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Tytn / hermes / 8525 freezing up when I slide close

It seems that my 8525 with Black Satin (WM6) has recently started crashing when I slide it close after sending a message or after sliding it open when recieving one.
The screen goes all dim and interlaced looking but it's really "off" as when I press the power button it actually boots up. When this happens that current text message is GONE poof!
I sat there and slid it open and closed 20+ times and couldn't repeat it but when trying to use it for real is when it freezes. It's not only with the text messaging though as I tried to slide it open to reply to a message on the internet (via wifi) and it locked up there also.
I did a search and haven't really found anything... guess I could reinstall but man, I hate having to do that... what all will I need to rememeber to back up? Text messages, phone numbers, settings for tomtom? bah!
Anyone ever experienced this?

Great, I think it's a loose connection somewhere... I noticed it was out and I had only put it down, not closed the slide. So just now when it was just idle I tapped on it and poof it locked up.
Great... Now what!

gilligan8 said:
Great, I think it's a loose connection somewhere... I noticed it was out and I had only put it down, not closed the slide. So just now when it was just idle I tapped on it and poof it locked up.
Great... Now what!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If it's still under warranty, take it in and have them look at it.
If it's not, look for one of the many disassembly instructions around, take it apart and reseat the cables.
I took mine apart not long ago to fix a non-working camera and it was amazing easy to get into the phone and remove and reconnect the cables.
Just make sure to read everything before trying it.

I bought it off ebay (supposed to be brand new) to unlock and use on a regional company's network. So doubt I'm covered.
http://pdasmart.zftp.com/instructions/Cingular 8525 Instructions.pdf
Is that a sufficient set of instructions? I'm not opposed to doing this, I repair laptops all the time and they are just about as difficult if not worse sometimes. I had attempted to take apart a friends dead 8525 a year or so ago but didn't know where the retention tabs were to get it opened beyond the obvious screws.

gilligan8 said:
I bought it off ebay (supposed to be brand new) to unlock and use on a regional company's network. So doubt I'm covered.
http://pdasmart.zftp.com/instructions/Cingular 8525 Instructions.pdf
Is that a sufficient set of instructions? I'm not opposed to doing this, I repair laptops all the time and they are just about as difficult if not worse sometimes. I had attempted to take apart a friends dead 8525 a year or so ago but didn't know where the retention tabs were to get it opened beyond the obvious screws.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That would be the basics. I noticed that it doesn't say anything about the tape for the large ribbon cable, so there may still be some snags if you use those (I don't know if the tape is present on all the various rebadges of the hermes).
Nice that they use a tool to take it apart, I used something like a debit card on mine.
If you are comfortable disassembling a laptop, you should be fine. As with a laptop, just take it slow and be careful.
(shudders at the memory of disassembling a compaq and Apple laptop)

Word, I hate working on laptops... but I guess I got to!

I'll bet it is the battery header on the board. I had a similar issue and needed to repair a solder joint there.

same here.. i was lucky it was still under warranty..
good luck with the dissasembly!

it has been rather calm lately... though I am a lot more gentle when sliding it open and close...
I know it couldn't have been a fluke... maybe some dirt got in and now is out... I'm sure I will have to get at it eventually... till then I'll just keep treading lightly!
Oh, and Mike, thanks for those links... VERY good stuff!

Pleae help, Ive broken my hermes!!!

I was removing the back cover, as I had to remove a broken stylus from its clot.. I successfully removed the 3 screws, and was able to prize open the case, and push the stylus out...
However, I put it all back together and now it doesnt work!! I get the red light on to charge when I insert power, but I cant turn it on...
I did notice that somehow, the contacts for the battery seem lose, and I dont know how to fix them...
How do you remove the whole of the back??
Anyone help, or suggest what I may have done??
Thanks

I think it is truly dead.. the plastic thing with battery contacts has come off completely... now how the hell do I fix that!!!!

Think I may be able to fix it, as if i hold it in place over the contacts on the board, i managed to get it to boot... so i just need to find away to fix it to the board....
Fingers crossed

DocSoton said:
Think I may be able to fix it, as if i hold it in place over the contacts on the board, i managed to get it to boot... so i just need to find away to fix it to the board....
Fingers crossed
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Better news than I expected to hear. Are the contacts broken above board level? If so a fix may well be possible by re-soldering the contacts. This could be tricky in as much as it may be difficult to prevent heat transfer down the wire into the board. I had assumed they had been wrenched out below the board surface. If you just glue the connector housing withe contacts in place you might be lucky and find it reliable. However I would worry that with every knock or jolt you.ll find the pone will turn of and you'll have to keep re-starting it.
Mike

See attached, not great quality, but you can see the contacts...
What on earth do I use to stick it back on???

DocSoton said:
See attached, not great quality, but you can see the contacts...
What on earth do I use to stick it back on???
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Click to collapse
From that it appears to have snapped through the soldered joints without any real damage. If that's the case then it is fixable. The last example we saw of this on the forum the contacts broken inside the board, but it looks like you are lucky.
Mike

From your comments, it sounds like you don't have any experience with soldering. I would look for an electronics repair shop, or find a friend that has experience soldering.
If you can't find that you may only have the option of selling it somewhat cheap. I do my own soldering, so I don't know what direction to try to point you for that. Hopefully this will help you getting your hermes back up and running.

Thanks for all your help.. lukily the old man is a sparky.. so Im sending it up to him to have a go, if not him, then his mates and electronics whiz.. so hopefully I should get it back all sorted.
Cheers

Its been a while since I started this post... just not got around to getting it sorted until recently...
Now, does anyone know what the different contacts do?? We have partial success with resoldering the contacts, the device now turns on, when on power, but it is not charging the battery.. I can only assume the contact(s) responsible for charging the battery may have a poor solder...
The battery says 100%, but when I remove power, it turns off after a very short while...
Can anyone help..?? Its come along way since I originally broke the device, and I wasnt sure if it would ever work again.. but I seem to be so close to breathing life back into the phone, and am sure we only need to resolder a couple of the contacts.... Would be handy to find out what all the contacts actually do...

The battery may have gone bung, especially as its 6 months later that this problems started. If it started right away I'd say it could be the contacts but if it has only just reared its head I'd say that the battery needs replacing. If you can get your hands on a spare, they are fairly cheap through ebay (less than $10), then you can check if it is the battery.
Cheers...

I already had a spare battery.. I get the same on both...
After powering on, the light goes amber for a couple of mins, suggesting it is charging, then goes green.. show 100% charged.. but dies after a few mins...
If the power is not connected, phone wont even turn on... I can only assume neither of the batteries is being charged...
I did read somewhere, although cant remember, that one of the contacts is responsible for charging.. would be good to know what the contacts do...
Thanks

Best idea would be to go to Mike Channons site. He is the guru of all things HTC. At the very least you could pm him but I haven't really seen him hanging around the Hermes site for a while. The link to his site is in his sig.
Cheers...

Oops.... HELP!

well, I think I may have accidentally signed my wizards death warrant...
I dropped it at work today, and at first, everything looked fine, still worked, so I figured it was ok.... well, I was wrong, when I got home, I plugged it into the charger, and it wouldn't charge. tried another charger, still nothing... I opened up the back case, and the mini usb connector was snapped off the board.... needless to say, I had a lovely string of expletives...
The question now, is there any way to fix this without replacing the board its connected to?
For now, I'm gonna hafta go buy a new phone... this sucks!

I saw a thread yesterday, something to do with saving a dying breed, there was a guy in there that said he had loads of the usb bits, post might have been old but worth a shot...

YUP !
Its repairable,if you have good experience with electronics and gadgets and also have knowledge and worked with fine soldering,get hold of the service manual and can repair yourself.Otherwise take it to some Mobile repair shop,they can do it,no big deal.

Did the same thing. The usb on the wizard is honestly not soldered on well at all(mine was a definite cold solder joint). You may have just broken the solder and not the leads from the usb plug that go to the board. I, unfortunately, kicked mine while it was plugged in and broke the leads all together. I had my brother take an old phone he had with a mini usb plug and swap it out in no time. Long story short you can now swing my phone by it's usb cable, although I wouldn't recommend that!

YAY! lol...
well, its temporarily fixed(till this weekend, when I'll have the time and patience to solder it....
I used some automotive goop(really thick and heavy glue, I use it to glue everything...)to re attach the mini usb. this stuff sticks to anything and dries rock solid! The phone charges, but the computer is telling me that it cant recognize it. Hell, Im just happy that all I need to do is solder the damn thing on.... I thought I killed my beloved MDA!

Battery won't charge, power button broken, me going crazy

Ok, im going to start not from the beginning beginning, but from where problems started.
Friday night, went out, I was writing an sms when somebody pushed me and i dropped my wiz, i picked it up, to find that the battery was gone, nowhere to be found, i did find the cover tho. i tried to look for the batt, but i was in the middle of the club so it wasn't that easy.. I knew that a friend of mine had a spare one so i didn't worry that much.
Sunday I got the replacement, tried it, no luck, it ran out i thought, but when i tried to charge it, nothing happened. Buying a new one is not that easy when you are in Argentina, and they are expensive, so i decided to jump sart it. good news: it worked, i could turn on the phone, so the battery is fine. bad news: it still doesn't want to charge!
I previously had problems with the usb, and i had to have it soldered again, pretty strong, but I thought that might be the problem again, so i disassembled my wiz. new problem: the power button broke, the tiny, tiny black piece fell off, AND I LOST IT! DOH!
Anyways, the usb is still soldered pretty strong, i don't think its gonna go loose again, so thats not the freaking problem!
So now, instead of the initial no-charge problem, i have a disassembled wizard, that won't charge the goddamn battery, AND a broken power button (tried to glue it, but fell off again and thats when i lost the piece).
Regarding the button, i've studied my options, what would you recommend and how would you do it?
option 1: turn on the phone with the soft reset hole, and remap the screen on/off function to another button.
option 2: replace the power button internal piece with the one from the voice command button (i never use it). i've taken a look and they seem to be the same, but i don't know if taking it off and soldering it back would work..
anyways, that leaves me again with my initial problem, and i do have an hypothesis. I THINK (because I THINK i remember this happening to me before), that the battery won't start charging until windows has started, and the jump star power the battery has is not enough to get it started (tried to tape it and leave it for a while to see if it charged a bit more, but didn't work, the phone turns on but goes out when loading, and since i've my wiz pretty loaded it takes its time to load).
So to try this out i would need a way to charge the battery manually, and i don't have access to another wiz to have it charged (my friend had a spare batt because his wiz is broken).
So, if you have a solution to this, ANY different solution, or even an IDEA, please give me a hint!
For what i've read, this are common problems, so there must be something out there.

Man, that's a bad thing
I'll try to help you as much as I can.
You are right about Wiz only start charging when it's on. After my N78 was stolen and I went back to the Wizard, the battery was without any charge for months... I plugged it and no red LED... Turned it on and, bingo, red LED and charging!
The voice command and the on/off buttons are the same, so (in theory) it would work 100% IF you were able to change their places (at least for me, it is impossible to do manually, never found any good equip here =\ )
With a lot of patience (and a small soldering iron) I would try to take the voice comm button off and place it where the on/off was.
For the battery, maybe someone here can point if there is a "battery charger" standalone device, or such a thing...
Good luck man

hey thanks for the quick reply!
i'm not thinking of doing it myself, i'm not not that precise nor is my solder, but i know a guy, same dude that fixed my usb. I like that idea more than the other, but i guess that remapping the screen on/off and using the soft reset button would be much safer.. i haven't made up my mind about that yet.
Weir thing about MY wiz, at least thats what i think happened to me last time my battery was completely discharged, is that not only the device must be ON for it to charge, but it needs to have WINDOWS already loaded, i know for most devices it's not like that, but i think thats how mine works, or at least thats the only explanation i could find!
btw, i love your case modding concept, and since i might have my wiz sitting for a while, i might go ahead and try something too! nothing as extreme as yours of course.. i'd love to see more updates on your project along with some guide to see what ideas i can take

slight detail while thinking my options.. if i was to remap the screen on/off function to another button, would i need to have the device in sync? or connected via cable? because when i had the usb soldered, don't know how nor why (all the pins seem to be ok) but the device won't be recognized by any computer, usb only works for charging (or used to work, at least, still haven't figured why it won't charge now).
If its only an app that i can load to the phone, once i have it working (that if i ever will), i can load the app thru minisd, BT or IrDa so that would't be a problem.. i haven's investigated that issue yet.

Hey jinxie, how's your Wizard?
If you're still stuck with the battery (I hope not), check this out...
I think this will solve your battery problem:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=4963547&postcount=5
That's probably to work, just be carefull with the battery's temperature. If it starts to heat, stop the process and wait it to get normal, then start again.
Good luck!

i tried keeping the wires attached to the contacts for a while, didn't think it'd work better doing it just for a little and then repeating the process, i'll try that!
yeap, i'm still stuck and i think i will be for a while, i have to solve the battery issue first (would be useless to do anything else if i'm not certain i will get it to work), then i have to decide what i am going to do with the power button, and then i might paint it, i'm thinking matte black, or maybe take some ideas from your project if you have made any progress at the time!
thanks for the tip, i'll try it today and i let you know how it went

development: phone DOES NOT turn on with the soft reset button as i thought, i was sure it did, but after jumping the bat once again, tried the wiring method (not repeating the jump start but wiring it directly to de device pins), and tried to turn it on with soft reset and dind't work, while it does turn on with the power button, wich is broken, so in order to turn it on i cannot have the phone assambled, wich means that in order to try to make it work, i will need to hold the battery attached with my hands, and it is a pain in the.. you know where.
update: i wired the charger i was using to jump start the battery to the pins in the wizard, then held the battery in place with my hand, with a small screwdriver i pushed the broken power button. wizard turned on, IT FINALLY LOADED WINDOWS, but don't rush, i then (with my MOUTH) connected the USB wall charger to the port in the phone, and removed the wiring, i was expecting the goddamn light to turn on and the screen to tell me that my phone was finally charging. I WAS WRONG. then i had to let go because my hand was killing me and it went off
and the damn thing refuses to charge! what could it be????????
2nd update: I AM MACGYVER !
i figured the wiring had given the bat enough power to load windows on its own, so tried once more holding everything together with my hand but without wiring the pins this time, and at last the amber light turned on!!! im so proud of myself lol
SO NOW: device works ok, charges ok, battery has enaugh power to load windows, WHAT CAN I DO ABOUT THE BROKEN POWER BUTTON? i know you can't remap the power function since its hardware, but the screen on/off function might be remapped. soft reset button DOES not turn on the phone, is there any other way of turning it on? or my only option is to take off the voice command button and soldering it where the power button should be?

well, found the little button part that was missing, glued it (yes, GLUED it), and it kinda worked, i had painted the casing already, so i assembled everything back again. i used a folded piece of paper to hold the button still so it won't fall again and i think it was too big cause now its kind of hard to press but i can live with that, what i cannot live with is NO SIGNAL.. i mean, CMON!! are you kiddin me? now that the button works, battery works, phone assembled, and now this?? when i dissassembled the phone i forgot to take out the sim card, so the metal parts that hold it opened a bit, but i pressed them back, the sim in no way loose, so i guess i might have screwed the attenna :S
i've just checked, i can see the sim contacts so... [CENSORED] !!!
also now the screen looks weird.. like if it had less colours, like when you format your pc and haven's installed the graphic drivers yet, 3d effects look funny..

Hey man, have you painted ALL the Wizard parts, on both sides?
'Cause there is one that has a piece of copper board inside. It makes contact with the antenna. Without that contact, you'll never have signal
The piece I'm talking about is the one that has the camera protection, saying "1.3 MP camera". Look at its back and see if there's no paint on a green and golden plate. Remove the paint if it got there (the golden part is the important one, since it makes contact with the antenna).
Good luck man!

hahah lol, no of course i didn't paint both sides! but anyways im gonna take it apart again, clean it, and try again..
done. it had some paintng yes, but they were very tiny spray drops, so i don't think that is, anyway i cleaned it. On the other hand, i found that the antenna is loose on the left side :S what can i do about it?

Vibrant T959 Only Turns On With Charger Connected

I have a Samsung Vibrant T959 TMobile US with 2.1-update1, Baseband T959UVJI6.
The battery is fully charged, it registers in the phone as fully charged 100%, but when I hit the power button I get a progess wheel that gets stuck, then the phone just turns off. It never gets passed that wheel, it only displays for a second then dies.
However, when I plug in the USB and hit the power button, it comes right up like it should. Then I can unplug the usb and use the phone just fine. Its almost as if I need to jump-start the phone with a power source.
I have reset the phone, even re-flashed the stock firmware using Odin. Same results. I have even swapped batteries with a buddy just to see if that was the case, but I still got the same results.
Any advice or suggestions is GREATLY appreciated. Thanks Very Much In Advance!

Anybody? Any ideas?

Well, that is new to me...
I'll preface with, I have no clue how/why that is happening. But, this is what I would do:
1 - If really opposed to rooting, I'd call T-Mo / Samsung and get a replacement.
2 - If I liked my phone and wanted to make it better, I'd root it and flash a custom ROM. It likely would take care of the issue, as it clearly is not a hardware thing (well, I say clearly).
Worst case with #2, ODIN back to stock and then do option 1.

possible solution
also it says "USB connected" even when cable is unplugged? I had similar problem.. I tried everything, flashing, changing batteries.. none of that was useful. Then I find some post on some forum that says it might be corrosion, so i scratched my USB with thin wire and everything worked fine, but also scratching USB I was doing one more thing. In my opinion, I think that it's not corrosion. I think that USB is slightly bent (middle part of it), try to bent it in other direction, possible that it's too close to edge. That solved my problem. Tell me if this helpful for you, sorry about my english

we87 said:
Anybody? Any ideas?
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did you ever figure out? im in the same boat...
admirh said:
also it says "USB connected" even when cable is unplugged? I had similar problem.. I tried everything, flashing, changing batteries.. none of that was useful. Then I find some post on some forum that says it might be corrosion, so i scratched my USB with thin wire and everything worked fine, but also scratching USB I was doing one more thing. In my opinion, I think that it's not corrosion. I think that USB is slightly bent (middle part of it), try to bent it in other direction, possible that it's too close to edge. That solved my problem. Tell me if this helpful for you, sorry about my english
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Click to collapse
i think i can get what you are saying, cleaning the usb port on the phone right??
BUT how does this affect turning the phone on?? if usb port is rusty, it will only affect charging, not turning the power on?

I experienced this identical issue last fall -- the USB would always say it was connected, wouldn't startup unless connected to actual USB, but otherwise worked fine.
Take your phone apart and look at the solder joints on your microUSB port... mine all had cracks in them or had broken free. I re-flowed the solder while holding the port down and it resolved my issues. (put on some flux, and run a hot soldering iron across the joints, clean up... it's not very difficult. just be sure you don't short out any of the pins.) I also added additional solder to the four points that just hold the mircoUSB to the circuit board. It's been rock solid since

Rahhstah said:
I experienced this identical issue last fall -- the USB would always say it was connected, wouldn't startup unless connected to actual USB, but otherwise worked fine.
Take your phone apart and look at the solder joints on your microUSB port... mine all had cracks in them or had broken free. I re-flowed the solder while holding the port down and it resolved my issues. (put on some flux, and run a hot soldering iron across the joints, clean up... it's not very difficult. just be sure you don't short out any of the pins.) I also added additional solder to the four points that just hold the mircoUSB to the circuit board. It's been rock solid since
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that sounds very difficult actually.. as I dont own any of the tools
anywhere cheap to recommend?

lazi punk said:
that sounds very difficult actually.. as I dont own any of the tools
anywhere cheap to recommend?
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See if there is a TV or electronic repair place still in business in your area. Or post an ad on CL asking someone with knowledge and skill to do it. Be careful they aren't an idiot just wanting 20 bucks and happen to own a soldering iron.

lazi punk said:
that sounds very difficult actually.. as I dont own any of the tools
anywhere cheap to recommend?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you could see if Cell Phone Repair/ is near you and describe to them what you want to do.

I would go through these guys they are top notch helped me when i soft bricked my wife's phone. He even convinced me that i could fix it myself when i was ready to send it to them for a jtag.
They can replace the usb plug if thats the issue.
http://mobiletechvideos.mybigcommerce.com/samsung-vibrant/

I would test to see if my battery is bad first before i went about resoldering, it could easily be a bad battery.

Xdogg said:
I would go through these guys they are top notch helped me when i soft bricked my wife's phone. He even convinced me that i could fix it myself when i was ready to send it to them for a jtag.
They can replace the usb plug if thats the issue.
http://mobiletechvideos.mybigcommerce.com/samsung-vibrant/
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thank you for the response. I definitely think the usb port is an issue. what is a jtag? haha
ferhanmm said:
I would test to see if my battery is bad first before i went about resoldering, it could easily be a bad battery.
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No my stock battery is charging and i did buy a separate battery. same issue.