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
Related
HEy I have an MDA but about a month ago my usb port broke and is loose inside the phone.
I want to know if this phone can be saved in any way
I have a LOT of contacts and other important info left on the phone and I need them badly.
the battery is dead and I need to know if to call it quits on this phone or not
maybe I could charge the battery through another MDA but i still need all those contacts to be transfered and its way too much to individually get.
please shed some light on what I should do
Maybe get a new battery and connect through bluetooth?
Repairing a HTC Wizard USB Connector
HEy I have an MDA but about a month ago my usb port broke and is loose inside the phone.
I want to know if this phone can be saved in any way
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, it can be saved!
The same thing happened to me and I fixed it. What you need to do is get
a soldering iron
some extremely thin silver solder (I used .015 dia. Radioshack 64-035e)
some desoldering braid (Radioshack 64-2090)
a continuity tester (the more needle-like the probes, the better!)
a tiny flat head screwdriver (1mm I think).
All this is available at RadioShack or can be found for less online.
Take the phone apart. This is tricky. Read the HTC repair guides available off of this site.
ftp://xda:[email protected]/Wizard/Docs_Tutorials/Wizard_Service_Manual.pdf
I can do it with a tiny flathead screwdriver instead of the torx that is recommended.
At this point, go on youtube.com and watch some videos on how to do surface mount soldering at home with a normal soldering iron. I found this to be helpful and confidence inspiring.
One thing I did was use the file on my Leatherman tool to sharpen the soldering iron tip to a sharp point. This helped get to the tiny nook that you will be soldering.
Find the loose usb connector in the phone. Its probably in fine condition. The reason why it broke is that HTC did not use enough solder to hold it to the board. Its not likely your fault. In the old days we called this a 'design flaw' and an organization called the 'BBB' would instigate what is called a 'product recall' for what we casually referred to as a 'lemon'.
Now, solder the four corners of the USB connector to the board. It probably won't be hard to put it in its original place. Don't leave a cold solder joint... make sure the dolops of solder are nice and shiny.
Then carefully proceed to solder the pinouts on the connector to the traces on the board. This is easier than it looks because the thin solder will flow right onto the traces under the connector.
If you accidently short two traces with solder, then use the desoldering braid to suck it up. Be extremely careful not to lift hard on the braid and pull up the traces. This did not happen to me, but I was careful.
The thing to know is that the USB connector has 5 pinouts but the USB standard only uses 4 of them. Google Mini USB connector pinouts and study which pins go to which wires: http://pinouts.ru/Slots/USB_pinout.shtml
When you think you have succeeded at soldering, use the continuity tester on your multimeter to check your work.
Check for short circuits between the traces.
Plug a mini-usb cable into the phone and carefully check continuity from the far end of the USB cable, to the trace on the motherboard of the phone. All four wires on the USB cable should match to the corresponding traces on the board. This is pretty logical when you are actually staring at it. But just in case, what I am saying here is, take one conductor of the continuity tester and place it on one pinout of the usb connector on the phone. Take the other conductor of the continuity tester and put it on the corresponding wire insider your 4 pin USB-A cable connector. If you hear the multimeter beep, you succeeded.
These diagrams show which pinout goes to which wire: http://pinouts.ru/Slots/USB_pinout.shtml
If everything checks out. Reassemble the phone, and see if it charges with the wall charger. If it does, then see if you can get it to sync with ActiveSync. If the phone doesn't show up in the device registry (or the MacOS X System Profiler), you definitely have not soldered it properly. Be sure the phone is on of course.
PS. Finally, was it all worth it? Well, it was great to get my data back, now its time to go get an iPhone! I mean really, all of this hacking is not worth your time. The iPhone is a far superior cell phone in every aspect. Who wants to screw around with installing half-baked ROM files and buggy M$ platforms? I digress.
PPS. I was able to do all this with MacOS X running VMWare Fusion, Win XP SP2 running Active Sync. So you don't even need a PC!
you tell us to make sure the phone is off way at the end i found this, but is this considered service mont? http://youtube.com/watch?v=KdWCffSdpuE
There 2 things I could add to the instructions above,
1 when I solder surface mount or tight connections I use lots of solder resin (like a acidic primer that cleans the surface as heat is applied, can be cleaned with isopropylene[alcohol]). This really makes the solder flow good to the contacts then use solder wick to suck up any extra solder that may present a problem.
2 You can sign up for mail2web.com and sync your pda with there exchange server, works wonders, I can flash my phones and all of them always have the same full contact list with all the emails, calender etc......
hope this helps
resin and alchohol do the same thing?
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
=======
Introduction:
=======
Hey everyone, I'm just posting this tirade about my problems with the X1's build quality here in case anyone else is suffering from the same problems I had, as well as some tips regarding disassembling and re-assembling the phone if you're brave/foolhardy enough to attempt repairs yourself, like me.
With contributions from others this thread could become a compendium of common hardware problems with the X1 and how to identify or fix them, as well as pitfalls to watch out for when repairing the device by hand.
I don't have any diagrams yet because I simply couldn't stomach opening up the shoddy device again to take photos.
=======
My X1:
=======
I bought my X1 on eBay second-hand (my first major mistake) so I was always a bit worried what would happen when the day inevitably came when I'd have hardware problems with the phone.
However, I bought it very shortly after the phone's release and the seller described it as unused. The phone appeared mostly unused when I received it, apart from a couple of tiny scratches on the casing.
The phone was functionally fine when I received it and showed no problems whatsoever for the first few months.
Like seemingly everyone my first hardware problems with the phone (I won't even get into the device's software failings) that developed over time were an unresponsive keyboard, cracks in the case and a non-functioning vibration motor.
The 'r' key on my X1 took considerably greater force to register a press than any other key on the device, while other keys intermittently ignored presses or interpreted a single press as 2-5 presses while typing.
The spacebar also intermittently became unresponsive, as did the 'up' key on the front-mounted optical joystick.
The vibration motor worked at first, but eventually gave only a single loud 'click' when the phone should vibrate.
The problems worsened over time and despite taking good care of the phone, the casing started to look badly banged-up - This is not a phone that ages gracefully.
=======
Replacement Parts
=======
In early December I ordered a replacement casing & keyboard from a supplier in Hong Kong on eBay (mistake #2), happyhouse.cn .
The parts were suspiciously cheap compared to the ones from non-ebay suppliers, so I assumed they would be imitation/unofficial parts, not from SE.
At first glance, the new casing and keyboard seemed like the real deal, but when I attempted to re-assemble the phone with the new parts I found that the phone's original screws didn't properly fit the sockets of the new casing and that the new keyboard didn't fit either the new casing OR the old one.
I ended up using a mixture of new and old parts to rebuild the phone.
=======
My Repairs
=======
Over the course of 'fixing' the phone, a few other problems came to light within the device's internals.
A couple of these problems were apparent as soon as I examined the device internally, while others became apparent when I rebult the device and tried to use it.
Keyboard:
The R key on the old keyboard had cracked at first, then eventually split completely into 3 parts during use. One part fell away while the other two remained stuck to the flexible plastic backing of the keyboard structure.
As I mentioned above, the cheap new keyboard did not fit the casing whatsoever (the scale of its design was wrong and it was in total 3-6mm longer than the original part).
I cleaned the original board (the plastic layer with the keys, not the circuit layer) in warm, soapy water and removed the broken R key by plucking it off the flexible backing.
I then plucked the 'r' key off the new keyboard and used it to replace the missing key on the old keyboard, with the aid of some 'Bostik Impact' adhesive.
I finally refitted the old keyboard (with a new R key) to the casing and prayed that it would still work.
It did, in the end, but the R key has less travel and tactile response than the unreplaced keys.
---Tip:---
The unresponsive (or over-responsive) behaviour of the keyboard can primarily be attributed to poor design, but the grit and dirt that enters every keyboard known to man similarly affects that of the X1 and worsens the problem.
Removing the plastic portion of the keyboard unit and washing it in warm, soapy water is a good way to at least regain the functionality that the keyboard had when you first got the device.
Vibration Motor:
I saw the physical evidence of the claim that the camera light LED is badly designed and prone to overheating, in turn killing the vibration motor.
In the original phone casing, the plastic housing that surrounds the LED had melted and resolidified over the course of the phone's life and there was minor scorching on nearby components.
The vibration motor for the device is situated directly beside the LED (to the left, while the rear camera lens is to the right) and seemed unable to function with the melted plastic in its way.
I cleared away the melted plastic but the motor still only 'clicked' when I later tested the vibration.
It seems that the motor gets burned out by trying to work when obstructed by the plastic, or the heat from the LED kills the motor internally.
One way or the other, it's dead.
---Tip:---
The recommendation to not use the light for extended periods of time on the X1 still stands, it's worrying to think of how much worse the damage could get if the light were left on longer.
It is an especially worrying issue when you consider that the light LED is so close to the main Li-Polymer battery of the phone.
Broken Side-mounted buttons:
The next problem I encountered in the original phone casing was that of the weak rubber straps that hold the side-mounted buttons (power, camera, volume-rocker) in place.
These rubber components are quite thin and weak, as well as prone to snapping when stressed.
The purpose of these straps is to hold the button in place (flush-mounted) and to provide the spring action and make the buttons return after pressing.
In my case, the strap holding the power button had weakened and the button stopped working properly, while the phone behaved as if the button was being constantly held in.
The phone constantly brought up the "Are you sure you wish to power off the device?" prompt in WinMo.
When I set about trying to remove the old button to replace it with a new one from my pack of replacement parts, the old rubber strap almost instantly snapped!
I replaced the old button eventually, but even now there is less travel in the button and barely any tactile response when it hits the internal switch on the PCB.
---Tip:---
When re-inserting the PCB during re-assembly, keep an eye on all of the side-mounted buttons to make sure that their inwards-pointing nub sits *above* the PCB and is able to reach the board-mounted switch that the button controls!
Incompatible Screws:
Beware that the screws from the phone's original casing do not properly fit the cheaper replacement casing.
This means that you will have difficulty in forcing the screws to fit (and possibly shear the heads off the screws, which is a pretty major problem in a delicate device like this where they will be difficult to remove).
If you force the screws to fit due to a lack of any replacement screws to use, they will likely not sit properly flush-mounted with the original casing, particularly on the front (touchscreen) half of the device; and this may prove problematic for the sliding mechanism.
Additionally, it means that the casing will not close properly, resulting in gaps between the casing and touchscreen as well as gaps along the sides of the device.
---Tip:---
If you must do your own repairs on the device, try to get the official replacement parts from Sony Ericsson.
Buying the cheaper replacements from eBay is a false economy and a major headache, take my word for it!
Malfunctioning Antenna:
When I first rebuilt the phone after repairs I discovered that I could only get very weak intermittent radio signals in places that I previously had full signal strength.
This problem occured only because of incorrect re-assembly by me, but it represents a pitfall that might catch someone else out when re-assembling their X1.
---Tip:---
When reattaching the Antenna unit (the black shroud that sits around the rear camera lens and which also contains the camera LED), be sure to firmly press on the left side of the plastic (where there are visible metal strips in the plastic) until you hear a click to signify that the shroud is properly attached.
Otherwise, the antennae embedded in the plastic will not properly contact the main PCB of the device and your reception for all radio antennae in the device (GSM, WiFi, etc) will be weakened or lost completely.
This problem was caused solely by my inexperienced maintenance of the device, but may be related to the weak-signal problems some people experience with the X1, at a guess.
Ammendment:
------
I may be mistaken on this one! I had originally thought that this component held the antennae, but after further experimentation I've come to think that the antennae may be housed alongside the speaker unit in the other end of the phone. The tip still stands, just to be on the safe side!
Malfunctioning Speaker/Microphone:
During use early in the phone's life I sometimes found that the phone's main speaker stopped working for apparently no reason and that squeezing the casing 'fixed' the problem until it occured again seemingly at random.
Within the rear plastic portion of the casing that forms the battery compartment there is a small module comprising the phone's primary speaker and in-call mic underneath the plastic piece that contains the SE circular logo.
These components make only surface contact with the main PCB of the phone and are not soldered in-place.
In my case, the small copper contacts that extend outwards from the speaker unit had become flattened somehow within the device and no longer reached their counterpart contacts on the main PCB when the device was closed-up.
---Tip:---
Extending the speaker contacts outwards with a fingernail seemed to rectify this problem for me.
Be sure to tightly screw the module back in when you're done, just to make sure of the circuit-contact.
Touchscreen Ribbon-cable:
This problem was mentioned by others in a thread here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=561151
I very rarely encountered that problem in my typical usage of the X1, but after my repairs this issue seemed to become exacerbated (probably due to strains placed on the ribbon cable during my reassembly of the device numerous times).
Currently my touchscreen works as it should in portrait mode, but I cannot extend the keyboard, as this causes the screen to still display a signal, but not respond to any touches.
Upon sliding the keyboard back in, the touchscreen is out of the alignment by about 5-6mm every time until I re-align it under WinMo settings.
In an attempt to fix this problem I covered the exposed portion of the ribbon cable with thin insulating tape, in the hope that this would stop the traces of the cable shorting against the metal casing.
Unfortunately, this hasn't proven enough and I have not yet solved this issue.
It looks as though I need to buy a replacement ribbon cable and fix the device that way.
========================
---Other Tips:---
+ Make sure you have all the tools you need.
Replacement parts come with the necessary tools, but if you don't get those you're going to need a tiny phillips screwdriver, a tiny 6-point star-headed screwdriver and a thin, stiff implement such as a credit card or guitar plectrum to open the casing.
I also recommend a snipe-nose pliers and a tweezers for more delicate parts.
Adhesives & Bonding Agents can be useful in certain applications, but use them sparingly (or don't use them at all, to have any chance of making the phone look untampered for warranty purposes!).
+ Don't expect cheap replacement parts to fit perfectly!
They're cheaper for a reason, you get what you pay for, except in the case of the phone itself.
+ Be gentle with all of the components.
The Xperia X1 feels nice and sturdy when it's assembled, but the individual components can be flimsy and brittle when separated.
Everything from the plastic casing to the circuitry inside needs to be handled with care and treated gently to avoid being broken.
That's everything for now, but if I think of any more issues or tips I'll amend this post.
Please feel free to comment with other issues and any other maintenance tips you've discovered and we can build a useful list for people to refer to.
========================
=======
Conclusion:
=======
Before opening my Xperia I didn't really know what to expect inside.
I'm very familiar with computers and I build my own systems as a hobby, but my knowledge of circuit-level electronics is limited and I have no prior experience of manually repairing devices like the Xperia.
My experiences show that some of the common hardware problems can be resolved by the end-user with some patience and the right tools or parts, but one needs to be extremely careful not to end up with more problems than one started with!
=======
Disclaimer:
=======
I won't be held responsible for any damage you do to your phone and I do NOT recommend that you actually perform any of these procedures.
It is better to let qualified technicians at SE's Warranty Service handle these issues.
I'm providing this information solely for those people who either want to do it or have no other choice to get their phone working again.
The information presented is a combination of information collated from guides that I've linked herein and my own experience but I cannot guarantee their accuracy beyond that.
Treat everything in these informational posts as opinion or observation, not fact!
=======
Links & Other Information:
=======
This post will contain any other helpful information or links pertaining to the disassembly, repair and reassembly of the X1.
This is Cellular Nationwide Network's selection of spare parts for the X1:
http://cnn.cn/shop/sonyericsson-xperia-c-28_638.html
This online store also offers the X1 replacement LCD/Digitizer unit:
http://www.formymobile.co.uk/proddetail.php?prod=x1lcd
I have not bought from either of these stores nor can I verify the quality or compatibility of the items they offer!
I'm just listing them here in case people have trouble finding anywhere to get parts!
=======
Disassembly Summary:
=======
The device needs to be disassembled in the correct order as laid out on this page: http://www.formymobile.co.uk/xperiadisassembly.php
-Remove battery cover, stylus, battery, sim card & micro sdhc card and put them aside.
-Remove the plastic portion of the bottom-rear of the phone (where the SE circle is), using the proper tool, a credit card or a plectrum.
-Unscrew and remove the speaker module
-Remove the screws where the speaker module was
-Remove the covers over the screws at the other end of the phone and then the screws themselves (using the star-headed screwdriver)
-Remove the plastic battery compartment (which also takes the camera cover and stylus slot with it)
-Lift the small black tape and disconnect the plug that powers the camera LED
-Remove the screw in the top-right, then left the black lens-shroud it was holding down.
-Remove the small plug on the ribbon cable at the top-right (this connects the keyboard unit to the main PCB
-Pull the clips around the edges of the green PCB back gently to release it (but do not pull it upwards).
-Lift the PCB gently and (Very) gently remove the orange tape that covers the touchscreen ribbon cable attached underneath, then pry that ribbon cable's connector away from the connector on the green PCB.
-Lift the PCB away and put it aside
-The keyboard circuit and plastic pad can now also be lifted away if necessary.
--- This is where you can stop if your repairs/maintenance only affect the rear portion of the device. Only go further if you need to perform repairs on the front/touchscreen portion. ---
-Remove the four shallow screws underneath where the green PCB previously lay to separate the rear housing from the slider mechanism.
-Remove the four screws in the front portion of the phone, then pry the casing open with the tool/card/plectrum as before.
-The main ribbon cable is attached to a small PCB and some other ribbon cables which are concealed underneath the grey fuzzy foil on the surface in front of you.
-That foil can be removed but it is not necessary to do so unless you are replacing the LCD screen unit, receiver-speaker, front-camera or the ribbon cable assembly itself.
-The Touchscreen component is held down with small grey braided straps at the corners, peel these back to release the touchscreen from the front fascia.
Then do all of that in reverse to put the phone back together!
=======
Videos:
=======
I found these videos on youtube, I didn't record or upload them.
Video guide to Disassembling the Rear half of the device:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWDurQrRt-Y
Video guide to Disassembling the Front half of the device:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyGUbxFqvyc
Video guide to Reassembling the Front half of the device:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcDqyEyC_HY
Video guide to Reassembling the Rear half of the device:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0sOaIo6724
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Personal Comment:
=======
It goes to show that, as many of us are already aware, you must pay a premium price for this phone but it is NOT manufactured like a premium product.
If my situation were rare or I had only one of the above mentioned hardware issues with a new phone I could accept it, but things got ridiculous with the X1.
The build quality is very poor overall and Sony Ericsson should be ashamed firstly for releasing a device onto the market that functioned as little more than a flawed prototype for the X2; and secondly for charging upwards of €600 for the 'privilege' of putting up with its many problems and shortcomings.
I for one, won't be buying any more SE phones.
My next smartphone will be an Android device such as a Motorola Milestone if I ever pluck up the courage to spend that much money on a phone again.
=======
Disclaimer:
=======
I won't be held responsible for any damage you do to your phone and I do NOT recommend that you actually perform any of these procedures.
It is better to let qualified technicians at SE's Warranty Service handle these issues.
I'm providing this information solely for those people who either want to do it or have no other choice to get their phone working again.
The information presented is a combination of information collated from guides that I've linked herein and my own experience but I cannot guarantee their accuracy beyond that.
Treat everything in these informational posts as opinion or observation, not fact!
Useful post, but it really seems that the majority of your issues were caused by the imitation housing that you purchased, not by poor SE build quality. Of all the issues you mentioned, the keyboard issues are an SE/HTC quality control problem, I've experienced them as have many. The rest seem to have been caused by the imitation housing. This begs the quesiton, why didn't you just use SE's warranty service? They don't require a reciept or that you be the original owner. And trust me, they are several times better than HTCs warranty service.
sonus said:
Useful post, but it really seems that the majority of your issues were caused by the imitation housing that you purchased, not by poor SE build quality. Of all the issues you mentioned, the keyboard issues are an SE/HTC quality control problem, I've experienced them as have many. The rest seem to have been caused by the imitation housing. This begs the quesiton, why didn't you just use SE's warranty service? They don't require a reciept or that you be the original owner. And trust me, they are several times better than HTCs warranty service.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd hardly call the problem of the non-fitting screws a majority! The rest of the issues were unrelated to the cheap replacement housing.
Maybe my post is confusing, but the issues with the keyboard, vibration motor, ribbon cable, side-buttons & speaker all existed long before I ever ordered the replacement casing!
Some, such as the ribbon cable and antenna were issues that cropped up or were worsened due to my inexperienced maintenance, but everything else was a fault of the build quality of the original device.
The incompatibility of the screws was the only problem specifically caused by the new housing, while its own supplied keyboard didn't fit the chassis, but that was a non-issue since I used the original keyboard anyway.
It could be said that my repairs would have gone significantly smoother if I had bought and used an official replacement housing from SE, but that would only solve the issues of the screws and replacement keyboard.
I put emphasis on the problems related to the cheap replacement casing primarily to warn people away from wasting their money on them the way I did.
I'll edit the original post for clarity.
To answer your question, I didn't use the Warranty service because frankly I assumed they would need a proof of purchase for the warranty (since most warranties do in my experience) and I had bought the device second-hand on eBay.
Secondly, sending the device in for warranty would mean going through the hassle of reflashing a stock rom and SPL to the phone.
Thirdly and most importantly, I wanted to try doing it myself for the experience and potential savings.
Obviously, I wouldn't recommend anyone to try and repair their own phone as I did, but if someone has had a phone sent back to them marked as "tampered" by the warranty service and are left with the options of paying for repairs, paying for a new phone, or buying parts and repairing it themselves.. well that option is there and this thread might help them.
Also, off-topic but I couldn't agree more with your signature. I tried a myriad of fancy ROMs and shell replacements for my X1 but never found satisfaction until I flashed a basic blank WM6.5 ROM and installed PointUI Home2!
Thanks this post helped me out, I suddenly lost my mic, took a look under the hood and found I had the same issue as you, the mic pins not touching. The pins are very weak so had to be careful but it works now!
tumpin said:
Thanks this post helped me out, I suddenly lost my mic, took a look under the hood and found I had the same issue as you, the mic pins not touching. The pins are very weak so had to be careful but it works now!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad to help!
Definitely the most thorough repair and tips guide for the x1. A lot of the issues you had are the same as mine. Thanks to your suggestions I got my phone in almost working condition. Now I just need to find a way to get my keyboard working again.
Sent from my xperia x1 using XDA App
Thanks Zurechial for this thorough post. I for one, have been lucky in finding a repair guy (non-SE) who is an expert with devices like the X1. I had a problem that some water/moisture/sweat had seeped in the charging port and I could not get the phone to charge. He fixed it for me.
Now the only problem I face is that the camera is not working, and wifi is disabled. Any tips to get the Wifi working? It is shown as disabled in the Comm Manager and there is no WLAN MAC Address also for it.
brilliant post, thank you very much indeed. I have just ordered a cheap housing off ebay, i know what to expect now
What worries me the most though, is how the keyboard WILL fail eventually ><
The qwerty keyboard is one of the main reasons why i got the phone.
time to snatch back our lives suckers
Apparently, it's taken less than 20 years, to destroy the Consumer Electronics Industries, ability to Repair products, sold in this country. I saw the writing on the wall, in the early 80's, with the first lines of "off shore", throw away VCR's, that were priced cheaper than they'd cost to repair. The theory, if it breaks, throw it away & buy a new one. Who cares if it winds up in a land fill somewhere.
Now, we're up to $500 Cell Phones, with the state of repair being either, unit replacement, or, cannibalization of parts. And apparently no one cares. Is it our complacency or can we really afford as a society, to buy a new phone every time one breaks? God knows we're all desperate, for our phone usage.
It's time to snatch back the repair ability we once had. This is the age of recycling, and the highest form of recycling is repair.
As consumers, start demanding access to schematics, and, access to sources of component level repair parts.
IM
You help me...
I'm almost freaking out when signal on my phone show only 2 bars...
Anyway...
it's for additional information,
use handscoon, it gives somewhat confident and when using tweezer, hold it like using pen (I learnt it when I studied as paramedic) because it will give me strength while holdin it.
AND ask the seller to send housing with screw. I bought 2 housings, from ebay and another hongkong shop. Ebay is s%ck but that other hongkong shop is more fit.
Charging today confirmed my worst fears. My original NST has an issue with the USB socket. I know there are tear-downs online, but I haven't seen anything addressing this issue. Maybe people just toss them?!
Anyway, I'm not afraid to open the thing but I am worried that it may be like other more recent devices I've tried to deal with where it was clear they were never designed to be touched by human hands.
Does anyone know if the solder connections are user-friendly? @Renate NST?
Replacing a USB socket is always the best fix.
I've still had good luck with blowing all the lint out of the socket and
carefully squashing the shell a bit to make the physical fit tighter.
Renate NST said:
Replacing a USB socket is always the best fix.
I've still had good luck with blowing all the lint out of the socket and
carefully squashing the shell a bit to make the physical fit tighter.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. I'll give that a shot before disassembly but I'm not thinking that will solve the problem based on the way it behaves when the plug is jiggled. So far I can still charge if I am determined enough to find the sweet spot. I'm just hoping there's enough left of the solder tabs/points/? to allow a resolder if that's what's needed.
So finally I brought together all the tools needed and followed this guide to take the NST apart. Everything went smoothly and now I know I can easily replace the battery (although I'd be unlikely to do so since a new battery would probably cost more than another NST...). And....I got it all back together without misadventure (other than it turning on while trying to get the case back repositioned) and it all seems to work fine. That's the good news.
The bad news: as I feared, most of the contact points for the USB socket are so tiny that human hands could not possibly deal with them. At least not my human hands, and even if they could, I don't have a soldering tool tiny enough to even think about reheating a joint. It took a powerful magnifying glass to inspect what I could see of the joints and I did not find anything amiss. I even inserted the USB plug and gently jiggled it to see if anything betrayed a loose connection. NADA.
So, I'm out a few bucks for the tools but mostly I just now know that this situation is not going to get any better. I can charge by carefully inserting and tapping on the connector until I get a steady LED and the charging image comes up on the screen. I can do everything else via WiFi (but no USB Audio for this device any more).