Repairs gone wrong. - Redmi Note 2 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hi guys. I've been working on a RN2 for a while now and something has been bothering me.
BACKGROUND
___
Basically, it was a side phone I kept in emergency but as you know siblings who can't keep stuff safe, I ended up lending it to him (after having it broken by my other sibling and having to change the screen) and he ALSO broke it, so I changed it again.
___
Now, my problem is the following:
When I was working on the screen, I noticed it wouldn't turn on again, so, after buying aforementioned screen, I placed it and it still didn't turn on. When I tried the heat measuring, I noticed it was heating around the area where you plug the flex cable (black cable with 2 identical plugs that connects the charge module (which I also changed) and the motherboard. The heat is on the side of the MB. I tried to switch the plug backwards but it doesn't work either (and doesn't fit as it is backwards). I bought another flex cable (Theseus' boat much) and it still heated up. So it finally comes to the fact that the issue is in the MB. (I guess ?) Thing is, I don't know what exactly. Does anyone have any idea?
Thanks in advance, I've been on this for a few months now (working it when I have time).

All you can do is look visible damage like a cracked solder joint.
BGA chipsets solder joints can't be examined because they are underneath of them.
Any impact great enough to damage the display or frame could damage the mobo.
Examine your work. Are ground pathways present especially if the phone is "open"?
Look for damaged ribbon cable and connector pins. Try disconnecting/reconnecting the battery (hard reboot).

blackhawk said:
All you can do is look visible damage like a cracked solder joint.
BGA chipsets solder joints can't be examined because they are underneath of them.
Any impact great enough to damage the display or frame could damage the mobo.
Examine your work. Are ground pathways present especially if the phone is "open"?
Look for damaged ribbon cable and connector pins. Try disconnecting/reconnecting the battery (hard reboot).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
HI, thanks so much for the quick reply! Unfortunately, I didn't see anything. I might come back to it with a better lens tomorrow for the week end. Would it be necessary to post a picture or two here tomorrow, to have a more professional opinion?
Thanks!

Iliassine said:
HI, thanks so much for the quick reply! Unfortunately, I didn't see anything. I might come back to it with a better lens tomorrow for the week end. Would it be necessary to post a picture or two here tomorrow, to have a more professional opinion?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're welcome.
I'm afraid though that I contributed little to your cause...
You can try gently flexing the pcb and pressing on components with a pencil, eraser end to try to localize the trouble. The mobo is likely toast though if that's the cause. Mobo diagnostics just aren't available except at the manufacturer's level. Even then most repairs require a hot air station and a high level skillset to execute successfully. A few 3rd party shops probably rework them if there's high enough demand.
Always use a good case to protect internal components as well as the display and frame.

blackhawk said:
You're welcome.
I'm afraid though that I contributed little to your cause...
You can try gently flexing the pcb and pressing on components with a pencil, eraser end to try to localize the trouble. The mobo is likely toast though if that's the cause. Mobo diagnostics just aren't available except at the manufacturer's level. Even then most repairs require a hot air station and a high level skillset to execute successfully. A few 3rd party shops probably rework them if there's high enough demand.
Always use a good case to protect internal components as well as the display and frame.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh no, you did great! You gave me probably more information than I found the last few months! I will try the eraser thing, maybe I'll have some luck. I didn't really touch the board unless the un clip removal of components bands. I will take it down and see if this is what is going on! Thank you. I will keep the thread up to see if someone else has ideas and keep you updated!

Examine the mobo under an excellent high lumen point light source and use optical aids. Stereoscopic ones are best for this. Examine at different angles to look for solder cracks. They tend to be difficult to spot.
Remember out of circuit assemblies like the mobo are sensitive to ESD damage. Use a bare wood surface if no ESD mat/wrist strap are available. Raise room humidity to at least 50%.
Wear cotton not wool or synthetics.
Discharging yourself directly to an earth ground immediately before handling it helps. Nearly every object can retain a static charge to one degree or another even paper. Humidity helps to dissipate it once present but almost any material movement/friction can generate it.

Related

Lumia 800 - "Destroyed" a component due to soldering mistake

Hi there,
as i wrote in the Rainbow Mod for Lumia 800 thread, i'll try to restore DLOAD, update to latest FW, and restore Qualcomm (all with ATF Testpoint) again, that i can give you updated files on Partition 3 of the phone, that the latest rainbow mod build will be working on all phones...
But it seemed that i had a pretty shaky hand, when i was soldering my device, that i "destroyed" a component.
First, it was still fitting, but a little "twistet" as you can see on the pictures attached.
I checked if the phone is still working, and it did, except the "light sensor" which turns off the display when making a call... I can now cancel the call with my ear accidently
I realised an extreme heat and battery consumption when making a call... but maybe it just seems so, because i'm looking for "mistakes" because of the broken component...
Then, because of this, i disassembled my phone again, to check the component... and i just touched it a little bit, and now it fell off...
The component i'm talking about is called "L1605" in the schematics plan, so it should be a "coil" (hope this is correct, as English isn't my native lang...)
Of course, because it "fell off", i don't know how it was placed before. Does a coil have a "polarity", i mean "+" or "-" ? or can i just solder it back onto the mainboard?
i hope you can help me
cheers
hi there,
i searched again and found out, that the "L1605" is an "27nH_0402". In the schematics plan it's part of the "reciever", as you can see in the image attached.
Can you tell me if this coil is important? It "just" goes to GND, so maybe it would be enough to just connect the to pins (were the coil was placed) with some solder ?
It also seems to be part of "FM & GND", so maybe it's just important for FM Radio? I don't use this anyway...
pls help!
i guess it has no polarity...but if u could upload a more detailed picture maybe i can see it clearly..
or search for ( as u can see the black component which has a white sign near the two condensator - it has polarity ) signs, i mean +, or a little colored circle on the component, or some cut-off and if it has one of these it has polarity.
what kind of paste did u use for the soldering? leadless or pb? it does matter.
ps : L means Inductor
It's a simple inductor. You can just solder it back in. It has no polarity.
Do not shorten the contacts. The circuit will probably behave bad.
hi there,
can you recommend me any "special" hardware?
With links would be great!
I only have an ordinary soldering-iron, whrere the tip is 3 times larger then the component
cheers
Here is some of the equipment I use for such a fix:
* Weller WES51 soldering station
* Weller ETU soldering iron fine tip
* curved fine tip tweezers
* straight tip dissection probe
* 20x stereo microscope
* solder
The WES51 soldering iron is available for under US $100 online (Amazon and elsewhere) with a variety of replacement tips available for about US $5 each, and I recommend it if you will be doing much soldering. Otherwise, you can probably find a cheaper one with a fine tip, but without temperature control. When soldering and desoldering small two contact components such as your broken inductor, the best method I've found is to use a second soldering iron so you can melt the solder on both the pads at the same time. Small components are hard to handle, so tweezers and a long sharp needle / dissection tip are very helpful. It's hard to see what you are doing at that scale, so a stereo microscope is almost mandatory. AmScope has some cheap microscopes that are adequate for this purpose, or you can find a fancier used one on eBay. My only complaints with the AmScope microscope I have is that the depth of field is somewhat shallow and I need to get my face closer to the work area than I would like. You can use and lead/tin alloy or lead-free solder designed for electronics use to do a fix like this. Lead / tin alloy solder melts at a lower temperature and is much easier to work with than lead-free solder but may not be as easily available in some countries.
I can't tell for sure without a bill of materials for the phone, but based on what you've said it seems like the replacement part is a 27 nH air core inductor 0402 size such as Murata LQW15AN27NJ00D, which is easily available through Digi-Key and possibly other online electronics component vendors.

Is there a way to disable the internal temperature sensor?

About six months ago, I decided (foolishly) to try my S5's water resistance by taking it into the pool and taking some underwater pics and videos of my kids. They turned out great. My phone, however, was not happy. I didn't notice it until about 15 minutes after I took it out of the water. I turned it off, removed the battery, let it dry out for a few days, etc.
After that, it seemed to work again, with a few small problems. The first was that it started shutting down all my apps because it thought it was overheating. I installed an app that monitored the temp, and the numbers it was reporting were obviously wrong (way too high). The second problem is that it would no longer charge. It would either warn me that the battery was too hot, or too cold, to charge.
After some googling, it sounded like the problem might be the USB charging port daughterboard that was the problem. I took a look at the inside, and it did look like that was the only part that got wet. So I bought a new daughterboard and replaced it. I ended up destroying my screen in the process, and only just now was able to afford a new one, hence the six-month lag time.
So I finally have my phone back with a new daughterboard and new screen..... and I'm still seeing the temperature issues
Is there any way in the software to install a "hack" or anything to tell it to ignore those warnings, so that I can actually charge my battery and stop the OS from shutting down all my apps constantly? Could the problem be somewhere else besides the daughterboard? I'm really hoping that my phone isn't just dead, is all
If the back cover and/or usb cover were not securely in place when you took the device underwater, then something other than the usb port is most certainly the problem. That, or you had the phone under water for too long. The S5 is water-resistant, not water-proof. I think IP67 rating is less than 3 meters for less than 30 minutes exposure, or something. When you had it apart, did you look at the board? If you didn't, I think you can remove most of the board pieces from the back. Them them out, inspect them for oxidation, and give them a cleaning with a gentle toothbrush and rubbing alcohol. If you put it back together and you still get problems, there's nothing else you can do to fix it. It might be possible to make the hack you want, but I'm not aware of anyone having made one. Maybe you'd have to find someone who could do it for you, or learn yourself.
I also exposed my phone to water, but the microphone went out. That part is not shielded against water for obvious reasons. I guess Samsung expected the mic to handle more than just a little exposure. But mine failed. So I just warrantied it. None of my water stickers were set off. For you, I'd recommend just getting a new phone if you're with T-Mobile. $0 down on something newer. If you really love the S5, maybe just pay the insurance deductible.
I used to actually fix phones for a living, but I never do just glass on Galaxy phones bc IMO it's just not worth doing. So I would've replaced my own usb port/mic if it didn't require removing the glass.
I wouldn't recommend trying a free warranty even if your water sensors are white, because they'll probably be able to tell the screen was replaced... if they check. Will they? I dunno.
I'd sell you my new warranty but you've already invested a lot in to an aging phone, so I think it's better to cut your losses. I think I have around 300-400 left on it. It'll be unlocked and come with a case and glass screen protector, but it's still a lot on top of everything else.
LucentPhoenix said:
It sounded like the problem might be the USB charging port daughterboard that was the problem. I took a look at the inside, and it did look like that was the only part that got wet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know for a fact that in the S4 the daughterboard with the USB also has this battery temperature sensor in it because this was a repair I performed many times. Just change the board and the phone will charge and function correctly again.
I, however, have NO idea if it's the same on the S5. And apparently not, judging by what you experienced. I'm sorry you had to go through that and I know how much you had to spend on a screen. That sucks.
Good Luck!

Ghost in my phone:(

Hello Good People,
Can someone please share some insight here. My issue is that every now and than my phone acts as if it is being controlled remotely. Home screens progress to the next screen, apps will open and close, widgets resize themselves or close, the notification pull down menu is goes up and down.
When this happens it all happens back to back within seconds and I cannot stop it. All I can do is do a hard reboot.
Any solution or tips as to what is going on? I have tried different ROMS and yet it has been known to happen again.
T.I.A.
Mine does it while charging and using the phone. Perhaps because of the lack of proper ground a charge builds up and starts "ghost click".
Its the expected reaction because the touch panel is a "capacitive" type. This model has support for a pen with stock rom. So there might be that the sensitive threshold is set too high to what is optimal when charging?
You can change this setting by editing a file. (that's for another day).
For me it can be minimized for a while by turning off the screen and swiping the whole palm over the screen and downwards. Like you give the charge to go somewhere with the largest possible surface area.
If I remember this right I can recall that SONY had a picture showing how the phone was designed.
It was made part of nylon, glassfiber and magnesium...
Nylon and copper is an excellent material that gain negative charge, aluminum and glass that can gain positive charge.
Magnesium mold is an alloy with part aluminium and other neat stuff.
ah found it:
http://blogs.sonymobile.com/2013/09...rlds-slimmest-full-hd-smartphone-infographic/
What I am saying is that the materials are there to create ghost clicks. Its not a hardware failure. I think it is only the interaction of the material the designers desided to use for this device.
SÜPERUSER said:
Mine does it while charging and using the phone. Perhaps because of the lack of proper ground a charge builds up and starts "ghost click".
Its the expected reaction because the touch panel is a "capacitive" type. This model has support for a pen with stock rom. So there might be that the sensitive threshold is set too high to what is optimal when charging?
You can change this setting by editing a file. (that's for another day).
For me it can be minimized for a while by turning off the screen and swiping the whole palm over the screen and downwards. Like you give the charge to go somewhere with the largest possible surface area.
If I remember this right I can recall that SONY had a picture showing how the phone was designed.
It was made part of nylon, glassfiber and magnesium...
Nylon and copper is an excellent material that gain negative charge, aluminum and glass that can gain positive charge.
Magnesium mold is an alloy with part aluminium and other neat stuff.
ah found it:
http://blogs.sonymobile.com/2013/09...rlds-slimmest-full-hd-smartphone-infographic/
What I am saying is that the materials are there to create ghost clicks. Its not a hardware failure. I think it is only the interaction of the material the designers desided to use for this device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would agree with you, I remember my phone used to have ghost touches with certain usb cables. Try a different cable if it is occurring while it is charging.
If not, do you have a screen guard on?
mofoahh said:
I would agree with you, I remember my phone used to have ghost touches with certain usb cables. Try a different cable if it is occurring while it is charging.
If not, do you have a screen guard on?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Any cable does the same thing. Received three SONY EC450 cables in the mail the other day.
The charger used today is a a bulk order of Samsung eta-p10x because of the removable plug so that I can put any longer C7 cable for long distance from the outlet. I do have a front+back glass panel.
It can be related to ghostclicks because I dropped the phone strait on the asphalt a month back. Luckely with a battery case taking the hit. But the glass is shattered. Two days after I replaced the glass..............
However ghost clicks have occured to and from during the three years time I have had this device. When charging.
Worth notice is that I have removed the asf sheet.
I am aware that the tempered glass isn't just recycled glass molded thin with a silicone residue on one side. There are metals and other possible conductive and charge holding ingredients mixed in the mass. Not to mention the most common sale argument: "HD clear visibility" what many sellers advertises their product to give you. This also has some fact in the paper...can't remember what they use for that at the moment. If it was a mineral or whatever.
Thank you SUPERUSER and mofoahh for the response.
Yes I do have a screen protector on the device. Weird that most of the time it happens when the usb cable is connected to the computer. I was getting freaked out as I thought someone might have been accessing my device remotely. I will get another charging cable.
Thank you again for the informative and technical insight, much appreciated!
You can check your touchscreen's responsiveness using an app called YAMTT:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rn.yamtt
My phone has ghost or phantom touches all over the place.
PamelaGirl said:
Thank you SUPERUSER and mofoahh for the response.
Yes I do have a screen protector on the device. Weird that most of the time it happens when the usb cable is connected to the computer. I was getting freaked out as I thought someone might have been accessing my device remotely. I will get another charging cable.
Thank you again for the informative and technical insight, much appreciated!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you are worried that someone is tapping your phone you can monitor the network with wireshark and dump a log every day. And use a keylogger. Or/and run catlog with dump at the end of every day.
Or to do this without any suspension from the hacker, run a man in the middle proxy to your computer. Have all traffic dumped there and you can review what's happening every now and then.
If you find anything suspicious then the first thing to look at when it comes to hacking is DNS servers. Google it.
electrical grounding issues.
change the charger.
tsiros said:
electrical grounding issues.
change the charger.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In general it is the recommended choice.

What happened to my Z5C screen????

So, long story short, my phone's battery had a sudden death. After I had it serviced by a 3rd party company, it came back with the screen somewhat damaged.
Here are some pictures for example, using the display service test:
I can't prove they did it because I simply couldn't turn the phone up until they replaced the battery. The battery might have leaked or something. They obviously didn't take the blame for it, but they also messed up the usb port so they are definitely a potential suspect. But, if they did it, what could be it? Looks like it got stained or wet or something... Definitely weird.
That kind of display issue is typically caused by a polarizer that is warped, usually caused by applying pressure to the display when it is hot. It's an all too easy thing for an inexperienced or careless repair person to do while the phone is face down on the bench, especially if they heat the entire device to loosen the seals, not just the back, or if they cool it down too quickly. It's even more common if the LCD itself is removed, but they should not have needed to do that to replace your battery. You may be able to improve it some by putting if face up, using a hair dryer to slowly heat the display a bit (not too close and moving continuously), and then letting it slowly cool down. If you have a screen saver installed, remove it first. You may be tempted to try and "work out" the warping. You are much more likely to make it worse if you try, so I don't recommend it. If you do nothing, it may slowly reduce on it's own as well.
Tiger Shark said:
That kind of display issue is typically caused by a polarizer that is warped, usually caused by applying pressure to the display when it is hot. It's an all too easy thing for an inexperienced or careless repair person to do while the phone is face down on the bench, especially if they heat the entire device to loosen the seals, not just the back, or if they cool it down too quickly. It's even more common if the LCD itself is removed, but they should not have needed to do that to replace your battery. You may be able to improve it some by putting if face up, using a hair dryer to slowly heat the display a bit (not too close and moving continuously), and then letting it slowly cool down. If you have a screen saver installed, remove it first. You may be tempted to try and "work out" the warping. You are much more likely to make it worse if you try, so I don't recommend it. If you do nothing, it may slowly reduce on it's own as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That might be the case. I can see the patterns shift a bit when I apply pressure to the screen. What is a way to confirm this? Could I do something with polarized sunglasses or something? If that is correct, the areas affected should darken/brighten differently from the rest of the screen.
I didn't try to mess with heating the screen up. Like you said, I might make it worse and I'm already really pissed about it. But I kinda want to try anyways. Where have you seen this before? Is it possible to fix it without opening the phone?
It's more common on tablets than phones, just because of size. I've seen it on screens that have been sat on but didn't break, but heat in combination with pressure is the more typical culprit. The sun or a hot car might do it if the heat was uneven, but I've not seen that. I'm not sure how you could confirm it. Maybe some sections will darken faster as a polarizer is rotated toward perpendicular to the polarized axis of the screen. Essentially, the glue layer between the polarizer and LCD panel is thinner in some places than others, so the polarizer is on a slight angle. In those areas, there is more polarization, and you see a darkness. The only real fix is to replace the screen assembly. The steps I gave will typically just help reduce, but never fully eliminate, the issue.
Unless they did a full, written inspection of the phone before you left it for repairs and you did a full inspection before walking out with it and noted the discrepancy then (which is always a good idea), your repair person is likely to continue to claim they did not do it.
The phone wasn't like that when the battery died. For obvious reasons, the screen couldn't be inspected before the company made the repairs. So I can't say it was their fault, although I'm pretty positive that it was. The suspicion is big because they also messed up the USB port pretty good. But, again, I can't prove it. It sucks because I wanted to sell the phone, and it was in pristine condition.

Question After dropping phone, random power-off and videos show pixelated green image

Hi.
Some days ago my phone dropped from about 2m/6ft high. It was wearing a carbon fiber shell. There was no physical damage on the outside.
Since then, the phone randomly powers-off. Sometime takes some minutes, some time it does not pass through the Mi logo screen on boot.
Another issue it shows is with the videos. Any video shows only a green screen (like a chroma) with big pixel artifacts from time to time (like there is a decompression error). This happens with every video (youtube, minimized-youtube, image-in-image, instagram...). It even happens with the charging animation when I connect the power: full green screen with the percentage on it.
I managed to keep it powered on, more or less stable, by setting a plastic clamp on the upper-left corner of the screen (like where the camera is placed, but on the other side). That pressure seems to keep whatever is broken in place. I've managed to replace the clamp with some paper layers in the shell, so when the shell is set they make pressure on the back-cover and keep the phone on.
Any one has had a similar experience? Is that a soldering point broken or something like that? how could I repair it? reballing? Any one knows any service center in France/Belgium/Spain which is reliable (and won't cost me more than the value of the phone)?
Thanks in advance!
It might be a dislodged ribbon cable connector.
Otherwise a damaged display an/or mobo.
The SOC and other BGS form factor chipsets are suspectable to damage by board flexing and high G impacts.
A high G impact can internally damage chipsets as well. 6 feet is a lot...
blackhawk said:
It might be a dislodged ribbon cable connector.
Otherwise a damaged display an/or mobo.
The SOC and other BGS form factor chipsets are suspectable to damage by board flexing and high G impacts.
A high G impact can internally damage chipsets as well. 6 feet is a lot...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks @blackhawk !

Categories

Resources