Fixing a broken boombox

Catherine‘s Insignia CD Boombox with FM Radio Model: NS-BIPCD01 (CD-player/iPod dock thingy) just stopped working. The traces on the power connector broke when it got bumped. It was a bit of a bear to open up. I was going to submit this to iFixit, but their editor is horrid.

You will need:

  1. Phillips #0 screwdriver
  2. Phillips #1 screwdriver
  3. Nice thick guitar pick.

Insignia-NS-BIPCD01-opening1Underneath the device, peel off the two sticky feet next to the product label at (1). Underneath are #1 Phillips screws you should remove. These are countersunk, and should be kept separate from the other screws.

Insignia-NS-BIPCD01-opening2At (2), peel off the sticky covers and remove the #1 screws.

Open the CD door, and remove the #1 screws near the top at (3).

Remove the #0 screws in the handle at (4). We’ve accounted for all the screws holding the case together, but there are a couple of clips we’ll need to work on.

Starting from near the top of the handle, pry the two halves of the case apart with the guitar pick. There’s an insert in the handle which will fall out; keep it aside.

At (5) and at (6), there are clips inside the case which you’ll need to press on with the guitar pick to get them open. They’re quite fragile, and I broke two out of four. If you do break them, make sure the loose bits don’t rattle about the case.

The case should slip apart now, and there are several short cables connecting buttons, displays and power supplies. If you lay the box on its back (with the iPod dock uppermost) you can set the top of the case up on the main circuit board. This will allow you to get at the power/audio board, which is secured by two large-flange #0 screws.

2014-03-15-131248… and there’s the problem: the power trace (the lower of the three near the middle of the picture) has cracked. I re-soldered it, and also ran jumper wires between the pins. If this cracks again, the jumpers will be much more robust.