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Hi, I'm new to both Archos products and this forum. I was just wandering if any owners have ever received a reply from Archos?
After owning various less well known media players such as a Mobinote DP7010 and Mustek H-140, I decided to go for an Archos 705 wifi. There are several stockists on the net selling these at reduced prices, presumeably because the newer series 5 & 7 are being pushed. I bought my 705 from a German company via Amazon for £106 including free postage. It was advertised as an 'exhibition' item, i.e. 'used' but arrived in the original packaging with all the accessories still bagged. A bargain I thought!
Then I discovered that many of the advanced functions rely on the product being registered with Archos online and plugins being purchased. I created an account, typed in my product key and serial number, only to be informed that the product key had already been registered. So now I can't register it or contact customer support as the new owner because I don't have a registered product, catch 22 situation! To add insult to injury I had already ordered a Gen 5 DVR docking station. Again, to use the programme guide etc the player requires the plugins from Archos.
I've since solved the plugin problem by purchasing these from Ebay. After using the 705 on battery power I have discovered that the battery has a very poor running time. I guess this is a result of buying a 'used' player. so it looks like my next purchase will be a 10200 mah battery pack.
Despite the hiccups, it's far more useable than my previous units and I'm going to stick with it.

I cant help you w/ the registration but I can say the battery life is not so hot. My 705 was a display model and I get about 1.5 to hours video time w/ mine. Its advertised at 4 hours for video, but other users say they get less. Let me know where you are getting your battery. The one I ordered arrived damaged and did not work so I returned it.

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504/605/705

Should not be a problem. I purchased a refurbished unit and had the same registration issue. I simply called Archos and explained the situation. They removed the previous registration from their database and then I went back in and everything went fine.
I definitely suggest calling versus the email route. I believe I got the number off their support page.
As far as the battery try this: Drain it until the unit shuts down. Plug it in and power it up. Go to standby mode where the power and charge light remain on. Leave it charge until the charge light flashes. This may take quite awhile.

I'm going to run a controlled test on my battery this morning. I've run the player on battery until it shuts down. I now have it on charge. I have a feeling it takes about 1.25 hours to charge (until light flashes) and only runs for 0.5 hour in movie mode, even with the screen brightness set to minimum! Not very useful as a portable device. I have noticed that when using the device online the battery indicator will happily sit showing three bars. I guess there is minimal hard drive activity in this mode. When watching a recorded movie, the indicator quickly drops to one bar when the hard drive is operating. I'll let you know how I get on with the new extender battery when it arrives.

As a side issue, is the server that supplies the TV programme guide updates 'down'? My 705 tries to update, but shows a -10 update error. I see there have been problems with this function in the past.

has your 705 improved its battery life w/ a few full charges?

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504/605/705

When charging the 705 directly from the wall adaptor (no DVR) it currently takes 55 minutes for before the CHG light begins to flash. If I then play a movie, with the back light brightness set to minimum, I get one hours play time! If I ignore the charge light and allow it to stay on charge for longer, I appear to get that much more playing time. So not sure if my battery is past it because the units been on a shelf with a flat battery between owners or simply because it's not been charged before!

Well my 10200mah battery pack arrived. I ordered it on Amazon and it took a while to arrive because it was shipped from HK. That wasn't stated in the ad. After an initial overnight charge directly from the 705's wall adaptor (it does not fit the docking station with the big battery installed), I managed to watch 5.5 hours of movies and the battery indicator was still showing three bars.
The pack has a thin alloy casing attched by small screws in keeping with the original Archos styling, however this one is a darker shade of grey being intended for the 704. I read that some users have noticed these type of pack expands with use. I to have noticed a gap appearing between the casing and the actual cell on the inner edge where there are no screws. The cell itself looked slightly swollen when it arrived. I just hope it's part of the manufacturing process and that it's not about to explode!

So to summarise, for £27 I now have double the battery life, but I cannot use my docking station to record!

I've also just picked up a 2GB 405 on Ebay and I'm currently having fun with what seems to be a counterfiet 32SD card.....................but that's another story / new posting.

Cant you also get the "Cheese" cheaper from a certain user here and not worry about used product key?

I purchased two new 705 wifi 4/2009 from Amazon.com (USA). One works well, the other died in early June. They sent me a replacement 8/2009. Product key already taken. I sent email and called the company before things were straighten out. I hope you kept your receipt because you will need it for the next year. Don't give up. They must be repairing these things and reshipping to other people. My replacement has a battery life of almost an hour, if I am lucky. Do not waste your money on podcast or webtv. Good luck

"So to summarise, for £27 I now have double the battery life, but I cannot use my docking station to record!"

You have to 'trim' the plastic saddle then it fits perfectly. There are some posts showing this (probably now on Youtube)

Keep an eye on the battery, some look swollen from new, but they are ok.

In regards to the battery issue. I just bought a new battery that says it has overcharge protection. Does this mean I can leave my 705 plugged in all the time and not worry about it overcharging and killing the battery? The battery that came with the unit drained very quickly as mentioned with other posts and the only thing I can pin it on is I left the unit plugged in all the time and there was no overcharge protection with the original battery thus frying the battery.

The A705 battery unit has two small chips inside which give under & over charge protection. Unfortunately for some reason, this was ineffective. Result was many 'fried' batteries.

As I said, all 705 batteries have this, and can all be described as having overcharge protection.

I see no reason for this one you mention to be any different, in fact I would guess 99% it's the same. So, unless you really must keep the A705 on constant charge, then disconnect it when done. I even remove my battery when I'm not using it for some time (something A605 users bet they wish they could do).

These batteries will probably get quite hard to source in the future, so I would look after mine.