[Q] HELP :: Dead Phone - Just want some stuff on the SD card - Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hi folks,
My nexus 5 died in a watery hellfire of childrens and sugar. I would like to salvage some of the info that was on the "SD card" but didn't know if anyone had a guide - I tried searching the forum "remove sd card" but no dice. Any thoughts or guides that i'm missing?
Thanks!

You won't be able to 'remove' the memory, it is not a classical sd card as the ones you can buy, it is a chip welded on the circuit board...
It will be hard to access the data directly (not through the phone), but your best luck is to disassemble your phone, locate the memory chip, find the pins pattern, and find a way to connect all that to a computer...
Wish you luck
PS : Maybe there are ways i'm not aware of, but I your phone is really dead, I don't know any other
Edit : This doesn't seems to be an easy at all manipulation, you'll need the help of a professionnal I'm afraid

Mynix said:
You won't be able to 'remove' the memory, it is not a classical sd card as the ones you can buy, it is a chip welded on the circuit board...
It will be hard to access the data directly (not through the phone), but your best luck is to disassemble your phone, locate the memory chip, find the pins pattern, and find a way to connect all that to a computer...
Wish you luck
PS : Maybe there are ways i'm not aware of, but I your phone is really dead, I don't know any other
Edit : This doesn't seems to be an easy at all manipulation, you'll need the help of a professionnal I'm afraid
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Almost impossible actually - the emmc is very solidly glued to the mainboard. And to top it off it's a BGA package. I don't know many who would dive into it .
Best best would be to open it up , soak it in IPA , wash with demineralized water , dry , remove all non-vital parts ( camera , microphones , nfc and so on ) and try to boot it up.

Niflheimer said:
Almost impossible actually - the emmc is very solidly glued to the mainboard. And to top it off it's a BGA package. I don't know many who would dive into it .
Best best would be to open it up , soak it in IPA , wash with demineralized water , dry , remove all non-vital parts ( camera , microphones , nfc and so on ) and try to boot it up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I bet with a lot of money and skills it can be done, far beyond the value of the data on the chip

For sure ! I've asked a friend (electronic design engineer) for a quote and ... he says the lowest he's seen for this type of data recovery is 150$ an hour , with a minimum of 6 hours and no guarantees.

Niflheimer said:
For sure ! I've asked a friend (electronic design engineer) for a quote and ... he says the lowest he's seen for this type of data recovery is 150$ an hour , with a minimum of 6 hours and no guarantees.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
haha sounds about right...

Related

[Q] Install stock kernel without any method which uses charging port?

Greetings to all of you. I hope you be very patient with my poor english (I write and speak spanish) and this long post (please, read all of this) and please help me with this question, my first question here.
I am a XDA user a time ago, 2 years or least; I have flashed the kernel or the ROM of a lot of Android devices (+10, tablets and phones) using your knowledge posted on this wonderful community and I talk about this to prove that I'm not a totally noob and I never had a problem like this before; sadly, this happens with my own phone: SGH-T959V.
The charging port stopped working as data transfer port and just worked as charging port, this occurred just 2 months ago; but it was not relevant for me because I did not use the function in a long time, I used to charge my phone when it requires energy and nothing else. But I read about a CyanogenMod update (unofficial) for my phone and decided try it. Then I download it, install it via CWM and it worked successfully; I had a beauty JB 4.2 running on my 3 years old phone. I noted that there was a trouble with the RAM size, the new CM ROM just recognizes 346 MB of the RAM and the last ROM (CM 9) could recognize the 512 MB. I looked for a post here which talked about my problem and I found it, they suggest to install another kernel and I proceeded to do it. It was the 3 am or close, I was tired and here comes the first big mistake: I download and install a wrong kernel, a kernel for the T959, not the T959V. I cannot remember the name of the wrong kernel (because I deleted it from my PC) but since I installed it, the phone is always on recovery mode and the title of menu is: “Devil touch recovery v6.0.1.9”.
I tried to install the last kernel which worked fine (hefe-kernel-v0.8.1) and I always get the following messages: (as with any other kernel or ROM)
E:Can’t mount /cache/recovery/last_log
E:Can’t open /cache/recovery/last_log
E:failed to find “cache” partition to mount at “/cache”
Status 4 error and Status 7 error appeared too. (I solved the status 7 error modifying the Meta.inf data into the zip)
I formatted the SD card, put the kernel there and tried again to install it, but I have no success. I fixed permissions, tried to wipe data, wipe cache, but the same messages appeared. I look for a solution on some threads here and read about the cache format, they talk about ext3 and ext4 but I cannot find the way to reformat the phone with a kernel which has the right format to then, finally, install the right kernel for the phone. Well, at this point, I thought about all the mess up and then I conclude: Why the hell I don’t just recover the phone via download mode and Odin? If you remember, the charging port just worked for charging, not for data transfer or any other usb function; yep, I got it on that dawn: I was screwed.
Next morning, I carried the phone to the technical service (here in Cali, Colombia. It is not from Samsung) looking for a new charging port, the technician told me that he had the right repairing part; he said that was the same of the SGS3 (IFC700). I returned the next day for my phone and I found a major disaster: the “technician” did not apply properly the heat gun and all the electric conducting lines (the 7) were pasted at the pins of the old and damaged port.
I searched for another technician and thanks God could find one that gave me hope, although somewhat unreal, for my bad luck. He suggested me that if we could detect the origin of the electric conducting lines on the mainboard (unit U701, specifically) we could make a bridge between them and the pins of the new charging port; the problem is that I surf and surf through all internet and found only this pdf: On bit ly :/1dS7M61 (I cannot post links yet.)
But here, they do not give information about the PCB and the specific connections for pins, so, here comes my first question:
Do you know the specific origin of the seven electric conducting lines of the charging port? And, if you do, do you know if possible make a bridge with them?
In case this does not work, do you know how to recover the phone to the original kernel and ROM (as Odin does) but without using the usb cable, just the SD card?
I will stay watchful. Thank you for your time, your patience and your help.
Most of the lines for the pins are on the surface layer and go right up to the connector so unless you have ripped them all the way off you should be able to tell what goes where. The first and last connections are GND and there's a big area of gnd on either side of the connector. There are 2 other lines that are VCC I can't remember which lines now from memory but it should be fairly obvious to a technician. The last 3 are the tougher ones. TX and RX each have a tiny little line on the surface layer which leads up to the corresponding pin. The last one is the host mode pin which actually comes out from inside the board into the pin itself. If you look really close it looks like a little dot where the pin would sit. That last one I found nearly impossible to repair, but the other lines you can peel off the coating and solder a really small wire on top of them to complete the connection. All the more important lines are visible so unless somebody really jacked up your phone a decent tech should be able to repair it mostly.
If this doesn't work you're screwed. And even if you can repair 6 of the 7 lines the one that tells the phone to be in dock or download mode is necessary if you can't get into download mode with the volume buttons.
TwitchyEye said:
Most of the lines for the pins are on the surface layer and go right up to the connector so unless you have ripped them all the way off you should be able to tell what goes where. The first and last connections are GND and there's a big area of gnd on either side of the connector. There are 2 other lines that are VCC I can't remember which lines now from memory but it should be fairly obvious to a technician. The last 3 are the tougher ones. TX and RX each have a tiny little line on the surface layer which leads up to the corresponding pin. The last one is the host mode pin which actually comes out from inside the board into the pin itself. If you look really close it looks like a little dot where the pin would sit. That last one I found nearly impossible to repair, but the other lines you can peel off the coating and solder a really small wire on top of them to complete the connection. All the more important lines are visible so unless somebody really jacked up your phone a decent tech should be able to repair it mostly.
If this doesn't work you're screwed. And even if you can repair 6 of the 7 lines the one that tells the phone to be in dock or download mode is necessary if you can't get into download mode with the volume buttons.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the fast answer! I will show this to the techinician and I hope that he can repair it; although I really think it is almost impossible, the lines are all deeply ripped, just the third and fifth line survived the attack.
Again, I want to answer just one more time about fixing the problem of installing kernels or ROMs via recovery mode (please read again the first post): "E:Can’t mount /cache/recovery/last_log
E:Can’t open /cache/recovery/last_log
E:failed to find “cache” partition to mount at “/cache”
Status 4 error and Status 7 error appeared too. (I solved the status 7 error modifying the Meta.inf data into the zip)"
Do you know how to fix this? Or install a stock kernel without those problems?
Thank you!
PD: I will post the answer of the technician to this.
Yeah the kernel you flashed screwed up your phone and the only way to recover is through heimdall or Odin which you'll need usb for.
Thank you again for your attention. Unfortunately the technician could not find the download mode pin, so it's official: my phone is a paperweight. I thank you again for your help and interest, have a good weekend.
First of all, fo ur problem, I believe that the only way u can save ur phone is using heimdall to flash another mtd kernel (if u can luckily boot into download mode) but sad that ur usb port was doom (correct me if I am wrong).
In addition, why on new kernel the phone just shows 384MB of RAM? Just fyi, new aries kernels changed the way counting RAM as they don't count the reserved RAM that the init system took but just the remain. As if u look into the kernel, there is somewhere says that RAM = total subtract reserved (in a specific calculation not words). That's why u saw 384MB even in fact we have 512MB. N why it is 384 but not 400 or 450, idk lol. So if anyone is curious bout this can have this rep as an answer as well
Sent from my SGH-T959V using Tapatalk 2
You don't need the download pin if you can get into download mode by holding the volume buttons. If you need a usb jig to get into download mode then you're out of luck. Otherwise your phone will function normally except when you put it in a dock or try to use otg which as far as I know we don't have support for anyway.

Replace NAND chip

HELLO,
i would like to try to replace the nand chip of my bricked tv box with a new chip
this because the original chip has been damaged shortening two pins trying to put the device in mask rom mode
my device is t-r42 based on rk3188
the price of the nand flash is about $4,
i can found it on some chinese online store
i hope that replacing the nand, my device will go to mask rom mode, enabling me to do the firmware loading through pc (rkbatchtool)
i know that this mode has been designed specifically to load the firmware the first time,
so i hope my device will go to this mode the first time i power on it after replacing it
any suggestion?
any hint?
i know this must be done with :microscopic` attention
thanks!!
Vicolodo said:
HELLO,
i would like to try to replace the nand chip of my bricked tv box with a new chip
this because the original chip has been damaged shortening two pins trying to put the device in mask rom mode
my device is t-r42 based on rk3188
the price of the nand flash is about $4,
i can found it on some chinese online store
i hope that replacing the nand, my device will go to mask rom mode, enabling me to do the firmware loading through pc (rkbatchtool)
i know that this mode has been designed specifically to load the firmware the first time,
so i hope my device will go to this mode the first time i power on it after replacing it
any suggestion?
any hint?
i know this must be done with :microscopic` attention
thanks!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
your going to have to find someone with a hot air rework station to unmount and or remount a new chip. the thing of it is, the pcb has to have perfect traces,,, 0 damage. even if that is met, unmounting and remounting a new chip in a perfect world takes a lot of skill and experience. will it get you into mask rom mode,,, I would guess yes. far as I understand it, thats a hardware thing not a os thing (os=firmware). Unless its something you just want to tinker with just to see if you can do it I wouldnt bother. Thats just me. I have crashed units over and over and got into mask rom mode doing the pin short, purposely trying different firmwares to see if they would work. I am not sure if mask rom mode will happen with out the pin short on a blank chip. maybe thats another question.
if you find someone local that does rework on surface chips, best bet would be ask them. Also a better answer here at least for me would be a close up picture of the chip you speak of, it would probly tell a thousand words. I have done rework, not in the past 5 years but I have. it takes a extremely steady hand and a good feel for when the solder is fluid. Theres tricks to it, do it wrong and theres no fixing the torn traces. Maybe craiglist would point you to someone who does this sort of work in your area. Possibly a local flat screen tv repair center may be able to direct you to someone local also, they are packed with sm chips.
Just some thoughts
stinkster said:
your going to have to find someone with a hot air rework station to unmount and or remount a new chip. the thing of it is, the pcb has to have perfect traces,,, 0 damage. even if that is met, unmounting and remounting a new chip in a perfect world takes a lot of skill and experience. will it get you into mask rom mode,,, I would guess yes. far as I understand it, thats a hardware thing not a os thing (os=firmware). Unless its something you just want to tinker with just to see if you can do it I wouldnt bother. Thats just me. I have crashed units over and over and got into mask rom mode doing the pin short, purposely trying different firmwares to see if they would work. I am not sure if mask rom mode will happen with out the pin short on a blank chip. maybe thats another question.
if you find someone local that does rework on surface chips, best bet would be ask them. Also a better answer here at least for me would be a close up picture of the chip you speak of, it would probly tell a thousand words. I have done rework, not in the past 5 years but I have. it takes a extremely steady hand and a good feel for when the solder is fluid. Theres tricks to it, do it wrong and theres no fixing the torn traces. Maybe craiglist would point you to someone who does this sort of work in your area. Possibly a local flat screen tv repair center may be able to direct you to someone local also, they are packed with sm chips.
Just some thoughts
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thank you very much,
i will let you know!!
Vicolodo said:
thank you very much,
i will let you know!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A quick alternative for establishing that it is only a faulty NAND is to try booting Linux from an SD card. If that works, then you could look around for someone who has created running Android from SD card for your device and you could at least still use your device in the interim.

[Q&A] WiFi stuck on turning on; MAC 02:00:00:00:00:00; G2 G3 G4 G5 Nexus5 Nexus 7 etc

[Q&A] WiFi stuck on turning on; MAC 02:00:00:00:00:00; G2 G3 G4 G5 Nexus5 Nexus 7 etc
Hi!
If you are reading this now, you are probably one of the unlucky fellows who's WiFi (and Bluetooth) stopped functioning, and if so, you are probably deperately searching for a solution/fix. I might have something for you, but first:
*** DISCLAIMER/WARNING ***
You yourself are exclusively responsible for whatever may (or may not) happen to your mobile device, to yourself or others. I am only giving hints/advices here that *MAY* help, but I will not take any responsability, nor will I provide any support, in absolutely *ANY CASE*, including, but not limited to: your problem not being solved or/and your mobile device becoming partially or completely broken. Let me be very clear: If you do anything to your device rendering it useless, destroying it, seriously or fataly injuring you or others, and then come blaming me or/and cry for help, I will point my index finger at you and laugh at you. Period.
If you are a impatient person and want to get straight to the point, jump right to section 6.
Table of Contents
0. Foreword
1. Description of the problem
2. Urgent advice
3. Things that didn't work
4. There is little hope
5. My most obvious advice
6. LET'S GET SERIOUS!
6.a Sellotape / Scotch tape
6.b Refrigerator / Freezer
6.c Oven
0. Foreword
Two or three months ago, one fine morning, the WiFi/BT of my LG G2 suddenly stopped working. Initially I thought this would be only one stupid annoying minor thingy, that I’d be able to solve it fast. I was wrong.
1. Description of the problem
When turning on the WiFi, it would just stay in "Turning on..." forever. Similar thing for Bluetooth: It would stay on for a few seconds and then turn itself off again after. (But then, who needs Bluetooth anyway, WiFi ist probably 100 times more important...). I have thoroughly searched the internet, and I found quite some videos with exactly the same problem (remove the two blanks from the links to watch):
h ttps://w ww.youtube.com/watch?v=fRGnQz1zUmw
h ttps://w ww.youtube.com/watch?v=4W8YJMDFM88
h ttp://w ww.dailymotion.com/video/x2cuyjt_nexus-5-turning-wifi-on-frozen-problem_tech
2. Urgent advice
I want to prevent you from wasting countless hours searching for a solution - I wasted so much of my time already, no need for you to repeat that. Therefore: *Please* be aware that there is a VERY HIGH PROBABILITY that this issue is being caused by a hardware defect. I can not speak for all devices of course, but keep in mind that the main reason I wasted so much time, was me beliving it was some software issue! See the next section for a glimpse of stuff I have tried without any success:
3. Things that *DIDN'T* work
01. Restarting WiFi/Bluetooth several times
02. Rebooting the phone
03. Turning airplane mode on/off several times
04. Slapping/hitting the phone (this was indeed suggested in a forum)
05. Using WiFi-Fixer apps
06. Resetting to factory settings
07. Upgrading to newest Android version
08. Fully drained the battery and left it uncharged for several hours
(Rooted the phone)
09. Deleting the /data/misc/wifi/wpa_supplicant.conf
10. Deleting the whole /data/misc/wifi folder
11. Creating a file named ".bdaddr" in /persist/bluetooth containing a MAC-Address in hexadecimal format
12. Creating a file named ".macaddr" in /persist/wifi containing a MAC-Address in hexadecimal format
13. Flashing several custom ROMs to it (CyanogenMod, ParanoidAndroid, ...)
14. Going back to stock ROM
15. etc. etc. etc.
16. Several combinations and permutations of the above
4. There is little hope
Again, as the cause of the problem is most likely a hardware issue, I don't recommend going through all the steps as described in the previous section; however, though none of the steps worked for me, this doesn't mean that none won't work for you neither; you might be luckier than I was. In that case, enjoy your restored WiFi and be happy.
5. My most obvious advice
You need to replace the motherboard (main board) of your device.
Honestly, if you can afford it and it doesn't cause too many inconveniences to you, you'll be better off by simply buying a new device. If you don't want to buy a new device, send it in for repairs. If you don't want to do that as well, you'll have to fallback to a DIY solution:
I. Buy a new main board for your device. Be careful to get exactly the right component for your specific model. If you dont find any shop selling those, there are plenty of individuals out there that own devices with broken displays. You dont need the displays, you need the motherboard. Buy one such broken device, and you'll have your main board replacement.
II. Replace your main board or let someone else do it for you
Continues below.
continuation
6. LET'S GET SERIOUS!
If you are reading this, you either didn't read or you decided not to follow my most obvious advice in section 5. So be it. If you want to carry on from here, be sure to re-read my disclaimer at the top of my post.
There are 3 DIY possible fixes for the WiFi problem - none is guaranteed. I will describe them from the most harmless to the most kamikaze/deadliest. All of them will require you to open your device; if you are not careful and damage any of the components inside, you will end up with a worse device than before - but hey, don't say I didn't warn you.
At this point we assume that the cause of the problem is a faulty solder joint of your WiFi IC. The goal is to try to restore that solder joint. To do that, you will have to:
I. Open your device
II. Find your main board and separate it from all connected plugs
III. Find / identify the WiFi IC chip on the main board. I recommend searching for a service manual for your device, or/and searching for a disassembly video for your device; you need to know which one of the chips on the main board is the WiFi one.
Once you have identified your WiFi chip, you have 3 options, which you may combine with each other, but I recommend to try them out one-by-one as follows:
6.a Sellotape / Scotch tape
You need to make sure that your WiFi chip is pressed against the main board (ideally, this ensures the broken contacts touch each other, solving the problem). The best way to achieve this, is to attach a series of tape strips on the top of the WiFi chip, causing it to be pressed against the main board by the surrounding cover/hull once you reassemble/close the device. The tape strips are just a suggestion, do whatever you find convenient as long as you ensure that the chip is pushed against the board at all times.
This method may solve the WiFi problem already. When you turn your device back on, give it some time (5-10 minutes) and reboot it a few times if the problem still persists. My own WiFi didn't function right away, but after a while it finally recovered - hurray!
6.b Refrigerator / Freezer
Instead of using the tape as described in 6.a, you may first try to put your motherboard in a fridge for a few hours/days. But make sure to put it there in a plastic bag, and avoid moisture as much as you can, specially when taking it out of the fridge. Make sure its completely dry before reassembling your device!
By the way, try the refrigerator option BEFORE you try the freezer option!
6.c Oven
If everything else fails, the oven might be your last chance. This is not a joke, but as you probably can assume, it is "All-In" i.e. highly risky. The theory behind this is that high temperature will cause defective solder joints to reflow, reconnecting and thus fixing the problem.
You should only try this as a matter of last ressort. Be warned that you may fully destroy your main board, and there is a high chance that you will. Also, you may cause serious injury to yourself or others. Make sure you make backups of your data first. DO NOT BAKE THE WHOLE DEVICE, ONLY THE MAIN BOARD. DO NOT BAKE THE BATTERY!!
If you are still reading:
I. pre-heat your oven to 385° Fahrenheit (196° Celsius)
II. put your main board in the oven, bake it there for 7 minutes
III. remove from the oven, let it cool down until every component of the board has room temperature
Finally, here is a video of a guy doing a similar thing, but with a heat gun:
h ttps://w ww.youtube.com/watch?v=A4n0j3uaS7E
Ok, this is all, I hope I could help you.
Good luck!
Summary
Hello all,
first of all, I want to thank brysclar and xbing6 for their valuable feedback! Thanks a lot guys! :good:
Now, in an effort to update this thread and in an effort of trying to summarize it in fewer words (my disclaimer above applies!):
- The described problem seems to affect mainly (all kinds of) LG devices
- The issue seems to be caused by a defective soldering of the Wi-Fi chip on the main board
- The defect seems to be induced by dropping or/and overheating the device; recharging the battery, big/long app or android updates or the flashing of custom roms could cause excessive heating
- brysclar pointed out that replacing the battery might solve the problem (I haven't tried this out myself, so I can neither deny nor confirm this)
- My recommended solution is 6.a - applying pressure on the Wi-Fi chip, pushing it against the main board, using tape stripes
- There is a video of a brasilean guy doing some similar, but using pieces of an old credit card instead of tape strips: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJkdva2iOag BUT PLEASE NOTE THAT HE IS APPLYING THE PRESSURE ON A RANDOM SPOT, NOT DIRECTLY TO THE WIFI CHIP! It *may* work for you, but if it doesn't, find/identify your Wi-Fi chip and apply the pressure there
- If everything else fails, and only as a matter of last ressort, you may try what I have written in 6.c
So... this thread has over 500 views, but not one single reply.
Guys... what has your experience been? Have you tried anything out from the posts above, and if so, what was the result? Did it help you? Do you recommend anything? Has something else, not written here, worked for you?
There are a lot of people out there having the same problem. It would be great if you could give any feedback, share anything that helps the community.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I honestly didn't see this post before. You really covered every detail very well. So far, returning my G3 to stock and replacing the battery has fixed it for me. Weird. I know. I did try 90% of the things on your "things that don't work" list and you are correct. They don't work.
wlanmac 02/00/00/00/00, Bluetooth is OK
Hey, i just got an LG LS990 with same Wifi issue and i'm ready to try so WITNESS ME!
Thanks for an amazing and detailed post lml
Simply awesome.
I have similar issue with my Nexus 5x. It is QCA6174 hw 3.2 chip, lspci does not detect this chip any more. I am going to do a little bit investigation from device driver (cnss) perspective. It enables one GPIO to provide power to this WiFi chip, I will try read back this GPIO status to see if it is enabled. I do not have the schematics, I do not know how to check if power is supplied to this wifi chip.
lspci used to show below:
$ ./lspci
00:00.0 PCI bridge: Airgo Networks Inc Device 0300 (rev ff)
01:00.0 Network controller: Atheros Communications Inc. Device 003e (rev ff) (this is qca6174)
If kernel driver investigation does not reveal anything helpful, I will ask other guys to replace the chip.
I thought it is because of vendor partition is accidentally wiped out, maybe it is unlikely.
---------- Post added at 08:49 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:40 PM ----------
As Bluetooth can not be turned either, I am tending to think this is hardware related as well. As described previously, I will see if I can check that gpio status.
investigating
xbing6 said:
I have similar issue with my Nexus 5x.
(...)
I am going to do a little bit investigation
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi xbing, and thank you for your feedback! :good:
I am really curious and looking forward to hear the results of your investigation! I believe that in your case, too, the Wi-Fi/BT chip is not being supplied correctly due to a defective soldering. Note that I don't think that the chip itself is defective, only the contacts between the chip and the main board. So, before replacing the chip, I'd recommend to first try what I've written in 6.a (or check my update/summary above).
Keep us posted about everything you find out!
Sprint declined to fix my LS990 due to "water damage" being the reason for it not working, and wanted to charge me a $150 deductible for a $100 phone. Shimming the WiFi chip against the metal covering with some thermal pad I had lying around and adding a bit of sticky foam on top of the ribbon cable for the camera worked great! Much thanks!
Tomcat5 said:
Sprint declined to fix my LS990 due to "water damage" being the reason for it not working, and wanted to charge me a $150 deductible for a $100 phone. Shimming the WiFi chip against the metal covering with some thermal pad I had lying around and adding a bit of sticky foam on top of the ribbon cable for the camera worked great! Much thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Any idea if thermal paste/grease could work?
unlikely
NavHur said:
Any idea if thermal paste/grease could work?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi NavHur,
since the problem is mostly caused by a loose Wi-Fi chip, respectively a defective solder joint, using thermal paste or grease is unlikely to help; again, what you need to do is to have your Wi-Fi chip pushed against your main board. You can use your imagination on how to accomplish this; what Tomcat5 described he did ultimately led to exactly having his chip being pressed against the board.
Of course you are free to try whatever you want - if you find new solutions please post some feedback.
Good luck.
NimbleWeasel said:
Hi NavHur,
since the problem is mostly caused by a loose Wi-Fi chip, respectively a defective solder joint, using thermal paste or grease is unlikely to help; again, what you need to do is to have your Wi-Fi chip pushed against your main board. You can use your imagination on how to accomplish this; what Tomcat5 described he did ultimately led to exactly having his chip being pressed against the board.
Of course you are free to try whatever you want - if you find new solutions please post some feedback.
Good luck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks you so much, I placed a small piece of plastic above the wifi chip and one next to the camera lens. Now the wifi works fine. However my screen was pushed up so it bended a little. The faulty thing was my battery, not the added plastic. I compared mine with the one of a friend, mine was 1 mm bigger. (also with the battery of my friend's g3 the screen was fine)
I'll be changing it soon.
same problem as u but sometimes wifi works(mainly fully charged) and sometimes dont
i have lg g2 D802 model. It had a wifi problem as u shown in your videos,my phone also behaves same like yours but sometimes it works normally like while charging,works like 2 or 3 times a day(for 5-10 min).please tell me whether my phone got ic problem or software issue
Pratap94 said:
i have lg g2 D802 model. It had a wifi problem as u shown in your videos,my phone also behaves same like yours but sometimes it works normally like while charging,works like 2 or 3 times a day(for 5-10 min).please tell me whether my phone got ic problem or software issue
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi Pratap94,
nobody, neither here in this forum nor elsewhere in the internet, will be able to give you a reliable answer without having a *physical* look at your phone. Nobody.
However, I can give you my opinion, based on the stuff you wrote: The fact that it works normally sometimes, specially while charging (probably it heats up in the process?), indeed seems to indicate a hardware issue. I believe you have a loose Wi-Fi chip i.e. a defective solder joint, like I had on my LG G2 D802 as well. I solved my problem by doing the stuff I described in 6.a.
Good luck.
Thank you so much
NimbleWeasel said:
Hello all,
first of all, I want to thank brysclar and xbing6 for their valuable feedback! Thanks a lot guys! :good:
Problem solved good bless you!! the problem is fix in that youtube video XD
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sadly step 6.a did not help me. Well, it worked for first 5-10 minutes and then back again.
Olzhas18 said:
Sadly step 6.a did not help me. Well, it worked for first 5-10 minutes and then back again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi Olzhas18,
that might be an indication that your WiFi chip is still a bit loose and is not sitting tight enough on the main board. On LG G2, it is difficult to push the chip against the board because it's covered by a metal cover...
Also, did you check out this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJkdva2iOag ?
Good luck!
NimbleWeasel said:
Hi Olzhas18,
that might be an indication that your WiFi chip is still a bit loose and is not sitting tight enough on the main board. On LG G2, it is difficult to push the chip against the board because it's covered by a metal cover...
Also, did you check out this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJkdva2iOag ?
Good luck!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you this tip and this whole thread. I have seen this video, but still the same effect. 5-10 minutes, I can rean some news and back to flashing. I'm going to buy Huawei Honor 8 soon, it was the last chance to recover my G4. I doubt I will purchase any other phone from LG.
Same boat
But bluetooth working
In cm roms also wifi tethring can be onn
But u cnt turn onn wifi
I had the same issue, can't turn on Wifi after factory reset.
I turn off my device off after one hour and reboot wifi was OK but when I want to upgrade some apps iwifi turn of again and my phone reboot with no SIM card.
I do "6.a Sellotape / Scotch tape" + a creedit card cut with this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_0jzp65eLY#t=73.319872
My LG G2 works fine

i9300 repair or retrieving internal storage if phone is not detected from computer?

HI
My wife's phone (i9300 galaxy S3) has gone wrong and it went off without battery.
I found a new battery, but it lasted only one day. I thus decided to take it for repair,
as I think that this is the charge connector that is broken, but actually, the tech told me that it was probably the motherboard,
as when it used a tool to plug it to the direct charge ports on the side, the phone only bootlooped.
Thing is:
My wife's phone wasn't using cloud or external SD,
it was not rooted.
I tried some android toolkits to connect it, but odin or adb don't detect it, so I have no chance to try and put some new kernel on it.
It has no recovery mode, and when in download mode (1st screen), it actually doesn't last long before it reboots anyway.
Choosing some option will also make it reboot.
So I think it is failed beyond software repair.
But if you have suggestion for this (the tech was at a small street stall and I don't expect him to be high level, no offense, but he seemed to only perform two repairs, screen and charge flex boards, so not much more able than me if he can't go beyond this), feel free?
So my second question is :
Does anyone know how to retrieve the internal storage of the phone without breaking it, and reinstall it in a working way on a new motherboard?
Or alternatively, on an emmc reader such as those used for raspberry cards and so on? (I don't want to put some link, I don't want my message to be filtered)
The photos on this chip are priceless for us, and I would even pay professional to retrieve these (I would prefer not having to, because money doesn't exactly come cheap to me, but I guess I won't be able to make it alone.
So if you know some repair service in Europe that would be able to perform such task, I would be grateful for your sharing of such knowledge.
I saw an alternative in malaysia, but it feels a little too far for being able to do something in case of problem.
Thanks for your attention and time.

Chip-Off on Samsung Galaxy Note 10

Hello everyone.
Months ago I threw my Galaxy Note10 in the pool, result: K.O.
I took it to several repair centers, and they all told me the MB is gone.
I would like to try the chip off, by unmounting the memory chip and remounting it on another MB on new Note10.
Now my question is: Assuming the operation goes smoothly, can I just recover the data, or can I hope to use the new terminal as if it were the old one?
Maybe samsung implemented a secure file system, which only the original note can get access to? And in this case, is there a solution?
This is also because I need to recover the Google Authenticator app which, as you know, only stores locally,
so my hope is in a nutshell: Mount the old memory chip on the new MB, turn on the new phone and find everything as it was on the old one. Is such a thing possible?
Thanks in advance
Please remember to search before posting to ensure you're posting in the right section for your device:
1. Search before posting.
Use one of our search functions before posting or creating a new thread. Whether you have a question or just something new to share, it's very likely that someone has already asked that question or shared that news.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
15. Keep threads / posts on-topic
Whilst a minor amount of off-topic posting may be overlooked, the general rule is that your posts / threads must be relevant to the Forum / thread in which you are posting.
General Forums - For news and announcements relating to your device.
Q&A Help & Troubleshooting Forums - For all question / request threads and posts. If there is no Q&A Help & Troubleshooting forum, use the General Forum of the relevant device
Accessories Forum - For posts related to accessories relevant to the device
Development Forums (ones with the word development in the title) - For Developers to post release threads e.g. ROMs and Kernels including modifications to kernels, bootloaders, ROMs, etc., as well as R&D development discussion threads designed with an end goal
Themes and Apps Forums - For the posting of Themes and / or Apps as well as announcements & discussions including modifications made to Themes and Apps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As a courtesy, we will move your thread to the Galaxy Note 10 Questions and Answers section.
As for your question...without the specialized equipment used in manufacture of these devices, it is all but impossible. Surface mount devices are incredibly hard to remove from boards without damage. Unfortunately, your data is lost.
V0latyle said:
Please remember to search before posting to ensure you're posting in the right section for your device:
As a courtesy, we will move your thread to the Galaxy Note 10 Questions and Answers section.
As for your question...without the specialized equipment used in manufacture of these devices, it is all but impossible. Surface mount devices are incredibly hard to remove from boards without damage. Unfortunately, your data is lost.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The chip-off technique is very common and is used successfully on all smartphones.
Obviously it has to be done by a specialized center with the right equipment, and it was obviously understood that I intend to turn to professionals for this job.
Now, given that the data is not lost at all, and that the chip off almost always works, usually only a data recovery is performed, by inserting the memory chip into special reading tools. To which my question is if it was possible to reassemble the aforementioned chip on a new MB of a working device, instead of only performing a data recovery from a reader.
I also apologize for posting in this section, but the chip off is a universal technique, which affects all types of MB and regardless of the type and brand of smartphone, I wrote the model only for completeness of information even if the question was obviously generalized to the concept. For this reason I chose to post it in the general questions section.
Thanks for the reply
chip off is pointless even if storage is soldered to different mainboard, as the hardware-backed encryption master key is unique for each SPU.
aIecxs said:
chip off is pointless even if storage is soldered to different mainboard, as the hardware-backed encryption master key is unique for each SPU.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you, so how is it possible that in 90% of chip off cases on smartphones of many brands, the data is recovered? is there a way to decrypt the data using decryption tools?
Guerrerobook said:
The chip-off technique is very common and is used successfully on all smartphones.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've been in the electronics industry for nearly 18 years. It's not nearly as common as you think, as I describe below....
Guerrerobook said:
Obviously it has to be done by a specialized center with the right equipment, and it was obviously understood that I intend to turn to professionals for this job.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And you'll pay a LOT of money to do it. There isn't much of a market for this kind of specialized repair on "disposable" consumer electronics including smartphones. The reason why is simply cost. OEMs already have established manufacturing processes to produce thousands of boards a day; it's much cheaper to simply replace the entire board in a device than it would be to get the specialized equipment as well as the organic skill necessary to do this. I used to work for a Fortune 100 company that produces military grade avionics; in most cases, we did not replace defective SMD components, but rather the entire board. The cost of a component might be anywhere from the tens to hundreds of dollars, whereas the board could be upwards of $40,000, but again, it's simply more cost effective to replace a manufactured assembly than it is to try to install the "old" flash device onto a new board. In the consumer electronics industry, this difference is even more profound - a supplier can produce complete assemblies for cents on the dollar, and since it's so inexpensive to just replace with new, that's the preferred method of repair instead of replacing components - and that is if they bother repairing the device at all, because in many cases they'll simply replace an inoperable device with a new one.
Guerrerobook said:
Now, given that the data is not lost at all, and that the chip off almost always works, usually only a data recovery is performed, by inserting the memory chip into special reading tools. To which my question is if it was possible to reassemble the aforementioned chip on a new MB of a working device, instead of only performing a data recovery from a reader.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When I said "lost" I meant in the context of the ability of the average user to recover it. Yes, it is absolutely possible to read the data from the flash devices, but to do so you have to have some pretty specialized equipment and software, which I assume you don't have. Most repair centers won't have this, either, because as I described above, they'll simply replace entire assemblies. If your car's engine loses compression in a single cylinder, most repair centers won't replace the components in just that cylinder - they'll at least replace the entire cylinder head assembly, complete with valves and cams; they might just replace the entire engine if the problem is deep enough, instead of tearing it down to the block. Why? Because it's simply more expensive to replace individual components than entire assemblies.
Guerrerobook said:
I also apologize for posting in this section, but the chip off is a universal technique, which affects all types of MB and regardless of the type and brand of smartphone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm fully familiar with the technique, but I also recognize just how specialized it is and how rare it is actually in practice. If you can find a shop that can do this, all the more power to you, but remember you're asking this question on a forum where most users only have access to publicly available tools and software.
Guerrerobook said:
Thank you, so how is it possible that in 90% of chip off cases on smartphones of many brands, the data is recovered? is there a way to decrypt the data using decryption tools?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Again - the possibility of doing so is irrelevant, because it's time and money that's generally not worth spent. Forensic data recovery is yet another specialized process.
Guerrerobook said:
Thank you, so how is it possible that in 90% of chip off cases on smartphones of many brands, the data is recovered?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can only laugh about such statistics.
"The Qualcomm SPU is a sub-chip embedded in a single-chip standalone device which conforms to the Level 2 requirements for physical security. The device is a single integrated circuit in which the die is embedded in a printed-circuit board (PCB) which provides opaqueness in the visible spectrum. The Qualcomm SPU is contained in a tamper-evident enclosure which deters direct observation, probing, or manipulation and provides evidence of attempts to tamper with or remove the Qualcomm SPU. The Qualcomm SPU is made from production-grade components with a conformal coating that provides protection against environmental or other physical damage."
V0latyle said:
I've been in the electronics industry for nearly 18 years. It's not nearly as common as you think, as I describe below....
And you'll pay a LOT of money to do it. There isn't much of a market for this kind of specialized repair on "disposable" consumer electronics including smartphones. The reason why is simply cost. OEMs already have established manufacturing processes to produce thousands of boards a day; it's much cheaper to simply replace the entire board in a device than it would be to get the specialized equipment as well as the organic skill necessary to do this. I used to work for a Fortune 100 company that produces military grade avionics; in most cases, we did not replace defective SMD components, but rather the entire board. The cost of a component might be anywhere from the tens to hundreds of dollars, whereas the board could be upwards of $40,000, but again, it's simply more cost effective to replace a manufactured assembly than it is to try to install the "old" flash device onto a new board. In the consumer electronics industry, this difference is even more profound - a supplier can produce complete assemblies for cents on the dollar, and since it's so inexpensive to just replace with new, that's the preferred method of repair instead of replacing components - and that is if they bother repairing the device at all, because in many cases they'll simply replace an inoperable device with a new one.
When I said "lost" I meant in the context of the ability of the average user to recover it. Yes, it is absolutely possible to read the data from the flash devices, but to do so you have to have some pretty specialized equipment and software, which I assume you don't have. Most repair centers won't have this, either, because as I described above, they'll simply replace entire assemblies. If your car's engine loses compression in a single cylinder, most repair centers won't replace the components in just that cylinder - they'll at least replace the entire cylinder head assembly, complete with valves and cams; they might just replace the entire engine if the problem is deep enough, instead of tearing it down to the block. Why? Because it's simply more expensive to replace individual components than entire assemblies.
I'm fully familiar with the technique, but I also recognize just how specialized it is and how rare it is actually in practice. If you can find a shop that can do this, all the more power to you, but remember you're asking this question on a forum where most users only have access to publicly available tools and software.
Again - the possibility of doing so is irrelevant, because it's time and money that's generally not worth spent. Forensic data recovery is yet another specialized process.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What you say is correct if the goal is to repair a device; in this case it is much more convenient to replace it. But here we are dealing with data recovery, a very important and highly sought-after topic in this era, data are far more important than devices.
Ergo, there are many companies that specialize in forensic data recovery, with all the necessary equipment. And the cost for a chip off on a smartphone ranges from about $1000 to $1500.
But as I said in my first question, they just recover the data by inserting the memory chip into a suitable reader.
This is why my question was specifically, if instead of recovering the data in this way, it was possible (I mean technically, beyond costs and specific equipment that I have no problem finding), reassemble the chip on a new smartphone and use this as if it was the old one, working.
aIecxs said:
I can only laugh about such statistics.
"The Qualcomm SPU is a sub-chip embedded in a single-chip standalone device which conforms to the Level 2 requirements for physical security. The device is a single integrated circuit in which the die is embedded in a printed-circuit board (PCB) which provides opaqueness in the visible spectrum. The Qualcomm SPU is contained in a tamper-evident enclosure which deters direct observation, probing, or manipulation and provides evidence of attempts to tamper with or remove the Qualcomm SPU. The Qualcomm SPU is made from production-grade components with a conformal coating that provides protection against environmental or other physical damage."
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK thank you. So I look at the problem from another point of view: The smartphone fell into the pool and no longer turned on. Some repair centers told me they couldn't fix it. In your experience, can water damage be that irreparable? or have these repair centers simply not been able to? in a nutshell is there any hope of resurrecting the MB?
the only way to recover data is to repair the phone. this is absolutely possible and I have seen repair centers doing that. they have schematics and measure each component on it's own. there is a colombian forum you can maybe find schematics.
https://www.servicell-arauca.com
(enable subtitles auto-generated and translated into english)
Guerrerobook said:
What you say is correct if the goal is to repair a device; in this case it is much more convenient to replace it. But here we are dealing with data recovery, a very important and highly sought-after topic in this era, data are far more important than devices.
Ergo, there are many companies that specialize in forensic data recovery, with all the necessary equipment. And the cost for a chip off on a smartphone ranges from about $1000 to $1500.
But as I said in my first question, they just recover the data by inserting the memory chip into a suitable reader.
This is why my question was specifically, if instead of recovering the data in this way, it was possible (I mean technically, beyond costs and specific equipment that I have no problem finding), reassemble the chip on a new smartphone and use this as if it was the old one, working.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you have the money and find someone who has the ability to do it...yes. But as Alecxs pointed out, there's additional problems you'd have to solve to get that flash device or devices to work with the SoC, mainly encryption. The encryption key is unique to each device, so moving the flash devices to a new board wouldn't work.
Honestly, if you are this invested into recovering your data, I think your best bet is to find someone who may be able to get your old device temporarily working, possibly while disassembled on a bench, long enough for you to recover your data so you can transfer it to a new phone. Encryption alone is going to be the biggest issue you'll have to deal with, and the easiest way to defeat it is to get the rest of the system working so that you're able to access the decrypted data "naturally". Most encryption is SHA-256, which for all intents and purposes is unbreakable.
aIecxs said:
the only way to recover data is to repair the phone. this is absolutely possible and I have seen repair centers doing that. they have schematics and measure each component on it's own. there is a spanish forum you can maybe find schematics.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
V0latyle said:
If you have the money and find someone who has the ability to do it...yes. But as Alecxs pointed out, there's additional problems you'd have to solve to get that flash device or devices to work with the SoC, mainly encryption. The encryption key is unique to each device, so moving the flash devices to a new board wouldn't work.
Honestly, if you are this invested into recovering your data, I think your best bet is to find someone who may be able to get your old device temporarily working, possibly while disassembled on a bench, long enough for you to recover your data so you can transfer it to a new phone. Encryption alone is going to be the biggest issue you'll have to deal with, and the easiest way to defeat it is to get the rest of the system working so that you're able to access the decrypted data "naturally". Most encryption is SHA-256, which for all intents and purposes is unbreakable.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
After falling into the pool, the device got very hot and then turned off.
The repair center that kept it the longest told me they tried to get the MB working long enough to recover the data, but it got too hot and gave up so as not to cause any more damage. In the light of these details, do you think it can be recovered?
Guerrerobook said:
OK thank you. So I look at the problem from another point of view: The smartphone fell into the pool and no longer turned on. Some repair centers told me they couldn't fix it. In your experience, can water damage be that irreparable? or have these repair centers simply not been able to? in a nutshell is there any hope of resurrecting the MB?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unless you disconnected the battery asap it's probably toast. Pull rear cover, disconnect battery, flush liberally with anhydrous isopropyl alcohol, drain off as much of the alcohol as fast as possible in a very warm, very dry room. Allow to dry completely for 2-7 days with a fan on it in a very warm, dry room. Try to power up only then...
You should have use a model with an SD card slot to store all of your critical data. Don't repeat this mistake again.
Destroy a new mobo to try and recover the data?
That's wasteful, nuts and will likely fail without lots of prior practice. The pros don't do this.
A recovery specialist service will hot air the BGA chipset off and use a test socket to try and extract, then decrypt the data. It may be successful. Expect to pay around $800 if it is successful.
blackhawk said:
Unless you disconnected the battery asap it's probably toast. Pull rear cover, disconnect battery, flush liberally with anhydrous isopropyl alcohol, drain off as much of the alcohol as fast as possible in a very warm, very dry room. Allow to dry completely for 2-7 days with a fan on it in a very warm, dry room. Try to power up only then...
You should have use a model with an SD card slot to store all of your critical data. Don't repeat this mistake again.
Destroy a new mobo to try and recover the data?
That's wasteful, nuts and will likely fail without lots of prior practice. The pros don't do this.
A recovery specialist service will hot air the BGA chipset off and use a test socket to try and extract, then decrypt the data. It may be successful. Expect to pay around $800 if it is successful.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have not disconnected the battery. The next day I took it to the repair center. Could data recovery be successful despite the unique encryption key?
Guerrerobook said:
I have not disconnected the battery. The next day I took it to the repair center. Could data recovery be successful despite the unique encryption key?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You should have powered down immediately and disconnected the battery asap. Do not attempt to power it up or charge it again.
Take it to a recovery service that specializes in Samsung's. That's the only way to know if the data can be recovered. They can decrypt it probably if they can recover the data intact.
Personally I would have written it off if pulling the battery, drying, etc failed.
Always redundantly backup critical data to at least 2 hdds that are physically and electronically isolated from each other and the PC on a regular basis. At the very minimum use 2 OTG flashsticks for backup. More lessons from the U of Hard Knocks... they tend to sink in and be retained.
Guerrerobook said:
After falling into the pool, the device got very hot and then turned off.
The repair center that kept it the longest told me they tried to get the MB working long enough to recover the data, but it got too hot and gave up so as not to cause any more damage. In the light of these details, do you think it can be recovered?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No. As I said at the beginning, if the device is dead, data recovery is nigh impossible.
V0latyle said:
No. As I said at the beginning, if the device is dead, data recovery is nigh impossible.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's actually not completely dead, as I said the repair center told me they tried to keep the MB running long enough to make a backup but it got too hot and gave up.. So at least the MB turns on..
blackhawk said:
More lessons from the U of Hard Knocks... they tend to sink in and be retained.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I didn't understand this part
Guerrerobook said:
I didn't understand this part
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
University of Hard Knocks. Learning from painful mistakes...like losing your data because your device took a swim
Guerrerobook said:
The repair center that kept it the longest told me they tried to get the MB working long enough to recover the data, but it got too hot and gave up so as not to cause any more damage. In the light of these details, do you think it can be recovered?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you tell them your lock screen credentials? Without unlocking, no one can recover data per design, no matter how long the mainboard survives. If service center claim to extract data with chip off method, they are simply scammers. no one can do this (except for secret government backdoors in baseband maybe, qualcomm is american multinational corporation lol)

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