. I know when I went to reflash it it was unsuccessful because it wasnt reading the drive. Both my original and hacked drives both read in the cradle on my PC, but in the box itself they dont even seem to get accessed. I am pretty sure the box is fubared. I found the reason for moisture too. My sunroof drain got clogged and it just happened to be the spot where they was a very light drip going onto the unprotected phatbox. Reason it was unprotected is because I took the casing off so it could fit in the CD changer slot without having to cut up anything for it to fit. So now its time to find a new box without accessories for fairly cheap, and hope it works.

[VorTechS]

Well, perhaps I can help you out there.... I picked up a VW box the other day.  I've still got to get it tested though....

[sbingner]

You could open it up and look for obvious reasons it's FUBAR too... ie, corrosion shorting a circuit.  If you find it and clean that off (not using water) -- it may work again.  You could also test that the ribbon cable is properly seated and the switch that detects the DMS is getting pushed.

[outkasted1]

I had it out of the casing and in the cubby hole in the car so it was already open. I dont see any visible damage to the boards or anything. I am just thinking something shorted out on the board causing it to stop reading the disk. I never realized how spoiled I was until I had to start using CDs again.