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G1 Hardware Hack - extending Ram? anyone thought about that?

Has anyone ever thought about whether it would be possible to increase the ram/upgrade memory in a G1. As outlandish as this might sound.. similar things have been done for a variety of devices.... if possible it would probably be the number one speed booster out there? or are there certain limitations out there that would make that impossible... Anyone ever opened up a G1?

This might be what you are looking for
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=566410
Theres some ram on the g1 that isnt being utilized by default.. this hack, for specific roms, can push the g1 to use more of the rom that it initially comes with. as far as a PHYSICAL upgrade im not too sure how that would work out.. never opened a g1, due to warranty void

This does happen a lot nowadays. Original Xbox's (before v1.6) had extra 'spaces' for RAM chips.
Simple to do, if you can find the right RAM for your device, which was hard enough for the Xbox until a German manufacturer was found.
http://www.xbox-linux.org/wiki/Upgrading_Xbox_RAM_HOWTO
Edit: Also remember, this only works if there is an extra 'space,' piggybacking does not work 99% of the time (and I doubt there would be enough space within the housing...)

so the question would be is there anyway to open the g1 remove a ram chip and solder on a higher capacity one.... I mean wouldnt that be awesome...

alec.baldwin said:
so the question would be is there anyway to open the g1 remove a ram chip and solder on a higher capacity one.... I mean wouldnt that be awesome...
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no it has to be the same type maybe hero/magic ram would work who knows

alec.baldwin said:
so the question would be is there anyway to open the g1 remove a ram chip and solder on a higher capacity one.... I mean wouldnt that be awesome...
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I was actually referring to how the Xbox got more RAM, by adding ANOTHER RAM chip. Possibly higher capacity would work, but I don't know **** about drivers or software compatability blahblahblah. I'm only good for actually putting it together not knowing how it works :3

phuKKah said:
I was actually referring to how the Xbox got more RAM, by adding ANOTHER RAM chip. Possibly higher capacity would work, but I don't know **** about drivers or software compatability blahblahblah. I'm only good for actually putting it together not knowing how it works :3
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There is nowhere to put it.
Ram and rom come integrated on the same chip: samsung k522f1gacm-a060
You need to find a compatible chip (as mentioned, the one from magic or hero *might* be compatible), you also need to program it with something... which you may need to hack together since there is no such thing as a dream with 256MB ram, etc.

hmmm....ok... so not possible to replace the chip flash a custom rom? Maybe we can have some bricked g1's donated to see what can be done...

alec.baldwin said:
hmmm....ok... so not possible to replace the chip flash a custom rom? Maybe we can have some bricked g1's donated to see what can be done...
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Good idea

alec.baldwin said:
hmmm....ok... so not possible to replace the chip flash a custom rom? Maybe we can have some bricked g1's donated to see what can be done...
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I never said it wasn't possible. I simply said that what is there must necessarily COME OFF in order to put another one in its place.
And yes, you most definitely CAN program these chips outside the board, as long as you have the right equipment to do so, but the big question is to "program it with WHAT?".

Well according to this video our phone uses standard DDR ram made by Samsung. So I belive this is very possible.
Anyone wanna donate a bricked phone for tinkering hehe.
http://pockethacks.com/htc-g1-disassembly/

sxfx said:
Well according to this video our phone uses standard DDR ram made by Samsung. So I belive this is very possible.
Anyone wanna donate a bricked phone for tinkering hehe.
http://pockethacks.com/htc-g1-disassembly/
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As lbcoder has stated, finding a compatible chip isn't the problem.. it's a matter of what do you program onto the chip? Simply replacing the current chip with a blank one wouldn't do anything.

WELL, I don't know if this will work but I tune cars, where you use a eeprom reader get a dump off the old chip into a hex editor and then just burn it onto a new chip with changes made and just stick the new chip with new maps on it.
Would it be possible to do something like this with this chip? Just do a complete dump of one to another?

sxfx said:
WELL, I don't know if this will work but I tune cars, where you use a eeprom reader get a dump off the old chip into a hex editor and then just burn it onto a new chip with changes made and just stick the new chip with new maps on it.
Would it be possible to do something like this with this chip? Just do a complete dump of one to another?
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Yea thats the way it would be done. You'd have to hex-edit the dumped rom to address the right amount of memory for the new chip and it should work. I'm certainly not going to be trying this myself but it would be an interesting experiment.

Anyone know someone who has the smarts to do that... find me someone and I'll find you a few bricked g1s ...probably the only way to get them unbricked anyway.... or I have a g1 here whose wifi does not work. I bet you there are a ton of g1s out there where this or that does not work but that would be fully suited for something like that.
Anyway lets find a genius or a few that are brave enough to go where no one has gone before... I'd be pretty certain, that twice or four times the Ram would be a pretty dramatic experience.... imagine the possibilities with ram discs.... etc...

alec.baldwin said:
Anyone know someone who has the smarts to do that... find me someone and I'll find you a few bricked g1s ...probably the only way to get them unbricked anyway.... or I have a g1 here whose wifi does not work. I bet you there are a ton of g1s out there where this or that does not work but that would be fully suited for something like that.
Anyway lets find a genius or a few that are brave enough to go where no one has gone before... I'd be pretty certain, that twice or four times the Ram would be a pretty dramatic experience.... imagine the possibilities with ram discs.... etc...
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Believe it or not guys, my wife can do this. LOL. (I did marry the perfect woman, she also fixes my cars, folds the laundry and gives the best blowjob on earth). I digress <grin>.
If someone wants to donate a couple of bricked phones, I can get the chips swapped out. The issue of hex editing doesn't scare me at all I've been doing that for years, but finding the right addresses could be interesting. I'd probably need help with that as it is a lot different then bipassing a cd check on a video game

i work with embedded devices and here are my 2c about this, but take this lightly, I havent looked at how the G1 is setup on a board yet, nor do I know what hardware it is running.
if there is external ram, then perhaps it is a matter of swapping out the chips, given that they have the same pinout/packaging, etc.. if that was the case, you wouldnt get even another bit of more addressing because to get another bit, another wire is required to address it.
if the ram is internal on the microcontroller, then it would need to be swapped out, and good luck desoldering/soldering a BGA chip by hand. if you manage to find a new MCU with more internal ram to put on, the pinouts would have to be identical or else things might not work. additionally, you would need to have some method to kind of bootstrap the MCU because they typically come blank from the manufacturer.

Ok this is getting interesting... the easiest way to find out is probably contact HTC.. does anyone know someone, or is there a way to contact an engineer... or can anyone look up the specs? If it is using standard ddram by Samsung.. there might be a possibility.
Let me see what I can find for bricked G1's than we might have redir's wife take a look at it.. or John5788, if you'd volunteer. PM me your contact info...

We could just check the service manual, no?
edit: i tried to upload it, but the upload script here blows..
mediafire to the rescue! [download service manual here]

i just looked through the service manual, nothing specific about the ram/mcu locations. everything is just located on the mainboard without any sort of diagram. the people that look at the service manual dont need to know the device at that sort of hardware level.

Sprint F***** up my phone...

So I took my hero in today for having dust under the screen and the ear piece speaker being blown out. After telling me they wont give me a replacement and taking apart my phone (without asking btw) they cleaned the screen, then told me they were going to "harvest" a speaker from a phone being returned on monday and put the used speaker in my phone. After putting it back together they gave it back to me and I found they somehow corrupted my sd card. I was running apps2sd, had about 500 pics and all my nand backups on the card. Now I'm running a program to try to recover my fat partition so i can get to my nands and pics.
All I have to say is THANK YOU SPRINT FOR BREAKING MY 8gb SD CARD AND RUINING MY ****ING DAY!

So they fixed your $300 phone, yet accidentally corrupted your data on your $20 sd card? Hmm. Im sorry.........................? Lol seriously, your CARD isnt ruined, your data is just corrupted. Would you rather have your backups and a phone that isn't working right?

beyondinferno said:
So I took my hero in today for having dust under the screen and the ear piece speaker being blown out. After telling me they wont give me a replacement and taking apart my phone (without asking btw) they cleaned the screen, then told me they were going to "harvest" a speaker from a phone being returned on monday and put the used speaker in my phone. After putting it back together they gave it back to me and I found they somehow corrupted my sd card. I was running apps2sd, had about 500 pics and all my nand backups on the card. Now I'm running a program to try to recover my fat partition so i can get to my nands and pics.
All I have to say is THANK YOU SPRINT FOR BREAKING MY 8gb SD CARD AND RUINING MY ****ING DAY!
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Why didnt you take your sdcard out before you brought it in for service? I also assume you brought it in rooted as well. All I can say is if you dont have a second copy of any of your nandbackups/files then you really never had a "backup" to begin with. Sorry to hear about your sdcard, lesson learned......

Yeah kind of have to agree with the replies here. If you didn't backup your memory card shame on you. Its not like the guy purposely set out ruin your memory card. Well I might have if you came to me with the attitude you got now. Memory cards go bad all the time. I think your just looking for something to b**ch about.

swornenemy said:
Why didnt you take your sdcard out before you brought it in for service? I also assume you brought it in rooted as well. All I can say is if you dont have a second copy of any of your nandbackups/files then you really never had a "backup" to begin with. Sorry to hear about your sdcard, lesson learned......
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what he said

Leukay said:
So they fixed your $300 phone, yet accidentally corrupted your data on your $20 sd card? Hmm. Im sorry.........................? Lol seriously, your CARD isnt ruined, your data is just corrupted. Would you rather have your backups and a phone that isn't working right?
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Phone isn't fixed... They cleaned the screen and promised me a USED part for repair of the speaker. They did nothing to prevent the dust issue from reoccurring and I know the $20 card isn't ruined. However, the hours I'm spending trying to recover my data doesn't equate to $20. My time isn't free. And the fact they want to put used parts in my 5 week old phone is just insult to injury.
Please don't take this as some sob story, I just wanted to vent to a group of people who I thought might understand my frustration.

beyondinferno said:
Phone isn't fixed... They cleaned the screen and promised me a USED part for repair of the speaker. They did nothing to prevent the dust issue from reoccurring and I know the $20 card isn't ruined. However, the hours I'm spending trying to recover my data doesn't equate to $20. My time isn't free. And the fact they want to put used parts in my 5 week old phone is just insult to injury.
Please don't take this as some sob story, I just wanted to vent to a group of people who I thought might understand my frustration.
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I'm sorry, I'm just saying, my speaker was blown and I just replaced the speaker with the one from my old (very old) vogue, and it works perfectly fine. There's no way to prevent the dust, and you won't notice a difference between a used or new earpiece. Just sayin

Your speaker blew too?! WTF? You have any idea what might have caused it?

Last year I return my Hero to Best Buy because of the same problem, the guys changed my Hero and gave a brand new, before i walk trough my door i made a copy from my SDCard, anytime i make a NAN Backup i copy that backup to my computer, is just common sense, anyway i had the same problem with the speaker WTF is going on with the speakers?

sounds like another weak point on the phone... BTW, I usually backup to my comp but I had to go to the store straight from work. They only have a tech mon/wedns/fri 9 to 6.... Kinda gay...

beyondinferno said:
So I took my hero in today for having dust under the screen and the ear piece speaker being blown out. After telling me they wont give me a replacement and taking apart my phone (without asking btw) they cleaned the screen, then told me they were going to "harvest" a speaker from a phone being returned on monday and put the used speaker in my phone. After putting it back together they gave it back to me and I found they somehow corrupted my sd card. I was running apps2sd, had about 500 pics and all my nand backups on the card. Now I'm running a program to try to recover my fat partition so i can get to my nands and pics.
All I have to say is THANK YOU SPRINT FOR BREAKING MY 8gb SD CARD AND RUINING MY ****ING DAY!
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Sprint doesn't care about your apps2sd, and it's not their responsibility. It was yours.

what about the 500 pics? Like i said, not trying to start a sprint bashing thread just sharing my inconvenience.
Don't like it? Don't comment.

Also, anyone know of a data recovery app that's any good? Running Win7 BTW.

hey go to google and search for Pandora Recovery and download it and pop in your sd card and away you go to recovering your files. It is a free great program.

showing the card as an unsupported file format.

I can't believe you took a phone (a rooted phone with AppsToSD installed, no less) in to a Sprint repair store with NONE of your data backed up.
Sorry. Lesson learned.

yeah..... Just reformated. LESSON LEARNED! ef it, i'm gonna try some new roms!

Lol, my phone and windows thinks it's 1.3 tb now!?

I also have much dust on the screen.
Should I have to contact with sprint to agrue about that?
Anybody else has the same problem?

I took my hero to get the dust cleaned as well. I forgot to remove my 8GB card like a genius and the tech fried my 8GB too. They came back out with a 2GB card as replacement and told me my 8GB card fried because it's not the one that came with the phone.
Granted I blame myself for not removing the card beforehand, but they still had an attitude even when they fried my card.

[Q] Any way to replace internal storage with more capacity?

I was wondering if there is any way to replace the storage when you open up the phone for the more tech-savvy people?

Most likely no...the flash storage is probally soldered onto the board. Not like there is a secret SD slot under there
Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk 2

Nope. No way. Sorry.
Sent by carrier pigeon

ah well. a guy can hope lol

If you were really good at surface mount soldering and knew where to get a larger size flash chip from, you could do it. But otherwise it is very unlikely mainly because there isn't a place to get new flash storage chips from. So essentially no, it's not going to happen. It would be nice if there was a way to get larger flash storage chips from.

[Q]Solder 64GB Flash on Nexus 4.

My basic idea is the following;
I'll buy a couple of these -> Nexus 4 Toshiba 32GB/64GB Flash THGBM5G9B8JBAIE
Solder it with a BGA rework station (not hard to find someone who can do this!!)
And POW!! I have the Nexus 4 with 32GB/64GB storage!! But of course there's a problem. Because I'd solder a complete empty flash chip, I'd have to find a way to rewrite it from scratch. Music stops. Would it be possible to do so via Factory Image? I mean, bootloader and recovery (not sure about radio) aren't stored in that flash chip. So I'd have something to work with. Factory image will give me system/data/preload etc. and it should be good, shouldn't it? But will it repartition? So many dang questions!
And there is this dude right here, with a post/thread hidden in this link who claims to have talked to a google employee.
I just spoke with a person with Google Play support. The bootloader is on the motherboard and not the flash chip itself Now I've just gotta get my hands on one of those 64GB chips.
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Why I bother trying to upgrade internal storage? Well, because it's possible! That's been xda's motto since the beginning.
Excuse me, if I wrote something stupid. I just got the N4 yesterday and there's really this one and only annoying thing that bothers me.

nitrous² said:
My basic idea is the following;
I'll buy a couple of these -> Nexus 4 Toshiba 32GB/64GB Flash THGBM5G9B8JBAIE
Solder it with a BGA rework station (not hard to find someone who can do this!!)
And POW!! I have the Nexus 4 with 32GB/64GB storage!! But of course there's a problem. Because I'd solder a complete empty flash chip, I'd have to find a way to rewrite it from scratch. Music stops. Would it be possible to do so via Factory Image? I mean, bootloader and recovery (not sure about radio) aren't stored in that flash chip. So I'd have something to work with. Factory image will give me system/data/preload etc. and it should be good, shouldn't it? But will it repartition? So many dang questions!
And there is this dude right here, with a post/thread hidden in this link who claims to have talked to a google employee.
Why I bother trying to upgrade internal storage? Well, because it's possible! That's been xda's motto since the beginning.
Excuse me, if I wrote something stupid. I just got the N4 yesterday and there's really this one and only annoying thing that bothers me.
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Development board, UART and a way to sweet talk LG.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app

motherboard change

hi guys i want to ask a strange question can i get extra internal storage by just changing the motherboard of the phone from a 16 gb one to a 32gb one or a 64gb one or i have to change the phone as a whole????is it possible technically?????? please answer me as soon as possible as this issue is important for me

It is possible to change the motherboard only but expect a lot of stress since this phone is very hard to open, even if you have some special tools laying around. The motherboard itself is also quite expensive. You could use eg. a USB OTG stick in order to store some stuff like eg. movies on it.
I have the smallest version of the Nexus 6P with 32GB only and it´s still enough for me if you don´t clutter your phone with 1000eds of Apps

sameh86 said:
hi guys i want to ask a strange question can i get extra internal storage by just changing the motherboard of the phone from a 16 gb one to a 32gb one or a 64gb one or i have to change the phone as a whole????is it possible technically?????? please answer me as soon as possible as this issue is important for me
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Better off selling it and buying another.