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Made my own magnetic car and desk mounts

I was just about to click "add to cart" for another premium car mount when I said to myself "This is the 3rd $70 car mount in 12 months, are you insane?".
Yes, I said.
But then I got the idea of building a powerful magnetic mount that would work on any new phone, just glue a flat washer to the back of each phone case. So off I went, looking for some old/damaged hard drives for the super strong magnets inside.
Heres what I came up with. The car mount is a bracket that I bought from McMaster-Carr Stk# 1492A15 ($47.40). The desk mount is from a $6 ebay phone mount that I bough for my Touch-HD. I used Gorilla Glue to attach the magnets to the mount plates, and to the flat washer on the back of my Nexus One. Let that sit over night. Below that is a wad of hot melt glue that I applied, let cool for 30 seconds, then stuck the phone onto the mount to compress the glue to make a perfect fit anti-skid area.
Now the phone jumps right into place and doesn't budge, but it is easy to just tilt the bottom up to release.
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Don't you think it would be smarter to attach the washer to a $10 removeable case, than a $500 phone?

Henchman said:
Don't you think it would be smarter to attach the washer to a $10 removeable case, than a $500 phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
We may differ on our definitions of smart, but since my last two phones cost over $900 each, and now they sit wasted on my desk, making a non-aesthetic mod to my $500 phone doesn't really bother me. Chances are I'll have a new phone in 2 months anyway (If AT&T gets a decent HTC model).
Ok, to answer the question, yes, it would be smarter, but it still works in my Nexus One Dock
After reading though everyone else's car mount experiences, its an expensive crapshoot, unless you make your own mount. I've bought all sorts of mounts in the past, 3 Brodit, and many others. All had some pitfall, and all excluded using a skin or shell.

I'm toying with the same idea ... espacially after seeing the touchstone mod some guy did.
One question though, can't you mount the washer inside the battery cover in stead of outside ?

John_duh said:
One question though, can't you mount the washer inside the battery cover in stead of outside ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just tried placing a dime on the battery, but the cover just won't fit. My micrometer measures that at .0047in. I ordered some 6mm x 1mm round N35 magnets (.0039in.) , which I plan on trying inside the case. Plain steel wont cut it.
If the magnets won't fit, I'll heat one and melt it into the inside of the case in a circular pattern of 3 or more, then glue in 3 fresh ones. Neodymium magnets weaken over 80C.
Update: I had a smaller magnet from a 2.5" drive handy and it fit inside the case of my Touch-HD, and it seems to have enough power to hold the phone to the mount. It would be better if the mound of glue was flush with the case, but the fact that its holding well means I'll be able to do the same with the Nexus One with multiple thinner magnets.
The key is having some non-skid material against the back of the phone so it doesn't rotate easily.
Update2: I made a video showing how well it works, ie: with the non-optimal non-skid area, the phone back is not flush with the mount magnet.
View attachment rotomagnetmount.zip

Glad to see another fellow McMaster customer from me home state of NJ
I like the idea, pure brilliance ! One could use "rare earth" magnets - these are frequent on Ebay are extremely strong. They normally come in cylindrical shapes - say 3/8" OD by 3/4" length.
The magnets function ought to be to keep the device from flying off the mount. I'd fashion a "lip" of sorts, to hold the device against gravity (so it doesnt slide off the mount).
In my case, I bought 2 common "cell phone" mounts, with suction cups from AutoZone. The neck can be bent in whichever way one find convenient and it is plentry sturdy.
I then drilled a hole in the adapter's bottom plate and through the said hole, I have routed a micro USB cable, very tightly (yeah, one could use hot glue too, mines are both friction fits).
Now, I just slide the N1 into the cradles, so that it mates with the micro USB end protruding from the bottom of the cradle's plate and it works real fine. The USB connector provides juice to the phone, while driving AND acts to hold the the device in the cradle.

Are there any issues with using a magnet so close to the phone. I think I read something alone the lines of such somewhere

rashid11 said:
The magnets function ought to be to keep the device from flying off the mount.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can tell you, theres no need for a lip, the phone isn't going to pop off the mount
My vehicle is a Hummer H3 with 33" tires, not a very smooth ride at all. My phone doesn't budge.

mesajoejoe said:
Are there any issues with using a magnet so close to the phone. I think I read something alone the lines of such somewhere
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
None so far. I used the phone for 45mins while driving with the phone in the mount and I noticed no issues, no dropped calls.
Its some much nicer to look at and operate without a big ugly, clunky plastic contraption holding it in place. Its easy to hit the side buttons or plug in the charger cord.

I'm pretty sure I screwed up my old iphone 2g lcd by carrying it in my pocket with some rare-earth magnets that I got from dealextreme. The colors on one area were messed up and then eventually a few dozen pixels went dead.
I'm not an electrical engineer, but I'm sure nervous about using those crazy strong magnets close to anything that depends on the flow of electrons. just saying...
dealextreme.com is an excellent place to get rare earth magnets (and other weird crap) I'm in no way affiliated. I just think every self respecting gadget nerd should know about it.

Wouldn't the magnet mess with the compass? I've heard reports of people saying cases with magnetic latches have damaged the compass. (That was with the Magic though.) They say it doesn't report properly after using the case for an extended amount of time.

bradyonly said:
Wouldn't the magnet mess with the compass? I've heard reports of people saying cases with magnetic latches have damaged the compass. (That was with the Magic though.) They say it doesn't report properly after using the case for an extended amount of time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, the magnet renders the compass useless. I'd never use the compass while its mounted anyways (at my desk or while driving), so it a non-issue. So far after 2 days in the mount, no damage or alteration of the compass reading has occurred.
As soon as I damage something, I'll immediately post a note here.

Hideous!!!

Part Four said:
Hideous!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In the engineering world, we call it a "proof of concept". Its allowed to look hideous. I'm working on another 2 variations, after which I'll build the visually aesthetic version 1.0 Deluxe Professional Platinum Edition.
Now that I ordered my new AT&T Nexus One today, Ill get a second chance to make a version that doesn't modify the outside case of the phone.

looks like it gave your windshield a serious crack

Excellent. I was about to toss that 2.5in hard drive because it wasn't heavy enough to function as a paperweight.

smot13 said:
looks like it gave your windshield a serious crack
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I forgot to mention that the magnetic pull is so strong toward the vehicle floor that it instantly cracked the windshield. Thats why I now rest the bracket on the dashboard.
I think my insurance covers "damage due to homemade magnetic accessories" somewhere, I'm still looking.
What you can't see is that theres a small adhesive rubber square under the extension latch between it and the dashboard, so I don't scuff it up. Note that the mount is very rigid and barely vibrates while driving, making it easy to read and operate the phone (and break many laws).

rotohammer said:
Yeah, I forgot to mention that the magnetic pull is so strong toward the vehicle floor that it instantly cracked the windshield. Thats why I now rest the bracket on the dashboard. .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you kidding me? The magnet cracked your windscreen?

mynameisjon said:
Are you kidding me? The magnet cracked your windscreen?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was just kidding. The windshield cracked when a piece of a truck leaf spring flew like a boomerang across the highway into the windshield. I was happy it didn't hit my truck body, as my windshield already had 4 dings/cracks from bolts/rocks from driving on the NJ Turnpike.

4 months later. Do you still use your magnetic car?
Did you find out any issues with the magnetic field that could have harm your phone?
I built my own and I just need to be sure before use mine every day.

Captivate Teardown! (Step by Step, LOTS OF PICTURES)

***Disclaimer***
DO NOT attempt to disassemble your phone unless you can handle the possibility of breaking your phone, both financially and emotionally. Also keep in mind that this WILL void your warranty.
First thing's first! Remove your battery cover, battery, sim card, and sd card.
There are six screws on the back of the cover that we need to remove. Two of them are a little tricky to get to. What you need to do, is GENTLY pull up in the center of the battery latch, and then pull out, it should slide out relatively easily. The final two screws should now be reachable.
Screw locations:
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The final two screws:
Remove all six screws and keep them somewhere safe. Every last screw in this phone is identical, so no worries about getting them mixed up.
Start with the bottom end of the phone first, and begin to pry the screen out from the edges. The bezel and back cover of the phone are all one piece around the screen. The bottom edge should come off with out too much trouble:
Here comes the hardest part of this entire process, releasing the last clip at the top from the rest of the phone:
With a plastic tool or very small flathead screw driver, VERY carefully lift one side of the case as shown in the picture above, slide the driver head in and gently pry up. The last clip should come free without too much force.
As you can see, it is a very beefy clip.
Everything with a red arrow needs to come off of the mainboard to enable removal.
Once those are all disconnected, you should have something like this:
There's a couple more things to do before we can pull that mainboard off.
First, we need to unlatch the ribbon cable from the speaker. Flip the back clamp on the connector up to enable release of the cable, like so:
NOTE: There may be a piece of blue tape over the connector and cable. Carefully remove it before performing this step.
There's one last screw to take care of:
Once that is out, you can pull the right side of the board up, and the left should follow pretty easily, just be careful of your cables and be absolutely sure everything is disconnected before you pull that board off.
Here is the front side of the board with all of the shielding removed. This basically entails taking the micro sd and sim card board off. When doing this, be sure to disconnect the cable that runs from the top board to the underside of the main board.
Apparently I somehow missed getting better pictures of the underside.. >.<
Here's the backside of the screen assembly. This is applied with an adhesive, so please, for the sake of your phone, do not attempt to remove this unless you are a professional and know exactly what you're doing and how.
I am not one such person, so I made no attempt at removing anything else.
For those wondering about the bluetooth chipset and whether it is in fact the same chipset in the Galaxy S (meaning we would have FM support) I am sorry to say I could not find the bluetooth chipset. The Broadcom chip on the frontside of the main board is the BCM4751 which is only a GPS receiver.
i.e. there may still be hope for the FM receiver.
That completes the step by step teardown of the Samsung Captivate. Thanks for reading

Great job on the teardown. I was under the impression that the Captivate has fm radio built in. I guess i was getting that feature mixed up with the HTC Aria
-Robin

Finally! This is great, thanks much for doing the teardown. If you haven't reassembled yet, would it be possible to get a couple more high-res pics of both sides of the main board so we can read chip numbers?

Unfortunately I don't have an area where I can get a real even lighting so that I can get good pictures of those numbers, all 3 of the larger chips on the back are all Samsungs. If I pull it apart again, I will try to get better pictures of each of the chips.
the one to the left in the photo reads KLMAG8DEDD A101
The one with the white sticker on it is the hummingbird chipset.
The smaller chip in between, however is not a samsung chip.
Almost everything on the top side are TriQuint chips. Theres one square, covered with a black/blue tape. Then theres 3 rectangular chips along side it, 2 sideways and one vertical. Most likely the wireless chips for Edge, 3G and HSUPA and HSDPA.
EDIT: The SWB-B23 chip, responsible for WiFi and Bluetooth is found on the Galaxy S i9000, it is also here on the Captivate.
----------^^(Samsung Wifi Bluetooth)

Are there any tamper-proof stickers or what-not that could void the warranty that we need to watch out for? The BB Bold has this small sticker on top of the screws so that ATT or BB would know that it's been tampered with? Also, can the S-AMOLED screen itself be detached from the chassis? Reason is, there is dust build-up on the creases around the screen and would like to clean it once in a while. Thanks.

No tamper proof stickers, and taking the back cover off will give you access to clean what you want.
The super amoled is bonded to the screen.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

Guess there is no chance of removing the at&t logo then?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

Unfortunately, no. I don't think there's any possibility of actually removing the logos from the glass.

Sorry, but I might have not made myself clear, what I meant was the screen including the s-amoled itself from the surrounding casing. Not the glass/screen on top of S-Amoled.

Yea, you can see how it separates from the bezel in the writeup
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

good writeup!

Nice tear down.
Looked through your pictures and compared the the Samsung I-9000 teardown pcitures. Looks like the camera plug in module is definitely different, though it uses the same chip. I was hoping that we may have been able to buy the module and replace the captivates and mod the housing to get a FFC. Doesnt look like we will.
Heres the link a I-9000 tear down
pfdownload.com/i9000-deassemble.html

It seems the BCM4329 Broadcom chip comprising 802.11n + Bluetooth 2.1/EDR + FM radio (transmit/receive) is integrated into SWB-23 as per h t t p: // www .angcore. com/YOSUN/DETAIL_SWB-B23.html
But the i9000 uses the FM radio from SI4709.
It is possible that Samsung is using the 802.11n Wifi functionality of the SWB-23. But that chip doesn't support BT3.0. However since both the i9000 and i897 are advertised as being bluetooth 3.0 capable, we need to find out which chip is actually doing the BT3.0 function. I could be wrong, but as far as I remember the only other chip carried by i9000 that is capable of BT3.0 is BCM20751. If that is the case, then I am inclined to say that BCM20751 must also be integrated somewhere in the Captivate.
It is a pity that Samsung had to use so many chips with redundant functionality.

It is possible that the Captivate carries that same BCM20751 chip, but I was not able to find it in my inspection of the phone.

Second picture from button, the circuit board in the hand, what's that little round connector on the top left corner? If you trace the circuit, does it go to the GPS? And can you see any other aerial wire for the GPS? Seeing the tear down also of the i9000, I see what looks like an aerial on the back plate, but it doesn't seem to be connected to the mainboard.

@sjdean: I think the connector you are referring to is the connector for external antenna extenders, which can easily be seen if you take the backplate off of the phone. Also, I don't know if anyone has noticed or mentioned it, but there are 2 specific contacts that protrude from the mainboard and make contact with the metal backplate. You can also see specific locations on the inside of the backplate where there is no paint, presumably to allow conductivity to the contacts.
I posted in the other thread about the Captivate teardown with some chips I managed to identify, but I'll go ahead and post them here too for reference.
The touch controller as an ATMEL MXT224
The modem chip as an Infineon BGA735.
There's also a TriQuint TQM6M9014 RF transceiver.
The broadcom chip on the front of the mainboard is confirmed as a BCM4571
And on the backside I managed to find another very small chip with the following markings:
MAX8998
EWQ 1012
EA89
I can't find out what it is. Possibly just a voltage regulator, but I'm not sure.

great post. i'll need this for my upcoming screen replacement...

Hi, do you have pics of the earpiece speaker? i think i need to replace mine and wondering if this was an easy thing to do.

The front speaker and rear speaker are all part of the same assembly. (That means its REALLY easy to replace. Pull out the old one and put the new one in)

IIRC, the speaker is hosed in Its own module just like the camera. that means as long as you can manage the first step of getting the back cover off all you've gotta do is pull the old speaker out and pop the new one in!

Brown splotch top left corner

So I recently replaced my headphone jack and speaker recently using parts I ordered from Parts Universe b/c my headphone jack stopped working after I had dropped my Captivate face down on my asphalt driveway...
Anyways, my headphone jack works great now. Only problem... about a day after I had replaced the headphone jack I noticed a dark brownish/orange splotch in the top left corner of my screen that comes down about 1/2" from the top of the screen and then back up to the top of the screen.
Did I mess something up when changing out my parts? I have taken the phone apart before just to see if I could do it, and nothing happened... I never ran into any problems when taking it apart/putting it back together... Has anyone ever seen anything like this before?
I have attached a screenshot of my homescreen with some editing in Paint to show what it looks like. It is transparent, almost like the screen is half-dead in that area.
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Here it is. It also seems to be spreading... was not like this a couple of days ago...

I was going to pass this up because I couldn't tell what was added in Paint and what's wrong, but thought I'd tell you that. How about an unmodified screenshot?
Also did you solder the new connector on with the board in the phone, getting the screen hot in that area?

CuriousTech said:
I was going to pass this up because I couldn't tell what was added in Paint and what's wrong, but thought I'd tell you that. How about an unmodified screenshot?
Also did you solder the new connector on with the board in the phone, getting the screen hot in that area?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well I would post an unmodified screen shot if the defect was shown in it. But it's basically what I drew in, the area outlined in orange is the border of the splotch. It's like if you have a damaged monitor, but take a screenshot of your desktop it won't show that the monitor is damaged, it will only show what the desktop looks like normally.
There was no soldering involved in replacing the headphone jack and front speaker. I just stuck it in there and plugged it into the motherboard. That's why this is so puzzling... Just wanted to know if anyone else has had a similar problem?
Maybe I should try and re-install my defective headphone jack and see if the problem still persists...

I had dropped my Captivate face down on my asphalt driveway
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds like your problem right there. To me, it sounds like your screen is physically borked (i.e. you need a new screen), but I'm not knowledgeable enough to say that is the case for sure. It might be helpful if you can grab a camera and upload a few pictures, both with the screen on and off, so we can better see what's happening.

jmtheiss said:
Sounds like your problem right there. To me, it sounds like your screen is physically borked (i.e. you need a new screen), but I'm not knowledgeable enough to say that is the case for sure. It might be helpful if you can grab a camera and upload a few pictures, both with the screen on and off, so we can better see what's happening.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I will try to take a photo using another camera for sure...
Although I dropped my phone over two months ago and the screen was perfectly fine after (I did have a silicone case on it, so the extra width saved the screen), not a single scratch. This splotch came into existence after I replaced my headphone jack this week.

richuwo11 said:
I will try to take a photo using another camera for sure...
Although I dropped my phone over two months ago and the screen was perfectly fine after (I did have a silicone case on it, so the extra width saved the screen), not a single scratch. This splotch came into existence after I replaced my headphone jack this week.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just another guess - it's possible that the screen separated partially from the gorilla glass covering it. That opening could be causing the brown splotch you're seeing - almost like a bubble in between a screen protector and the screen.

could it possibly be a thumb-print inside the screen? In taking it apart did you ever come in contact with the backside of the screen. The oils from your skin can heat up under there and cause the discoloration.

jmtheiss said:
Just another guess - it's possible that the screen separated partially from the gorilla glass covering it. That opening could be causing the brown splotch you're seeing - almost like a bubble in between a screen protector and the screen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That does sound possible... I will take it apart again tonight and give it a thorough inspection.
It's really not that bad, only b/c it's in the corner, but it does really bother me. It looks terrible on anything with a white background though, like when you browse the internet or some parts of the marketplace.
Thanks for the responses guys. I will report back with my findings.

So I took everything apart last night again, replaced my new headphone jack with the old part and the splotch is still there... so it's not the replacement part I got.
All of the components look good, there's no dust or dirt anywhere, nothing rattles when I shake it... I don't know what could have happened...
I don't think I'm going to be buying a new screen for it, they run about $150 and for that price, I might as well get a new phone.
I'll just have to deal with it.

richuwo11 said:
So I took everything apart last night again, replaced my new headphone jack with the old part and the splotch is still there... so it's not the replacement part I got.
All of the components look good, there's no dust or dirt anywhere, nothing rattles when I shake it... I don't know what could have happened...
I don't think I'm going to be buying a new screen for it, they run about $150 and for that price, I might as well get a new phone.
I'll just have to deal with it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try to have it replaced for free. It's a knowed phenomenon in electronics of all kind. Your replacement of the headjack might have just exacerbate a existing problem.
Brown spot on screen

silvertag said:
Try to have it replaced for free. It's a knowed phenomenon in electronics of all kind. Your replacement of the headjack might have just exacerbate a existing problem.
Brown spot on screen
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm... thanks for the info.
I will have to call up Samsung and see what they say. Only problem is that I have the AT&T version of the phone and using it in Canada.
Hopefully Samsung is nice enough to still honour the warranty.

richuwo11 said:
Hmm... thanks for the info.
I will have to call up Samsung and see what they say. Only problem is that I have the AT&T version of the phone and using it in Canada.
Hopefully Samsung is nice enough to still honour the warranty.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
how did you obtain this captivate? if you are not the original purchaser you do not have a warranty. and also if you are sim unlocked you had to root to do that which voids the warranty so before you send it to sammy relock the sim restrictions and odin one click back to stock

added photos to the OP.
What do you think?

It really looks like layer separation to me. As if the glass is pulling away from the digitizer or something.
I guess it is spreading, since it looks much larger than first described...

Yep layer separation.

joeybear23 said:
It really looks like layer separation to me. As if the glass is pulling away from the digitizer or something.
I guess it is spreading, since it looks much larger than first described...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, so how do I fix it? Nothing looks loose or out of place to me. Everything fits snug and is screwed in, not loose or too tight.
Maybe just the way I snapped the outer plastic shell to the digitizer? Last time I put it together I snapped it in from top to bottom. Maybe I should try bottom to top?

richuwo11 said:
Ok, so how do I fix it? Nothing looks loose or out of place to me. Everything fits snug and is screwed in, not loose or too tight.
Maybe just the way I snapped the outer plastic shell to the digitizer? Last time I put it together I snapped it in from top to bottom. Maybe I should try bottom to top?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If it is layer separation, I don't think there is a way to fix it. I believe the two layers are most likely put together with a special adhesive by machine. The discoloration is probably the adhesive being exposed to elements that it was not designed to come in contact with. I suspect this would have happened regardless of your activities, unless you inadvertently pried away the corner of the glass in your maintenance.
If you didn't break any "do not remove" seals while you were working on it, you may be able to get it repaired under warranty as a factory defect...

Yep. That's not going back together. Most likely it's from flexing a corner out to hard. Fixing it would require 3M Vikuiti type material. Well, that's from LCD backing. Maybe a polorizor for the front. Take it all apart, clean the surfaces in a cleanroom. That kinda thing. Not fun.

joeybear23 said:
If it is layer separation, I don't think there is a way to fix it. I believe the two layers are most likely put together with a special adhesive by machine. The discoloration is probably the adhesive being exposed to elements that it was not designed to come in contact with. I suspect this would have happened regardless of your activities, unless you inadvertently pried away the corner of the glass in your maintenance.
If you didn't break any "do not remove" seals while you were working on it, you may be able to get it repaired under warranty as a factory defect...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the info... I will have to contact Samsung.
All because of a stupid broken headphone jack...

[FIX] Touchscreen issues

This thread provides a simple solution to a rather serious screen unresponsiveness problem. The problem can manifest in some of the following ways: it takes more than one attempt to move the lock ring, not every press is registered when typing, buttons at the bottom of the screen don't always work, you can't get the carousel spinning, hectic touch issues while charging, etc. Many Sensations have this problem to some degree, and it has been reported on other phone models. Other phones can't be fixed using this method, but you could try the discharge process described under the fix.
UPDATE YOUR FIRMWARE FIRST
Before proceeding with any hardware "manipulation" I recommend you try the latest firmware. If you are running a stock ROM simply update your phone's software, and if you are on a custom pre-ICS ROM the update can be found here.
If the issues persist, keep reading.
IMPORTANT
You have to realise this fix does not solve the issue for everyone. So just to be clear, THIS DOES NOT SOLVE THE ISSUE FOR EVERYONE. The reason for this is simple - not everybody has the same issue. My opinion is that these issues have similar symptoms, but the causes are different. Similar issues could be caused by: a faulty charger, bad digitizer or SD card slot touching the cover.
The issue discussed here is related to a small silver pin located at the back of the phone (pictures below). That pin is the screen's "grounding" connection to the back cover. In time the pin loses proper contact to the cover and the screen becomes unresponsive. There is also a matter of static build-up which further complicates matters. I believe this is mostly down to the worst back cover in the known universe.
You could get this problem for no particular reason, but you might also experience it after dropping the phone, sneezing too hard, or when using an aftermarket battery (Anker, Chichitec, etc.) since they are usually thicker. If you have issues only while charging try a different charger. If you still have issues, this fix should help.
Note that there is more than one way to fix the issue, and that the results are not always instantaneous. The simplest fix is pulling the aforementioned pin outwards. The downside is the pin might bend back into its original position... So you could try applying one of the alternative solutions as an addition to pulling the pin.
Also, I am not responsible for your actions. If you damage your phone, it's on you.
CREDITS
What I'm doing here is sorting useful info and adding creative advice, I am not the one responsible for the actual solution. It's primarily tinky1, who started the first thread on the issue, where most debating and solving was performed. Then, misiek_to_ja (and his daughter ) noticed that using the phone without the back cover temporarily solves the problem. This meant the problem was beneath the back plate, which abrown0809 proved by pointing us to the grounding pin that everybody was somehow missing for two months. What followed were aluminium foil and soldering tricks that eliteone thought of. stuart0001 started a petition, but HTC ignored it. Andyjb103 pointed out that the firmware update can fix the issue in some cases. And there is of course everyone from tinky1's thread that went through loads of pain and suffering while testing different chargers, wall sockets, USB plugs, area codes, weather conditions, etc. A BIG THANKS TO EVERYONE!
Now then...
THE FIX
First, the simplest way to fix the issue. Switch the phone off, remove the back cover and locate the silver pin shown in this picture.
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Now pull it out a bit, like so:
Use a needle, a tiny screwdriver, or anything with a pointy end. Just be careful and don't pull too hard or too much. The side of the pin that is closer to the edge of the phone is the side you want do the most pulling to.
And that's it as far as the pin goes! Results could be instant, but there is still a chance you'll need to do a couple of things:
1. Discharge the phone all the way (until it shuts down).
2. Remove the battery and press the power button (as if you were trying to turn the phone on).
3. Leave the phone without the battery overnight (or for at least an hour).
4. Put the battery back and charge the phone without touching the screen.
Make sure you don't touch the screen whenever you're charging, until the issue disappears. This should happen within 2-3 days. If the problem persists, you ether did something wrong, or (as explained above) you have a different issue... Most common related problem is a faulty digitizer.
If the issue does go away you could make sure it stays that way by applying one of the alternatives as well.
ALTERNATIVES
See this small white square on the inside of the back cover?
That's where the silver pin makes contact to the cover. By pulling the pin out you insure better contact to that square. There are plenty of ways to further improve that contact.
Here is a few:
1. Take a small piece of aluminium foil (2cm by 2cm, or whatever works for you), fold it a few times and put it over the square (like this). Now carefully put the phone into the cover and make sure the foil doesn't move away from the square. If you want to keep the foil in place add a drop of superglue (just not directly on the square).
2. Alternatively, the foil could go directly on the pin. Stuart0001 made a picture of that here. This version is a bit more risky though.
3. Adding any sort of aluminium works (or any conductor for that matter). Take a look at what Oceanic72 did here.
4. Put a few drops of solder onto the square. And be careful with this one... Or just skip it if you've never soldered before. More on that in eliteone's post here.
5. Put some electrically conductive paint on the square. Michael_Mcr suggested that here.
There you go
If any of these solutions solve your problems but they come back, just try again. I do not recommend puling on the pin more than a few times though...
Hope I helped!

May I just add, that the soldering method, while good and permanent is not for noobs that have never soldered before. In order for solder to properly fuse with aluminum you have to prep the aluminum first. If you don't the solder will just fall off. And keep your iron JUST HOT ENOUGH to melt the solder, if your iron is too hot you risk warping the aluminum your soldering to. But all that being said if your good with an iron, its the most permanent and effective way of getting true contact with your grounding pin. If anybody wants I can do a quick video tut and post it here, just not for a few days...... Got a new baby joining the family tomorrow so life will be pretty hectic round here
Sent from my HTC Sensation Z710e using xda premium

Nice post!

eliteone said:
May I just add, that the soldering method, while good and permanent is not for noobs that have never soldered before. In order for solder to properly fuse with aluminum you have to prep the aluminum first. If you don't the solder will just fall off. And keep your iron JUST HOT ENOUGH to melt the solder, if your iron is too hot you risk warping the aluminum your soldering to. But all that being said if your good with an iron, its the most permanent and effective way of getting true contact with your grounding pin. If anybody wants I can do a quick video tut and post it here, just not for a few days...... Got a new baby joining the family tomorrow so life will be pretty hectic round here
Sent from my HTC Sensation Z710e using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Congrats!!!

Thanks
OP updated.
And congrats to eliteone again!

zmfl said:
First off, I am not the one responsible for the solution. It's primarily tinky1, who started the first thread on the issue, where most debating and solving was, and still is, performed. Then, abrown0809 pointed us to the grounding pin that everybody was somehow missing for two months. What followed were aluminium foil and soldering tricks that eliteone thought of. Also, stuart0001 started a petition that I hope HTC noticed... THANK YOU ALL
I might have missed somebody important... Sorry, I am dealing with a lot of info these couple of days... There is of course everyone from tinky1's thread that went through loads of pain and suffering while testing every possible solution and fix. Myself included
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I (or more my daughter) will take the credit as well. If I would not discover the fix with taking off the back cover it would not point all of you to grounding pin
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=16858697&postcount=917

I don't have these problems, but thanking anyway I hope this solves the problem for most people
Swyped from my HTC Sensation

misiek_to_ja said:
Well, I (or more my daughter) will take the credit as well. If I would not discover the fix with taking off the back cover it would not point all of you to grounding pin
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are probably right... You slipped my mind, sorry
Updating OP.

idavid_ said:
I don't have these problems, but thanking anyway I hope this solves the problem for most people
Swyped from my HTC Sensation
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's the community spirit!!!
eliteone, congrats with the littleone Make sure you reserve this nick on xda

Got my camera back, so proper pictures added
Eliteone promised some pictures of the solder fix. We'll get those in due time… Babies are more important than XDA

zmfl said:
Got my camera back, so proper pictures added
Eliteone promised some pictures of the solder fix. We'll get those in due time… Babies are more important than XDA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
XDA > Real life
Swyped from my HTC Sensation

idavid_ said:
XDA > Real life
Swyped from my HTC Sensation
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm guessing his wife disagrees with that

Hello,
i have solved the issues related to screen's grounding with a curved alu stripe.
Greetings
Marcus

Oceanic72 said:
Hello,
i have solved the issues related to screen's grounding with a curved alu stripe.
Greetings
Marcus
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That even looks good.. I'll add it to the list
My issues came back after about 2 weeks... I believe the pin bends back into its original position after a while... Adding something, like foil, aluminium or solder, might be necessary after all. I'll keep testing.

Thicker 1730mAh Batteries can cause current leakage while charging - Solution
Thanks!
I noticed a small current leakage when charging my Sensation with a 1730mAh battery, and some strange effects if I handled the phone for extended periods while charging - like the power menu popping up when I hadn't pressed the power button.
The battery is about 1mm thicker, and I suspected it was somehow causing something to make contact with the case, or shorting. I could feel the leaking current by rubbing the metal case with my finger and feeling a sort of 'fuzziness'. This only happened when it was charging, and I was able to reproduce this problem with both the HTC OEM Evo 3D 1730mAh battery and the 3rd party Anker / Chichitec battery.
After seeing this post, I realised that the slightly thicker battery was *separating* the contact between the case and this grounding plate. The battery fits perfectly and snugly into the Sensation, but the increased thickness was just enough to reduce the case's contact with the grounding plate.
I was very careful to bend the grounding plate out slightly with a tiny screwdriver as described in your first post.
Now there's no more current leakage! YAY!

..and yet ppl are bashing Samsung for build quality.
I came from a Htc Hero with the same problem as this. Sent it in and it was working fine for about three days, then the same problem again.
Then I bought the SGS2 and never looked back.. plastic fantastic

try to plug in a Nokia charger that outputs 1.2A and you'll get the problem continuously.
on the other hand, a computer USB port has low amp output and therefor it "solves" the issue.
btw, i got more touch issues with the Anker battery (again, higher amp output...)
Looks like something with the charging/power control mechanism of this unit is completely wrong

this will be very useful if this every happens to me, bookmarked

sowen222 said:
Thanks!
I noticed a small current leakage when charging my Sensation with a 1730mAh battery, and some strange effects if I handled the phone for extended periods while charging - like the power menu popping up when I hadn't pressed the power button.
The battery is about 1mm thicker, and I suspected it was somehow causing something to make contact with the case, or shorting. I could feel the leaking current by rubbing the metal case with my finger and feeling a sort of 'fuzziness'. This only happened when it was charging, and I was able to reproduce this problem with both the HTC OEM Evo 3D 1730mAh battery and the 3rd party Anker / Chichitec battery.
After seeing this post, I realised that the slightly thicker battery was *separating* the contact between the case and this grounding plate. The battery fits perfectly and snugly into the Sensation, but the increased thickness was just enough to reduce the case's contact with the grounding plate.
I was very careful to bend the grounding plate out slightly with a tiny screwdriver as described in your first post.
Now there's no more current leakage! YAY!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Makes sense... Thicker battery would mess up the grounding contact. Glad it works
Careful though... The pin might bend back. It did for me after a while
ranster said:
try to plug in a Nokia charger that outputs 1.2A and you'll get the problem continuously.
on the other hand, a computer USB port has low amp output and therefor it "solves" the issue.
btw, i got more touch issues with the Anker battery (again, higher amp output...)
Looks like something with the charging/power control mechanism of this unit is completely wrong
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's true, some phones act differently when charged with different chargers. For some though, mine included, it makes no difference...
Did you try any of the fixes I posted? Any changes?

This solved half of my problem, before I had a silicon case for protection and everything worked like a charm, then I got touchscreen problems. I put some aluminumfoil like discribed above.
Now without the silicon case it works perfect but with it´s still the same.
Is this because the rubber doesn´t conduct ? But then why did it work in the first place?
Does somebody else uses a rubber case?

[GUIDE]HDC Galaxy S4 Legend Disassembly + Antenna Modifications!

UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES ARE YOU PERMITTED TO REPOST ANY IMAGES OR TEXT FROM THIS GUIDE, DIGITALLY OR OTHERWISE, WITHOUT MY WRITTEN CONSENT.
I can only offer limited advice as I currently do not have an LCD. That said, I have a better understanding of the layout of the board now.
I have had several messages asking 'Where can I buy this part?' Unless it is already posted in this thread, I do not know where you can buy it.
Possible parts sellers: (I cannot confirm details are correct. Purchase at your own risk!)
LCD: http://s.taobao.com/search?q=fpc-a50...l-b&rsclick=13
An EXPERIMENTAL antenna guide can be found in this post: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=46020544&postcount=61
Results of this here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=46309271&postcount=68
I'm in the UK, using the O2 network so I do not know how it will affect US networks as they use a different frequency.
This guide is currently incomplete and will be updated as progress is made. Thanks to @henrykins111 and @PerisH-es for the helpful information.
Please note: This will void your warranty. I do not accept responsibility for this or any data loss or damage that may occur directly or indirectly as a result of attempting to follow any of the steps in this guide. Please take care and follow these steps at your own risk.
Tools required for the disassembly:
- Small (2-3mm?) Phillips head screwdriver
- Plastic pry tool or thin guitar plectrum.
Firstly, remove the back case, battery, microSD card and SIM card. Put these safely to one side.
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Remove the 9 screws that surround the edges of the back of the phone. Put these in a small box or something, I've lost countless screws by just leaving them on the side.
Insert the plectrum (or pry tool) between the chrome and the brushed style sections of the phone. Take care not to use too much force or push the plectrum in too far as this could damage some of the ribbon cables, situated mostly towards the top of the phone.
You'll be left with two parts. The grey piece you just removed will have the ribbon antennas for wifi and cellular signal attached, as well as the loudspeaker and the camera lens and flash diffuser. The board is now also exposed.
To remove the camera, using the plectrum to carefully unplug the ribbon cable. The main camera unit can then be lifted out, but be aware that it is held down by some tape so be aware that a small amount of force may be required.
Now using the same method unplug the small black ribbon cable that is attached to the SIM and microSD card slots.
The card slots are held in with a little glue, and these can now be removed.
To remove the board, first undo the 2 screws located in opposite corners that hold it down. Make a note of their location as it is easy to confuse which holes to put them in. Then, remove this small strip of tape, being VERY careful not to tear the ribbon cables beneath.
Using the plectrum, you can now remove these. The bottom cable is a data cable that links to the bottom board and the top cable is the screen cable (I think - not sure)
Just above the socket for the SIM and microSD card slots is another socket. This has a small, black, hinged plastic tab that you must lift until it is 90degrees to the board. You can then slowly slide out the ribbon cable from the socket. Underneath this cable is another plug type socket. Unplug this.
Another antenna cable can now be removed. This can be quite stiff but be very careful not to dent the metal on the connections and also be aware that it is possible to pull the socket itself from the board.
After unplugging another small ribbon cable located on the top edge of the phone, the board can now be lifted. Lift the board as smoothly as possible, making sure to not tear any of the ribbon cables.
To remove the first infrared sensor and light sensor, simply pull it vertically out from the casing of the phone.
Just underneath the top of the headphone jack is a small indent in the white plastic. Use this to remove the headphone jack, but be careful not to apply to much force as joined by another thin ribbon cable is the LED and second infrared sensor. This may take some slight wriggling to remove as it is all held in with a small amount of glue.
Unplug the ribbon cable from the bottom left hand side of the board.
The other end of the metal antenna cable can now be unplugged. being careful of the components underneath and the round thing (microphone?) the board should now only be held in by a couple of strips of tape and a little glue.
The other side of the bottom board. This helps explain a few things. The round object connected via the wires appears to be the vibration motor. There are no numbers or letters written on it. Those of you having problems, it may simply be a broken connection on this wire, so it's worth checking.
The microphone is the small surface mounted silver box located next to the solder points for the wires.
The LCD/digitizer/glass assembly is now held in with a little glue. Use the plectrum to remove the screen. If it's stubborn, gently heat with a heat gun or hair dryer on low heat in a circular motion over the device. You may need to apply a small amount of pressure to the back of the LCD, where the battery would normally be. There is a risk of breaking it if you do this, but this won't matter if you're replacing it anyway.
NOTE: The LCD cables will not fit through the slot they are in without removing the small black divider to the right hand side of the slot, where the top speaker would be.
!Potentially important information!
As I broke the LCD I thought I would have a go at separating the LCD from the digitizer/glass. Turns out it is possible BUT almost impossible to do without breaking the LCD.
If your LCD is broken but your glass/digitizer is fine, then you could try removing it. The LCD is glued to the glass only around the edge. To remove it, you simply have to pull the LCD from the glue. Before you do this, be ABSOLUTELY sure that you are only pulling the LCD off and not the digitizer. The easiest way to check is to remove the LCD from the top down, as here you can use the ribbon cable as a reference to which layer is the digitizer. Picture of this to come.
As mentioned by @henrykins111, gently heating the screen and using a thin metal spudger or xacto knife will really help with this.

Nice, on wich picture can you see the vibration engine?

splashboy said:
Nice, on wich picture can you see the vibration engine?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not sure where it is if I'm honest. I'll strip the phone down and power it up in parts to try and locate it.
Sent from my GT-I9500 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

I was looking for the microphone part, i think in my phone it's defect and trying to repair it myself.
Maybe you have some shots of it?

Thanks for posting this. I'm also looking for the vibration engine as it seems to be faulty on mine, it stops working sometimes and shaking the phone a bit seems to fix it temporarily, which makes me think there's a loose connection. I'm also suffering from a poor wifi signal as I move away from the router - do you know where the wifi antenna is?

Original post has been updated with further information about the bottom board, microphone and vibration motor.
Firefly0 said:
do you know where the wifi antenna is?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It looks like the wifi antenna is the black cable with gold metal connections that runs down the right hand side (volume button side) and connects to the bottom board. This in turn connects to a grey flat ribbon style antenna which can be seen glued flat to the bottom of the phone simply by removeing the battery cover.
That said, I have the same problem. Different ROMs don't solve the problem. I'm wondering if it simply is weak, and maybe a strip of conductive tape or foil or similar on top of this antenna would help. Either that or have the complete opposite effect and it refelct signals around inside the phone. Might be worth a try though.

Really helpful, I thank you!

splashboy said:
Really helpful, I thank you!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad I could offer something useful to the community :laugh:

Firefly0 said:
Thanks for posting this. I'm also looking for the vibration engine as it seems to be faulty on mine, it stops working sometimes and shaking the phone a bit seems to fix it temporarily, which makes me think there's a loose connection.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Let me know if you fixed it and how you did
Thanks!

Does anyone have any idea why I can't update the original post with images? If i copy the exact same code into a new post, it allows me to do it.
Example:

rynbrgss said:
Original post has been updated with further information about the bottom board, microphone and vibration motor.
It looks like the wifi antenna is the black cable with gold metal connections that runs down the right hand side (volume button side) and connects to the bottom board. This in turn connects to a grey flat ribbon style antenna which can be seen glued flat to the bottom of the phone simply by removeing the battery cover.
That said, I have the same problem. Different ROMs don't solve the problem. I'm wondering if it simply is weak, and maybe a strip of conductive tape or foil or similar on top of this antenna would help. Either that or have the complete opposite effect and it refelct signals around inside the phone. Might be worth a try though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the reply. That sounds like it could work, let me know the results if you try it. I've messaged the seller I bought the phone from about the poor wifi signal to see if they have any advice, I'll post back if I have any luck.
splashboy said:
Let me know if you fixed it and how you did
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It seems to be OK now after shaking the phone a bit. Pulling out the battery also seemed to temporarily fix it once, but I think that may have just been a coincidence. I'll probably try opening it up if it stops working again to see if there is a loose connection.

Firefly0 said:
Thanks for the reply. That sounds like it could work, let me know the results if you try it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've been having a play but no luck. I tried simply inserting a small strip of foil between the antenna and back case and no change. I then true different sizes an locations still the same. Even made an antenna from the foil that ran just love halfway up the phone and wired it into the pins on the board, and no significant change there either I'm afraid.
Sent from my GT-I9500 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

rynbrgss said:
I've been having a play but no luck. I tried simply inserting a small strip of foil between the antenna and back case and no change. I then true different sizes an locations still the same. Even made an antenna from the foil that ran just love halfway up the phone and wired it into the pins on the board, and no significant change there either I'm afraid.
Sent from my GT-I9500 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It will be interesting, to see, if any parts from the real s4 are compatible with this legend, i see many users will pay an extra buck to replace de rear and front camera, and also the wifi, because these parts are relatively cheap..., in another angle, maybe someone will also wanted to change for the real s4 screen but i doubt that will be compatible .

I see many people with poor wifi, could an original flez cable be the solution?
ebay.co.uk/itm/New-Internal-Antenna-Signal-WIFI-Flex-Cable-Part-for-Samsung-Galaxy-S4-i9500-/290931180790?pt=UK_Replacement_Parts_Tools&hash=item43bcd984f6

rynbrgss said:
Does anyone have any idea why I can't update the original post with images? If i copy the exact same code into a new post, it allows me to do it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you have to load up the pictures again, not only try to link the pictures.
Thanks for your work on the Legend! :good:

Picture links fixed

lvieira76 said:
It will be interesting, to see, if any parts from the real s4 are compatible with this legend, i see many users will pay an extra buck to replace de rear and front camera, and also the wifi, because these parts are relatively cheap..., in another angle, maybe someone will also wanted to change for the real s4 screen but i doubt that will be compatible .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
While the wifi flex replacement should fit, I can't see it making any real difference. The wifi antenna itself is different from the S4; on our phones there is a thin grey ribbon antenna underneath the battery. It looks just like a sticker but on the other side of it it has a thin copper circuit. This is what is potentially the problem as it may not be very well designed. (I'm no expert when it comes to antenna designs themselves).
I'd be reluctant to try the camera but if you do let us know how it goes. The same with the screen.

I think the wifi antenna is the antenna in the top. The little one at the right-corner. You can try with that.
I believe that the botton antenna is the mobile antenna (GSM).
Hope it helps.
@rynbrgss Did you get to check the lcd model?

i sure hope that someone gets an fix for wifi, because, i receive my legend today and didnt pick the wireless 10 meters away...lol

PerisH-es said:
I think the wifi antenna is the antenna in the top. The little one at the right-corner. You can try with that.
I believe that the botton antenna is the mobile antenna (GSM).
Hope it helps.
@rynbrgss Did you get to check the lcd model?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't, I need to work out how to get to it without damaging the phone.
Ill have a play with the other antenna too, thanks for the heads
up.
lvieira76 said:
i sure hope that someone gets an fix for wifi, because, i receive my legend today and didnt pick the wireless 10 meters away...lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you tried fluffy's Rom? That helped a lot wwith mine.
Sent from my GT-I9500 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app