Does anyone know how difficult it would be to swap out the internal 1gb of memory with, say a 16gb from another Galaxy S?
Would it just be a matter disassembly, unsoldering and replacing? How small are the memory traces? Wire count?
Unless you worked for samsung and had access to the chip (then you wouldn't be here asking), You would have to buy another phone and disable it. Hoping that its capatible and having the right tools so you don't mess up the phone.
Not worth it.
Unless you just have the money to blow. I'm guessing the hardware is different in the epic. Footprint and all...
Thanks for your thoughts. This might be a hack a year from now when people are moving on to new phones. I guess I can look at a tear down video of the Epic and compare it to a tear down video of one of its siblings and visually compare the memory chips when both videos are out.
The internal memory is likely soldered to the main board.
Theoretically if you were feeling especially dexterous and were able to desolder the chip and attach a larger one in it's place, you would still likely need some firmware changes to be able t access the larger space. Even then I doubt the memory on the other Galaxy S phones is comprised of a single 16GB chip. It's likely several smaller chips.
tl;dr no
Related
Hello,
I've recently acquired a lazer welder that can weld metal-to-metal at a 0.1mm pitch.
What I am trying to do is cut of the old RAM chip and weld on a new higher capacity RAM chip.
Knowing I have the means to adhere a chunk of memory onto the board, does ANYONE out there know if:
1.) It's Possible
2.) If it is possible, is there a none OEM way of buying "1" chip at a reasonable price
3.) Could I buy a PC stick of ram that is of the same charecteristics of the chip used in the wizard to lop off the legs and than weld onto the wizard?
Anyone know where I can find some documentation of what is inside the wizard. Like all of the IC's?
Thanks!
I'm sure i remember a while back someone trying this, but I'm sure they ran into problems with the on board controller that recognises the memory. I'll see if I can find the links and post them here.
supraman said:
Hello,
I've recently acquired a lazer welder that can weld metal-to-metal at a 0.1mm pitch.
What I am trying to do is cut of the old RAM chip and weld on a new higher capacity RAM chip.
Knowing I have the means to adhere a chunk of memory onto the board, does ANYONE out there know if:
1.) It's Possible
2.) If it is possible, is there a none OEM way of buying "1" chip at a reasonable price
3.) Could I buy a PC stick of ram that is of the same charecteristics of the chip used in the wizard to lop off the legs and than weld onto the wizard?
Anyone know where I can find some documentation of what is inside the wizard. Like all of the IC's?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm almost positive that the RAM in the Wizard is going to be some sort of BGA format. That doesn't lend itself to easy soldering, although it can be done with the right tools. A laser welder isn't the right tool.
The other problem that you'll face is that you would need to purchase memory chips from the same manufacturer, using the same packaging as the original memory so that the ball pitch will be the same and the signal assignments will be the same.
Complicating the issue is the fact that higher density memory chips use more address lines - the Wizard may not have the extra address lines to support more memory. I wouldn't expect the device to have more address lines than necessary simply because of the space requirements. If the target was 64MB of RAM, then the space required for an extra address line to support 128MB could be better used for other motherboard features.
I hate to be such a gloomy gus, but, sadly, the sort of electrical tinkering that we used to do on some of the original PDAs is pretty much a thing of the past due to space constraints and machine assembly optimizations that the manufacturers have implemented.
But, if nothing else, it would be interesting to know just what HTC put in the Wizard!
Hey i think and have hard from some people that Wizard can support 128MB RAM, a frnd of mine was telling me that he has seen some people written on some other forum that the upgrade was a success but a limitation is that Wizard wil not support a RAM greater than 128MB its MAX. If you do try tell us your experience. and DO at your own risk dont blame anyone else if you screw your Wizard. TC
It is possible to upgrade the memory on the wizard, theres a company that will do it for you but its expensive and youd probably be better of buying higher spec model.
I came across a topic a while back that someone had succesfully done it themselfs, but it was very tricky and the right soldering equipment was needed to solder the chip correctly to the board.
Hi,could anyone with knowledge confirm what component is it?
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
It fall off pcb,and i could not find it
Refreshing post
b.u.m.p #2
how do u know something is missing? maybe there was nothing there to begin with.... does the phone not work when u put it back together?
edit: after searching a bit i found a couple pictures that shows the HD2's motherboard and some show a black component there and some dont. see attached pics. so maybe yours didnt have anything there to begin with. these components are soldiered onto the board, components dont just fall off...
maybe it depends if your phone is a US or EURO model?
rlee
here you can buy a new one
go on cgi.ebay.de and put this following link behind
/Mainboard-Motherboard-For-HTC-hd2-leo-T8585-/260819122167?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cba07f7f7[/url]
tamerkilinc said:
here you can buy a new one
go on cgi.ebay.de and put this following link behind
/Mainboard-Motherboard-For-HTC-hd2-leo-T8585-/260819122167?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cba07f7f7[/url]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
does it has to be cgi.ebay.de?or can i use .com? bwwwwahaha,price is awesome
Well,component was stripped with screwdriver,not by me.
Btw,it is US version
Empty places on boards are not unusual. Have a look on your PC's mainboard, I bet you'll find several of them there, too.
The reasons vary. At times it is because some feature originally was planned, but didn't make it into production. Redesigning the board costs much more than simply letting out some parts.
But most of the times it is due to variations of the hardware. Some chips need external parts while other, doing the same job, don't.
When you have to produce millions of a device, you have to consider that occasionally you can't use the exact chip types in all devices and partially have to use other compatible chips. So most boards are designed to cover several variants of equipment - where chip A needs this specific external piece, while chip B, which is soldered to your board, doesn't.
If your phone works flawlessly, then the empty space is ok, no reason to change anything.
If there really has been a chip on the empty place, there are explicit marks on the soldering pads. Are their surfaces clean and shiny? Then there has never been anything soldered to it, otherwise they have a rough surface, clearly showing that something was ripped off. This can happen if the soldering process was bad. But this happens really rarely, especially in upper class smartphones.
(Had this on a PC RAM some years ago, the EEPROM simply fell off the board... and some of the good old Nokia 6210 had problems with bad soldering, but this affected only a few pins of a single chip.)
So if you can post a macro pic of the empty place, I can have a look and tell you if there has been anything on it or not.
justmeandmyphone said:
Empty places on boards are not unusual. Have a look on your PC's mainboard, I bet you'll find several of them there, too.
The reasons vary. At times it is because some feature originally was planned, but didn't make it into production. Redesigning the board costs much more than simply letting out some parts.
But most of the times it is due to variations of the hardware. Some chips need external parts while other, doing the same job, don't.
When you have to produce millions of a device, you have to consider that occasionally you can't use the exact chip types in all devices and partially have to use other compatible chips. So most boards are designed to cover several variants of equipment - where chip A needs this specific external piece, while chip B, which is soldered to your board, doesn't.
If your phone works flawlessly, then the empty space is ok, no reason to change anything.
If there really has been a chip on the empty place, there are explicit marks on the soldering pads. Are their surfaces clean and shiny? Then there has never been anything soldered to it, otherwise they have a rough surface, clearly showing that something was ripped off. This can happen if the soldering process was bad. But this happens really rarely, especially in upper class smartphones.
(Had this on a PC RAM some years ago, the EEPROM simply fell off the board... and some of the good old Nokia 6210 had problems with bad soldering, but this affected only a few pins of a single chip.)
So if you can post a macro pic of the empty place, I can have a look and tell you if there has been anything on it or not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here,i added best macro i could get
Looks to me as if the pads are virgins, have never seen any solder. So if your phone doesn't have any malfunction, everything should be fine.
This component is smd female plug for led power thanks everyone for comments,maybe someone will have use of this...
Sent from my Milestone using XDA App
Are the PA for HTC Touch HD2 from Avago?
Hi.
I have access to professional BGA rework equipment, so i can remove the Tegra3 and eMMC chip and explore the possibilities of modding in a MicroSD, SPDIF out etc.
I am not willing to do this to my own Nexus 7, so I am seeking a person that would donate his broken one to the project. It will be documented with lots of good pics, and i can check various connections/draw schematics for people that wants this.
It's not important if it's a 8, 16 or 32GB version. Preferable a non-3G since i don't have the baseline schematic for the 3G version.
I can remove BGA chips, figure out what mods are possible, then reball the BGA chips and reattach them.
If i remove the Tegra 3 i can trace where the "Strapping" resistors is located, telling the Tegra 3 to boot from MicroSD instead, and soldering connections from the now removed eMMC footprint to a MicroSD socket. This will bring us the possibility of getting 128GB+ of internal storage.
If it's possible to access the pins that are responsible the SPDIF out, there may be a possibility of enabling this, rending crystal-clear digital sound out of the Nexus 7.
I will look into replacing the internal DAC too, but as i have no datasheets on the DAC, i will need to remove the Tegra3 and trace out the connections.
If you have a Nexus7 with broken screen you are willing to donate to this cause, or know someone who is, please chime in.
Preferably one in Europe, since I am located in Denmark. I hate messing with import taxes ;-/
// Per.
hey
zapro said:
Hi.
I have access to professional BGA rework equipment, so i can remove the Tegra3 and eMMC chip and explore the possibilities of modding in a MicroSD, SPDIF out etc.
I am not willing to do this to my own Nexus 7, so I am seeking a person that would donate his broken one to the project. It will be documented with lots of good pics, and i can check various connections/draw schematics for people that wants this.
It's not important if it's a 8, 16 or 32GB version. Preferable a non-3G since i don't have the baseline schematic for the 3G version.
I can remove BGA chips, figure out what mods are possible, then reball the BGA chips and reattach them.
If i remove the Tegra 3 i can trace where the "Strapping" resistors is located, telling the Tegra 3 to boot from MicroSD instead, and soldering connections from the now removed eMMC footprint to a MicroSD socket. This will bring us the possibility of getting 128GB+ of internal storage.
If it's possible to access the pins that are responsible the SPDIF out, there may be a possibility of enabling this, rending crystal-clear digital sound out of the Nexus 7.
I will look into replacing the internal DAC too, but as i have no datasheets on the DAC, i will need to remove the Tegra3 and trace out the connections.
If you have a Nexus7 with broken screen you are willing to donate to this cause, or know someone who is, please chime in.
Preferably one in Europe, since I am located in Denmark. I hate messing with import taxes ;-/
// Per.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you gotten around to anything yet? All the things you mentioned sound quite interesting. Too bad i don't have a broken Nexus 7, I would happily donate it to you
ruraj said:
Have you gotten around to anything yet? All the things you mentioned sound quite interesting. Too bad i don't have a broken Nexus 7, I would happily donate it to you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, no one has come up with the offer of a dirt cheap or free Nex7 for Dismantling.
In the meantime i managed to crack the glass on my own just by having it my bag - Asus won't do anything to help me, although there is clearly a construction defect in the mounting of the glass front. Fortunately mine is only cracked at the very end, rendering only a small corner of the touch "dead" - So if anyone has a Nex7 with good glass and otherwise dead electronics, i could be interested in that too.
// Per.
Someone brave enough to replace the Storage
http://www.modaco.com/topic/366803-moto-g-micro-sd-upgrade/
eMMC is not an 'SD Card', it's a soldered-on BGA chip. There's no possibility of swapping this out at all.
ghtop said:
eMMC is not an 'SD Card', it's a soldered-on BGA chip. There's no possibility of swapping this out at all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But there is some distant possibility, because an all-purpose BGA eMMC chip is rectangular in shape, and this metal cover looks like a general MicroSD card. We'll know better when there will be somebody brave enough to peek under the cover. But I guess the hardest part would be not the replacement, but setting up the necessary partitions and every tidbits the device needs to use the card.
FFS, not again.
making a raw copy of the original could be done with r-drive Image.but i'm still not convinced its a micro-sd card as we know it.
debaj said:
But there is some distant possibility, because an all-purpose BGA eMMC chip is rectangular in shape, and this metal cover looks like a general MicroSD card. We'll know better when there will be somebody brave enough to peek under the cover. But I guess the hardest part would be not the replacement, but setting up the necessary partitions and every tidbits the device needs to use the card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Motorola has already confirmed it's eMMC, so please link us to any commercially available product that somehow has eMMC in MicroSD form factor that doesn't need soldering.
ghtop said:
eMMC is not an 'SD Card', it's a soldered-on BGA chip. There's no possibility of swapping this out at all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's possible - it just requires a HUGE amount of skill and a BGA rework station.
The number of times that this has been done by anyone other than an OEM is maybe 2-3 times to my knowledge - and those were all Samsung Superbrick repairs. It's absolutely not feasible for doing an upgrade - only for repair purposes.
ghtop said:
Motorola has already confirmed it's eMMC, so please link us to any commercially available product that somehow has eMMC in MicroSD form factor that doesn't need soldering.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As I said, it is just wild imagination until somebody checks what's under the shielding. I certainly will not, I am perfectly happy with my phone as it is.
Its been discussed already.
It cannot be simply upgraded and even If it could be done majority of us lack the tools to do it.
I am not really sure if this is a SD card slot, because I did not measure 3.3volts at the terminals, also not in recovery (not sure if micro sd card is powered up as soon as the phone is).
Really strange because why have they left it out of the phone?
My Z1 is dead. SoC is dead.. I ordered a "brand new never used before" mainboard with discount so my parts get a second round.. I will try to root that one unlock bootloader and dump sdcard and run photorec to see how truly true that statement of the seller was about being "new". Anyways that's it for now..
Here are some pictures
Most manufacturers design their pcb's for multi purposes. I know it from Nokia, Siemens and also nowadays. You design one pcb for 3 devices and not 3 for each of the them to save design and production costs.
strongst said:
Most manufacturers design their pcb's for multi purposes. I know it from Nokia, Siemens and also nowadays. You design one pcb for 3 devices and not 3 for each of the them to save design and production costs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Makes sense, but why did they not just add sd card support to the phone? Is this to safe cost or to keep the design the way they wanted it?
I think the cost of adding it is so small. Why bother, just mill the frame and solder the socket on. But in this case, pads where not connected so maybe it's sth else.
NiTrOwow said:
Makes sense, but why did they not just add sd card support to the phone? Is this to safe cost or to keep the design they way they wanted it?
I think the cost of adding it is so small. Why bother, just mill the frame and solder the socket on. But in this case, pads where not connected so maybe it's sth else.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Pads are not connected cause of my mentioned reasons maybe and yes, Design is one of the possible reasons too!
From design a board to release of the final design for the smartphone there's a huge time that can go past. So they don't design a new pcb if pr says: we don't want a sd card.
They just disable them, cause the smartphone must be released.