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Hey Guys,
Well, I'm a bit gutted really! I dropped my XDA Mini S on the floor with the charger in and the connector IN the phone has come apart from inside the phone. The little metal bit is practically hanging out. I'm wondering, if i were to take the phone apart could i re-connect the little part? (I have a soldering iron if thats as simple as its going to be?)
Just wondering if anyone had any guides on how to take the phone apart and take a look at whats wrong?
Any help would be so much appreciated!
Many Thanks,
Tom
The service manual is hosted on the ftp site.
ftp://ftp.xda-developers.com/Wizard/Docs_Tutorials/
Hope this helps.
I suspect you probably broke the socket off, but if you have a soldering iron, you might as well try to get a new mini USB connector to work with.
You might try Pocket PC Techs:
http://www.pocketpctechs.com/main~unit~UTStarcom_XV6700-554~area~repairs~item~REP-USBCON01~name~UTStarcom+XV6700+Mini+USB+Connector+Replacement+Service.htm
I rang them up about an issue I had (screen on the fritz) and they seemed pretty knowledgeable and helpful.
Alternatively there's a company I found today in the UK. I can't vouch if they're good or not.
http://www.xdarepairs.co.uk/home.asp
Good luck.
Well I also have an issue with my wizzard... the mini jack connector (of the handsfree) is a bit loose.
What I am saying is that it does have a good connection with the rest of the circuit and sometimes the sound of the speaker goes off, then I have to insert the habdsfree and tickle it a little bit until it has a good contact.
? have some basic soldering experience,do you think I should give it a try?
Given my device has been apart too many times for me to admit to I thought I'd crack it open to take a pic for you guys. Not sure if this pic will help for those wanting to do some soldering:
Very large pic: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/216/452691530_f47801708f_o.jpg
Excuse the dust.
Ah! That picture at the bottom is exactly what I needed. The metal but at the bottom (the big sqaure) has totally sheared off....bloody thing. Thanks so much for the info on the repair guides. I may give those repair guys a call if i can't get it to work myself.
Thanks alot you guys
As for you WizeMan, it all depends on if you wish to void your warrenty or not. At the end of the day, I installed WM6 on my device so O2 would give me the finger if i tryed to claim. If I'm honest, I'm getting an upgrade next month so I'm not to bothered if I balls it up! Would be nice if I got it working though....
Lemmie know how you get on
unlock k-jam
i read all your write about how to unlock k-jam device but after all i get this message:
Lock Status: 0000000000000000
SIMLock Code: █⌠═eי∟80Γ█Σ☻< δ♠
how can i get it from this .........
lironasseo said:
i read all your write about how to unlock k-jam device but after all i get this message:
Lock Status: 0000000000000000
SIMLock Code: █⌠═eי∟80Γ█Σ☻< δ♠
how can i get it from this .........
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A little bit of a thread hijack but that means it is SIM unlocked.
Let me tell you my news, my friends.
I opened my Qtek 9100 and fixed two serious issues regarding this phone, using... sponge (the one we use to wash the dishes)
1. I put some into the stylus socket (from the thin space it has) and also
2. On the top of the mini jack socket so when i assembled the housing it blocked it from moving (2 of the contacts are no more soldered and i dint have a soldering iron at that time)
Anyway, both operation went ok and my phone is more than fully functioning. Now the stylus is hardly (in a good way) comming out (it first gets longer then comes out).
I wanted to do also the safe singal fix, but didnt find the photos to apply it correclty, so if someone has them, please give link. If you need any info about the "Sponge" Hacks, just post or pm
WizeMan said:
Let me tell you my news, my friends.
I opened my Qtek 9100 and fixed two serious issues regarding this phone, using... sponge (the one we use to wash the dishes)
1. I put some into the stylus socket (from the thin space it has) and also
2. On the top of the mini jack socket so when i assembled the housing it blocked it from moving (2 of the contacts are no more soldered and i dint have a soldering iron at that time)
Anyway, both operation went ok and my phone is more than fully functioning. Now the stylus is hardly (in a good way) comming out (it first gets longer then comes out).
I wanted to do also the safe singal fix, but didnt find the photos to apply it correclty, so if someone has them, please give link. If you need any info about the "Sponge" Hacks, just post or pm
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm still trying to get the a new fascia and will probably shove an eraser bit into the stylus spring mechanism to ensure the defect never happens. Also how did you discover the break in the solder joints on the headphones jack? I have a funny situation where the left channel of the headphones doesn't work but I suspected the headphones (the plug has to be pulled at an angle to get any sound out of the left) but now I am thinking it may be the socket itself.
By the way the reception fix pic doesn't load for me either but I unless you truly need it, don't waste your time doing it; I always have all 4 bars and sometimes have 2 bars.
AsGF2MX said:
I'm still trying to get the a new fascia and will probably shove an eraser bit into the stylus spring mechanism to ensure the defect never happens. Also how did you discover the break in the solder joints on the headphones jack? I have a funny situation where the left channel of the headphones doesn't work but I suspected the headphones (the plug has to be pulled at an angle to get any sound out of the left) but now I am thinking it may be the socket itself.
By the way the reception fix pic doesn't load for me either but I unless you truly need it, don't waste your time doing it; I always have all 4 bars and sometimes have 2 bars.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Allright here is the deal.
1. I found out the break in the soldier joints when i opened it. I was really suspicious about it because when i inserted my headphone jack into the connector, i had problem with the contact; the connector was loose and it muted my phones speaker. When i disassembled the phone using the service manual i saw with my eyes that the the joins where f-ed up.
2. I dont really need the signal hack i just wanted to experiment, i have 2.25.11 cingular radio rom and its great.
Btw i suppose you should better use the sponge, because the rubber may wear off but not the sponge...
Thanks for the tip on the sponge. I am going to grab a used but allegedly "like new" body from eBay and also get one of those covers as well.
So I has some free time and the shift was laying around...
Anyway let's get down to business.
The first part of the guide will cover the basic disassembly tips you maybe need in order to open up the casing and maybe upgrade something.
You will need a T6 screwdriver. That's all..but if you want to disassemble the display you will also need a T5.
1 Start by removing the battery, stylus, any card, sim or whatever is attached onto your device.
2 The shift's screws location is shown here.
3 You will need to remove the 3 rubber caps in order to expose the upper screws. First I thought the middle one is a connector to an external antenna. Nope, it's a screw hole.
4 After you're done with the screws you will need to remove the keyboard in order to have acces to another screw underneath it. I've found out that removing the keyboard is a bit tricky. There are no screws holding it, you simply must pull it off. Carefull not to bend it too much and begin with the upper part.
5. Underneath the keyboard you will have to remove this screw and the ribbon like cable that connects the keyboard. In order to do this, pull upwards the white blocker (shown with the green arrow) then pull off the ribbon cable (red arrow).
6. Next comes the first ugly part. You should remove the back cover on your shift in order to expose it's motherboard. Begin by placing your fingernail on the right bottom corner (or the left - you choose) and go along all the cassing in order to separate the 2 pieces of casing. You may hear a lot of ugly noises, cracks and so on... it's pretty normal, just don't abuse the casing too much. By the way, keep the shift in "laptop" mode while you do this.
7. After you remove the back cover you should see something like this.
Carefull with the hard disk. There aren't any screws fixing it to the motherboard. It's simply ...placed there, the back cover will fix it back to it's position. Don't tilt the device or the hard disk may fall and could damage the connector cable (orange ribbon). Around the hard drive you may see a black rubber insertion that protects it from certain shocks.
I've heard some of you guys asking about the dimensions inside and the possibility to replace this hard drive with another one, more thicker. THERE IS SPACE INSIDE TO DO THAT.
The silver corner and the whole sides of the rubber casing is about 2-3 mm thick in the upper portion and just about the same underneath the hard disk. It's kind of soft thus you may insert a larger hard drive without problems.
(Someone asked about a 2.5 drive replacement into the shift -- NO way dude)
8 Next you will need to remove the aluminium radiator and the fan.
You have to remove the following screws:
Note that the far right screw is somewhere deeper and you may need to move the hard-drive a little to get acces to it.
9 After you remove the aluminium heatsync you should see something like this. If you want to remove the motherboard from the chassis you should also remove the marked screw.
You may remove the ram board but carefull. It seems pretty stuck in there you will need to use some force. Here's a photo with mine removed. The metallic piece in the lower part of the picture is the card reader's casing. The card reader is made by Panasonic.
In order to remove the card reader first unscrew it (it's the last screw i was talking about 2 pictures ago). There is a ribbon connecting it to the mainboard.
here is the card reader removed:
and here is it's ribbon connector:
Here is the GPS antenna. YEP it is here. I've seen simillar antennas on bluetooth GPS mouses. This one is properly connected and seems to be powered. HTC had some GPS in mind when it designed the Shift.
10 In order to continue the disassembly you must remove 2 screws located somewhere around this area. They are under the ribbon cable connecting the hard drive to the motherboard.
Be carefull around that area. The shift's motherboard is made of 2 pieces, apparently one for the x86 side (intel processor, GMA950 video, card reader etc) and another for the WM side. The 2 parts are linked via a connector that is secured by those 2 screws. YOU WILL NEED TO BE CAREFULL WHEN REASSEMBLING THE SHIFT. IF THAT CONNECTOR ISN'T ATTACHED PROPERLY YOU'RE IN FOR A LOT OF TROUBLE AHEAD (had mine... trust me).
Here are various components.
RED - Display side connector. This is the only connector linking the 2 sides.
BLUE - Keyboard connector.
GREEN - underneath that area lies the connector that links the 2 parts of the motherboard.
YELLOW - those cables go to the wireless antenna.
Here is the Shift's internal microphone. Like I've said, i didn't know it had one.
The mic is linked to the generic "WM side" of the motherboard. Actually it isn't that simple like wm side - x86 side but as I can see these 2 parts seem to be pretty well diferenciated. One side - x86 - heatsyncs, ram, hard drive... another side - WM, aluminium caps soldered over the chips (like in most phones) microphone, gsm/gps antenna. The WLAN module is also located there.
11 If you remove the motherboard you should see something like this. The arrow marks the position of the antenna block (like the one shown in the FCC pictures).
If you want to remove the display part from the rest of the body you have to remove these screws:
2 more of these are located on the left side. Also remove them. Then the display should come out easily. Carefull not to damage the ribbon connector.
.
12 If you want to dissasemble the display you have to remove the screws from it's back plate. It should also come out easily. You should see something like this:
The hinges that enable your display to tilt are located inside the display block. Here's a photo with one of them :
now some tips about how to do this process if you want to upgrade the shift.
BE CAREFULL. The Shift's motherboard seems pretty delicate. If you want to mess with the hard drive, first disconnect the cable from the HDD's end, then from the motherboard.
If you want to remove the RAM board, pull it off by using 2 fingers, 1 for each side. You will find that the module is firmly attached and woun't come out easily.
I don't recomand you remove or try to mess with that silver foil over the display's back (one of the last pictures). There's a jungle of connectors and wires underneath it and they are cought between 2 layers of that stuff. They can be easily damaged.
When reassembling the shift first start by connecting the small ribbon from the microfone to the motheboard, then connect the display's cable. You will find it more easily to maneuvre if the display is at halfway distance from the main body. Then connect the 2 screws that secure the connector between the 2 portions of the motherboard. ONCE AGAIN, CAREFULL TO HAVE THESE 2 SCREWS FIRMLY ATTACHED. In my first try, the connection wasn't good so when i powered on the shift, it started to make some scarry stuff with it's leds and display. No harm been done but it was pretty scarry. You may then reattach the rest of the screws in backwards order.
If you will want only to upgrade the HDD just stop at "removing the back cover" part. There's nothing more you need to do, you don't need to remove the motherboard and there's pretty much no risks involved. Just be carefull with the ribbon linking the HDD to the motherboard.
I heard some advices about some serials on the chips and such data. Yep, I did photos of these things too. I'll attach them also, tomorrow after I organise my list of findings and notes that I've made with those. I'll post them by category. However I didn't find much, most chips are imposible to read because of the faded markings and other ones are covered by aluminium caps that are soldered over them. The shift looks like a large phone.
Please ask questions if you have. I'll try to help and be specific on those topics.
Bravo!! Good job!!! Can't wait to see the remaining! Now we need someone to try upgrading the HHD. This is getting more interesting!
Excellent, thanks for sharing your findings.
Really good job, man!
Really good job! Thank you for this "step-by-step" guide!
now time to enable the microphone, enable the phone, and look like a complete idiot when u try to hold this thing up to your ear
now u pretty much proved a few things. this thing is pretty much a fully functional wm device. you also shower we were right all along the gps is very very possible for this device. i need to get ltxda one of the gps tools and have him post a lock so you can all see some gps action
Ok people, I'm willing to order a larger HD and even more RAM. I'm going to contact some of my sources on Monday or Tuesday. Any help you guys can provide would be great.
EDIT: Great job on the how-to here!!!
Pawel062 said:
now time to enable the microphone, enable the phone, and look like a complete idiot when u try to hold this thing up to your ear
now u pretty much proved a few things. this thing is pretty much a fully functional wm device. you also shower we were right all along the gps is very very possible for this device. i need to get ltxda one of the gps tools and have him post a lock so you can all see some gps action
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Let's try this on Sunday afternoon bro if you're availabe. I also have a tool that i'm going to try to run, if the family allows, and provide results. Get with me sometime after 3pm. I'm headed to bed now...nite all.
Can you give some information about touchscreen model or manufactur???
I must first study how the protective silver film is attacked on the back of the display. from the fcc photos it seems there are a lot of ribbon connectors between it's twin layers. first time i've dissasembled shift i didn't have enought guts to rip that film in order to expose the internal components. Some connectors in that area caused me a lot of problems (shift's display didn't light up at all or the led's started to go crazy). I'll investigate the problem and there will be a second shift disassembly session in which time i wish to upgrade the hdd also.
So, where might we solder our 32GB SD card to the WM side?
Great job!
Keyboard
Hello,
I tried to pull out the KEyboard by it doesn't work.
What is the Secret to get it out ?
i've sent you an email.
facdemol said:
i've sent you an email.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the Email, I'll try it on Monday and let you know if it work.
Andi
Possible Mistake If You Choose A 2,5 Hhd For Shift Original Hdd.
facdemol said:
I've heard some of you guys asking about the dimensions inside and the possibility to replace this hard drive with another one, more thicker. THERE IS SPACE INSIDE TO DO THAT.
(Someone asked about a 2.5 drive replacement into the shift -- NO way dude)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks to everybody for the help to dissasenble.
Im sorry, It´s clear is not possible.
I'd attach a Picture of my shift with a 1.8 + 2,5" hdd.
---------------------------- -----------------------------
Please, don´t buy ANY HDD 2,5" Noone will fit in.
Is necesary a 1.8" HDD AND the conector of the HDD MUST BE a kind of ZIF connector. (They Called "LIF")
(Neither there are COMPATIBILITY with IDE/ATA/SATA connectors. You will need a ATA 7 conector!!!)
I found this kind HDDs in 80, 100 and 120 GB capacity, easy to buy ad least in Spain.
For Myself I'd ordered a Toshiba-MK1214GAH (120GB), where I Plan to Install a Personal Ed. XP + Vista in a second partition.
Armas.
Oh disaster. My ExtUSB port just expired.
I think I saw a piece of trace fall out, and now I am getting a 'USB device not recognized' message on all my PC's and with verious cables. It is charging still, but no logic connection.
I read somewhere the connector on HTC is bad anyway, it uses PCB traces in stead of real connector leads. And when I first bought it, I wondered why eBay sells replacements
But the replacement one seems to have real connectors, not a piece of PCB. So it is either better, or it will not fit...
Well, I am going for warranty first anyway. I still have stock ROM luckily, but I did drill a 1mm hole over the soft-reset button.
Just out of interest and in preparation: Has anyone ever replaced this component? I have in the past soldered small surface mount SMD chips, which experience taught me it can be done, but is far from fun or easy.
Also, anyone can confirm the HTC ExtUSB connector typically uses PCB traces, and/or if this replacements will fit?
Thanks
Edit: Managed to locate my watchmakers loupe, and the connector has proper leads with a small spring-bend at the end. Some of these bends seem flatter than others, so that may be the problem.
Edit2:
Well, I fixed it, but not the way one may expect. No soldering or opening the device or any other possible voiding of warranty involved.
As stated, looking up close with a proper 10x watchmakers loupe, I found that the ExtUSB socket did have proper leads, the middle ones bend slightly different than the outer ones. Touching them with a needle showed all still had a good spring action, and they seemed to be OK, only a little far back. Also, I found one cable that did work.
The middle leads in a mini-USB plug are also a little further back then the outer 2. I decided that under normal conditions they already barely touch, and usage may have bend or wore the middle leads back ever so slightly. Just enough to make them fail to reach each other.
So, with a fine grained grinding stone, I removed about 1/2 mm from the mini-USB plug on a cable. Take care to grind so you do not pull the leads away from the plastic. I guess you can also use fine sandpaper on a fixed surface, especially if you do not have a fine grained stone. After that, the connection works.
I do not consider this an advised solution, especially if you can claim warranty. But the fact I had already drilled a hole for easy access to the reset button, and the fact I would be without phone for a time, made me try and fix it myself.
my old polaris had a similar issue, and i took it to a local cell phone repair store. i was told these connectors partially break all the time. 20 dollars and 20 minutes later, my pda was fixed. consider having it fixed locally before sending it to htc and losing it for weeks
I'd like to see this thread expand, to show other "How To's for Hard Repairs", beyond the current state of, screen & touch pad (module) replacement, that most of us, already can do, or have seen.
This is intended for those that are capable of using a soldering station, and the other tools necessary, to do physical repairs, on the Logic board. It is Other wise intended for educational purpose only, and should not be attempted by the novice user.
(This is not for those with a 40w Ratshack soldering iron & a little nerve. You need a good temperature controlled station, &, a very fine tip.)
Please understand, every one of these I've seen for repair, has been a little bit different as to the actual repairs needed to restore it to operation.
So this is a guide, not a master repair plan for all.
[size=+2]USB Repair[/size]
I've come across several units, &, threads where the units, where the USB port, has come loose, or, broken away, from the main logic board.
Not ascribing blame, but, this is generally the result of the phones falling, with the USB cable attached, or, customer impatiens, when installing the cable tip.
The result of this, leaves the unit incapable of charging, or, transferring data, to the phone, though the phone may remain otherwise fully functional.
In most cases the original USB socket can be reusable, other times you'll need to find a suitable replacement. The original drawing number is, "L1037", though the MFG name remains unknown at this time.
But, either way, care must be taken to repair, the unseen damage that results, most of us would miss. The EVO 4G for example, uses a multi-layered circuit board, and part of the surface ground plane is dislodged, when the sock breaks loose. (See Photo)
Picture 1: Shows an actual EVO 4G, with the socket broken away from the board, with my notes added.
Picture 2: Is of the typical USB-B socket, with pin out (to show pin functions).
First, I've no idea what HTC used for solder, to secure parts, to their boards. But, I can tell you, it's very very, harder to work with, and therefore needs to be removed.
The traces need to be reconditioned, before the socket can be re-installing.
I did this by adding 2% silver solder, to the traces, and then removing it again, with Chemwick. Using extreme care, not to over heat the traces, causing them to become lifted from the board (if this happens, your done, there's no further repair possible).
Once the traces and ground points are clean, you need expand the ground points (inward), using an Exacto Knife. Also clean the old solder from the ground pad connections, and add just enough new solder, to clean & bead them up slightly (explained later).
Why do you need to expand the ground points? As you can see in photo 2, a small piece of the ground plane, was ripped away from the board, when the socket broke loose. Being a multi layered board, you can see several small silver spots, remain exposed on the board under where this copper was removed.
These are ground points, which need to be re-established. They are just as important, as the ports connections themselves, for maintain proper operation.
I added a small amount of solder to these points, to get them to bead up, above the board level, with a little smear of solder paste, and luck ( and a good cleaner to remove the solder paste once complete). At the same time, I added solder to "tin" the newly expose expanded copper ground points, I'd earlier made (before removing the solder paste).
I took a small piece of "used" piece of Chemwick, and, trimmed it to size to reach the newly scraped ground area. Added a little more solder, to where it was well saturated.
Then tacked the chemwick, first to the outer edges, then worked inward, to grab the beads.
Next prep the old socket.
You need to remove the old copper trace, from the bottom, &, re-tin that area, so it too, will beads a little. Also, because of the OEM solder, it's a good idea, re-tin the leads as well, again bead a little solder.
Now, your ready to actually reinstall the port. Notice that You have very little room to work with, so, care and good vision are a must. The technique your using is called "Reflow Soldering", you hit each lead quickly (on/off, like a bunny), but, you need to insure you've made a good joint.
The Leads:
You have both the "Pads & Leads", tinned & beaded, with solder. I'd suggest doing the leads first, then come back for the ground points, &, tabs last.
I would work form Pin 5 to 1. Where Pin 1, will be the hardest, because, it's pad is more massive, as it is all Ground plane (more, or, longer heat is needed here). Examine your work after, and, make sure the leads are solid.
The socket base:
I would then clip a small set of Hemostats, to the socket and the bottom of the board. Then heat the socket base up, until the Chemwick (installed earlier) compresses slightly. Do not get the soldering tip so far in, as to allow damage the sockets connections. And, once done "do not remove the Hemostats" until the socket is cooled.
The Tabs:
The Tabs are all that's left to solder, flow the solder evenly, to make a strong joint. Your bound to do better than HTC did here, which allowed the damage to occur. I would also consider flipping the board over, and flowing solder into the plated through hole while the iron and tabs are still hot.
There you have it, reassemble the unit, and, it all went well, you should again be able to charge your battery, and transfer data to your EVO 4G.
Like I've said, I'd like to see more detailed extreme repairs, appear following this post, not so much comments.
Use the thanks button if you find this post useful.
If I could find the actual parts, or, part number for reference. I'd also be willing to show how to replace the damaged LCD & Digitizer sockets. I have 3 units currently in this condition, where module replacement went badly.
IMnobody
If you add pictures to your process, you will get a lot more thanks. Overall a decent how-to.
hard to follow. yeah some pics would be nice
Ok so ive had this acer iconia a500 (stock no root) and one day it borked itself, now i have read every guide on here and tried everything from EUU to Apxflash tool to barbedsector to tdv4 and realized I had a bad nand after getting an error from barbedsector, now most of you know nvidia is forever releasing **** with bad/cold solder joints so, I said what the hell! why not reflow this ****er and give it a try its already trash.
So this is what I did to fix the bad nand, first off take mainboard out of the unit, pop off the cover on the gpu and nand chip off, now wrap everything else in foil except the area I said to pop the can cover off of, preheat your oven to 400 F, once oven is preheated use a baking sheet pan with 4 foil balls to keep MB off the tray. now place your baking sheet pan with MB in the oven and set your timer for 5min exactly (no more than 5min) when timer goes off pull pan out the oven and with a flat head screw driver (or something not plastic) gently press down the gpu, memory and nand chips and then set it off to the side for about 10min or until the whole board is cold, now once cold put it all back together and attempt your recoveries (I myself just turned it on and it booted past the dreaded acer screen instantly (your time may differ)
This should work for most that have had their tablet drop dead out of nowhere, and for the record if the nands were totally bad they would never have passed the testing stage at acer before hitting the shelves which is what led me to believe it was a cold solder prob, thanks NVIDIA I love fixing your ****! ALSO BTW I use this procedure to fix Laptops, Ps3s, Xbox 360s and multiple electronics that have heating issues!
Hope this helps you guys out! if it does hit my thank you button cause not one person replied to my first threat about the tablet being borked!
i´d like to bake the errors away, too
Hello
thanks for your guide, it would be very facinating to solve my problem in a similar way.
in this thread, i described my error incl. two pics.
is one of the errors a similar to yours?
i would like to be sure its really broken hardware before having mainboard-cake on sunday afternoon.
thx for a reply
kreike
i cant believe it, but it worked
i couldn´t wait as it was trash in any other way, as you already explained.
many thanks again and again and once more... for this idea.
after the operation, i had no error flashing, babsector created new partitions without any remarks (see attched pic).
to your guide, i would like to add following / explain how i did it:
- better remove camera from the board
- the area to take away the can is on the lower side after opening
- i pushed - gently as adviced - with the big and of a pencil, just to get resistance
- i put the oven on 210 Celsius, a little more tha adviced,
- the lower side, the left an right part were packed into 2 layers of foil
- make sure, you can insert the sd-card properly again...
worked on my second device, too
I am going to try this this weekend! Might as well since my tablet is already bricked. I've figured the memory chip just got corrupted somehow, but if it's just the solder and a nice toasty bake can fix it, I will be super stoked!
I'll let you know how it turns out next week.
Thank you, finally something that worx!
After having tried, (like many others with me) almost anything i could find on google and forums about the fixing of this A500-headache machine, Finally this one worked for me!!! But after 1 day of full functioning A500 I guess the solder-joint got cold again though, and it stopped functioning again. tried it 2 more times and and now fully functional device again!!! Same as with the older xbox360...Thanx again.
Kinda Worked
I tried this technique and it allowed me to boot into APX, run babsector and get it to pass!! I was so excited. It then actually rebooted into recovery. I then tried to flash A ROM back onto the device, and ended up right where I had started. Stuck on the Android logo.
Tried to run babsector again and it just failed like it used to. I tried baking the MB again, with no luck. Not sure if I should just try it again and again until it does work, or if this MB is just shot.
Photos?
Anyone have any photos of the foiled up motherboard? It would help a lot in knowing what's where. I'm going to try this as soon as I can. Thanks!
I appreciate if you could attach some photos or video. I would like to try this one as soon as i have some pics to teach me how to do it.
Thanks.
---------- Post added at 04:40 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:27 PM ----------
darkeskye said:
Ok so ive had this acer iconia a500 (stock no root) and one day it borked itself, now i have read every guide on here and tried everything from EUU to Apxflash tool to barbedsector to tdv4 and realized I had a bad nand after getting an error from barbedsector, now most of you know nvidia is forever releasing **** with bad/cold solder joints so, I said what the hell! why not reflow this ****er and give it a try its already trash.
So this is what I did to fix the bad nand, first off take mainboard out of the unit, pop off the cover on the gpu and nand chip off, now wrap everything else in foil except the area I said to pop the can cover off of, preheat your oven to 400 F, once oven is preheated use a baking sheet pan with 4 foil balls to keep MB off the tray. now place your baking sheet pan with MB in the oven and set your timer for 5min exactly (no more than 5min) when timer goes off pull pan out the oven and with a flat head screw driver (or something not plastic) gently press down the gpu, memory and nand chips and then set it off to the side for about 10min or until the whole board is cold, now once cold put it all back together and attempt your recoveries (I myself just turned it on and it booted past the dreaded acer screen instantly (your time may differ)
This should work for most that have had their tablet drop dead out of nowhere, and for the record if the nands were totally bad they would never have passed the testing stage at acer before hitting the shelves which is what led me to believe it was a cold solder prob, thanks NVIDIA I love fixing your ****! ALSO BTW I use this procedure to fix Laptops, Ps3s, Xbox 360s and multiple electronics that have heating issues!
Hope this helps you guys out! if it does hit my thank you button cause not one person replied to my first threat about the tablet being borked!
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Click to collapse
Hi,
If you don't mind can you please send me a video or photos that which parts need to be wrap in foil and place in oven? I appreciate if you could send me as soon as possible. I am now frustrated after using all tricks and none of them worked out.
Thanks.
Tried this...sadly didn't work. Tried it again for 10 minutes, again, no luck. I have always liked Acer, but after this, and seeing how many people have this issue, and other issues related to Acer products, you can bet they'll go on my 'do not buy' list.
Glad I only paid $20 for the tablet (had a charging issue that I repaired)
Well, after my bootloader "Blob Update Failed", and no other method of unbricking it, I used this as a last resort.
It worked!!!
For Europeans, set the oven to about 200/205 C. Used a pencil eraser to press down immediately after removing from oven. Not quite sure which exact chips to press down on, so I did all available!
Only bad thing, I broke the rear facing camera (not important anyhow).
it worked for me
I took out my MB to a nearby repair man. he blew heat gun over the NAND chip and it worked!! everything is back to normal without any data loss. thanks a lot
Where is the NAND chip located on the motherboard?
farhanalisyed said:
I took out my MB to a nearby repair man. he blew heat gun over the NAND chip and it worked!! everything is back to normal without any data loss. thanks a lot
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
but which is the nand chip ? PHOTO?
Where is the NAND chip?
Bump, where is the NAND chip?
Can someone take a photo or just explain where it is?
I'm having the usual problem, stuck on Acer logo, drivers wont install, no cpuid, update.zip doesn't work (android guy on its back with every ROM i've tried)
And here's a photo of the motherboard
search google for "gorbachev teardowns acer" for the disassembly process with more photos (can't post links yet)
can someone who knows just put a dot on this image where the NAND chip is?
Thank you for your time
loicloicloicloic said:
Bump, where is the NAND chip?
Can someone take a photo or just explain where it is?
I'm having the usual problem, stuck on Acer logo, drivers wont install, no cpuid, update.zip doesn't work (android guy on its back with every ROM i've tried)
And here's a photo of the motherboard
search google for "gorbachev teardowns acer" for the disassembly process with more photos (can't post links yet)
can someone who knows just put a dot on this image where the NAND chip is?
Thank you for your time
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's on the other side, you should search for the "Sandisk" logo on the chip...
Great info...!!!
Thanks a million, darkeskye.
May using a heat-gun would be safer than the oven...
Done it !!!
Hi, just wanted to let everyone know that I fixed my A500 aswell using the NAND reflow.
I had occasional bugs with Civato's Re-Flexx ROM, so decided to start with a fresh install and when i entered the recovery had a fatal breakdown.
After many unsuccessful APX flashes, I decided to try the memory chip and found a fix described on http baheyeldin com.
He describes the same aluminum foil method, but a comment made by "IT-Betreuung" is even better:
"With a soldering iron and a 1 EURO Cent piece it is also possible.
I had no heat gun to hand,so I have been thinking about alternatives and it is even easier without the aluminum foil packaging.
Simply put the Cent on the chip and a small piece of solder on it, then heat the Cent with a "strong" soldering iron, until the solder melted
and further heat for approximately 20 - 30 seconds.
Regards IT-Betreuung"
No foil, no oven, no risk, no mess.
Thanks.
Heating the owen !
hello guys!
:silly: as I said ,.. heating the owen right now. Have made photos ,.. i will upload them later ... wish me luck! ( this is crazy !)
,.. i am thinking now,.. maybe some bread for tommorow morning ? :lol:
Hello Everybody,.. finally my owen could not reach sufficient temperature to melt joints ( i have made test with a piece of joint in the owen )
so i ve borrowed a hot air gun,.. IT WORKS!
My beloved a500 works,.. and you know what ? no new rom needed, no partitions formatting ,.. nothing.
Everything works like nothing happened to it
-----
I have used all the information placed on this thread,.. location of the memory chip ,.. ( on the bottom side ) in my case it is samsung 16gb
Take of back camera from the mainboard to protect it. I have protected all the manboard with aluminium ( for the owen ) leaving only and the only memory chip visible ( for the heat gun ) and i have shoot from like 20cm above the board directly on the chip with a small piece of stain on it.
As the piece started to melt and it gets a ball shape,..I have pressed the chip with a knife and i have maintained it pressioned a second or two and took the gun offside ( becarefull as all the mainboard gets very hot )
Firstly I have asembled without camera, without mainboard cans , no mic no nothing only the essentianls.
Now i have to disassemble it one more time and put all together!
truely ,... it was very emotive experience :LOL
it seems that i am not allowed to put images yet...so
pixel2_es/download/a500_jpg (_=.)
,... thank you all for helping in this thread!
bvmerang said:
Hello Everybody,.. finally my owen could not reach sufficient temperature to melt joints ( i have made test with a piece of joint in the owen )
so i ve borrowed a hot air gun,.. IT WORKS!
My beloved a500 works,.. and you know what ? no new rom needed, no partitions formatting ,.. nothing.
Everything works like nothing happened to it
-----
I have used all the information placed on this thread,.. location of the memory chip ,.. ( on the bottom side ) in my case it is samsung 16gb
Take of back camera from the mainboard to protect it. I have protected all the manboard with aluminium ( for the owen ) leaving only and the only memory chip visible ( for the heat gun ) and i have shoot from like 20cm above the board directly on the chip with a small piece of stain on it.
As the piece started to melt and it gets a ball shape,..I have pressed the chip with a knife and i have maintained it pressioned a second or two and took the gun offside ( becarefull as all the mainboard gets very hot )
Firstly I have asembled without camera, without mainboard cans , no mic no nothing only the essentianls.
Now i have to disassemble it one more time and put all together!
truely ,... it was very emotive experience :LOL
it seems that i am not allowed to put images yet...so
pixel2_es/download/a500_jpg (_=.)
,... thank you all for helping in this thread!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just got the hot air gun from amazon. I have disassembled the TAB but wondering how did you remove the metal cover which is on top of the Chip. Can i Heat it over the metal cover and press the cover itself.