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Is it possible to take a 32 GB chip and replace it with 16 GB chip, if both chips are in the same size, and for the same phone model?
Or in order to change memory, more things inside the phone are changed ? I hope you understand my question :laugh:
How is your chip attached to the board? If it's a BGA, I don't think you can solder that. If it's indeed possible to change the actual chip, the answer depends a lot of things like the system, the chip operation etc. This is a bit vague question to answer for good. Maybe add some details about the chip and system, board and such?
tapiov said:
How is your chip attached to the board? If it's a BGA, I don't think you can solder that. If it's indeed possible to change the actual chip, the answer depends a lot of things like the system, the chip operation etc. This is a bit vague question to answer for good. Maybe add some details about the chip and system, board and such?
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Thanks for the help!
I am actually talking about the Galaxy s3 i9300 and the sudden death syndrome which occurs on the 16 GB version, where the eMMC chip fails (it is a BGA :crying,
It makes sense that you can replace the broken 16 GB chip with a new 16 GB, but do you think it is possible to replace it with 32 GB? or things don't work that simple, and when you change from 16 GB to 32, not only the chip itself changes, but many things around it do, so for a 16gb version, you can replace it with only the 16 gb chip?
Btw, theoretically, if I replace an eMMC chip on a dead i9300 , will it revive the phone? or the sudden death kills more components on the way, and not just the eMMC ?
I don't know a lot of the I9300 or the sudden death bug. It does sound to me that the eMMC in question might not actually be physically damaged but just corrupted beyond repair. It might be thus possible to reprogram it using JTAG.
Soldering a BGA is not possible as they use a technique called flow solder, meaning that components are first attached to place and then the board is put into a kind of owen. Many components with tens on pins (actually balls as they're BGA, ball grid array) get soldered at once. The solder balls/bumps are on the underside of the components so you understand why it is not possible to manually re-solder them.
For JTAG, you need to know the ports on the board, have a JTAG file to use, and have a JTAG machine. It's possible in a service shop or corresponding.
I hope this information is useful for you. Like said, I don't know all the particulars here but I used to work with consumer electronics design.
unfortunately i9300 Jtag seem locked , about replacing you have 3% of chance to solve with the standard stuffs .
but early something happened in my mind , removed old chip and resoldered new with wires .. plenty of pins under chip are NC . just few pins is need to be connected on pcb ! #acrazyidea
tapiov said:
I don't know a lot of the I9300 or the sudden death bug. It does sound to me that the eMMC in question might not actually be physically damaged but just corrupted beyond repair. It might be thus possible to reprogram it using JTAG.
Soldering a BGA is not possible as they use a technique called flow solder, meaning that components are first attached to place and then the board is put into a kind of owen. Many components with tens on pins (actually balls as they're BGA, ball grid array) get soldered at once. The solder balls/bumps are on the underside of the components so you understand why it is not possible to manually re-solder them.
For JTAG, you need to know the ports on the board, have a JTAG file to use, and have a JTAG machine. It's possible in a service shop or corresponding.
I hope this information is useful for you. Like said, I don't know all the particulars here but I used to work with consumer electronics design.
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Click to collapse
There is no JTAG for the i9300 :crying: but I was sure that you can put a new BGA in the place and use heat gun, it won't work?
About flow soldering, this is a machine that is making the PCB in the first manufacturing process of the PCB right? But if after the manufacturing, a component needs to be replaced? won't that be done by a human and not flow soldering machine? with a heat gun and stuff?
psytr0nic said:
unfortunately i9300 Jtag seem locked , about replacing you have 3% of chance to solve with the standard stuffs .
but early something happened in my mind , removed old chip and resoldered new with wires .. plenty of pins under chip are NC . just few pins is need to be connected on pcb ! #acrazyidea
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But how do you know which pin should be soldered? Do you have the pinout of the eMMC?
Btw, what are the stuff used to do real bga soldering? because you said standard stuff won't do.
*One question still remains, can you replace a 32GB eMMC on an originally 16GB eMMC board? or it doesn't work that way .. and even if they are the same physical size, the boards are a bit different to match for the 16GB and 32GB ?
Thank everyone
BGA soldering, replacement
verynoob said:
There is no JTAG for the i9300 :crying: but I was sure that you can put a new BGA in the place and use heat gun, it won't work?
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Click to collapse
Well, the dimensions between pins are very small, so just heating it with heat gun would 1) probably produce fused contacts between adjacent balls and 2) destroy the eMMC due to excess heat.
verynoob said:
About flow soldering, this is a machine that is making the PCB in the first manufacturing process of the PCB right? But if after the manufacturing, a component needs to be replaced? won't that be done by a human and not flow soldering machine? with a heat gun and stuff?
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Click to collapse
They normally replace whole modules or boards instead. It's faster and more efficient.
verynoob said:
But how do you know which pin should be soldered? Do you have the pinout of the eMMC?
Btw, what are the stuff used to do real bga soldering? because you said standard stuff won't do.
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Here is a video of a 8 ball BGA re-solder by hand. They call it a circus act, quite fittingly.
(sorry cannot put links here. The forum rules do not allow it. I wrote this with crayons as we are not allowed to have any sharp objects here )
They use the wire method here. I'd say, anything over 8 balls is ... well, impossible by hand.
verynoob said:
*One question still remains, can you replace a 32GB eMMC on an originally 16GB eMMC board? or it doesn't work that way .. and even if they are the same physical size, the boards are a bit different to match for the 16GB and 32GB ?
Thank everyone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That depends on the system, it might work, it might not. There are no guarantees. You can make a better guess of the result if you have pinouts of the both 16 and 32GB eMMCs and two system boards, one 16 and one 32GB version.
Even with all this, it would be interesting to know, why would anybody waste this much work on this task? Why not just save your sweat and nerves and go buy a new 32GB version?
If the JTAG could be unlocked, which could be even easier (illegal methods allowed? ) then the 16 GB eMMC could just be re-programmed. The service should have a JTAG access to this?
tapiov said:
Well, the dimensions between pins are very small, so just heating it with heat gun would 1) probably produce fused contacts between adjacent balls and 2) destroy the eMMC due to excess heat.
They normally replace whole modules or boards instead. It's faster and more efficient.
Here is a video of a 8 ball BGA re-solder by hand. They call it a circus act, quite fittingly.
(sorry cannot put links here. The forum rules do not allow it. I wrote this with crayons as we are not allowed to have any sharp objects here )
They use the wire method here. I'd say, anything over 8 balls is ... well, impossible by hand.
That depends on the system, it might work, it might not. There are no guarantees. You can make a better guess of the result if you have pinouts of the both 16 and 32GB eMMCs and two system boards, one 16 and one 32GB version.
Even with all this, it would be interesting to know, why would anybody waste this much work on this task? Why not just save your sweat and nerves and go buy a new 32GB version?
If the JTAG could be unlocked, which could be even easier (illegal methods allowed? ) then the 16 GB eMMC could just be re-programmed. The service should have a JTAG access to this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks
I think you tried to upload an image with the URL of the video? because there is nothing uploaded
this is a thread with full info : emmc pinout and some info .
standard stuffs = ordinary soldering tools , you can use to remove damaged but can't replace it by them ( self experienced ) ..
much temperature is not supported by emmc chips also !! so hard ..
Link
verynoob said:
Thanks
I think you tried to upload an image with the URL of the video? because there is nothing uploaded
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Click to collapse
Here you go. Try googling for "BGA solder"
http://hackaday.com/2012/11/13/hand-soldering-bga-parts-should-be-a-circus-act/
this a movie which will let's think alot , and give more info about this topic .
just watch and decide your self what to do ,. in my side I started to pratice .
http://youtu.be/ds04BTVL8i0
yuuup
verynoob said:
Is it possible to take a 32 GB chip and replace it with 16 GB chip, if both chips are in the same size, and for the same phone model?
Or in order to change memory, more things inside the phone are changed ? I hope you understand my question :laugh:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi and yes you can do that, you need to buy replacement emmc 16gb or 32gb with or without os on it ( if not flashing will be needed). You need also hot air machine some flux, after that when emmc is removed you need to clean soldering points on mobo and just put new emmc and solder it again with hot air her is link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOYo9AcUQQI
AlenKing said:
Hi and yes you can do that, you need to buy replacement emmc 16gb or 32gb with or without os on it ( if not flashing will be needed). You need also hot air machine some flux, after that when emmc is removed you need to clean soldering points on mobo and just put new emmc and solder it again with hot air her is link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOYo9AcUQQI
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i bought an emmc chip which is sandisk, i know that the samsung's emmc chips are not sandisk but the chips are almost same except the brand, so will this chip work on samsung n7000?
zhjackss said:
i bought an emmc chip which is sandisk, i know that the samsung's emmc chips are not sandisk but the chips are almost same except the brand, so will this chip work on samsung n7000?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmmmm not sure. Changing mmc is dangerous for motherboard and in theory it should work but untill you try and put sandisk instead samsung wee dont know.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuewklttaSc&feature=youtu.be
Awesome. Not bad. I wish the back panel wasn't attached with adhesive. Makes it much more difficult to change it out on a whim.
sooooo get moto care is what i'm thinking after watching that
I get a warranty match by buying the phone with my visa card, so one year from moto one year thru visa. I skipped moto care
After watching that I cancelled my Best Buy order which still hasn't shipped. I refuse to buy another phone that basically has to be thrown away when the battery craps out. Glued on back is just ghetto.
demi9od said:
After watching that I cancelled my Best Buy order which still hasn't shipped. I refuse to buy another phone that basically has to be thrown away when the battery craps out. Glued on back is just ghetto.
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Sorry to say but it seems like most manufacturers are starting to go this route...the same with weeding out microSD support.
iazybandit said:
Sorry to say but it seems like most manufacturers are starting to go this route...the same with weeding out microSD support.
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Yeah it's a shame. I'll probably end up sticking with my M8 or picking up a G4 once a fully functional AOSP ROM is released. I do hope HTC can pivot and release and more Nexus/Moto type budget flagship next year with the M10.
That's not nearly as bad as I imagined.
As soon as I figure out how to solder in the mod chip, I'll be set.
Did they discover if the pure has dual sim hardware?
It has a dual sim tray but not sure if the software or the sim reader on the US variant is capable of making any use of dual sims
That's what I mean if the teardown revealed if the phone has the hardware capable of dual sim operation ie multiple radios.
toyanucci said:
That's what I mean if the teardown revealed if the phone has the hardware capable of dual sim operation ie multiple radios.
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The video is just that...a tear down. If you watched the video, it doesn't go anymore in-depth other than opening it up and putting it back together
I looked inside sim tray slot for hardware for second sim don't look like it's installed
I'm thinking it might have the hardware to support it, the reason I say it is because the sim slot on the board is double the size of what it regularly is (even considering the fact it has an SD reader, its on the underside of it), and I don't think they would want to solder two different type hardware onto the board, its not cost or time efficient. I think if out of the box it doesn't work, it is probably disabled from the software, however I will pry off the plastic tab on the sim tray and try it myself with dual sims and see what I get.
Actually just took a closer look inside the sim slot, and there are solder points on the board where the pins to touch and read the second sim should be installed but they are not. All you would need to do I guess would be to take the metal shield covering that area off by using a head gun to de-solder the corners or by cutting it off from the top and then solder a second set of the pins onto the board in its designated slot. After that I don't see why it would not work.
Looks way easier than some phones I've watched. I wish he would have removed the battery Wonder if we will see any custom or higher capacity batteries in the future for modders to use. Also if you have motocare I don't see why they won't replace the battery just file a claim before the 2 years are up and say the battery is awful and get another. I don't see the battery life crapping out in 2 years.
I guess the S6's and Notes are ghetto since the glass backs are glued as well
Sent from my SM-G920T using XDA Free mobile app
Looks like room for a bigger battery and the housing design seems better suited with a replaceable battery design and cover. Seems an odd design decision since no unibody contraint.
Glass doesn't do clips. Glued plastic is ghetto. They simply want to sell new phones every year and planned obsolescence is the easiest way to do it.
iazybandit said:
Sorry to say but it seems like most manufacturers are starting to go this route...the same with weeding out microSD support.
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Needs to be banned.
---------- Post added at 12:13 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:13 AM ----------
demi9od said:
Glass doesn't do clips. Glued plastic is ghetto. They simply want to sell new phones every year and planned obsolescence is the easiest way to do it.
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Also needs to be banned
This post has been opened to know issues relating to sim card replacement for moto g turbo(Merlin).
I'm not sure I understand... Take out the old SIM, insert the new SIM, adjust APN or have carrier auto-provision as necessary, and go on with your day to day activities.
Do you have a specific question or issue?
Actually my first sim card slot which had 3 golden pieces one got removed, will I be ever able to use sim slot 1 again cause everyone is saying that the whole phone has to be opened. Will the phone work as before if they open the whole phone, phone moto g turbo xt1557
saransh arya said:
Actually my first sim card slot which had 3 golden pieces one got removed, will I be ever able to use sim slot 1 again cause everyone is saying that the whole phone has to be opened. Will the phone work as before if they open the whole phone, phone moto g turbo xt1557
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Click to collapse
Oh... You mean the SIM socket or slot itself. Sorry I misunderstood the issue. I can't help there.
SIM slot (socket) repair is both difficult and risks permanent damage to the logic board. I'm no expert in it myself but I do know that there are a few eBay vendors who deal in replacement slot (socket) modules for very reasonable prices. Replacing the unit -- from everything I've read and seen on the subject -- involves some intricate work with a soldering iron. There are some YouTube instructional videos should you wish to try.
From everything I've seen through replacement parts and teardown videos, you can complete this repair without soldering anything.
That being said, it does have its risks. It does require you to do almost a complete teardown of the phone in order to get access to the main logic board to remove and replace with a new sim flex connector. They're pretty reasonable for price on ebay, and do not need to be soldered, but you'd do well to order and replace the frame sticker as well.
Keep in mind that you will no longer have the ip67 (water/dust) rating after opening your phone. (The replacement frame stickers generally don't claim to prevent water penetration.) Aside from that, the phone will function as before (provided that the repair is completed properly).
On the other hand, if the second sim is still working, and you don't need the dual sim functionality, you can always leave it as...
Longtimeforumtroll said:
From everything I've seen through replacement parts and teardown videos, you can complete this repair without soldering anything.
That being said, it does have its risks. It does require you to do almost a complete teardown of the phone in order to get access to the main logic board to remove and replace with a new sim flex connector. They're pretty reasonable for price on ebay, and do not need to be soldered, but you'd do well to order and replace the frame sticker as well.
Keep in mind that you will no longer have the ip67 (water/dust) rating after opening your phone. (The replacement frame stickers generally don't claim to prevent water penetration.) Aside from that, the phone will function as before (provided that the repair is completed properly).
On the other hand, if the second sim is still working, and you don't need the dual sim functionality, you can always leave it as...
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Click to collapse
Ahhh. I see what you mean. This model sports the flex connector versus Moto's usual solder connected slot. I stand corrected. Good info.
Hi,
The question is: Can a Live Display Unit (LDU) version of the S7 be made a fully functional S7 by swapping out it's non-useable motherboard with a good motherboard from a broken donor S7, and what would be involved to make this work?
I am posting and answering my own question here in the hope it will provide answers to various other posts I have seen in the S7 and the S7 Edge sub-forums. The questions and the answers are relevant to both versions of the S7.
Background:
I am a semi-retired technically oriented handy fellow who is in his early 60's, living on a modest income. As of this last summer (2017), I was still using the Galaxy S4 that I had gotten new in early 2014. The S4 has been remarkably durable, and is still working like the day I bought it, but it's just slowly becoming more and more obsolescent. The only thing I have had to replace over the almost 4 years I have had it was a tempered glass screen protector that did it's job and sacrificially protected my screen, a few cases that wore out, a frayed charging cord, and a few replaceable Li-Ion batteries that no longer were keeping their charge long enough.
However, the S4's limitations of only 16GB of onboard storage, only 2GB RAM, the increasing (relative) slowness of it's 32 bit quad-core processor when running multiple current apps, and the fact it is stuck at Android 5.1 were becoming increasingly an irritant.
I determined the time had come to upgrade my phone. I didn't mind signing a new contract and getting a new phone as I've always had access to reasonably priced phone plans, but I don't like the idea of having to pay a monthly additional fee of $30-40 to lease a phone that has to be returned after 2 years or purchase a phone at full retail cost with even higher monthly payments and/or a big down payment. So I determined that somehow I would have to find a "deal" on a like-new good fairly current but used phone.
I looked around at the cost of the then new S8s and could not justify paying $800 or $900 USD on a phone. I then looked at the 2016 flagship, the S7, but they were still selling then for $300 or more used. I didn't want to get anything older because I wanted to be on the most current version of Android and have at least 32GB of on-board storage, 4GB of memory, and a good 64bit quad-core processor. I also wanted to stay with Samsung, because I was familiar with their "version" of Android and knew them to usually have a fantastic build quality (except for their debacle with the self-igniting Note in 2016).
So I started out looking at how I could acquire a like-new used S7 for about 1/2 of the going rate -- or about $150 USD. I have repaired my own "smart" cell phones in the past -- but that was back in the days when they were held together by screws. I hadn't needed to open up my S4, and had not personally seen the insides of the ever-more-glued-together phones that have been produced since, although I had kept somewhat current by watching various YouTube videos of tear-downs of new phones as they came out. As I said earlier, I am a technically oriented handy fellow, so the thought of learning to deal with the hardware and assembly methods used in the newer versions of smart phones didn't scare me (at least not very much). If someone else can work on them, then I can educate myself and do it too. Thus I determined that the way to get my new phone at a reduced price would be to find one and repair it. So I started my research of the S7.
Research:
Through my research, saw that there are a lot of really busted up S7 phones out there that do show solid signs of life when plugged in (although the screen is broken and non-functional). These phones power up, hold a charge, make the appropriate booting sounds, and the LEDs at the top and bottom light up during the boot process. All of this indicates a functioning motherboard. Additionally, many of these badly broken phones with functioning motherboards also have readable ESN/IMEI numbers on their backs, and so their ESN/IMEI numbers can be verified as non-blacklisted and non-leased. Basically, you can tell if the broken phone you are buying has an activatable motherboard in it or not before you purchase it.
I saw that S7 phones with blacklisted ESN/IMEI numbers or that were blocked because of being on-lease but that were in like-new condition were still selling at prices in the mid-to-high $200s, which is more than I wanted to pay. For ethical reasons I also didn't like the possibility of potentially supporting thieves by buying stolen stuff they were selling. So it was looking like I was going to have to look at paying for a broken phone and a $150 replacement screen assembly and miscellaneous other needed parts, at a total cost of $200-$225. This still didn't fit in my desired budget.
I then learned of the existence of the Live Display Units (LDUs) that come up for sale on Ebay from time-to-time. These LDUs have special motherboards in them that were manufactured without the cellular radios that fully functional S7s have. This was done by Samsung to reduce the thefts of display models at the stores that sell their phones. Other than the lack of cellular capability, the LDU models are fully functional -- working screens, cameras, speakers, wi-fi, apps, they just can't connect to cellular towers and so can't be used for phone calls or for mobile data purposes. They also have a "special" firmware version installed on them that prevents them from being turned off, and automatically wipes their memory and restarts the "demo" programs after a certain amount of time has elapsed. Most of these LDUs are in like-new condition -- never having been in pockets or purses getting scratched up, never dropped, never gotten wet, etc. They might have some screen burn-in issues -- but that is tolerable to me. I saw them selling for around $110 USD. The LDU models have an "X" suffix. In the case of the S7 models, the LDU model numbers are G930X (S7) and G935X (S7 Edge).
So I got to wondering if it might be possible to combine the two otherwise useless phones and make a like-new S7 out of them by swapping a fully functional motherboard from a donor S7 into an LDU like-new "body" with a good screen. I determined to try it out, and promised to document the results of my experiment on the various posts I had seen asking similar questions -- but didn't have answers. (I'll be going back to those posts and posting a link to this one.)
Preparation:
I watched a number of tear-down and repair videos on the S7, and purchased a collection of the appropriate specialized tools from various sellers on Ebay (some directly from the manufacturers in China, some from US sellers). These specialized hand tools are fairly inexpensive -- for example one of the most useful tools when ungluing glass from the frame is a set of plastic guitar picks -- some use a sacrificial deck of playing cards (plastic guitar picks can be wiped off and reused). I knew that I was going to have to make do without some of the equipment the "pro"s use -- like vacuum tables, heating ovens, UV curing stations, etc. I would have to make do with other methods to hold the phones, to heat them, and use LED UV flashlights or UV fluorescent bulbs in existing fixtures for UV glue curing.
On to actually "doing it":
I purchased a couple of functioning G930X LDUs on Ebay in good cosmetic condition. One of them had some minor screen burn-in, the other was in a boot-loop. I didn't care about either issue as I wasn't going to keep the motherboard, and minor screen burn-in doesn't bother me, as it is really only noticeable when the screen is mostly white, which isn't often in real-world usage. I got these for about $107 USD each. Far less than just a replacement screen assembly would have cost. For some reason, the Edge versions of the LDU's were going for much more, some close to $200, but I wanted the non-edge version anyway.
I then purchased a couple of badly busted up S7 donor phones with functioning motherboards and clean ESN/IMEI numbers, which I got from the sellers and verified prior to the purchase. I was able to get these "parts-only" phones for around $45-60 USD each.
I then got to the actual work of opening up the phones and attempting the motherboard swap. Here's what I found out:
Well, my first attempt didn't work out the way I had hoped, but I learned A LOT.
Firstly, to replace the motherboard on the S7, you pretty much have to completely disassemble all the parts contained on the back of the metal middle-frame. An exception to this is the bottom daughterboard which normally can be left in place when replacing a motherboard. This part of the work turned out to be fairly easy to do once the back glass was removed. I cracked the first back glass I removed, but was able to get them off in one piece after that. Luckily, the replacement glass backs are not very expensive (even the ones that come with the camera lens and adhesive pre-installed are less than $10 USD.)
In addition to the motherboard, I found the following parts are different between the North American (NA) S7 models and the demo G930X LDU model. This will likely be true for the G935 Edge models too:
1. The plastic covers at the top and bottom of the phone that include the molded-in antennas are different between the LDU and the NA models. I think that they might be the same as the European versions though. This was not a problem, because I could simply use the parts from the non-LDU donor phone that had the bashed in screen and back.
2. The phone speaker (not to be confused with the earpiece speaker) is different than the NA versions. The LDU contained the European version. I don't know if this is really so different that it wouldn't work, but, if you ever want to send it to an official "factory" service place for some reason, they might reject the phone because it doesn't contain the "proper" parts. Again, this is not a problem, because I could use the speaker assembly from the North American non-LDU donor phone.
(I suspect one of the reasons for the differences in the antenna and speaker parts has to do with tighter European RF (radio frequency) emission standards)
3. Here's where the big problem occurred -- the LDU also has a modified bottom daughterboard (this is the daughterboard that has the charging port and headphone jack on it). This daughterboard on a regular S7 contains antenna connections and circuitry that is missing on the LDU model. That wouldn't be an issue except It turns out that, on the S7, this bottom daughterboard includes the leads, sensors, and LEDs for the "soft" buttons to the left and right of the Home button. What this means is that, in order to swap this bottom daughterboard out, you have to remove the screen assembly from the front of the phone so you can expose and release the softkeys that are part of this daughterboard and that cannot be detached from it. I understand that this is true for both models of the S7.
Getting the screen assembly loose from the adhesive that bonds it to the metal middle-frame without damaging it, even with using heat, is a very tricky and failure-prone operation. The adhesive is incredibly strong and the slightest wrong amount of pressure will fracture the fragile LCD that is on the bottom of the screen assembly (the LCD is actually what is glued to the middle-frame). Break the LCD and you've got a dead $150 USD front screen assembly, basically making the LDU a useless investment. The LDU motherboard isn't worth much. Basically what you have left is the battery, the frame, the Qi and NFC antenna assembly, the cameras, and possibly the back glass if you managed to get it off without breaking it. None of these parts are very valuable.
I failed at my attempt to do this, and must have cracked the LCD -- although I was very careful and worked slowly. I couldn't see a crack, but it wouldn't light up after I reassembled the phone. I was careful not to damage the leads on the display when loosening the glue on the screen edges (you have to be extra careful on one side where the leads are routed through the middle-frame close to one of the edges) -- so that wasn't the cause of the failure.
As the euphemism goes -- "hindsight is 20/20". I now think the correct approach is to leave the LCD and digitizer glued down to the middle-frame, and instead (with heat) separate the front glass from the digitizer and LCD using the wire separation method you can see being done on YouTube in videos where just the front glass is cracked and being replaced (the LCD and digitizer are still functional). Once the glass is separated, the soft keys are exposed and the daughterboard can be swapped out. You would then have to use the specialized UV activated glue to reattach the glass to the digitizer and LCD. I seem to recall that there is a plastic film polarizing filter that often gets damaged during the separation process and has to be replaced, along with the seals for the top and bottom, and the seals for the sides of the glass. The glass, seals and the filter are not that expensive. However, doing this screen disassembly process is tricky too (but not as bad as trying to preserve the LCD when attempting to remove the entire assembly).
I don't recommend others go this route (attempting to use an LDU for it's frame and display assembly) unless they have experience successfully being able to remove and install the front glass on these phones.
With it's fully curved sides, the S7 Edge (G935) version would be more difficult to get the front glass removed and replaced. I know I would want to practice on a couple of S7 Edge phones with fully broken displays before I attempted it on a good display..... It is certainly not a project for the faint-of-heart.
The glass separation for the regular G930 S7 doesn't look too difficult, as long as a person uses (moderate) heat, is careful, and has patience. I have one more G930X LDU that I purchased, so I am going to find out. I'll try to update this post with the results of that effort.
International/European versions of daughterboard are different than North American
Something I did learn that will be of interest to anyone attempting to swap motherboards between an international/European version of the phone and a North American version of the phone is that there IS a difference in that same troublesome bottom daughterboard between the two versions of the phones. I know this because I asked a parts supplier, and they informed me that there are two different versions of this daughterboard -- one international/European and the other North American. (I don't know which version is used in the Chinese domestic version of the S7, or whether or not there is a difference between the versions used in the various Asian markets. Hopefully one of the experienced Asian posters will know and reply to this thread with the answers.)
UPDATE (12/16/2017):
I don't know exactly what the differences are in the daughterboard, but they are slight. I recently got a G930FD parts phone with a bad motherboard, and discovered that I could use the European daughterboard with a North American motherboard and antenna set -- you should switch out the antenna wires that go from the motherboard to the daughterboard (the colors are reversed), and it works just fine
Well, it turns out I was wrong about the European daughterboard being compatible with the North American motherboards. Everything on the phone works EXCEPT the wireless radio can't get a signal lock, and eventually shows an "x" on the signal bars indicating that the radio has turned off. I tried this with multiple T-Mobile SIM cards, and worked with a tier 2 T-mobile phone technician trying every possible thing to work around this. Bottom line, it looks like the European version of the charging port daughterboard is only compatible with the G930F and G930FD motherboards. Oh, well. It was worth a try. I am now looking for a working G930F or G930FD motherboard to get this phone working again. I am also looking for a good North American G930A, P, T, V frame and good display (or just a good complete screen full assembly) to make a whole phone with the good T-mobile motherboard I have.
Samsung learned their lesson regarding this daughterboard
One other point I learned from a cell phone technician -- the issue of the front softkeys being part of this bottom daughterboard has been fixed in the S8. It seems Samsung learned "the error of their way" with this design. Whenever this daughterboard needs to be replaced on an S7 due to a charging port issue or headphone jack issue it requires removing the front glass to get the job done -- making the work a lot more involved and costly for Samsung's own repair staff, as well as all the authorized in-warranty carrier cell phone repair centers.
A lot of grumbling has occurred. due to this design. I am sure the post-warranty non-authorized repair centers are also pleased that this design ended with the S7. Their customers can't have been pleased at the elevated post-warranty charging port repair costs this design has caused....
Success in a non-LDU motherboard swap:
After failing to be able to use the first LDU to build a useable S7 phone by swapping it's motherboard with a good motherboard (with a clean ESN/IMEI number) from an S7 with a badly broken display and back (and scarred up middle-frame), I was able to use another North American S7 that I found with a good display, but a bad motherboard. The swap was pretty easy to do, and I wound up with a functional S7 at the end, for much less than I would have paid for a refurbished or a good used S7. I did have to deal with bypassing the FRP lock on the good motherboard because, of course, when the screen was broken, the previous owner couldn't log out of their Google account, so the FRP lock came into play once the phone was factory reset. That "adventure" is covered in another post I made a few weeks ago. Doing this first S7 motherboard swap has been an invaluable learning process as well -- one that I hope to be able to leverage and turn into a profitable sideline/hobby in doing future swaps and repairs. I find I really enjoy working on these intricate pieces of electronic equipment.....
A cautionary tale:
BTW, there's an interesting story (at least to me) as to why the motherboard on the S7 I used as the "screen donor" was damaged. I think it's a cautionary tale of what NOT to do to your mobile phone....
The previous owner had not used the "sim tray removal tool" to eject the S7s SIM tray, and had snapped the top off of the sim tray attempting to brute-force it out. They then went on to use what must have been a screwdriver, knife and/or nail file to try and pry the rest of the tray out, and in the process broke off most of the electrical connecting "fingers" on the motherboard that contact and connect to the SIM and MicroSD cards. I only discovered the extent of the damage once I had removed the motherboard and gently pushed the remnants of the broken SIM tray out and was able to see what had been done. In fact, I found the SIM card was still in place within the bottom 3/4 remnant of the broken SIM tray, which was also still very much in place. The SIM card, which is located at the bottom end of the SIM tray, also showed evidence of how much digging and gouging the owner or the seller had done trying to get the broken tray out -- they had dug around that deeply within the slot on the phone that they scratched and deeply scarred up the SIM card.
Otherwise this motherboard was functional -- unfortunately since it couldn't connect to the SIM card, it rendered the motherboard almost as useless as an LDU motherboard. I think the Ebay seller who sold me the phone had done some further damage trying to get the phone to work. The story he told me was that the original owner's kid had jammed something down inside the slot -- this proved obviously not to be the work of a small child.
A last thought regarding using LDU and other semi-functional motherboards
One last thought regarding LDU and other semi-functional motherboards -- these boards can be reflashed with functional firmware, and the motherboards can be probably be used in phones with broken displays as always-on smart home controllers, possibly as media players, or whatever else a person can imagine with a wi-fi capable Android device. I am planning on using my old S4 in this fashion -- connected to a USB OTG and MHL enabled docking station so it can be connected to an external display and sound system. Samsung made a special docking station just for the S3 and S4 (and probably the Note 2) that makes this possible, and can be found used online for much less than it originally cost. I know that the S7 is also OTG enabled, so with it's included adapter or a generic OTG docking station or cable you can do similar stuff.
My hope is that this post is both useful and interesting.
Good luck with your adventures with the Galaxy S7!
Philip
Very nice adventure Sir
I have S7 G930FD with broken motherboard but good display LED screen
Can I swap the broken 930FD's motherboard with Working well 930F's one?
Help
Hello Phillip,
My S7 screen was damaged and i acquired a LDU and attempted the motherboard and daughterboard swap. The screen came come and I it would seem that everything was fine....except that the touchscreen is unresponsive lol....in your experience is it a software/firmware issue or did i damage the digitizer? could it be i did not "reconnect" it properly. Plz help
agusto888 said:
Very nice adventure Sir
I have S7 G930FD with broken motherboard but good display LED screen
Can I swap the broken 930FD's motherboard with Working well 930F's one?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe that would work. The daughterboard and antennas should be the same for both the FD and the F models.
Let me know how it goes.
Good luck,
Philip
Meesh8 said:
Hello Phillip,
My S7 screen was damaged and i acquired a LDU and attempted the motherboard and daughterboard swap. The screen came come and I it would seem that everything was fine....except that the touchscreen is unresponsive lol....in your experience is it a software/firmware issue or did i damage the digitizer? could it be i did not "reconnect" it properly. Plz help
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It isn't a firmware issue because the F motherboard you used should have F firmware on it. If you tried to flash the FD firmware onto the F motherboard you will likely run into serious problems because the hardware for the second SIM card is not present. You could simply re-flash the F firmware onto your motherboard and eliminate this as the issue. Make sure you use the non-HOME CSC version so your phone will be completely set back to factory settings. The HOME version of the CSC firmware section preserves some of the user data. The non-HOME version resets almost everything.
It's hard to say what the problem is without having the phone to look at. It would seem strange that you would have somehow broken the digitizer but not the Amoled display. However, if you nicked the screen's cable when you removed it from the LDU, that might be causing the issue.
I would try to disconnect and re-seat the display cable and see what happens -- you've got nothing to lose at this point. Make sure you don't force the connector into place -- it should connect easily once you get it lined up correctly. If you forced it, you may have bent some of the pins on the motherboard or the ribbon connector and that could be causing your issue. Look closely at both under a strong magnifier to check this. If something is bent, sometimes it can be unbent, but you'll need magnification and needle-sharp tools to manipulate the tiny contacts.
Good luck,
Philip
phreich said:
I believe that would work. The daughterboard and antennas should be the same for both the FD and the F models.
Let me know how it goes.
Good luck,
Philip
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Fortunately I've found 930FD's motherboard. My S7 comeback to live again.
I've experienced damaged motherboard twice. After played around with TWRP custom rom.
Do bad flashing customrom from TWP, indeed able to damage the motherboard sir?
agusto888 said:
Fortunately I've found 930FD's motherboard. My S7 comeback to live again.
I've experienced damaged motherboard twice. After played around with TWRP custom rom.
Do bad flashing customrom from TWP, indeed able to damage the motherboard sir?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't use TWRP. I flash the motherboards with Odin. In my experience, you can usually resurrect a motherboard with corrupted or wong firmware by reflashing it with the proper factory firmware using Odin.
Just curious, where did you find the 930FD motherboard, and how much did it cost? Do they have more? I also am looking for a 930FD motherboard.
phreich said:
I don't use TWRP. I flash the motherboards with Odin. In my experience, you can usually resurrect a motherboard with corrupted or wong firmware by reflashing it with the proper factory firmware using Odin.
Just curious, where did you find the 930FD motherboard, and how much did it cost? Do they have more? I also am looking for a 930FD motherboard.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Already try flashing proper stock rom via odin with no luck. Sending them to official samsung service center : they also cant flash the stock firmware. I am quite sure it was the symptom of damaged Emmc UFS
I live at Indonesia. Got the working mobo from local online shop, I dont think they can deliver overseas.
The FD mobo cost $125 and the F cost $90 in online shop.
In offical samsung service center, the FD mobo cost $240
Hi Philip,
converting an LDU to a full working smartphone is possible just taking the back out and if you don't mind loosing the two bottom touch buttons: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnwfCc5Y0H0
You could then install the Simple Control App to have the soft buttons enabled so you could have all the functionality from the two touch buttons you loose: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ace.jun.simplecontrol
Hi everyone,
I love my Note Edge 915A so much I got another one, when the screen started flaking out: Half my screen goes greenish - have read its a microfracture that will only get worse.
So I went looking for another phone and decided I dont like current offerings (I use the SD card and IR blaster a LOT), so I'll get the same for the time being, and ended got a 915F from ebay. Internet said it would work with AT&T. It doesn't look like it does. Questions I need help with:
- SIM card (taken from the 915A I have ) says "Invalid SIM Card". I've re-seated and sung sweet songs to it. Doesn't want to take.
- Read that 4G/LTE wont work on the 915F, maybe never? Have we found a solution to this yet?
- I've never flashed the 915A, but can install a custom ROM for the 915F to get 4G/LTE to work on AT&T?
Bottom line is, I would like some feedback on if I should just return it and look for an used 915A? I liked this one because it was new in box, but...
Thank you!
My friend, i have three solution for you, sens it seem your simm card is dedicated only for the A phone model simmlock.
1. Go to at&t shop to make the simm card for your new phone, they might ask for your phone perhaps to simmlock??
2. Flashing at&t room on new phone could be danger if it's different hardware chipsets, you are in your own!!!
3. Changing hardware board from A model in to F model it should work, that means you have everything in your phone you had before, just be careful you dont desttoy anything during removal of the board, use plastic gloves for any static demage might happen.