need help with 'fix clock' problem...

F Young fyimail at gmail.com
Sun May 23 23:16:02 EDT 2010


Hello!

I purchased the very first versions of the XO laptop through the "buy
one give one" program in 2007. Although we used several right away and
they worked without any problems...we stored 6 of them away and
recently discovered that none of the screens turn on when powering up.
It appears to be the "fix clock" problem and since I live in
Kyrgyzstan it is too expensive to ship back to the US to get them
repaired. I would like to try to fix this myself but it would be great
if I can get more specific instructions for the following (from
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Fix_Clock):

"Using an OLPC serial adapter, connect the laptop to your personal
laptop. On the laptop's motherboard, the serial adapter should be
connected to J1. J1 is a small white connector near the wireless
module."

Since I am not familiar with computer hardware at all, here are my questions:

(1) Can you tell me specifically which OLPC serial adapter to buy if I
do NOT want to solder any wires? It would be ideal if you could send
me a link where I can purchase the exact serial adapter online.

(2) I understand that the OLPC serial adapter must be connected to the
"J1 Serial Port" on the XO's motherboard but I am not sure what kind
of cable is required and how to connect the serial adapter to this
port...Can you send me a photo which illustrates how to connect the
serial adapter to the J1 Serial Port? (It would also be good if you
can include a link to where I can buy the specific cable online.)

Thanks in advance for your help! We want to start training local Kyrgz
kids here but we're surprised when many of these new XO laptops could
not boot up.



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