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.

Loose Connector on Phone - Need help

Hi,
The connector on my touch (mini usb port) has somehow gotten loose or something. Everytime I connect the phone to charge or sync......the slightest touch/movement throws it off. I know there may not be much I can do right now except maybe replace the motherboard or something. Just needed some info if tht is indeed the way to go....or is there some other solution or a fix that any of the geniuses here can help me out with
Thanks in advance

Hi... apparently this does happen quite often with this connectors but it doesn't necessarely mean that that connector is overall loose.
Try to check if this might be your case.... On some devices I've noticed that the metal strips within the connector (in the phone, top part of the connector usually) looses away from its original position, if its not broken you may be able to unbend it and restore it to the original position with a thin pin or something of that sort. This will make things work again.
To prevent this from keep happening just be carefull when you plug/unplug your cables into it. Be gentle when inserting the cable and make sure to put the pressure to insert it only when its in the exact position.
hope this helps... good luck

[email protected] said:
...The connector on my touch (mini usb port) has somehow gotten loose or something. ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I thought I had this problem, but it turned out to be a faulty USB cable - I think the wires were loose where they joined the connector. Since changing the cable I've had no problems.

Loose USB port fix

So my EVO has slowly developed a loose USB port over time. It got to the point I could only charge and not use USB mass storage.
So I fixed it. It turns out that pocket lint slowly got compacted over time from being in my pocket and pushing the USB jack into the port. I got in there with a pick (from my lock pick set, another hobby) and a razor blade (To get on the other side of the port) and sure enough, the USB port is now working just like it used to.
So, there wasn't a hardware failure of any kind.... just pocket lint.

Hey, I'm having the same exact problem with the usb port, you wouldn't happen to have taken pictures of the process would you? I'm pretty bad with fixing things myself. Do you think you could explain this to me with a little more detail?? Thanks
Sent from my dope fly fresh EVO

I can try to explain it, but I don't have any pictures of the process.
There wasn't anything wrong with the connectors on the phone, it was just that so much crude got compacted in the backside of the port that the jack couldn't be pushed in all the way to make a connection.
I got a small piece of metal (a lock pick) that is maybe 1/8" or 1/16" of an inch thick and started to dig at the backside of the port. This is the side closest to the battery. I grabbed the pieces I could with the pick, and used a pair of needle nose pliers to grab the more stubborn pieces after I loosened them with the pick.
The other side (the side not housing the connections and closest to the screen) is very tight to the USB housing. I slipped a razor in that space and managed to get out the remaining crude, which was very little compared to the opposite side.
Took maybe 5 minutes of poking around, and went from the jack falling out if I even slightly moved the phone to getting a nice click when I insert the jack.
I don't know how prone to damage those connectors on the phone are, but I wasn't exactly gentle at one point with the razor and it survived. I was going to get the phone replaced anyways so it was a low risk venture for me.

Samsung Focus USB connectivity issues

Hello everyone!
After finally getting an external battery charger, I've been able to use my Samsung Focus again.
I'm still, however, having USB connectivity issues.
Here's what I've tried.
-Reinstalling Zune
-Using other USB ports on my laptop.
-Using another computer
-Reinstalling the Samsung USB Driver
-Using a few different microUSB cables, including one from another Samsung phone
-Cleaning the microUSB port.
-installing WMDC
EDIT: -I've also made sure my phone's in Zune Sync USB Mode in the Diagnosis app.
When I connect the device, it says "Unrecognized USB Device Detected", I've tried replacing the drivers with the Zune driver, which works half the time, but it still has a yellow caution icon next to it. Saying things like "the device cannot start", "a request for the USB device descriptor failed.", and "device enumeration failed".
So now it's down to it being the software on the phone or the phone microUSB port.
I'd love to hard reset and see if it's the software, but if it's the port and I've reset, then I'm screwed.
I've searched numerous forums, including this one, and still haven't seen any working solutions.
EDIT: Also, I've noticed in the Battery Status app... it'll say "charging" for a few seconds and then go to "discharging".
Some specs:
Phone:
-Samsung Focus SGH-i917R
-Rev 1.3 on AT&T
-Windows Phone 7.10.8107.79
-DFT Freedom ROM [I guess it was a Rogers version]
Laptop PC:
-Dell XPS17 L702X
-Windows 8 Release Preview 6.2.8400
-Intel Core i7 2720QM @ 2.20GHz
-NVIDIA GeForce GT555M (3GB) @ 1080p120
-16GB DDR3 Dual Channel Memory
If anyone can help, it'd be huge!
And if there's anything I've neglected to mention, please let me know and I'll edit the post.
Thank you so much!

So I ended up doing a hard reset, and much to my dismay, it's still spitting out USB Device Not Recognized. It reset to the DFT Freedom (Chinese New Year) ROM I have on there, which I didn't quite expect... I'm wondering if that's the problem or not. When I get closer to my upgrade next month (Lumia 920, here I come) I'll likely get ballsy-er, and might even dismantle the phone and see if there's anything physically amiss with the port.
Still, any suggestions, feel free.

Have the same issue. Did same as you searching internet for any hints.
Have had this issue for 6months now, just been living with it and syncing files to skydrive and Gmail with WiFi.
I even took phone apart down to the circuit board level to see if anything noticeable or maybe connector or any components with broken solder. Hit it with some heat from SMT soldering iron to get a bit of reflow in that area, didn't make a difference. Ohmed it out as far as I could go thinking data lines were shorted or something...no luck.
I'm leaning toward this being a USB receiver chip level issue inside the Samsung Focus. Was hoping it would be something simple. Who knows, maybe that ROHS solder wiskering issue is haunting me somewhere in that phone.
FYI this issue came up around same time I had the repeated chiming issue. The one that only goes away when you do plug in the USB connector with charger or PC. Luckily haven't experienced that issue in 5 or so months. But did have it dissappear for a month then reappear again back then, so anything goes.
Note about 2 months ago I plugged phone into computer and it tried to sync up, zune popped up. I got excited, but after remove and plug in again, have not seen been able to get it back since.

I too am having the same problem.
First of all, be warned - if you decide to pull apart your Samsung focus, it's easy to do, but I found that the SMT port for the antenna is VERY fragile.
Steps to open it after turning it off:
1) open back plate.
2) pop out battery, sim, and expansion memory
3) take out the 7 screws.
4) with a flat blade (whether that be a screwdriver, flat tweezers, or even a guitar pick), insert it in the gap between the chrome and the FRONT of the phone, then gently twist to pop the "back" off.
5) You will now need to separate the volume buttons from the side of the phone (the plastic comes out easy enough).
This is a sticker back, and getting it off is hard and can tear easy.Take your time.
From there, there are several flat PCB sections that have multipin connectors hidden under them. They need to be pried off - they do not require a lot of force.
Now the big reason not to do this:
The f$#%ing antenna connector. It will pop off, but the connections to the mainboard are VERY fragile. I'd suggest pushing against it and use tweezers to rotate and lift the connector.
All that said, I've been looking for a cause for the problems you've been having - there is one other symptom you haven't mentioned, and this has been a problem for a lot of focus owners - the constant dinging. You may not be getting it (if you're phone is on vibrate, then it's no surprise), but every time the device "sees" the usb connection to charge, it Dings (at least, for me).
Yeah. I *want* to either fix it, or drop it in the toilet.
My phone is off any warranty already, and Samsung refuses to help. I'm not buying any more Samsung products ... and before this, I was humming and hawing between the Nokia 920 and the ATIV S (for the screen size).

[Q] Why is their no guide for my Brick? HELP!

I practically can't get my phone to detect theirs a computer connected to it at all. I've tried cleaning the usb port a few times and my pc detected it but it only read as "Unknown Device" and nothing from their and after awhile it stops doing that little detection. SO what can i do other than replace the usb/headphone jack piece? is their a way to enter fastboot and do that unbrick instead?

The replacement USB is only around $14, and it's an easy fix, take the back off, take off the black plastic cover on the top, has about 9 screws I believe? The bottom has to be removed as well, that has 6 screws, once you take those off, you unhook the LCD and the motherboard from the old USB/Power/Volume dongle, and replace it.
That being said, it's still time consuming, and tedious, but it is basically easy.
I would suggest to try another cable, and to try another PC as well, there was a time where my motherboard on my PC wouldn't detect my LG phones, but my wifes would, it's resolved now, but needless to say it was a pain .

Well, at least that makes sense now, i will try when i get the money and i've tried connected different cables and pcs and its the same result. not even linux will detect anything. But thank you for the help so far