0. Disclaimer
I hereby disclaim any responsibility for what happens to your N10 or CF card. As far as I
know, the information stated in this document is correct, but if you demolish
your N10 by using this howto in any way, you're on your own.
This modification will probably void the warranty on your N10.
1. Introduction
It seems to be a commonly known problem that when you insert some CF-card-peripherals
(at least the Asus WL-110 WLAN card) the N10n hard-resets. This problem seems to
originate at both the card and the N10 itself: as soon as the card is inserted
it demands for s very short time a quite large amount of current. The N10 power
supply can't give it that and the whole system browns out and hard-resets. In
this howto we'll be inserting a condensator into the power supply, which'll hold
enough power to let the CF card start without the N10 power supply browning out.
2. Needed stuff
You'll need:
- The N10, already taken apart. See Torsten Duwes tutorial somewhere else on this site.
- Wires. Standard signalling wires are OK.
- A soldering iron. The smaller the better. Anything over 30W (non-regulated) is a definate no-no.
- Various stuff. A sharp knife, screwdrivers, pliers etc.
- A capacitor. At least 3.6V, at least 100uF. The capacity may be less, but the only
thing I tried is 100uF, and that worked, but could be overkill. A smd condensator is preferred
btw, there's not much room in the N10.
3. Putting it all together
Two points carrying +3.3V and GND can be found at CN2, which is found on the position of the
compact-flash-slot but on the other side of the PCB. It's possible you'll have to remove
some black tape-like stuff to properly see it. The pinout is:
(Click for a larger image)
If you use a SMD capacitor, it'll look like this:
The positive side is the one with the thick, in this case gray, line (left side in the pic).
This particular one can handle 10V, but any voltage above 3.6V should be OK.
The positive side of the capacitor needs to be connected to one of the +3.3V-points of CN2, the
negative to one of the GND-points, like this:
The best place for the capacitor I found is right next to the LED. You'll only need
a few cm of wire to put it there. If you've soldered everything right, it should look
like this:
Make sure that when you close the case the wires don't get trapped between the case and the LED or the
power button. Try it out, and if everything is correct, your N10 won't reset
if you insert the card.
© 2004 Jeroen Domburg
