Database Users

main board problem? please tell me its not.

hi! i have a dopod 838 pro. and it suddenly cant turn on. i was just texting then it went buggy (hanging up) then i did a soft reset then all of a sudden it didnt turn on. i was charging it at that time.
the phone never got wet, was never dropped. i installed the official wm 6.1 rom and it had been running for more than two weeks so i dont think the problem was the ROM. battery is good since i still get two days of battery.
i have tried hard resets, used the usb connector to power the phone up. i had this sent to the authorized htc service center, they tried another batt and charger but still nothing. i was told to leave it for 4 to 5 days...and after the wait i was told that the main board is the problem. and replacement is not an option since it would cost me twice the price of a second hand unit.
this was an observation: when i remove the battery and connect it to the charger, LED is red then it disappears when i replace the battery. no amber going.
is there still a fix for this? the service center does not perform any board level repairs. if this is a battery connector problem then a little soldering might fix it right? i hope i can still revive this. thanks!
a little help please! more power to this forum. thanks!
gab

The Hermes mainboard is a multilevel board. If the problem is a broken connector inside the mb then theres no hope. So saying, look at the connectors. If you see a break you can resolder and maybe have a bit more life yet.
Cheers...

ditto ultramag69.
Breaks in the connections below the board surface are virtual death to the motherboard. you could in theory put in jumper wires but you'd need detailed circuit diagrams and suitable solder points. However it may just be the surface connections of the battery connector block and these can be re-soldered. Here's a pic of the board with the block de-soldered;
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However, before going to re-solder you could just check it's not a poor contact between connector and battery (I doubt it is, but you never know). To test this out try this:
You could also press on the connector a little while you power on. if this worked you could be fairly sure it's either the soldered connections or a crack internally.
Now if all of the above fails, you need to be aware that it could be a number of other things. A fault in the usb connector or damaged connections on the USB to board joints. Conceivably it could be some damaged caused (hairline crack perhaps) when you inserted the stylus in the reset hole. possibly even a damaged reset switch stuck in the on position etc etc. Any of these things would really require test equipment and even then without suitable data it would be difficult to diagnose.
good luck
mike

Hermes odd battery problem

Hello, I am having an odd problem, I can get the phone to turn on, charge, and watch youtube perfectly. All this can be done by wedging a mini sd card in between the battery exact opposite of the terminals. What could be the problem of this? No sd card, just did a hard reset, and using the oem ac charger. If I pull out the mini sd card the phone shuts off, And if I connect the charger all I get is the solid red light. I am comfortable taking it apart and have all the correct tools.

Blakehenry00 said:
Hello, I am having an odd problem, I can get the phone to turn on, charge, and watch youtube perfectly. All this can be done by wedging a mini sd card in between the battery exact opposite of the terminals. What could be the problem of this? No sd card, just did a hard reset, and using the oem ac charger. If I pull out the mini sd card the phone shuts off, And if I connect the charger all I get is the solid red light. I am comfortable taking it apart and have all the correct tools.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You have really answered your own question. You have a pin that is not making good contact with the battery. You can clean the contacts, but that may not be enough. You can try bending the contacts out in the direction of the battery a little. However if you do this you run the risk of cracking the solder joints between the contacts and the motherboard. So, as a do it yourself solution you can do this:
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​Mike​

Alright, If anyone is having this problem I just fixed mine for good (I hope). The points where the battery contacts and mobo meet were cracked apart, thus making the phone work when something was causing the battery to put extra force on it. All I had to do was remove the mobo and solder them back on. Took 30s for all 6. Now it comes on and works great no matter what.

I had the same problem a while before I realized it about six months ago, on the same model as yours. I then realized what you did, the battery wasn't contacting well, and I whipped out a business card, cut it to size, slapped it in with the battery and viola, no more strange power losses. So you say that the solder points were cracked ehh? Something I will be checking in about 2 minutes, don't doubt Thanks for the tip!
UPDATE: Took it apart, and couldn't see any place where the pins have cracked. Seemed solid to me, even under a magnifying glass. Did you somehow take the black protector off of the pins and find it under that? Thanks for any info you can send.

Mine was cracked between the mobo and pins, Test it with a multi-meter for resistance, It could be cracked or weak but you can't see it.

Car charger Modding

I noticed a few complaints on this forum and others about Goggle Navigation being too much of a drain on the handset even with it plugged into a car charger.
My suspicion is that this is down to badly made car chargers, and on a previous occasion using the Testing menu, I noticed that my own charger was being reported by the phone as USB.
So I set about trying to rectify this, using my awesome rolleyes knowledge of how the phone recognises what it's being charged with and an 'I don't care if I kill the charger, it was free' attitude.
I took it apart and tested continuity between the 2 middle (data) pins on the USB plug, there was none, and the problem was identified. I simply flipped the board over and soldered these 2 pins together and reassembled the charger.
Took it out to the car, plugged it in and lo and behold, the Testing menu now reports that it is plugged into an AC source! As my phone is fully charged and I don't have any trips planned right now I don't know how much real world difference there is, but it's looking promising, at least the phone now knows it can draw 1000mA instead of 500mA, and for 5 minutes 'work' it was worth doing.
I didn't bother with a how-to as I figured chances of someone having the same charger as me were slim, but pics aren't a problem:
Here is my universal USB charger with the cover removed:
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and the reverse side with the 2 pins soldered together:
Probably doesn't tell you a huge amount unfortunately, but to be honest that's because it really is a simple procedure with not much to tell.

where did you get your universal charger? I'm wanting to chop one up and hide the nexus dock on the side of my GTI instead of blocking my 6" double din monitor..
Almost like you can do your radar detector..
-Chalrie

It was an Xmas present, part of a universal kit. It's made by Mountech if it helps though.

thanks I'll look it up, hopefully most universal ones are designed the same usb wise then I could dremel my dash and have a easy access usb port for nav.

Fail!
Despite the mod, it's still not enough to charge/sustain the N1 with Google Navigation running (screen on full brightness). Guess it's just not man enough to produce the required 1A.

I have a USB port installed in my car as per the headunit
at full brightness and while using google navigation AND streaming Slacker via bluetooth... I do not have a -% charge
in fact, the N1 stays fully charged at all times... (however if I have less than 100%, it does take a long time for the % to go up... might take 5 minutes for 1% increase)
sooo I'm not sure what the problem is with the car chargers (as I don't use one)

I have a USB headunit and never thought to try and charge from it! D'oh!

DI, Igo and power ratings.

I have and igo with the microusb tip and my DI is headed home soon. I was checking stuff out at the store and I got a long lecture about how power ratings can be different. Clearly verizon sales reps are better than electrical engineers. Anyways so the power ratings on the igo happen to be 4-5w, does anyone know what the ratings on the DI stock charger.
Even better if anyones charged their DI using Igo, how is that working out?
My fuze used to run a little hotter than usual on the igo.

The HTC charger that comes with the phone is just a little stub that plugs into the wall with a female usb connector on it to accept the micro usb cable that ships with the phone.
It outputs 5v at 1 amp.
Here's a photo of the charger:
(the part that's obscured by the flash says 50-60Hz)
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I have an iGo charger as well and was planning to order a tip for this phone. Is it the A97 tip? The iGo site doesn't have the Incredible in their system yet.

very nice picture, thanks for the detail. the igo is rated at 5 watts so its perfect for this. and yes i think a97 is micro usb, however there are many micro usb tips and all of them work. easiest way to make sure is just carry your phone when u go get the tip. unfortunately i have left my tip in the car so i cant say for 100% but the packaging reads A138 which is another microusb. on monday i get my phone so i can hook it to the car and verify.

Has the A138 been working for you? I ended up getting a few A46 tips instead of the micro USB tips because my local Radioshack had them on clearance for about $2.50 a piece. The micro USB tips were $10.
The A46 is a female USB-A connector so it will work for pretty much anything that uses USB, provided you have the proper USB cable to connect it. I got a few 1.5' micro USB cables from monoprice for that part of it.
I haven't used these enough to notice if it's charging significantly faster/slower than the stock charger, but it seems to work fine. I wish iGo would publish the specs for all the tips (amps, volts, etc) instead of just listing compatible devices.
link

[Q] charge the battery any other way ?

hello all XDA Masters =)
- I have a Q. searched and maybe i do something wrong .... hope someone can help ....
- My micro usb riped off the pcb card ... with all the peds...
- i tried to solder it back ... tried it one twice thired time ... NOTHING! :crying:
- well im wondering if there is another way of charching my phone ?
- I LOVE MY HD2 ... Please help him to feel better!

take any type usb lead, cut end off, bare red and black wires, hold red to + and black to - on teh phone (look carefully, theyre marked) plug into wall charger for a while - battery has charge. not good to leave it like that for too long, though, so you probably want to look into an external charger.

ill try it ... =)
are there any wireless external chargers ?

i think there are some yea, have a root around in the accessories section, and ebay.
keep an eye on the battery, if it gets warm AT ALL you probably wanna stop charging for a bit.

I DID IT! =)))))))
ITS ALIVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
:silly::laugh:
IM SO HAPPY =)
little dirty job ... but it was free =)))
finally im happy to be electronic engeneer =)))))))))) :cyclops:

Thank u samsamuel you gave me the power not to give up =)

These are good for the price>
http://www.ebay.com/itm/290541610397
charges battery nicely over night with good & simple LED status ... USB is also fast charge wired for those that need it ...
Got one myself & had it for some time so tested well ...

i have soldered some thing ... did what i had to do
- ill send pic's of what i done ( today ).
its not that beautiful .... but hey ... it works just fine :good::victory:

thats what i have done :
i took some slot conn. 8 pic , cut it to 3 pic =)
and another to the supply ...
that is the result ...
(!) the battery charging ... not heat from the baterry.
(1) :
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(2) :
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:laugh:

nice hack, and it keeps the charge control circuits working too, so no danger of frying the battery.

In case it does give you problems again in the future I would take a look at this. Its a external charger that has already been suggested. I have the same one and it has worked great for me. I ended up
buying this one that came with two extra batteries so when I leave my house there is always a battery charging and ready for me when I get home. Plus you cant beat the price of under 9 (usd) bucks.

maybe i will .... for now its working fine =)

Could you please give more information on exactly did you do? I have the same problem (USB not working) and I was wondering how can I use the back charging terminal. Thank you!