"USB Connected" always when charging

[Besmertnee]

Hi
I have what appears to be the same problem as min_falcon Charging problem, though it works OK with the iriver ext. battery pack (under certain conditions, see below). I am hesitant to try Zall's Fixed H320 Always connected prob because it appears that this may decrease battery life and/or I will be required to short the USB leads every time I want to charge my H340.

Symptoms:
* Can't use player while charging via iriver charger, get "USB Connected" message
* Battery life has gone to heck. When charging is reported as "Complete" and the battery icon
shows full, will still discharge overnight even when not in use
* When using the iriver ext. battery pack, with low charge batteries (5.04V) the H340
reports "Charging" and it can be played at the same time, but when charging is complete
the internal battery's capacity is no better than when charged via the iriver charger
* According to my voltmeter, the iriver charger is outputting 5.44V
* Using the ext. battery back with fully charged batteries (5.4V and higher) gives me the same
problem as using the charger
* Before I created this problem, battery life was fine. My player is around 2 years old and not
used very often, mainly just when travelling.

Fixes tried:
* Reset button
* Reformat HDD
* Turned "USB Charging" to "Off"
* Using F/W H340 VER 1.29J

I'd like to fix this so that I can use the H340 connected to the car stereo, wired into the car's power (correctly this time) and with the display always on.

I realise I may have fried the charging IC and/or battery but am asking in case there is another answer before I invest time and money into trying to replace the battery and IC.

This problem occurred after Stupid Me used an incorrect charger, the "JBL On Tour" power supply which has the wrong pin polarity and output is rated at 6.0V, 1.0 A. I was overseas when this happened, trying to cut down on the number of chargers I had to carry, I only had it connected for a short while before I realised my mistake and when it didn't work I continued to charge it via the USB connection and a USB charging device. This worked fine but the charge didn't last long. When I got home I reverted to using the iriver charger and that was when I noticed the problem.

Before I try Zall's fix, I'd ask if anyone else has seen this problem and if it is perhaps indicative of another issue. I wonder about this because I noted on the Rockbox forums that battery charge parameters seem to be able to be altered via the F/W or S/W, and this problem seems related to the voltage being provided externally. I'm hesitant to try Zall's solution in case this will decrease battery life as has been reported by some (mine was fine before) and another fix may put things all back to normal (inc. restoring my battery life).

Also, am I correct in understanding that once you use Zall's fix you always will have to short the USB pins?

Thanks for your patience and any help.

Besmertnee.