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To my knowledge many hardware upgrades can be made to the Universal.
Seeing earlier posts of Universal Motherboards and chipsets...
It is possible to solder and upgrade the Universal.
Upgrades Include:
1. RAM - Suggested Hynix DDR / SDR RAM
2. Processor - nVidia (includes video card upgrade) if you are lucky or the new Intel PXA29x Monahans or Intel Bulverade x270 650mhz processor.
3. Wifi upgrade to Atheros ABG
All these upgrades are possible. If anyone is successful on doing these upgrades or has any ideas from where these parts can be obtained.. we are looking at the next generation pocket pc's and mobile devices to be created on xda-developers.
nuclear said:
To my knowledge many hardware upgrades can be made to the Universal.
Seeing earlier posts of Universal Motherboards and chipsets...
It is possible to solder and upgrade the Universal.
Upgrades Include:
1. RAM - Suggested Hynix DDR / SDR RAM
2. Processor - nVidia (includes video card upgrade) if you are lucky or the new Intel PXA29x Monahans or Intel Bulverade x270 650mhz processor.
3. Wifi upgrade to Atheros ABG
All these upgrades are possible. If anyone is successful on doing these upgrades or has any ideas from where these parts can be obtained.. we are looking at the next generation pocket pc's and mobile devices to be created on xda-developers.
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Why not suggest this to a real company like Pocket PC Techs: http://www.pocketpctechs.com/main~unit~O2_XDA_Exec-500~area~repairs.htm
They already have a repair section for the Universal. It might be easier for them to acquire everything, plus it would give us the option of having trained professionals handling our Universal.
But I read sometime ago, someone already tried this and did not work.
Mobile SDR/DDR RAM
I will consult Pocket PC Techs as you say they are professionals.
I will consult Intel, Atheros and Hynix on obtaining the parts. I am highly trained with soldering since i recently upgraded the video card on my motioncomputing LE1600 tablet pc ($5000). This phone Universal costed me $1200 from expansys and I would not like it to get busted. But i am pretty sure i can do it myself. If successful i will post pictures of the new chipset. Most certainly it will fit into the same body. Device Driver flashing will need a new ROM... i guess Helmi's/Ivans/Jwrights ROMS wont work. Anyways this will take me a week to a month to obtain the parts. And a few days to solder.
The hard part is making the ROM. Maybe my new project of Windows Crossbow i can integrate the device drivers into the ROM since they will be provided by the manufacturer for sure. So its not impossible i would say. Getting help from Pocket PC Techs really sounds good.
nuclear
I have already done this operation on Universal.
Now I have
CPU -Intel P4
Video- NVIDIA GeForce 7950 GX2
RAM- Nynix -10TB.
OS-Photon
You foolish and tell the delirium!
arc said:
nuclear
I have already done this operation on Universal.
Now I have
CPU -Intel P4
Video- NVIDIA GeForce 7950 GX2
RAM- Nynix -10TB.
OS-Photon
You foolish and tell the delirium!
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Please do not spam on the forum with false information. If you have really performed the upgrades post the picture of your new chipset and the Photon OS.
added foto
Again Spam
The Hynix RAM is not at the bottom right. It is supposed to be on the left. This is what the image is. Which i got from another thread! The RAM is supposed to be soldered on the top right. Right beside those 3, 2 slots are left for RAM to be soldered. And there is no Intel P4 processor. I guess people can use this as a reference to solder.
Anyways i am not going to keep mentioning about your spam. Because wind just adds more to the fire. The rest is upto the forum administrators.
get a sense of humour, man
It makes me cringed to see a naked Universal like that. It is like throwing $1000 to the trash.
not if you know what you're doing.
i for one would love a GeForce Go and faster WiFi in there. But isn't there a problem with RAM addressing over 64Mb?
r3bel said:
not if you know what you're doing.
i for one would love a GeForce Go and faster WiFi in there. But isn't there a problem with RAM addressing over 64Mb?
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Exactly what i was thinking. Upgrade the RAM and the processor (processor upgrading i think is impossible). And then the video card <-- not great chance of upgrading.
Currently i can only give confirmation based on my skills that i can upgrade the RAM. Getting hands on the hynix SDR/DDR RAM will not be easy either.
I am also sure that these upgrades shall keep our Universals tuned in for another 5 - 10 years along with Windows Mobile Crossbow and Windows Photon. Just like the Windows Vista that will be up and running for 10-15 years.
Anyways after these upgrades are successful i plan on marketing my product of research and upgrade for twice the same price as the universal. I shall post pictures of the device once it is upgraded and what the new ROM recognises.
I am currently working on Windows Crossbow and Windows Photon as well.
Now i base my research on facts from wiki so there is no chance of failure.
nuclear said:
Exactly what i was thinking. Upgrade the RAM and the processor (processor upgrading i think is impossible). And then the video card <-- not great chance of upgrading.
Currently i can only give confirmation based on my skills that i can upgrade the RAM. Getting hands on the hynix SDR/DDR RAM will not be easy either.
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would would the CPU be impossible to ugrade? I believe the RAM is the most difficult because, I think, Win Mo doesn't recognize more than 64MB... but I don't have facts for that. would be awesome to have 128MB or even 256, 512 would be tha sh1t! I checked those chips and I have a PDF 'bout it... if it helps. but I haven't seen such low capacity
Now the processor would be awesome to upgrade, too... but why not? maybe pin configuration? or would they be able to compile WinMo for just one speed of a processor? or are we talking 'bout different processors altogether?
I was checking the internet 'bout such things, reflow stations(pro, DIY) and solder paste, but I'm afraid to try with my Universal as I haven't done it before. any ideas?
Yubastard said:
would would the CPU be impossible to ugrade? I believe the RAM is the most difficult because, I think, Win Mo doesn't recognize more than 64MB... but I don't have facts for that. would be awesome to have 128MB or even 256, 512 would be tha sh1t! I checked those chips and I have a PDF 'bout it... if it helps. but I haven't seen such low capacity
Now the processor would be awesome to upgrade, too... but why not? maybe pin configuration? or would they be able to compile WinMo for just one speed of a processor? or are we talking 'bout different processors altogether?
I was checking the internet 'bout such things, reflow stations(pro, DIY) and solder paste, but I'm afraid to try with my Universal as I haven't done it before. any ideas?
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Click to collapse
1. Steps to upgrade the processor.
a. Remove the existing soldered chip off the motherboard (most likely will damage the motherboard while removing the existing processor chip)
b. Obtain the next processor chip. Probably will be from the same family of processors or any other compatible chip and solder it on.
c. Make a ROM that supports this hardware.
Higher End processors:
PXA27x (The universal one)
The PXA27x family (code-named Bulverde) consists of the PXA270 and PXA271-PXA272 processors. This revision is a huge update to the XScale family of processors. The PXA270 <-- (((this one is ours))) is clocked in four different speeds: 312 MHz, 416 MHz, (((520 MHz))) and (((624 MHz <-- (((this is what we can upgrade to most likely))) and is a stand-alone processor with no packaged memory. The PXA271 can be clocked to 312 MHz or 416 MHz and has 32 MiB of 16-bit stacked StrataFlash memory and 32 MiB of 16-bit SDRAM in the same package. The PXA272 can be clocked to 312 MHz, 416 MHz or 520 MHz and has 64 MiB of 32-bit stacked StrataFlash memory.
Now this is the processor we are aiming for:
In August 2005 Intel announced the successor to Bulverde, codenamed Monahans. They demoed it showing its capability to play back high definition encoded video on a PDA screen. The new processor was shown clocked at 1.25 GHz but Intel said it only offered a 25% increase in performance (800 MIPS for the 624 MHz PXA270 processor vs 1000 MIPS for 1.25 GHz Monahans). An announced successor to the 2700G graphics processor, code named Stanwood, has since been cancelled. Some of the features of Stanwood are integrated into Monahans. For extra graphics capabilities, Intel recommends third party chips like the Nvidia GoForce chip family <-- ((NOT AUTHORIZED BY NVIDIA)).
******NOW CHECK THIS OUT:: YOU THOUGHT THE PROCESSOR WAS EVERYTHING RIGHT? WELL SEEMS LIKE YOU WERE WRONG::READ WHAT WE CAN DO WITH THE RAM********
This is why i chose Hynix and not Samsung
Hynix Semiconductor Inc. (Hangul: 하이닉스 반도체) KSE: 000660 is an electronics company founded in 1983 as Hyundai Electronics Industries Co., Ltd. In the 1980s and 1990s it was mainly focusing on marketing DRAM, and then later SDRAM. In 2001 the business sold their TFT LCD assets for $650m, of the same year they developed the world's first 128MB DDR SDRAM for graphics.
Hynix is among the Worldwide Top 20 Semiconductor Sales Leaders.
In 2004-2005 an investigation was carried out into a worldwide DRAM price fixing conspiracy during 1999-2002 that damaged competition and raised PC prices. As a result, Samsung <-- (SEE SAMSUNG IS A LOSER) is to pay $300 million fine, Hynix was to pay $185 mln in 2005, Infineon: $160 mln in 2004. Micron Technology cooperated with prosecutors and no fine is expected.
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And now getting to the RAM
The RAM is an addon in the universal and not a replacement. Replacements are very damaging to the device and decreases the life of the device.
So all we got to do is addon the RAM.
Now i am going to personally speak to a Hynix manager and ask him if our devices are upgradable. I will also ask him about the pricing and how we can make bulk orders. I will read on more about RAM and what should we buy exactly? They manufacture so many products and you dont want to pick the wrong one.
Ah yes and they also manufacture better LCD screens for the Universal. In case some one wants to take on that project most welcome to. I would love a Anti-glare glass screen for my universal.
RAM,processor or WiFi of Universal cannot be upgrated,though RAM of HP4700 can be upgrated to 128MB.but the camera of Universal can be upgrated to 3.0MP.It costs only RMB200(USD25).There are already many people(except me) upgrated their camera of Uni.I will post the pictures later
yinfo said:
RAM,processor or WiFi of Universal cannot be upgrated,though RAM of HP4700 can be upgrated to 128MB.but the camera of Universal can be upgrated to 3.0MP.It costs only RMB200(USD25).There are already many people(except me) updated their camera of Uni.I will post the pictures later
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$25 USD Sounds too unreal for a 3MP camera upgrade for Universal. What is the optical zoom/digital zoom/lens mm? We here at xda-developers.com are looking into technical and specific details. I dont want a 3MP camera with barely any optical/digital zoom and images that cant be taken in a sunny day.
Also RAM upgrade is possible. Why else do you think those two empty solder spots are left on the motherboard?
I was sure that the camera can be upgraded too. I will find out more camera details and keep the forum posted. Since i am a professional SLR photographer i can provide the best camera's to the Universal device.
This means a stronger high beam flash can also be upgraded.
nuclear said:
$25 USD Sounds too unreal for a 3MP camera upgrade for Universal. What is the optical zoom/digital zoom/lens mm? We here at xda-developers.com are looking into technical and specific details. I dont want a 3MP camera with barely any optical/digital zoom and images that cant be taken in a sunny day.
Also RAM upgrade is possible. Why else do you think those two empty solder spots are left on the motherboard?
I was sure that the camera can be upgraded too. I will find out more camera details and keep the forum posted. Since i am a professional SLR photographer i can provide the best camera's to the Universal device.
This means a stronger high beam flash can also be upgraded.
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Click to collapse
Maybe $25 USD Sounds unreal for you,but in China,it's real.But now I can't find out the pictures of it on Chinese forum. It has optical zoom.
The battery costs only $25 in China,the imitated one costs only $7.And the 3200mAh battery costs less than $15 now,though I bought it for $19 5 months ago.I bought my T-Mobile MDA Pro for about $530.
Two empty solder spots are left on the motherboard is because the Universal was fist made for Windows Mobile 2003,which must has 128MB RAM.Do know CeBIT 2005?CeBIT 2005 had a Universal(T-Mobile MDA PRO) on show,which has WM2003 and 128MB RAM.
But someone had his HP4700 upgrated to 128MB RAM said that the Universal couldnot be upgrated to 128MB.He didn't tell me the reason.And so far,I have never seen any one have his Universal upgrated to 128MB RAM.
Battery and Camera
yinfo you might be correct about the battery. I actually bought my Universal for around the same price as yours. Just $100 more. My 3200mAh battery also costed around the same price as yours. All my items came ofcourse from Shanghai and Ho Chi Minh and Hong Kong.
But my RAM is going to come from South Korea, Seoul.
Some good stuff is also being sold at Hanoi in Vietnam. Better check that place out.
Camera upgrade cannot be so cheap. It really sounds too unreal. I mean camera is not equal to battery. Maybe $100-$200 will be more realistic. Anyways I am still looking into this camera upgrade on the net, will find some results soon and keep the forum posted.
hehe, it all sounds so exotic! I got my universal for £150 on a rainy high street in the UK!
loving the chance for a camera replacement, though. also, i had a browse through the universal's disassembly manual, and the flash LED is just stuck-down then plugged in. i bet even I could upgrade that!
r3bel said:
hehe, it all sounds so exotic! I got my universal for £150 on a rainy high street in the UK!
loving the chance for a camera replacement, though. also, i had a browse through the universal's disassembly manual, and the flash LED is just stuck-down then plugged in. i bet even I could upgrade that!
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I want to upgrade the flash LED to the flash in the SLR digital camera. So that i get better image quality while taking photographs in the public. Also i would like a 3MP camera. I have printed images on photo paper before and they came out nice. But 3MP would be the best.
nuclear You foolish !!
You absolutely do not understand in electronics and PPC.
1) You can not change the processor since this not PC. Mobile processors PXA 270 and PXA2XX to have other points and other auxiliary elements.
2) Such reasons and about graphic chip.
3)The Camera can be theoretically modernized -but if have an alike connector and electrically parameters.
We conducted the modernization on typhoon c500 cameras. This device was delivered on european and chinese market with miscellaneous camera.
When installation of the other camera -you need other ROM with the other driver for this cameras. You can not simply change this driver - necessary to build in this in ROM.
I did this on typhoon c500. But this in a complicated way.
4) Theoretically you may add on Universal RAM - my friends conducted modernization and tried to enlarge RAM - but you may use only such RAM as it is used in Universal.
My friends concern with the repair PPC to have specialized device. In home condition you will not be able this do.
After they were added chip RAM - a system does not see these chips. We thought that probably system does not see additional RAm since does not enter the signal CS ( chip select ) -we have found this signal on board. But probably system does not see RAM since is not installed specific driver which will be able to service additional RAM.
nuclear
Be enough to carry the foolishness and tell about that that you do not understand - you probably foolish young person who wants to raise its rating in this forum.
I have been using my Archos 101 tablet for a few months now, I quite like it, and have tried a few of the different android builds available to download. I am keen to try and upgrade the ram, as 256MB is not alot. This is the progress I have made so far, I hope that maybe other people can add to it. First step is to find a suitable ram module that has the same pinouts, and specs, but with larger capacity. The ram module is marked "OVA18 D9LBZ". Using Microns FBGA decoder We find that the full part number of the ram module is "MT46H64M32LFMA-6 IT:A". If we go to microns list of available low power DDR modules we can see that there are available a 512MB and a 1GB version. (note that they are listed in megabits, not megabytes, so the original 256 megabyte module is a "2gb" size, 512MB is "4gb" and 1GB is "8gb")
I am in the UK, and havent yet found a uk supplier, but I found the 1GB module available in the US for about 50 US dollars.
I dont know what the max ram limit of the cpu is, I have read somewhere that the OMAP3630 cpu can support max 1GB, but cant remember where.
Im my mind there are two further problems once the chip has been bought:
1. physically removing the old ram module and fitting the new one. my plan is to setup a spring with one end glued/fixed somehow to the top of the old ram module, and then put the mainboard in the oven, and once the solder melts the spring will pull the ram chip off. Or it might pull the ram chip and the cpu at the same time. Then put tiny bits of solder on all the pins of the new ram module, align it ontop of the cpu, maybe under slight pressure, and put it back in the oven and hope that all of the solder joints connect properly. Quite a few of the pins are not used, so we can get away with 1 or 2 pins not connected. One concern I have is that in the spec sheet alot of the pins are labelled NC for not connected, but several have DNU which I take to mean "do not use". If these end up connected aswell then will this work or not. Another idea is instead of soldering the new chip on, we could polish the pins on the cpu really smooth and also polish the pins on the ram chip, and build a clip/holder type device, it might be possible to run the system with the ram chip just held under pressure on the cpu. We would need to stop the chip moving sideways also.
2. There may be a firmware issue with the new ram module, the system may not recognize the ram chip at all, or only address 256MB of it, because that is what its expecting to be there. I have seen a tutorial on upgrading the ram on an xbox and this is the problem they had, the new ram runs fine but only the original amount that was installed can be used without significant software changes. Hopefully archos have not made it too difficult for us.
These are my thoughts so far, I hope we can make some progress, or at least work out why it cant be done before destroying any hardware. I have links to the FBGA decoder, microns list of lp ddr chips, and the supplier of the 1GB chip, but as this is my first post I am not allowed to post links yet! PM me and I will send you the links.
Hi! Scholbert is good in this staff ask him . Bye
Sent from my A70H firmware 2.4.82 root oc 1.1GHz using Tapatalk
To be able to support bigger memory both memory controller of OMAP and pcb itself MUST have additional address lines. I almost sure that OMAP has at least 512MB support but not sure if Archos did preparation for bigger memory chip on board.
Also replacing of memory BGA chip not so simple and may cost more than new tablet
I am hoping that the larger memory chips still use the same interface, and therefore the same pin layout as the 256MB chip, as the link for the datasheet for 512MB and 1GB modules is the same as for the 256MB chip. So I dont think any additional data lines are needed.
Yes im sure your right, buying a later tablet will have larger ram module as standard, but I just like to tinker with things
Wikipedia list a few phones that use the omap 3630 cpu, and therefore probably use a ram module soldered ontop as in the archos. The motorola cliq 2 has 512MB of ram, as does the palm pre 2, the nokia n9 has 1GB ram but is a fairly new phone and still expensive to buy. I am going to looking out for a damaged mobile (cracked screen etc) and hope that the ram module is intact.
PPCtech did such an upgrade for the venerable HP hx4700, for $130 including material and shipment.
You'll need rework equipment (special kind of heat gun, not that expensive ($60 is the cheapest)), in an oven you'll probably kill components that were added later on (audio jack etc) and can't stand heat.
If you have the right equipment, it's not that hard to do. You'll heat the RAM chip till you can gently pull it off. Then you'll clean the PCB of solder residue. Next you put on solder paste using a BGA screen made for the chip you want to use.
Then you put the new RAM ic in the correct position (using a microscope to align it correctly), and locally heat it using the heat gun.
Then you pray it worked, or retry (best with a new RAM chip, but they can stand quite some heat, so reusing should be possible).
Problem is that you don't know for sure it could work, thus it's unclear if the error was in the soldering or in the firmware....
Sweet project! Any updates?
Hi,
I'm a new member here and as you may be able to tell from the post's topic, I am contemplating an eMMC and DRAM chip swap on my 2012 Nexus 7 but before I start popping chips off from the motherboard, I would like to know if some developers here might know whether the existing (pre-)bootloader stages auto-detect DRAM row count to configure the Tegra3's memory controller. If not, I would need to find the source code for whichever stage handles the memory controller setup and find a way to update it, which brings my other question: is the source code for the MBR, uboot and fastboot stages available somewhere? Also, does a Nexus 7 hardware hacker here happen to know a convenient way to do a full raw eMMC dump, partition edit and re-image? At the moment, the only method I have found is to remove the eMMC chip and either wire it to an SD/MMC USB adapter or buy a $100-300 bed-of-nails eMMC programmer/tester. I obviously would much prefer an in-system method over having to pop the eMMC off each time I mess it up. Alternately, since SD and MMC controllers often support both standards, can the Tegra3 boot from SD connected in place of the eMMC?
I already own most necessary tools and supplies for doing BGA rework with a few more on their way. The biggest challenge there might be finding a suitable 32-64GiB eMMC chip to upgrade to since all the official distributors for major brands only sell in trays of 1000. For the DRAM, I plan to lift the chips from a $40 8GB DDR3L DIMM (16x 512Mx8 1600-11-11-11-23 chips) instead of buying individual ones at $8 each. Yes, I have a DRAM re-balling jig and related supplies.
Why bother with that extreme upgrade idea? Mainly because when I look at most tablets available today, I am severely disappointed to see there is still hardly anything significantly better than the 2012 N7 on the market under $250 CAN nearly four years later. If I could relatively easily bump it up to 2GiB RAM, that would make it a whole lot more usable and refreshing the eMMC with something that has a newer, faster controller will hopefully get rid of the high kernel CPU time spikes I see whenever mmcqd is active. With those two successful upgrades, I could imagine myself using my 2012 N7 for another 2-3 years.
I would have posted this in a more developer-oriented section but as a new member, that isn't an option.
Any thoughts, comments, questions or suggestions?
Thanks.
TeardownDan said:
Hi,
I'm a new member here and as you may be able to tell from the post's topic, I am contemplating an eMMC and DRAM chip swap on my 2012 Nexus 7 but before I start popping chips off from the motherboard, I would like to know if some developers here might know whether the existing (pre-)bootloader stages auto-detect DRAM row count to configure the Tegra3's memory controller. If not, I would need to find the source code for whichever stage handles the memory controller setup and find a way to update it, which brings my other question: is the source code for the MBR, uboot and fastboot stages available somewhere? Also, does a Nexus 7 hardware hacker here happen to know a convenient way to do a full raw eMMC dump, partition edit and re-image? At the moment, the only method I have found is to remove the eMMC chip and either wire it to an SD/MMC USB adapter or buy a $100-300 bed-of-nails eMMC programmer/tester. I obviously would much prefer an in-system method over having to pop the eMMC off each time I mess it up. Alternately, since SD and MMC controllers often support both standards, can the Tegra3 boot from SD connected in place of the eMMC?
I already own most necessary tools and supplies for doing BGA rework with a few more on their way. The biggest challenge there might be finding a suitable 32-64GiB eMMC chip to upgrade to since all the official distributors for major brands only sell in trays of 1000. For the DRAM, I plan to lift the chips from a $40 8GB DDR3L DIMM (16x 512Mx8 1600-11-11-11-23 chips) instead of buying individual ones at $8 each. Yes, I have a DRAM re-balling jig and related supplies.
Why bother with that extreme upgrade idea? Mainly because when I look at most tablets available today, I am severely disappointed to see there is still hardly anything significantly better than the 2012 N7 on the market under $250 CAN nearly four years later. If I could relatively easily bump it up to 2GiB RAM, that would make it a whole lot more usable and refreshing the eMMC with something that has a newer, faster controller will hopefully get rid of the high kernel CPU time spikes I see whenever mmcqd is active. With those two successful upgrades, I could imagine myself using my 2012 N7 for another 2-3 years.
I would have posted this in a more developer-oriented section but as a new member, that isn't an option.
Any thoughts, comments, questions or suggestions?
Thanks.
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I'm sory that I can't be much help but keep us updated with what you achieve! I don't know but fitting an N7 2013 logic board and hooking it up with the N7 2012 would be cheaper.
KawaiiAurora said:
I'm sory that I can't be much help but keep us updated with what you achieve! I don't know but fitting an N7 2013 logic board and hooking it up with the N7 2012 would be cheaper.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The guts' layout is completely different with a different LCD and digitizer panel, so that would be impossible - or at least highly impractical. It would be much simpler to get and refurbish a 2013 N7.
I bought three 2013 Nexus 7 over the three months from launch and returned all three of them: the first one had chronic touch issues with a dozen crashes over the 10 days I owned it, the second one crashed a few times over the week I owned it, had backlight flicker and GPS didn't work (took minutes to lock) while the third one had chronic freeze/restart issues. Three bad devices out of three made me give up on owning the 2013 model. Back then, Google's Nexus forum was flooded with people having many of the same issues I had with some claiming they had to have their devices exchanged six or more times before getting one that seemed free of any obvious defects. And then you have the surge of premature eMMC failures that began in early 2015.
The 2013 was a great tablet when it worked correctly. Except my short-lived and highly unpleasant experiences with it completely ruined my confidence in the model, with more recent developments doing very little to improve it.
May have found one of my answers.
Just found this thread about nvflash and generating device-specific blobs to make devices "unbrickable":
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2455927
This appears to bypass the need for a bootloader but would the blobs remain valid even after an eMMC chip swap? Put another way: are the values used to generate the blobs related to anything on the eMMC, such as model, serial number, customer serial number, etc.?
I did some more preliminary reading and got the Tegra3 Reference Manual, read the memory controller section which said that A15 can be used as either an extra DRAM chip (rank) select or row address.
For my memory upgrade plan to work, I need A15 to be routed to the DRAM chips even if the original 2Gib chips do not use it. At first, I thought the DDR3 memory setup registers would guarantee that A15 would be there for configuration purpose but upon reading the spec for the original chip, it turned out that DDR3 only uses A0-14 for configuration purposes.
Does anybody happen to know if A15 is actually routed from the Tegra3 to DRAM chips on the motherboard? I'd like to avoid pulling a chip from the motherboard only to find out that it is either NC or GND.
Edit: Alternately, are there 32ki rows x 2kiB pages 4Gibits DRAMs out there? I checked a few manufacturers but all their 512Mi x 8 chips use 64ki rows x 1kiB pages DRAM bank structure.
Someone managed to upgrade his Nexus 5 from 16gb to 64gb — and not only that, upgraded the eMMC type from 4.5 to 5.0 so it writes and reads much faster.
Hello all.
I have a P905 model with 32GB RAM. But I've seen P900 models with 64GB.
Q1: Did the P905 come out with 64GB too, or only 32GB?
Q2: The RAM is probably a surface-mount IC (soldered to the mainboard). I haven't had a reason to open mine yet. Does anyone know where I can obtain a a picture showing which chip is the RAM?
Q3: If some P905 models do come with 64GB, and I find one with a broken screen, is there anything preventing me taking them to a shop with the correct gear to swap the RAM chips? For example, would the RAM size be the only difference, the other ICs the same, so the 64GB RAM will 'just work'? Or is there a second chip that checks the RAM, or something in firmware that will recognize the tablet shouldn't have 64GB and refuse to work?
Q4: I know the mainboards and processors of different models are different. But does anyone know if the RAM chip is the same? (Are 64GB RAM chips from different models compatible with the P905 too?)
Thanks for reading.
Whether you're truly talking about RAM or simply storage, the process, whether leading to successful expansion or not, will require very, very fine skills. You can find videos on YouTube of, for e.g., iPhone upgrade 512GB, MacBook Air 8GB upgrade, etc. The skills required for this type of work aren't likely to be trained overnight, even with the right equipment.
Mainly because of the density of solder balls present for each IC/BGA chip, and their small size. Everything must be perfect.
Thanks. I understand the process but don't own the equipment to rework surface mount components. It's probably come down a lot in price since I last looked but I'd probably only use it a couple of times. Easier/cheaper to go someplace that does it every day. I'll keep an eye out for a broken tablet to try it.
Good evening.
Was looking at my Shield Pro 2019 sitting on the shelf, and an idea popped into my head; would it be possible to upgrade RAM and eMMC chips? I have no particular reason for this, besides pure curiosity.
I've got access to professional solder equipment, including rework stations capable of desoldering BGAs, xray equipment to inspect said BGAs and about 20 years of experience with soldering and reworking complex circuitry.
If I'm not mistaken, RAM chips are either Micron, Samsung or SK Hynix and the eMMC chip would also likely be supplied by either Micron or SanDisk.
So, disregarding the physical job desoldering/resoldering chips, are there any software issues that must be taken into account?
The eMMC would of course need to be flashed and repartitioned if upgraded to a larger size, but would the RAM chips require any software modifications after swapping them out or would the system simply accept a larger RAM size out of the box?
I've Googled a bit, but couldn't find any concrete information on what changes would be required on the SW/FW side of this.
Best regards, Tim
Unfortunately, this looks like one of those things where ripping it apart and doing the do would be the way to go. Maybe the least "invasive" thing to do would be a RAM upgrade, provided compatible chips of higher capacity are available. Theoretically you wouldn't need to touch anything on the OS side for a bump in RAM capacity. I think the Tegra X1 supports a maximum of 4GB of RAM and the X1+ supports 8GB - allegedly. I suppose the memory controller is built into the SoC itself so there's no tampering with that.
I don't know anyone crazy enough to do that for me... nor am I really willing to apply my very amateur BGA soldering skills on a device like this one.
xxhyp0crisyxx said:
Good evening.
Was looking at my Shield Pro 2019 sitting on the shelf, and an idea popped into my head; would it be possible to upgrade RAM and eMMC chips? I have no particular reason for this, besides pure curiosity.
I've got access to professional solder equipment, including rework stations capable of desoldering BGAs, xray equipment to inspect said BGAs and about 20 years of experience with soldering and reworking complex circuitry.
If I'm not mistaken, RAM chips are either Micron, Samsung or SK Hynix and the eMMC chip would also likely be supplied by either Micron or SanDisk.
So, disregarding the physical job desoldering/resoldering chips, are there any software issues that must be taken into account?
The eMMC would of course need to be flashed and repartitioned if upgraded to a larger size, but would the RAM chips require any software modifications after swapping them out or would the system simply accept a larger RAM size out of the box?
I've Googled a bit, but couldn't find any concrete information on what changes would be required on the SW/FW side of this.
Best regards, Tim
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Both was already done on Nintendo switch (also tegra X1/X1+)
Emmc is the easy part, ram is possible but you need to know which ram are supported.
Check l4s discord maybe there are some people who can help.
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