[ICOM] IC-W2A failure

[Bruce]

Ok..this could be bad news for your W2A's..I have 
one here that I was repairing and can't finish because of the following..
There is a 5 volt regulator IC on the logic pca 
that has probably gone bad..I don't remember it's 
IC# but is hooked up to Vcc always
so it keeps the CPU alive but low power state 
until the power button is pushed..
I replaced this Regulator IC and then I attached 
DC power I found the radio still would not turn 
on but the Tx LED was lit..this is a sign
that one of the CPU's has been damaged from too 
high a voltage AND now the bummer..the CPU IC is no longer
available and Icom has had no stock for many years now..
I am afraid your W2A may be a paper weight now....
Sorry for the bad news if that turns out to be the problem..
Bruce
At 02:10 PM 5/18/2009, you wrote:
>Good Afternoon, I have two Icom IC-W2As that 
>have failed in the same way. One a while back 
>that I shelved, and another that failed again 
>today in the same way.  After plugging in the 
>BC-77A wall charger into the radio's DC power 
>jack, the radio will no longer turn on.  Even 
>once the cord is unplugged, the radio will not 
>turn on. The battery is good and has a full 
>charge from a rapid charger. The radio worked 
>fine before plugging in the charger. If I take 
>my bench variable power supply and set it to 7v, 
>then connect clip leads to the radio's battery 
>terminals, the radio still will not power on.  
>Â  However, when the BC-77A charger is plugged 
>into the radio, I do see a DC voltage at the 
>terminals which I'm guessing would charge an 
>attached battery. The connections at the DC 
>power jack are fine. Looking at the schematic, I 
>see that the +DC line is fed into some sort of 
>protection/limiting/charging circuit which is 
>located on a sub-pc assembly where the battery 
>terminals are located. I am measuring +DC into 
>this board, and the regulated/protected "Vcc" 
>12v voltage is leaving this assembly and being 
>fed to the main logic unit. Evidently, something 
>is preventing the CPU from starting (powering 
>on) the radio.  I thought I heard that this was 
>a common failure mode for this model/series HT 
>years ago when it was popular.   A call to 
>Icom amateur support wasn't worth the time 
>involved. Unless you are calling with a simple 
>user problem, they don't offer much support. You 
>can't even speak to someone who does component 
>level repairs anymore!   Has anyone here on 
>the list troubleshooted a similar failure in the 
>IC-W2A series radios before, and have any 
>suggestions?   Or seen this failure mode 
>before? Thanks Eric KE2D ---- Your Moderator: 
>Dick Flanagan K7VC: icom-owner at mailman.qth.net 
>Icom Users Net: Sundays, 1700Z, 14.316 MHz Icom 
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