Database Users

Broken Battery Connector (Dead Phone)

Long post, sorry.
Phone slid off the couch, hit the floor, battery door popped off, and afterwards if I moved the phone while on a call or slid the keyboard out to type it would just go black.
A light shake and it would die. So I popped the battery out and took the back cover off. Inside, the black battery connector (I can post a pic) was half attached like a loose tooth.
Took it to a repair shop, the guy was great soldered it back on but said it probably wouldnt charge cause a line on the main board broke????.
Phone doesn't seem to recognize the battery. Red solid light when plugged in, no amber with the battery in. Wont turn on. Anyone have any suggestions or am I looking at a brick. Does anyone on this board do repairs like this?
Its a Softbank X01HT from ebay and I flashed it to Mobile 6 so warranty is pretty much out of the question.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Fredrick
PS, I'd make a suggestion to anyone who's battery moves around inside the phone to wedge it in place so this doesn't happen to you. We don't hear of this happening often(or ever) but it happen to me, I suspect its because the battery has a little bit of room to move.

May get a chance late tomorrow to see if there may be a work around. This is not an easy board to work on though. A pic of the "broken-line" would be most useful if at all possible,
Can we assume, the black part you refer to is the part with the gold battery connectors at the bottom of this photo?
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Mike

Thanks for the quick reply Mike.
While it was off he showed me the bottom of the connector assembly, where the broken line is.
Red arrows are the 6 solder points
Blue arrows show the line.( I think, I'm not 100% sure what a line is)
How this helps clarify.
Thanks,
Fredrick

Well sadly, having looked at the board, I think the guy who soldered the connector back on, did about as good a job as it is possible to do. It appears that the connector block contacts (two of them) have broken off the board contacts. With a crude board you could simply trace back to the break point and solder a wire from the board to the connector. However the Hermes usesa multi-layer board that means it is impossible to trace back to a point just after the break.
Unfortunately then, unless there was some of the board contact still showing, you cannot solder short wires to join to the contact block With a detailed circuit diagram you might be able to identify alternate points to solder a couple of wires to link to the connector block. This though is such a remote possibility that you can virtually count it out. I do not know of such a diagram that is publically available and manual soldering on this scale would be almost impossible. If HTC were asked to repair this board, they would just replace it.
Sorry!
Mike
PS You didn't say whether it worked normally after the repair and before the battery ran flat. If it did, you could in theory charge your batteries in a free standing battery charger, but I doubt it would be worth the hassle.

mikechannon said:
You didn't say whether it worked normally after the repair and before the battery ran flat. If it did, you could in theory charge your batteries in a free standing battery charger, but I doubt it would be worth the hassle.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Our solder friend suggested the same, but the phone doesn't recognize the battery being connected. So no dice, its a brick.
Anyone want to buy a white case with a front camera. Or better yet, can I buy a board for it somewhere?
Thanks again for a your time Mike.
Fredrick

main board problem? please tell me its not.

hi! i have a dopod 838 pro. and it suddenly cant turn on. i was just texting then it went buggy (hanging up) then i did a soft reset then all of a sudden it didnt turn on. i was charging it at that time.
the phone never got wet, was never dropped. i installed the official wm 6.1 rom and it had been running for more than two weeks so i dont think the problem was the ROM. battery is good since i still get two days of battery.
i have tried hard resets, used the usb connector to power the phone up. i had this sent to the authorized htc service center, they tried another batt and charger but still nothing. i was told to leave it for 4 to 5 days...and after the wait i was told that the main board is the problem. and replacement is not an option since it would cost me twice the price of a second hand unit.
this was an observation: when i remove the battery and connect it to the charger, LED is red then it disappears when i replace the battery. no amber going.
is there still a fix for this? the service center does not perform any board level repairs. if this is a battery connector problem then a little soldering might fix it right? i hope i can still revive this. thanks!
a little help please! more power to this forum. thanks!
gab

The Hermes mainboard is a multilevel board. If the problem is a broken connector inside the mb then theres no hope. So saying, look at the connectors. If you see a break you can resolder and maybe have a bit more life yet.
Cheers...

ditto ultramag69.
Breaks in the connections below the board surface are virtual death to the motherboard. you could in theory put in jumper wires but you'd need detailed circuit diagrams and suitable solder points. However it may just be the surface connections of the battery connector block and these can be re-soldered. Here's a pic of the board with the block de-soldered;
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However, before going to re-solder you could just check it's not a poor contact between connector and battery (I doubt it is, but you never know). To test this out try this:
You could also press on the connector a little while you power on. if this worked you could be fairly sure it's either the soldered connections or a crack internally.
Now if all of the above fails, you need to be aware that it could be a number of other things. A fault in the usb connector or damaged connections on the USB to board joints. Conceivably it could be some damaged caused (hairline crack perhaps) when you inserted the stylus in the reset hole. possibly even a damaged reset switch stuck in the on position etc etc. Any of these things would really require test equipment and even then without suitable data it would be difficult to diagnose.
good luck
mike

Hermes odd battery problem

Hello, I am having an odd problem, I can get the phone to turn on, charge, and watch youtube perfectly. All this can be done by wedging a mini sd card in between the battery exact opposite of the terminals. What could be the problem of this? No sd card, just did a hard reset, and using the oem ac charger. If I pull out the mini sd card the phone shuts off, And if I connect the charger all I get is the solid red light. I am comfortable taking it apart and have all the correct tools.

Blakehenry00 said:
Hello, I am having an odd problem, I can get the phone to turn on, charge, and watch youtube perfectly. All this can be done by wedging a mini sd card in between the battery exact opposite of the terminals. What could be the problem of this? No sd card, just did a hard reset, and using the oem ac charger. If I pull out the mini sd card the phone shuts off, And if I connect the charger all I get is the solid red light. I am comfortable taking it apart and have all the correct tools.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You have really answered your own question. You have a pin that is not making good contact with the battery. You can clean the contacts, but that may not be enough. You can try bending the contacts out in the direction of the battery a little. However if you do this you run the risk of cracking the solder joints between the contacts and the motherboard. So, as a do it yourself solution you can do this:
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​Mike​

Alright, If anyone is having this problem I just fixed mine for good (I hope). The points where the battery contacts and mobo meet were cracked apart, thus making the phone work when something was causing the battery to put extra force on it. All I had to do was remove the mobo and solder them back on. Took 30s for all 6. Now it comes on and works great no matter what.

I had the same problem a while before I realized it about six months ago, on the same model as yours. I then realized what you did, the battery wasn't contacting well, and I whipped out a business card, cut it to size, slapped it in with the battery and viola, no more strange power losses. So you say that the solder points were cracked ehh? Something I will be checking in about 2 minutes, don't doubt Thanks for the tip!
UPDATE: Took it apart, and couldn't see any place where the pins have cracked. Seemed solid to me, even under a magnifying glass. Did you somehow take the black protector off of the pins and find it under that? Thanks for any info you can send.

Mine was cracked between the mobo and pins, Test it with a multi-meter for resistance, It could be cracked or weak but you can't see it.

DYI OTG USB cable (wow the acronyms) [no soldering required]

So, everyone knows that 3.1 is great for USB hosting things like mice, hard drives, flash drives, etc, etc, etc... And most people know that you can make a OTG cable out of an old data cord and some assorted parts, with soldering. My point in posting this is to show that there is no soldering needed, thus maybe some people who can't/don't want to solder can make an OTG cable. (Use electrical tape)
So, starting with a usb data, split open the micro-usb adapter head with a razor or knife, and keep peeling back the layers until all you have left is the trapezoidal male adapter and five prongs, a red, black, white, green and blank. There is a seam that is bisecting the plug, and it is the easiest way to cut it open. Work off the plastic cover and I would advise you to strip the first few inches of the actual cable aswell, then you can get to work.
You're going to need some kind of female full size usb plug to cannibalize, like of an old device with usb. (I tore one off a very old tower.) hold on to this for later.
Start by cutting the full size usb off the wire, and then cut about six inches of the data cable off and seperate the wires so that you can use one in the next step. Now strip the end of the main wire so that all four wires have about 1cm of exposed wire. take the usb port, and on the back, there will be four leads. the order is red, white, green, black. (When looking at the plug with the larger blank space below the smaller blank space in the plug.)
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Attach the wire that corresponds to each spot. Normally, this would be done with solder, but electrical tape works just as well. Simply use narrow, long strips of electrical tape to secure each wire to the leads, thus isolating each lead and making the system work. Don't be shy about using the tape, the more you use (reasonably), the more secure the system will be. This is a tedious process, but still it is easy enough to do.
Now for the part that tells the Xoom to be in host mode. Choose one wire from the six inches of wire you cut off, and strip both ends of it. strip the middle of the black wire (on your about to be OTG cable) around two inches from the micro usb head, and attach the second wire (that's six or so inches long) to it. Then, find the fifth, unused lead on the micro-usb assembly, and carefully attach the other end of the wire. This will take a bit of effort to orient it correctly, but once secure, again use strips of electrical tape to secure it and isolate it. When attaching the wires, use electrical tape cut into thin, long strips and work carefully to ensure that the wires you are attaching do not short out with any other contacts. This whole process may take a while.
If you can't locate the fifth port, then use the wire you are attaching to black to contact possible leads with a mouse attached, and if you find the right one, it will bring up a cursor.
As a final step, I wrapped mine up in duct table to make it stronger so that it will last and I can pack it along with me.
These are just my two cents I wanted to share, hopefully helping someone.
Final product:

short pin 1 to 5 and you'll damage your usb port. I guarantee the repair will easily exceed the $8 cost of an ebay otg cable.

Just be careful...
Sent from my Xoom using XDA Premium App

That's one sexy cable......hehe

wtf is that... smh

Cool pic....was that 19 dollars worth of duck tape? ...

I wish I had gone this route instead of buying one. Although I definitely would have used a little solder instead of over 9000 rolls of duct tape. I have to say yours looks epic, though.

Retrofit Wireless Charging Receiver in Nexus 5X?

I just saw the iFixit teardown
https://youtu.be/VYFbSpvSE-w
I retrofitted a Galaxy S5 and S4 to wireless charging with Qi receivers off of eBay:
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I know there is one for the G4 (since it's in their flip cover), but I was wondering if it is possible to work with an existing coil and wire it up to the Nexus 5X.
First, the cover pops off like a Galaxy S5 cover:
Here is the back cover and internals. Normally, the NFC covers the battery, but I am thinking it might be above the camera since there are connectors from cover to internals and would make sense for Android pay. So, what is the big shield on the right that covers the battery? (see question mark):
I think the battery posts are under the white piece of tape on the right - easy access for an NFC receiver to charge:
Worst case, the battery contacts are accessible under the midframe (10 screws):
So, do you think a retrofit of an existing Qi receiver would work? (the NFC part might be not used). The shield on the back over the battery might have to be removed, but I am not sure of it's purpose. Alternatively, anybody heard if any company is making a Qi receiver for the 5X? I'd buy the 5X over the 6P if I could get wireless charging.

I guarantee it's do-able. I don't know if the battery fuel gauge contains the logic to simply solder the coil output directly to the leads going to the battery but it shouldn't be a problem to solder to the VDC/GND pins/traces coming from the USB port. The only thing that concerns me, and I'm saying this w/out having looked at how USB c accomplishes it's reversibility, is that the pins for power aren't achiral (for lack of a better word) depending on the orientation of the plug. Would need to read up on that.

Just saw another thread opened shortly after this one was posted:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/nexus-5x/general/nexus-5x-qi-wireless-hack-mod-t3231461
Guess I had the right idea , but the video shows only the teardown, no connection.

Hi
etwashoo said:
Just saw another thread opened shortly after this one was posted:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/nexus-5x/general/nexus-5x-qi-wireless-hack-mod-t3231461
Guess I had the right idea , but the video shows only the teardown, no connection.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The NFC antenna is around the camera, you are correct on that. That foam material, I'm guessing that is what it is, is there to fill any gap between the battery and the back case to avoid the back being able to press down, and being soft it works with the varying differences in tolerance with the the battery thickness. It could even be to fill a recess that was suppose to be filled by a wireless charging coil.
Notice though the foam continues up to the site of the fingerprint reader. That should remain, it's job is to apply pressure on the contact pads of the flexible circuit board.
In the video where they show a mod, what they have done is used a QI coil which has it's own circuitry which outputs 5 volts, this connects by thin wires to the +5v and ground of the USB socket, and from there goes to the battery via the normal charging circuit, the phone doesn't know it is wireless charging, it just looks like a USB charger is attached. This direct connection may cause a problem when plugging in a normal USB charger as you end up with 5 volts in reverse going into the QI circuitry and charger, presumably though that circuity is protected with a diode so it doesn't matter.
You shouldn't connect anything directly to the battery terminal as this will bypass all the charging circuitry and would cause damage and likely trigger the batteries protection circuits and cut it dead.
How cleanly the back refits is another thing, their can't be that much space.
Regards
Phil