Database Users

Here's the Shift disassembly guide

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.

Um, what is this part?

Hi! So my Wizard (well, the T-Mobile MDA) had an issue where its USB port became completely detached, so I found the service manual and opened it up to fix it. When I got the back housing off to expose the relevant circuit board, a small metal part flew out, and I can't for the life of me figure out where it belongs. The pictures in the manual aren't high enough resolution for me to be able to tell where this tiny sliver of metal fits in. I've since done the soldering I needed to do and fixed the USB jack, and the phone seems to work fine... I've attached two pictures of the part in question, with the phone for scale on the first one.
Any ideas? If I'm not noticing any functional differences, is it reasonable to just not worry about it? Thanks!

That is the spring clip that holds the stylus in place. I mounts inside the cover over where the stylus goes.

Fantastic. Thanks!

Thanks a million from me too....had the exact same problem yesterday!

Stylist retaining spring
Thanks for the info - I too found this after disassembling my to check and clean the buttons. Although, now it isn't working - rats! I had hoped that finding where this belonged would solve that.

rmcknight said:
That is the spring clip that holds the stylus in place. I mounts inside the cover over where the stylus goes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are in wrong, that part, it is beer bottle opener

How difficult is to take apart an HTC Ozone?

Hi all,
My wife spilled a glass of beer on my PDA, and now the top front buttons don't react like before. Sometimes you don't hear the 'click' and you can feel like they got stuck.
The keyboard looks fine, so the problem is only the with the top buttons at the front of the PDA.
Have anybody tried to take apart this PDA? Would be easy to open it and clean everything before putting everything back?
Thanks a lot

I completely soaked my Ozone about a week after I got it... knocked it in the sink. I like to think that I was among the first to void my warranty, Lo..l?
The phone is really well constructed for what you need to do. All of the critical electronics are very well shielded on the board, nothing difficult about separating the board from the case.
Six 'star drive' screws on the case (that's where the warranty sticker is), one tiny phillips on the board - board pulls up off of pins, away from the usb connector and Bob's your uncle. The keypad is not fastened to the case, pull it right out.
Watch the ribbon cable for the lcd - I would not recommend disconnecting it. there should be enough play to allow you to work. Make sure you're working in a really clean environment, and check the inside of the plastic lcd cover obsessively right before reassembly. If you're anything like me that one little catpet fiber or cat hair or whatever the hell will drive you to take the phone apart again 4 days later...
Sorry about the ramble... it's late. Short answer is: Nothing to it.
Good luck!

Thanks a lot for your post. It was really helpful.
I will probably try it this weekend.
I'll post here the results
Cheers

So if I wanted to buy a different color keypad (dont like the green) it shouldnt be hard to take apart??...I change screens in Env/Voyagers a bit so have a little knowledge...

ac adapter says push up?

The manual also shows the adapter in 2 parts but when i push in the direction thtis labeled on the adapter it doesnt seem to budge. What is it supposed to become after being detached?

Don't get curious. Originally the charger came as two pieces which you can see by looking at the lines separating the two.
It was the flat part with the prongs and the big part with the USB socket. You had to push them together and slide to lock them in place and then use it.
Apparently this was causing broken tabs or maybe they thought it was too hard for some people to do correctly so the recent batches have had both pieces attached to each other straight out of the box.
I'm pretty sure you can still separate them but I might be wrong. They might have glued them in place. Not sure why they would do that. Don't take it apart because you just might **** it up and regret doing so.

You should follow Tubular advice...
Mine also came already attached, and I wouldn't bother fiddling with it unless you want risk suffering the same problems other have experimented with their chargers.
Regards.

I took one apart and it's pretty stiff. you push firmly in the direction of the arrow, but it will only move a little bit, then you slide the two pieces apart. there is really no need to take them apart unless you are moving to another country and are going to permanently convert the plug. the tabs inside look kinda fragile, so it's hardly worth the risk.

Any way to open the back with a philips screwdriver?

Got off the phone with barns and noble which more or less went like this.
'Hello how can I help you?'
'Yes the screen is stuck on a single image can you help?'
*ten minutes of trying the usual power cycling later*
'Nope still stuck.
'You only have the basic warrentee so you'll have ot send it ot us and only if the problem is not user related then we'll sned you a new one'
'thanks.' *image shown is of a very clearly not stock nook reader app*
So now i have no reason to not open the thing up see if i can do anything as walmart /probably/ isn't going to bother looking it over before giving a refund/replacement. Trouble is i only have a philips head bit that small. Any way of getting the thing open?

Goggles2114 said:
Got off the phone with barns and noble which more or less went like this.
'Hello how can I help you?'
'Yes the screen is stuck on a single image can you help?'
*ten minutes of trying the usual power cycling later*
'Nope still stuck.
'You only have the basic warrentee so you'll have ot send it ot us and only if the problem is not user related then we'll sned you a new one'
'thanks.' *image shown is of a very clearly not stock nook reader app*
So now i have no reason to not open the thing up see if i can do anything as walmart /probably/ isn't going to bother looking it over before giving a refund/replacement. Trouble is i only have a philips head bit that small. Any way of getting the thing open?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torx
I can't remember which size is it exactly.
Try Torx T5.
The screw is quite fragile. Using wrong screwdriver might damage it severely.
Edit :
It is Torx T5
http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Nook+Simple+Touch+with+GlowLight+Teardown/9301/1
try to remove the warranty sticker using a razor blade or something similar (thin blade) so you can put it back on the screw once you are done.

Goddamnit. why couldn't they have used a philips like a SANE person? Oh right... nonuer servicable.'
*mutter* I"m twelve shades of pissed off right now because it wasn't that high of a fall just like at best a half foot. I"m sure everythign works its just not displaying a damned thing.

Goggles2114 said:
Goddamnit. why couldn't they have used a philips like a SANE person? Oh right... nonuer servicable.'
*mutter* I"m twelve shades of pissed off right now because it wasn't that high of a fall just like at best a half foot. I"m sure everythign works its just not displaying a damned thing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can easily access the battery, but it will void your warranty. The torx screw on the back is located underneath the power button. The power button just pops out if you can get your finger nail or something underneath it.
The battery is covered by the warranty sticker, so if you attempt to remove the screw, it will shred the sticker. Unless you find some method of getting tweezers in there to unscrew it, voiding the warranty is guaranteed.
And yes, you can easily use a philips or flathead: just lay a rubber band down over the top of the screw and push a screwdriver down onto it. The rubberband will provide enough grip to loosen and remove the torx. Very easy. However, be aware that the front panel slides out. Don't force it open or you'll break the internal plastic tabs holding it together.

For extra credit, remove the SD card before trying to slide the two case pieces apart.

Alright back cover's off and so far... Nothing. Plugged it in sans battery and no change. So leaving it sit for awhile see if it'll discharg any leftover power before trying again.
Edit: Reassembled. Charging.
Edit Again: Still behaving the same. :C
Edit the third: Left it sitting unplugged again now i"m going to leave it charge all night.
Why would a short fall bump cause a brick event?

The Nook will not boot up on USB power with a disconnected battery.
Did you reseat the display connector? That's the only connector on the Nook.
You could have cracked the circuit board somewhere too.
Have you tried to boot up with Noogie on an SD card?

Unhooked then rehooked the video cable while it was open jst to be sure (It /looks/ like it's in right not sure if there's a way to do it wrong.) Booted it with noogi before doing the take apart thing and no change in screen but it sees all the partitions just fine when plugged in.
Even the glow light pops up.
Seriously had to have been at worst a six inch drop on a wood surface. What the flip?

I have bought two Nook touches off of ebay that had screens that looked fine but when I opened them up and removed the mainboard I could see that the screen was cracked.

Managed to get a return from walmart.
And i count myself as lucky.

Goggles2114 said:
Managed to get a return from walmart.
And i count myself as lucky.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm glad you were able to return it. You could also have gotten it RMA'd through the warranty. When there's no sign of visible external damage it's also an easy return.
considering the amount of ridiculous punishment my Nook absorbed, I would imagine yours may have had a major defect that was aggravated by the drop.