Database Users

Upgrade RAM?

Hello! Is it possible to replace and upgrade your phone's RAM and solder aftermarket RAM in it?
Thanks!
ps. Sorry for bad English

I do not think you can, these phones aren't really made for upgrades.

I have heard mention of this before ... but the compact design of the phone and the ability to find (upgraded) ram that would work with the chipset (soldered or otherwise) seems nearly impossible to find to me.
However, if someone was successful in this I would certainly be interested in hearing how.

I think it is too hard or You cant ('x ' )

Seeing as how the RAM modules built into the phone mother board are BGAs (ball grid arrays) it is nearly impossible to replace them without highly specialized equiptment like a FineTech BGA rework machine and the proper heat profiles for the given parts. That said you are more than welcome to try some methods that are not proven but seem very funny to me. I believe there is a youtube video of a man desoldering a BGA using an oven.
Needless to say of you dont like the amount of RAM your device has you may just have to wait until you can get another device.

In especial cases you can UNLOCK the RAM, but it didn't happen as a lot of devs tried and a really small quantity(of devs not phones) reached this point and the only phone that I know is unlockable is the ZTE Blade.

As an embedded system with some [normally] tightly controlled schematics and firmware, this would be unlikely for you to acomplish, since you're asking the question to begin with.
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hyztname said:
In especial cases you can UNLOCK the RAM, but it didn't happen as a lot of devs tried and a really small quantity(of devs not phones) reached this point and the only phone that I know is unlockable is the ZTE Blade.
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Not at all related to this, blade had 512mb of RAM in it, but it wasn't accessible- solved by a kernel change
Sent from my fingerz 2 ur eyez

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all smartphone devices have x amount of ram. say if you have 1gb ram in your phone you might only be able to use 868mb of it . it is becous your phone uses 128 mb for your gpu. it is plausible to make some of your gpu ram available as regular ram and that is done with an kernel mod. for my phone(lg optimus) 2x it is called a ram hack. it always comes with some faults depending on how much you take from the gpu. i have a 32mb shared ram hack so i cant reboot just have to turn the phone on and off

hey all
I guess it would be possible, however it might not so easy, I upgraded the ram of a wrt router some time ago: http://neophob.com/2006/01/wrt54g-ram-upgrade/

There's no chance of upgrading a mobile phone RAM .

I think the same,no way to upgrade ram on mobile phone

This is possible, but as others have said the complexity and difficulty to desolder a BGA ram chip and then put a new one on perfectly without messing anything up is incredibly high. And in addition, you have to find a ram chip that is compatible with your device (pin count and configuration, physical size, voltage, timings) and of a higher density, another difficult feat. So while it is technically possible, the practical answer is no it is not possible for anyone to do in the real world.

Hmm dont think you can.

EniGmA1987 said:
This is possible, but as others have said the complexity and difficulty to desolder a BGA ram chip and then put a new one on perfectly without messing anything up is incredibly high. And in addition, you have to find a ram chip that is compatible with your device (pin count and configuration, physical size, voltage, timings) and of a higher density, another difficult feat. So while it is technically possible, the practical answer is no it is not possible for anyone to do in the real world.
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ive seen it done, it can be done. its just really hard and nerve racking

Man bga chips are pain in a$$, unless u have sophisticated workstation.
A single short circuit/ loose contact can blow up ur entire CPU/motherboard.
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Hate to say it but no, in many of the SoC (System on a Chip) devices, the RAM is a soldered component of the main board. They are using RAM Modules rather then SODIMM Chips. It would be nice though

Parts
Anyone have any ideas of where you could even start to look for ram that would work? I have a HTC Evo 4G. I wonder if its possible to find parts from a HTC Evo 3D and modify.

seems so
just from the CoE course, revers engng and tweaking hardware is a good start

it's possible, but if you think you'll save money that way, you're wrong.
lol

Archos 101 RAM upgrade.. research so far

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
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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?

2012 Nexus 7 eMMC and DRAM Upgrade

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.
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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.

[Nexus 7] Feasibility of replacing or upgrading Hynix HTC2G83CFR DDR3 RAM

Hi!
Having dug my old Google Nexus 7 2012 out of storage and found it both working and happy in terms of battery lifetime I let my mind wander towards fixing what I consider the main flaw with the device: Its 1 GB of system RAM.
Now, I have my fair share of microsoldering and idle work in BGA soldering and the like but my software hardware is far more lacking. I already know that the Nexus I have holds 4 x Hynix 2Gb HTC2G83CFR DDR3L RAM and the datasheets for it these are fortunately available, I also know that the Tegra T30L chipset supports up to 2GB of RAM. The closest I've been able to scrape together sofar are Hynix 4Gb H5TC4G43MFR but these use 78ball FBGA and 96ball FBGA, but atleast I'm on the right track in finding older chips...
This is where I run into the software knowledge lack; Simply finding fitting chips to replace the old ones and successfully soldering those on will not neccesarily just work out of the box? Depending on the kernel it might detect and make use of the new chips but it might also not.
Am I right in assuming that there will be a need for software side hacking to accomodate the upgrade?
On a sidenote I also found Daniel Sauvageau's musings on doing the exact same thing back in 2016 but there are no follow-ups to it. He does raise a concerning potential roadblock in his article on the matter:
"Find out, preferably in a non-destructive way, whether A15 is actually routed from the SoC to the DRAM BGAs. Without A15, I would need DDR3L DRAM that has 2KB pages instead of the typical 1KB ones found in all eight-bit-wide chips I have looked at. If neither are possible, then this idea is as good as dead"
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Any thoughts, ideas or inputs are welcome!
(Yes, I am aware that this is neither particularly economical nor for the faint of heart lacking a decent way to reball BGA)

Can you update 32GB RAM to 64GB?

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.