mystery problems solved by replacing flex cable - T-Mobile Sidekick 4G

I got a used SK4G pretty cheap on eBay because "phone doesn't power on". I took a chance because sometimes it turns out to be something simple, and I got it for less than the cost of a replacement LCD+digitizer.
Anyhow, I opened it up and gave it a good long stare. Nothing obvious. (But, man, those Samsung engineers did a great job of making a phone that is very, very simple to disassemble and work on.) I put it back together and it had moved on to the condition of "stuck at the sidekick logo" on power-up, which at least told me the LCD was good. It also got fairly warm and drained the battery pretty fast.
My suspicion was some kind of corrupted firmware. I was able to get to download mode, but when I plugged it into a PC to do some flashing razzamatazz, I couldn't get past "USB device not recognized". I considered doing the UnBrickable hardware mod, but my old eyeballs can't cope with those surface-mount resistors.
Luckily, I had another working SK4G on hand and was able to swap parts back and forth. When I put the problem motherboard into the other chasis, it booted just fine.
Hmm, time for more intense staring! I finally noticed a bit of a nick on the flex cable that connects the main unit to the LCD. It's a bit of trouble (but nothing outrageous) to swap out that flex cable. Bingo! Everything worked fine. (Once I got things apart and got a better look at flex cable, I saw that it had close to a half-inch gash on it. I wish I had been able to see that earlier.)
The moral of the story is that the flex cable can be the source of all kinds of mysteries. Replacements can be had in the US for $15 or so, and information about tearing the phone apart is readily available.

Related

Universal plunges from a 3 story building... will it survive? place your bets now.

I had to jump over some stupid fence today at my work (didn't want to go all the way around), so i asked my friend to hold my universal while i jumped.
maybe i should have held it myself, because the universal slipped from her hands, and fell down the 3 story building, hitting many many stairs on the way down.
from a first glance i thought its the end of my beautiful relationship with my uni.
but actually after opening it up and checking its insides - it looks pretty okay! nothing seems to be broken or loose...
the problem is: is won't even start. so im trying to discover where malfunction is.
i've tried:
Switching batteries
Plugging it in to a power source (computer / wall)
Dismantling body and screen, tightening all of the connectors
Bootloader mode - not showing anything
Connecting with MTTY - but i can't even get it to connect
Turned on, waited for 5 mins and called it to see if it'll ring (to eliminate screen problems) - forwards to voicemail
Nothing worked, the screen is always blank.
when i plug in a power source, a red light flashes REALLY quickly, and then goes off, after that nothing happens.
the only thing that gave me a clue its still alive somewhere inside - when i plugged it to my computer, windows alerted me i plugged in an unknown device, even when i tried to put it in BL and connect again.
Does anyone have a clue what i can do next to find where the problem lies, and bring my love back to life???
please, i need help on this.
Mine fell a few feet from my hand to the (concrete) floor and was the same - no signs of trauma but completely dead, aside from a light when connected to the charger.
I think the damage will be to the mainboard, so it's a either a case of getting a new board and fitting it, or buying another universal and selling the dead one for parts. I opted for the latter.
My Condolences!! as long you can not find some lose cable or what so ever I believe you will not able to bring your "love" back to alive.
After connecting to your Computer RED light and Your computer doesn't recognize the Device indicates major issue.
Unless you have someone that can work with JTAG. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=309291
hehe, thanx for your replies.
i don't know anyone who deals with jtag, but maybe it'll be a good idea to look for a private repair lab which works with jtag.
i guess for a small amount of money they could help me find the problematic part.
i wanted to avoid sending it over to a some random repair lab, because they might turn out as just some amatures and tell me that the whole main board needs to be replaced, instead of a specific part...
so i'll start with some searching
anyone else have any more suggestions?
mine fell from my pocket and red led pops up only when connected to the charger.. i sent it to ppctechs.. they put it under the infrared oven and nothing happened, so its not lose solder nor connectors nor nothing.. its the mainboard, its hard for it to be replaced as far as component level goes.. but who knows.. personally i think just sell it for parts.. sorry, thats what i did and boutght a new one off ebay for 400
good luck and sorry to hear that..
Am I allowed to cry on this forum ????
One request to Modes... Shall we have a crying smily(?)

[Q] Problem with Screen?

I've got a transformer, and the screen doesn't appear to be working. My boyfriend bought it the first day it came out, dropped it, was able to play with it a bit. The battery died and he set it to charge, and after that the screen wouldn't work. The screen itself is fine, it just isn't displaying anything (He can't take it back for a warranty repair, because he threw out the receipt, that's why he threw it to me to look at).
When you plug it into a computer, the computer recognizes it and you can browse the files on it. When you use the hdmi cable to plug it into the tv you can see the screen of the tablet on the tv and you can use it, so it's not anything wrong with inside workings of the tablet itself. I took it apart and everything looked alright on the inside to me, nothing rattling around, and all the connections appeared to be connected tightly. I was able to see the slide to unlock symbol on the screen by shining a flash light directly on it while the unit was on, but it was really faint and hard to see.
Does anyone know what the problem could be? In a normal laptop I would say it's the inverter, but I'm not really sure if tablets use technology like that. I'm a bit at a loss here for what the problem could be and how to fix it.
Pretty close i would say its the digitizer though you will need to rma it to get it fixed
Screens break in many different ways, just because there is no crack or leaking LCD look to it doesn't mean its fine
I would place my bets on the screen being damaged, although the board could have cracked or a solder joint could have come lose or a tiny tear in the ribbon cable
Screen is the most fragile though
I had the same problem, and after opening the TF everything looked fine too. It was not. What I did was to unplug all the cables and plug them all again. Problem solved.
Probably the screen cable got a little loose after the drop.
Good luck.

[Q] Dropped phone, now charges only on a whim and no OTG

Well, this isn't the best place to ask, but I'm not sure where else to do so. Somehow I managed to drop my phone (onto a carpeted floor from not quite a full standing height, not concrete or anything) and it landed right on the bottom I think. I can't see any signs of damage anywhere at all -- I even pulled out the screws and looked at the PCB itself and I just can't see anything obvious at all. Unfortunately, something obviously is wrong all the same. It simply will not charge at all most of the time, though seemingly randomly on a whim when I connect it sometimes it will. I'm afraid even to touch it once it finally does as just moving the cable around seems to be enough to make it stop sometimes (whereas at some other times I can move it around a lot and everything and it still stays connected.) Last night it decided not to even charge even though the LED indicator and the icon showed that it was connected. What's more, I can no longer use the USB OTG capability to plug in USB drives, other devices, and etc (which I used for diagnostics, repairs, and etc of other things on the go.) I have multiple batteries and external chargers, so this isn't completely fatal but it means:
A. I can't keep it from running the batteries down in the first place (which means larger wear and tear on the batteries long-term since they are discharged further before charging.)
B. Since it's like this it means generally speaking it's not as ready for a fully day of use since it's starting the day with less than 100% charge before I even leave for work every time now.
C. I really did use the USB OTG feature and have already been missing it. It's not as fatal as devices like my Nexus 7 (since that lacks a MicroSDHC card reader to supplement its internal storage whereas this has one) but very annoying at least.
D. I really really miss being able to use a phone dock! I was docking it in my car to keep it at least semi-charged and to output a line output to my car stereo system. It's kind of a pain having to change the volume back and forth between headphones and line output (since a line output really needs the full volume) and obviously it uses more power while playing than just sitting quietly in a pocket anyway. I also liked the way in the dock it wouldn't completely shut off the screen, just go into a really low power mode where it had a faded clock (might be a CM10.1 feature, but nice wherever it came from) and I could just touch it to get back to the player controls.
At first I thought it was just loose, so I tried putting a very thin piece of plastic in the top part of the connector so the connection is extremely tight which fooled me at first by pretending to work really well for a while, but then after a while it just did the same stuff all over again (so it was just doing that thing where it works fine for a little while even when I move the cord around.) I just can't see what could possibly be the problem though because if there is any damage anywhere I'm just not seeing it. I really don't see how the connector could have been damaged anyway since it more or less landed straight on the middle of the bottom (and that ring that goes around the side should have absorbed the shock) but with no cracks on the PCB or anything that I can at all see I can't imagine what else it might be -- plus a few times when it decided to charge it was just sitting flat not being touched and suddenly started working randomly. It really is like it just works on a whim here...
So I'm wondering: just how screwed am I here? I don't have any sort of drop insurance -- I've never dropped a phone in a way that damaged it before -- and I don't think there's any way I could afford the ridiculous amounts they'd surely want for a repair (not to mention that for a while I'd have no phone at all if I did that...) I thought about changing out the connector myself (I see one on Amazon for $8 which is ridiculous, but obviously it has to be the exact same connector) but I'm not terribly confident about desoldering and resoldering something with such small connectors as it is and that one is hard to get to anyway. Besides which, I'm not convinced it is the connector even if I can't see what else it could possibly be. What could possibly be causing it to be quite so random about this? Is there any way at all I can fix this myself, or is this something where the only way of ever getting it fixed would be to take it in for repair at extreme cost (and no phone for a while too)? Anyone have any idea what it might cost for such a repair?
Well I'm sure you noticed the metal charging usb port that is connected to the circuit board.
It sounds to me that it may have broke free a little bit and not making a solid connection.
First thing I would do is try some one else's charger and see if it works ( Just in case)
Then If that failed I would take apart the phone and inspect the connector.
Ten screws on the back plastic and one little black one on the circuit board.
Next you pop off the ribbon connectors and finally pop off the wire connector that runs along the right side of your phone when laying face down,
Double check all connectors and remove circuit board carefully.
Now you will be free to inspect connector
For all you know. Pushing it down with some pressure on the thumb may give you the connection you need again and you should be good to go.
But you really need to see what's broken before you go to fix it.
Good luck. Pm me if you need further help
Well, like I said, I opened it up and I just can't find any signs of damage to the connector or the board. Also, if you look at the SGS3, the connector is actually inside the casing somewhat, so really I don't see how it could have bee damaged anyway -- I'm just not sure what else it could be since, as I said, I also couldn't find any cracks in the PCB or anything.
Oh, and I've used four different chargers and at least three different cables. One charger and cable is the OEM set for the SGS3 and another is the OEM set for the Nexus 7 (which is probably a decent amount more more power hungry.)
Nazo said:
Well, this isn't the best place to ask, but I'm not sure where else to do so. Somehow I managed to drop my phone (onto a carpeted floor from not quite a full standing height, not concrete or anything) and it landed right on the bottom I think. I can't see any signs of damage anywhere at all -- I even pulled out the screws and looked at the PCB itself and I just can't see anything obvious at all. Unfortunately, something obviously is wrong all the same. It simply will not charge at all most of the time, though seemingly randomly on a whim when I connect it sometimes it will. I'm afraid even to touch it once it finally does as just moving the cable around seems to be enough to make it stop sometimes (whereas at some other times I can move it around a lot and everything and it still stays connected.) Last night it decided not to even charge even though the LED indicator and the icon showed that it was connected. What's more, I can no longer use the USB OTG capability to plug in USB drives, other devices, and etc (which I used for diagnostics, repairs, and etc of other things on the go.) I have multiple batteries and external chargers, so this isn't completely fatal but it means:
A. I can't keep it from running the batteries down in the first place (which means larger wear and tear on the batteries long-term since they are discharged further before charging.)
B. Since it's like this it means generally speaking it's not as ready for a fully day of use since it's starting the day with less than 100% charge before I even leave for work every time now.
C. I really did use the USB OTG feature and have already been missing it. It's not as fatal as devices like my Nexus 7 (since that lacks a MicroSDHC card reader to supplement its internal storage whereas this has one) but very annoying at least.
D. I really really miss being able to use a phone dock! I was docking it in my car to keep it at least semi-charged and to output a line output to my car stereo system. It's kind of a pain having to change the volume back and forth between headphones and line output (since a line output really needs the full volume) and obviously it uses more power while playing than just sitting quietly in a pocket anyway. I also liked the way in the dock it wouldn't completely shut off the screen, just go into a really low power mode where it had a faded clock (might be a CM10.1 feature, but nice wherever it came from) and I could just touch it to get back to the player controls.
At first I thought it was just loose, so I tried putting a very thin piece of plastic in the top part of the connector so the connection is extremely tight which fooled me at first by pretending to work really well for a while, but then after a while it just did the same stuff all over again (so it was just doing that thing where it works fine for a little while even when I move the cord around.) I just can't see what could possibly be the problem though because if there is any damage anywhere I'm just not seeing it. I really don't see how the connector could have been damaged anyway since it more or less landed straight on the middle of the bottom (and that ring that goes around the side should have absorbed the shock) but with no cracks on the PCB or anything that I can at all see I can't imagine what else it might be -- plus a few times when it decided to charge it was just sitting flat not being touched and suddenly started working randomly. It really is like it just works on a whim here...
So I'm wondering: just how screwed am I here? I don't have any sort of drop insurance -- I've never dropped a phone in a way that damaged it before -- and I don't think there's any way I could afford the ridiculous amounts they'd surely want for a repair (not to mention that for a while I'd have no phone at all if I did that...) I thought about changing out the connector myself (I see one on Amazon for $8 which is ridiculous, but obviously it has to be the exact same connector) but I'm not terribly confident about desoldering and resoldering something with such small connectors as it is and that one is hard to get to anyway. Besides which, I'm not convinced it is the connector even if I can't see what else it could possibly be. What could possibly be causing it to be quite so random about this? Is there any way at all I can fix this myself, or is this something where the only way of ever getting it fixed would be to take it in for repair at extreme cost (and no phone for a while too)? Anyone have any idea what it might cost for such a repair?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You might as well try it yourself THEN go somewhere if it doesn't work out. I wouldn't think if things go horribly wrong that you'd do damage that isn't reversible, and if there was damage it would likely be just to that $8 piece.
You sound like a knowledgeable guy though, so I'd give it a shot.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app
The thing is, I don't really want to spend the $8 (I'm getting pretty broke) and have to try to desolder then resolder those tiny contacts on a board I'm not even entirely sure how to safely get out possibly messing something else up along the way when I'm not convinced it is the connector (and obviously if I messed something else up along the way I could make things a lot worse -- for instance, breaking it entirely...) Things that should make it work if it were (jiggling and shaking it for instance) don't seem to and then some things that should work don't (for example, last night I disconnected the phone from one charger and connected it to another while it was at least pretending to work and it stopped even though the connector part didn't get moved at all.)
That's my real concern in the end. If it's not the connector, what is it? I'm not 100% confident about trying to replace it myself as it is, but if it's not that the time, money, and effort would be wasted...
Well that's that. The problem, as I feared, was more fundamental (which is part of what I was asking here.) I plugged in something last night and it just shut off. I checked all over and couldn't find shorts or anything to explain it. Even after leaving the battery out overnight it still won't come on. Clearly the problem was much more fundamental than it seemed. Regardless, the question of the connector is moot now. EDIT: It might have been caused by the connector after all. It seems like there are pins at the back that either are loose or were knocked loose by the fall. I THINK one of them was touching another causing a short. Unfortunately, it's too late to discover that now as either way the damage is already done and it no longer works even after I got them straightened out.

Bought replacement LCD, replaced my broken one and now my touch doesn't work

Title explains all. I'm in a tight bind with money too..
I want to believe I can just reflash stock via odin and it will come back. Or is there something else I can do to make this work?
It sense touch 10% of the time, but it's never enough to unlock my phone or do anything with it.
Edit: the new screen worked perfectly before I did the operation. Don't know what went wrong. I didn't scratch or bend anything to my knowledge. The process took about 10 minutes and went really smooth.
kanzenmuketsu said:
Title explains all. I'm in a tight bind with money too..
I want to believe I can just reflash stock via odin and it will come back. Or is there something else I can do to make this work?
It sense touch 10% of the time, but it's never enough to unlock my phone or do anything with it.
Edit: the new screen worked perfectly before I did the operation. Don't know what went wrong. I didn't scratch or bend anything to my knowledge. The process took about 10 minutes and went really smooth.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello, I repair cellphones for a living. And it depends on a lot of things. My guesses are three things. From most likely to least likely.
1. You said that everything was working fine before you changed ROMS, it could be an incompatibly issue between the screen and the software. A lot of aftermarket screens are mostly compatible with stock, a lot have compatibility with custom ROM. It could be an issue solely on the software and not related to the screen.
2. There isn't a solid connection on the LCD connector, that usually happens with during installation, sometimes if the device is set down hard or dropped knocking the connection loose.
3. It's a defective screen. It happens sometimes. It's not uncommon for a screen to appear fine but after a few hours it acts up. It could have just been a coincidence that you noticed or went defective when you flashed (not saying flashing is responsible for this scenario).
Flash back to stock and then you'll have a great chance of to see which out of the 3 are responsible. Cheers.
I repair iphones, android devices, laptops, ect.
Sent from SM-G900Pkltespr
There are only 2 flex cables on the S5 LCD. Make sure the primary (top flex) is seated correctly, then the easiest thing to check before taking the screen back off is the flex under the battery cover. You will see a little screw near the lower right of the battery with a little cover. Pull up that cover while the battery is out and make sure that cable is seated correctly. If both flex cables are seated correctly then it can only be 1 of 2 things IMHO, the screen you purchased is defective or you bent some pins on the mobo where the flex cables attach. I don't think it's a rom issue.

[HELP!] Photon Q display suddenly faulty

So I was using my Photon Q as usual, had a sick new CM11 install I was playing with for the last week or so, and all was good. I pulled it out of my pocket before I took a shower to check the time and nothing. The keyboard would open when slid out, and it even buzzed when i force restarted it. The backlight turns on for a few seconds when turning it on but other than that, no dice, it turns right off. HDMI out is doing nothing either. It is detected by my computer and otherwise acts like everything is normal. I didn't drop it, it was just in my pocket and a little warm, but it was really just the usual "pocket" warmth. What the **** happened? I can't even tear it open to check because one of the inner screws is stripped : (
EDIT: Can't boot into fastboot or anything manually, connections look good, this is so annoyingly random, and this is the first motorola device to just fail on me without reason...
EDIT EDIT: Died in my drawer last night, plugged it in and the green LED turned on, but shortly after it turned off and and now I am back to exactly where I was before.
Answer: So As you can see from the replies below I am most likely dealing with a broken flex cable to the front panel. I am gonna save up for an un-modded replacement and just swap motherboards. I gutted my current Photon Q and am storing all the parts in bubble wrap, with the motherboard delicately wrapped in paper (less friction, it's sim modded and those exposed copper wires just seem so fragile)
@CornholioGSM I ping you because you are the main Photon Q guys and one of the few still really active, you have seen this phone inside out, any ideas???
EDIT: I checked all the connection after tearing away plastic, it's all good looking. I don't understand wtf happened...
It's usually an issue with the flex (ribbon) cable... all I can say is make very sure that cable is still properly connected.
Good luck.
One of my Photons had a dead display while another had an apparently dead display because the broken flat cable.
Hard to say which one is the culprit w/o a close visual inspection to the flat cable, and even in that case a flat cable apparently in good shape can have one or more broken lines.
BTW a LCD panel can theoretically last for decades, while the cable has a finite number of sliding operations, so the latter is more likely to be the culprit.
Possibly your best option is to get a cheap unmodded PQ from the USA, and replace the whole screen assembly w/o further investigations. Less risk to damage something, way less time needed for the transplant, and possibly even the cheaper option.
The Solutor said:
One of my Photons had a dead display while another had an apparently dead display because the broken flat cable.
Hard to say which one is the culprit w/o a close visual inspection to the flat cable, and even in that case a flat cable apparently in good shape can have one or more broken lines.
BTW a LCD panel can theoretically last for decades, while the cable has a finite number of sliding operations, so the latter is more likely to be the culprit.
Possibly your best option is to get a cheap unmodded PQ from the USA, and replace the whole screen assembly w/o further investigations. Less risk to damage something, way less time needed for the transplant, and possibly even the cheaper option.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, I'll probably use whatever money I get from my Nexus 5 sale for a replacement Photon Q (un modded). Mine is beat up from a recent camping trip, scratches all over, I need this anyway. Worst case I have myself a sweet new music player. For now I am using a Galaxy Nexus, which I love, but I miss the Sailfish OS support.

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