Tonight when I got home and tried to pull my Rio Car out of the harness in the car, it didn't want to come out. I tugged at it a bit (carefully) to see if it had just gotten a bit stuck but it wouldn't budge. So I got a pliers and pulled the harness out a bit and *carefully* tried to loosen it away from the harness while trying to pull it loose when it very abruptly and all at once popped out. Now it appears one of the screws on the car jack pulled out and the jack is VERY loose against the back of the Empeg.

Now I'm afraid to plug it back in not just because I don't know if it'll come back out again, but I don't want to catch anything on fire in case the jack actually pulled itself loose from the inside boards and there are bare wires flapping about.

I've read the FAQ entry on this, but it only mentions MkI units having a problem, where this is a Rio Car, bought around the beginning of this year after the big price plunge. It also seems like it was the actual plug sticking for me, not the harness. I have never had any trouble with it going in or coming out before.

I pull it out every evening when I get home and plug it back in when I leave for work the next morning. I can only suspect that, because I live in Florida, maybe the plug in the harness got a little soft in the heat and "sealed" itself around the jack on the empeg unit when I plugged it in this morning?? Except that it hasn't really been so stifling hot yet this year and we've had hotter days than today without my having this problem...

I'm not sure what my next step is. (At least I still have my "backup" MkII in case I have to send this one in.)

Read the (oddly recent) ``Empeg getting harder to pull out'' thread over in General.

Ugh. That sounds like the same thing that bit me. There's definitely a screw missing, but it doesn't look like anything sheared off or stripped itself loose. (The hole it should go in doesn't have any little metal crumbs or anything hanging off as if a screw were pulled out...)

So does that mean the empeg should be ok if I put another screw in?

I'm *very* nervous about plugging it back in and smelling that lovely tang of burning electronics.

I'm perfectly capable of opening it up and checking it out, but I'm not sure what to look for, other than things that have obviously come loose and are flapping about.

You shouldn't have to open the player to replace that screw. It you can't find the screw, I think you should contect empeg support and see if they can send you one. It is somewhat special. Only half the screw is threaded.

Since the entire docking connector was pulled, it will have pulled all the wires together meaning that if anything worked loose, it would probably be the connector on the board, rather than any individual wires going into it.

If you can't find the screw, let me know and I'll get a replacement to you.

Even if wires have pulled out, you'd be very unlucky for it to start smoking. If you want to open it up to check, please email me with your serial number and wait for me to confirm first so that your warranty stays valid.

In any case, since as far as I'm concerned, the screws were loose from the factory, any damage casued by the docking connector pulling out would be under warranty.

Thanks for responding David; your words are very encouraging that I might be able to just plug a plug back in and get back on the road! I found the screw today. It looks find - no stripped threads or anything.

The serial number of this unit is 030102205.

In reply to:

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your words are very encouraging that I might be able to just plug a plug back in and get back on the road!

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I just had that problem, and indeed, that was all it was.

I just had that problem, and indeed, that was all it was.

Okay, I think I'll update the FAQ entry on this subject again.

I'll just mention that my RioCar MKIIa also had this problem I found the screw in the box when opening it... and after putting the unit in the car, it was very hard to get out. Then I realized where the screw belonged

Marius