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Problem on my N1 (de soldered SMD component)

Hi,
I disassembled my N1 for changing the main flex cable (cutted power button) and in the disassembling procedure I noticed that one of the SMD components on the motherboard was de-soldered or not correctly soldered (twisted). I re-accommodated with a pair of tweezers and it did not hang loose (yet!).
What kind of function does this SMD do? Can I expect the phone to work?
I have experience with soldering iron but think this is too small for me.
I can't test it right now because my new main flex has not arrived yet.

Maybe you can solder it with an oven for CMS ?

firewave said:
Maybe you can solder it with an oven for CMS ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not very familiar with oven soldering; dunno if I will kill other components or If i need some kind of flux.
Also a heat gun would do the work but probably desolder other components.

I broke off a couple of the smd components right next to that connector (the screen connection) they effect color on the screen. Mine showed only red after I broke 2. It was usable but not pretty.
Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk

_Dennis_ said:
I broke off a couple of the smd components right next to that connector (the screen connection) they effect color on the screen. Mine showed only red after I broke 2. It was usable but not pretty.
Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your answer.
You broke those very same components?
As soon as I get my main flex i will try it and see if it report problems. It probably will as that component is there for something.

You might be able to re-flow it with a heat gun.

Rusty! said:
You might be able to re-flow it with a heat gun.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your answer.
Actually I'm looking for a chinese reflow station with a hot air gun with a tiny nozzle. Probably will do the work but...
Should I use some kind of flux? Any recommendations? Never done a hot air reflow.

Looks like the same but hard to tell in the pics. I can't really see on my phone.
Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk

that is a set of inline resistors, meaning it is quite a few connections, the best way is to use some flux from a needle and a soldering iron with a small tip,you could use a hot air machine but on a fully assembled board i would not recommend it.. flux is needed but you may be able to get away with a large soldering iron.
My advice would be to pay someone to fix it.. that way if they mess up ya get a new phone

Find someone with a reflow air knife, anyone who does SMT work would have one. It'd take 5 seconds to put that RP back on as long as you didn't break any of the pads doing whatever it is that you did that caused you to break it. Yikes.

May i ask you where u got the power cable? I need one too, how much was it? And is it hard to replace?
N1

I bought it on www.aliexpress.com
It was around USD$45.
I still don't receive it, as soon as I recive it I will report if the phone works and if it is an easy repair.
Best Regards.

The phone it's not turning on.
I tried it disassembled with the new main flex cable, motherboard and only lcd conencted.
Nothing happened when I press the power button.
The only sign of life is the ambar led that turns on when you connect the charger.
The tiny little SMD part fell off the mother board so it is completly unsoldered. Could this be the cause of not turning at all?
Looking forward to your answers.

Yes, if a single component is missing or even has a bridge in the solder, it could cause complete failure. There is a reason for it being there. If it were me, I would try to resolder it. Grab an iron and some wick and get what you can off of the board. Then try to reflow the part back on. If it works, great. If not, you still have a nice looking paperweight.

Well, I soldered the little SMD back with a soldering/hot air station but the motherboard still don't turn on.
It was working before, maybe I'm doing something wrong.
Thanks for your support.

Evo 4G USB solder points

Just in case someone finds this useful. I spent several hours searching and couldn't find this, so I had to figure it out myself!
For fun I bought a broken Evo 4g on Craigslist. It's USB port was violently ripped off, taking with it at least one layer of PCB substrate. Using a multimeter, I was able to find some new places to solder to. I attached some 30AWG wire and epoxied on a new port, and the phone is good to go!
The D+/D- goes to what appears to be a dual package 4 ohm resistor. I messed up a couple times trying to solder it and one of the resistors stopped working, so I ended up just removing the resistors and soldering to the pads on the other side. The resistors aren't important, and USB works just fine.

Damn bro, slightly impressive, my hardware skills are beyond lacking.

This is why you need a temperature-controlled soldering iron, SMT components are very sensitive to heat since they don't have leads to dissipate any of it.
I'm not sure what those resistors were there for, but I wonder if you could pull some numbers off and cross them to someone from DigiKey. Given how manufacturers pinch every penny, I can't see them throwing on cost if it's unnecessary.
But then again, if it works, I guess that's good enough too haha.
I've given serious thought to starting a small business buying and repairing phones, seeing how easily most consumers give up on them when even the simplest repairs are needed.

Oh don't worry, I had a temperature controlled iron. The issue was that I had a cup of coffee an hour before attempting to solder.
We are talking about a 1mm square component, so no part number. A reference USB circuit design has 20-30 ohm resistors in series with the D+ and D- lines before they run into the USB transceiver (built into the snapdragon CPU), so I'm not sure why there were these 4 ohm diddles. Maybe they were the cheapest. The phone probably won't survive a lightning strike now, or the USB won't work if there are sunspots. USB is pretty robust.
If you have prior knowledge of the circuits, then I can see an exotic repair business being successful. Not having access to the design, though, I spent way more time than it was worth fixing the USB port. It was more of a fun after-work activity. The previous owner also abused it rather heavily, so even though I got it functioning again I would feel bad trying to resell it for much more than what I paid for it!

Micro USB connector with rubber cover and small as possible...what's available

I'm trying to mount a powermat inside a Galaxy S2 phone to allow wireless charging.
Unfortunately the logic circuit of the S2 insists that the charging of the S2 is routed via the USB connector else the charging isn't detected leading to potential overcharge situations.
Therefore I'm looking for the smallest Micro USB connector available (height wise) that I can wire the powermat wires to. I'd prefer the Micro USB connector to come with a rubberised cover as I use the Case Mate Tough cases for the phone so a connector that was almost flush with that case and also rubberised would be perfect.
I'm in the UK so UK sourcing would be preferable but all suggestions appreciated.
Thanks in advance.

Anyone have any ideas?

You can look at buying some just raw connectors like
http://www.newark.com/fci/10104109-...ce-mount/dp/82R7423?in_merch=Popular Products
Or do some research and find some other ones with different mounting options. The thing is it is hard to get much smaller.
http://www.newark.com/jsp/search/br...etricAttributeId=&prevNValues=422+2203+202174

Can't you wire it from the inside? By soldering directly to the pins of mUSB connector on the mainboard?

I hadn't thought of that....not sure my soldering skills are good enough either given how small the components we'd be dealing with here.

That is an option but if you don't have the tools I wouldn't mess with it. Those boards are dense and unless you have a fine enough tip it is going to be hard to make a good connection.

pinsb said:
I hadn't thought of that....not sure my soldering skills are good enough either given how small the components we'd be dealing with here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well I can tell you from experience that they are small. ~0.25mm. Look at a how big a mm is on a ruler and cut that into 1/42 and that's what you are looking to solder to. You would need some fine wire that is shielded so it doesn't short and it requires some solid soldering skills.

I used to do this for a living. You could call up some local jewelers or repair shops and see if they have a laser welder. Ask them if they do custom work. Though it would have to be a relatively big place though, as those machines runs thousands of dollars. I worked for Jostens.

Hi pinsb,
Did you ever find anything? I am looking for the same thing for a slightly different purpose. I want to put a usb circuit inside an enclosure with the phone and don't want to have the connector sticking out the side.

Wireless charging solved

This makes the phone much more enjoyable. Take a look.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQ-KUgDNrwM
Whole phone
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMWgaSfwSrI

You keep posting links to this video, but is there a step by step guide for this method? Looks awesome BTW. I found guides using wire and using the copper tape on the Nexus, but none that put it all together for this phone. I have several touchstone and my Palm Pre back, but am going to try the Pixie back.

Thanks so much! The pixi back is best because the positive and negatives line up with the phones positive and negative. The pres back has the negative on top so its more difficult.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQ-KUgDNrwM
Whole phone
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMWgaSfwSrI

I saw your posts/videos over in the international thread. Finally got my stuff in yesterday to try this out and got it all working today. So far the touchstone seems to work great and there is only very minimal bulge showing in the back (small enough that unless you point it out most people wouldn't notice it)

Great job. Any pics? You live so close to me. Lol

Here are some pictures.
As you can see there is almost no bulge. It can only really be seen when reflecting light off the back's glossy surface.
I used the pixi coil and some copper tape. The hardest part was getting the proper placement of the contact points.

<facepalm>
I was just going to post how my NFC stopped working after I did this but just found that NFC got turned off on my old GS2 (only other NFC device I have to test with)
Turned it back on and everything works....
</facepalm>

so is there a how to or a site you can buy the modded back covers or something other then pics?
would be nice to let everyone know.

So sorry blownco as there is no tutorial as i did not personal mod my phone. I bought a spare cover that i will try and mod myself as soon as i receive my rare earth batteries.

Pmentior greay job with the mod. Looks so clean too!

BLOWNCO said:
so is there a how to or a site you can buy the modded back covers or something other then pics?
would be nice to let everyone know.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
**Update**
I have removed this mod temporarily as I was have some issues with the connection between my pixi coil and the copper tape. I should have this fixed in the next couple of days. Use the following steps as a frame work for your own mod not as a comprehensive guide!
**Update 2**
I have redone my mod and have updated this posted with new or modified steps.
My new build adds a little more bulge due to using a shot section of soldered wire.
There isn't really all that much to it.
Material needed:
Galaxy S3 (obviously)]
Palm Touchstone - I got the kit that includes the power supply and usb cord because some people have been having trouble with using other cords
Palm Pixi Touchstone Back
Copper Tape
Soldering Iron
Other Materials:
Double Sided Tape
Electrical Tape
Steps:
1) Peels the Coil out of the Pixi Back
After you get the black sticker off you will see all the pieces of the coil still stuck to the Pixi Back.
The 4 small metal disks spaced around the coil are important so move them too.
Carefully remove all these pieces and reassemble them back onto the black sticker
Tip) I used the touchstone base (Unplugged!) to help align the metal disks correctly. This helped the magnetic attachment between the phone and the dock. Just reassemble the coil assemble on the touchstone dock and the magnets in the dock pull the disk into the correct place on its own.
2) The copper tape is used to 'move' the leads on the Pixi back to the correct position so they line up with the contact points of the GS3
Don't let the 2 leads touch each other!
You need to add a little cushion under the ends of the copper tape so they connect properly.
3) Required step:The contact between the original pixi contact point and the copper tape needs to be soldered to maintain the connection.
Note) I had trouble getting the copper tape soldered directly to the pixi contact point. I used a small wire to connect the pixi contact with my new copper tape contacts. The wire was scavanged from an old extra USB cord I had laying around.
4) Use some electrical tape to cover the soldering points to make it look nice and to reduce risk of shorting.
5) Put the GS3 back back on and check the fit then place the GS3 on the touchstone and see if it works.
6) Adjust positioning if needed.
**edit**
I just went off the pictures/videos stu5797 has posted.
I may have missed something as I wrote this from memory of what I did. The mod was a lot of trial an error as I only went off of a few pictures.

What did you use to make the bumps for the contacts?

I just used a little bit of wadded up electrical tape underneath the copper foil. So far that part at least has made consistent contact.
I have been have trouble with the connection between the coil and the copper tape (this connection is under some black electrical tape in my picture, not the part that has the cushion under it.)and need to work on that the next few days. It will probably be solved with a bit of soldering (no modification will be done to the main part of the phone only the back cover and will be fully reversible) as I was too lazy to do it that way the first time.

i'm hoping that somewhere deep within China some eager little entrepreneur is making a cheap back cover that has the contacts already in it and they will appear on Ebay shortly.
Don't really want to wait until September for the Samsung and the thought of rigging it myself with tape and thin wires makes me nervous.. i take the back cover off too often to change out batteries and figure eventually i'd cross the wires and maybe ruin the phone.

Just ordered a pixi back and touchstone for about 8/9 bucks shipped on Amazon.

Unfortunately soldering is needed on the pixi back with copper tape to give the phone a constant great charge. Dont forget to get magnets and copper tape

I was hoping to avoid soldering with my first install. It work great for a while but then started to lose connection. I figured that I was probably going to have to solder it so I ordered 2 pixi backs to begin with in-case I screwed one up.
I don't think adding more magnets are really a good idea. Adding them to the phone will probably mess with the compass pretty badly. The touchstone system has the mags built into the base and just some metal pieces in the phone. If I can find something to replace the tiny metal disks in the cover though it should help keeping the phone onto the dock.

G900F R1 / R2 antenna help, broke off R2

Hello people.
I was busy repairing S5 and by curiosity I removed the R2 port and there in one antenna was stuck, it popped off the motherboard and I cannot find it anymore.
Someone suggested (https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1625663) to stick a small copper wire and to tape it down, would this work?
see picture...

There was nothing in the bigger connectors. Antennas are in other place.
Do you mean a small round grey plastic cover? Just forget it.
Or the whole connector is torn off?

bbsc said:
There was nothing in the bigger connectors. Antennas are in other place.
Do you mean a small round grey plastic cover? Just forget it.
Or the whole connector is torn off?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As seen in picture marked, the whole connector is torn off. In the link you can read that it's necessary for signal reception.

amakuramio said:
As seen in picture marked, the whole connector is torn off. In the link you can read that it's necessary for signal reception.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
These two (bigger) connectors look like test-points or something.
I'm sure they are not necessary for signal reception.
But if you have a closer look at this place, you'll see a PCB track running under that torn off connector (please refer the image attached).
If this track is untouched, the phone will work as it should.
But if it's damaged, you'll have to repair it. It can be done with a thin copper wire and some soldering (no tape )

bbsc said:
These two (bigger) connectors look like test-points or something.
I'm sure they are not necessary for signal reception.
But if you have a closer look at this place, you'll see a PCB track running under that torn off connector (please refer the image attached).
If this track is untouched, the phone will work as it should.
But if it's damaged, you'll have to repair it. It can be done with a thin copper wire and some soldering (no tape )
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
only the r2 big connector popped off.
I hope that LTE will work otherwise my friend will be pissed off. haha.

amakuramio said:
only the r2 big connector popped off.
I hope that LTE will work otherwise my friend will be pissed off. haha.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've looked at your problem once more.
I'm sorry, but it looks a little more complicated than it was before.
Please have a look at the pictures attached.
I don't know what variant of SGS5 you have, but you can probably see something like the image on one of the photos.
If so, you'll have to connect by soldering the points circled in red.
That's because the port or connector which was torn off worked like an electrical jumper between these points.
Good luck.

bbsc said:
I've looked at your problem once more.
I'm sorry, but it looks a little more complicated than it was before.
Please have a look at the pictures attached.
I don't know what variant of SGS5 you have, but you can probably see something like the image on one of the photos.
If so, you'll have to connect by soldering the points circled in red.
That's because the port or connector which was torn off worked like an electrical jumper between these points.
Good luck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you so much. I can use copper wires?
I don't have to connect the sides, just connect point a and b, right?

amakuramio said:
Thank you so much. I can use copper wires?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can take a common stranded wire and take one thin solid copper wire from it.
You can solder it without problem because the green substance on the PCB is insulating coating, but the points which you need are free from this coating.
P.S. No, you don't need to connect sides - it's just "ground" and they are still connected.
Just connect two points circled in red - it's the signal line.

bbsc said:
You can take a common stranded wire and take one thin solid copper wire from it.
You can solder it without problem because the green substance on the PCB is insulating coating, but the points which you need are free from this coating.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you so much! Tomorrow another friend (specialist in soldering) will come, and I will ask if he can help me with it ^_^ Just a very thin copper wire, it should be possible
I tested it broken like this and I notice the signal is very bad, 0-1 bar.

amakuramio said:
Thank you so much! Tomorrow another friend (specialist in soldering) will come, and I will ask if he can help me with it ^_^ Just a very thin copper wire, it should be possible
I tested it broken like this and I notice the signal is very bad, 0-1 bar.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're welcome.
Let's see if it helps. I think it should.

Just to make the things more understandable.
1. Get a piece of conventional stranded wire (1).
2. Get a single thin conductor from it (2).
3. Solder in the jumper very carefully and get the result (3, 4, 5)
P.S. All photos were taken with Samsung Galaxy S5.

bbsc said:
Just to make the things more understandable.
1. Get a piece of conventional stranded wire (1).
2. Get a single thin conductor from it (2).
3. Solder in the jumper very carefully and get the result (3, 4, 5)
P.S. All photos were taken with Samsung Galaxy S5.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've fixed an s5 via this method. It does work. There's all kinds of crazy things that fix issues but sound ridiculous. I fixed the motherboard of my ps3 by wrapping it in tinfoil and baking it. Seriously. It did a reflow of the solder.

godkingofcanada said:
I've fixed an s5 via this method. It does work. There's all kinds of crazy things that fix issues but sound ridiculous. I fixed the motherboard of my ps3 by wrapping it in tinfoil and baking it. Seriously. It did a reflow of the solder.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried it, but worsened the signal.... what could have gone wrong

bbsc said:
Just to make the things more understandable.
1. Get a piece of conventional stranded wire (1).
2. Get a single thin conductor from it (2).
3. Solder in the jumper very carefully and get the result (3, 4, 5)
P.S. All photos were taken with Samsung Galaxy S5.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
sorry for the late reply -- I did the same but signal keeps dropping or is only 1 bar ...

amakuramio said:
I tried it, but worsened the signal.... what could have gone wrong
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do it properly, forget the tape. Actually solder the wire onto the two points. It will give much better contact

godkingofcanada said:
Do it properly, forget the tape. Actually solder the wire onto the two points. It will give much better contact
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ended up buying a defective s5 from auction just for the motherboard....
the guy who soldered for me is on vacation...

amakuramio said:
ended up buying a defective s5 from auction just for the motherboard....
the guy who soldered for me is on vacation...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That will work too