I know this is a hardware question, but I'm hoping someone might have an answer.
My son cracked the screen on his Galaxy S Blaze. I ordered a replacement screen assembly and found a video which I thought showed how to replace the screen, but it was for a different model. I have the cover off, the flex cables disconnected and the motherboard out, but I can't figure out how to remove the old screen from the front housing. Based on the other video, it should be a combination of heating the edge of the housing with a hair dryer until the adhesive softens, then prying it off. I've tried to do this with no luck, but it could be that I'm not prying hard enough - kinda scared to break it.
Does anyone know how to remove the screen - or better yet, know of a disassembly guide for the Galaxy S Blaze?
Thanks!
Heat, Heat and more heat...
Be careful with the heat as it can destroy amoled
a little off topic but...
One of the pins on my usb port got damaged. I was curious and took off the cover to have a look at what would be needed to replace it.... too much soldering that is above my skill level. Anyways, in the process of removing the cover, I lost functionality of my hardware buttons. I'm assuming I damaged the cables that attach them to the mobo. Didn't notice this until I put the cover back on and booted up. Does that seem right? Was I just being too harsh while taking it apart and ripped a ribbon or something of the like?
Anyone have a guide or tips on replacing the motherboard. My tablet bricked while updating to 10.6.1.8 and is stuck in the Asus splash screen. I've seen to utube vid on the screen replacement but can not seem to find a motherboard how to. It seems to motherboard must be removed during the screen replacement. Will I need paste? Is the large copper heat sink cover glued on? Any advise would be great.
Tabbajit said:
Anyone have a guide or tips on replacing the motherboard. My tablet bricked while updating to 10.6.1.8 and is stuck in the Asus splash screen. I've seen to utube vid on the screen replacement but can not seem to find a motherboard how to. It seems to motherboard must be removed during the screen replacement. Will I need paste? Is the large copper heat sink cover glued on? Any advise would be great.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The copper pad has glue where the processor and the rams are. Some might have glue at the far left and right side. But you can lift it off (you will break the warranty seal in the process). If you're replacing the motherboard, you need to:
A. Disconnect (1) the battery (connector located underneath the copper pad); (2) charging cable (flat amber); (3) touchscreen cable (flat white or silver, sometimes covered with black tape); (4) lcd screen cable (strand of multi-colored wires taped down to the battery); (5) remove the small amber cable connecting the power switch to the MB; and (6) disconnect the speakers connector from the MB.
B. Remove all the tiny screws in plain sight holding the MB to the magnesium frame.
C. Lift the cameras off their slots with something non-metal, like a toothpick.
D. Lift the MB just a bit to make sure it's loose, then SLIDE it out to the left, paying particular attention to the power button module (small amber ribbon assembly at the top right corner). If you pull it straight up, you will rip it.
Reassembly is just the reverse. Be sure to connect the battery last, just before reinstalling the copper pad. Good luck. Go to this thread for pics.
Thanks for the pointers. Will I need any thermal paste for the processor?
Tabbajit said:
Thanks for the pointers. Will I need any thermal paste for the processor?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Apparently, the copper pad is smeared with some heat-conducting adhesive at contact points with the processor and ram chips. Some people would just stick it back. It didn't hold as well the second time though, in my experience. I cleaned off the sticky stuff, used Arctic Silver 5 on both components, and stuck some copper tape around the pad's edge. Just personal preferences.
Tabbajit said:
Thanks for the pointers. Will I need any thermal paste for the processor?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i don't think it is necessary...
so there are 2 cables I am not able to disconnect. one is the larger longer cooper ribbon that connects to the charging\docking port. the other has a similar connection. it is under black tape and is between the mico hdmi output and a multi color ribbon. I was able to get the other ones disconnected. Please help. Trying to take my time but I am getting frustrated and worried I am going to break something
EDIT- I figured it out. The black part behind the tan connection part is tinny but flips up. I got it disconnected. That was easier than I though!
Hi all,
Has anyone successfully replaced the vibrator motor in their Photon Q? Mine went flaky on me for a while, now it doesn't work at all unless I shake the phone while testing it with the little "Vibrator Tester" app, so effectively it's shot. Maybe I weakened it when I did the Simcard mod because it's so close to where the Simcard chip is. I tried messing around with it yesterday with a jeweler's screwdriver, it's not shorting out, it needs a shake or a flip to get it running at all, then after stopping it won't run again on its own.
It doesn't look very easy to replace, appears to be soldered down along both sides pretty good. I figure I can't go at it with hot air or I'll destroy my Simcard mod or something else. I'd just buy another board but the Simcard mod is so darn difficult to do that I'd rather avoid redoing that!
Anyone dealt with this problem before? Thanks in advance for any tips!
Based on the lack of replies after a week it's looking like I was right about there not being a simple/known fix for the vibrator motor in the Photon Q.
I tried this process but it did nothing. I suspect the motor isn't just in need of lubrication, it's probably burnt out.
[GUIDE][TAKE APART] Fix the annoying/bad vibration
Let me ask a different question out of interest - Anyone else living with a vibrator motor that is not functioning right or at all in their Photon Q?
I haven't had a good motor in mine for years. The board I have in mine now works for about 3 times before it dies for about 10 minutes, so I get by with it. However you peaked my curiosity so I attempted to pull one off of a board I had laying around. Surprisingly it came off rather easily! There are only 2 solder points, and I really think you could just dab a little solder on the pads to raise them up and glue new vibe motor on there without needing to solder anything. I may give this a try this weekend just to see if it looks like it's replaceable. They are on eBay but I had heard you had to have a hot air solder station to do the repair. Here's a pic of the one I just removed.
Hi bmccrary,
Thanks for your reply. I was going to attempt to file the motor housing down enough to use side cutters to clip away at it to make the bottom and solder pads a little more accessible, but your picture is very encouraging, makes me think that the cutting will be unnecessary!
They have what looks to be a good fit motor and it's about 15 minutes drive away from me in Santa Clara California, but by the time I found it online it looks like they closed up shop for the US holiday weekend already, so now I have to wait 'til Tuesday.
Vibration - Micro Motor 1.5-3V
Many similar ones are available on eBay but I want it NOW! Well, Tuesday anyway.
Do you mind if I ask you a few more questions in the meantime?
- Is the motor glued down in that rectangular section or soldered?
- What did you do first, break the glue or desolder the contacts?
- Did you clip the contacts somehow before desoldering them?
- How did you break the glue without breaking the board?
All very encouraging so far... Looking forward to hearing back from you! Thanks again.
bmccrary said:
I haven't had a good motor in mine for years. The board I have in mine now works for about 3 times before it dies for about 10 minutes, so I get by with it. However you peaked my curiosity so I attempted to pull one off of a board I had laying around. Surprisingly it came off rather easily! There are only 2 solder points, and I really think you could just dab a little solder on the pads to raise them up and glue new vibe motor on there without needing to solder anything. I may give this a try this weekend just to see if it looks like it's replaceable. They are on eBay but I had heard you had to have a hot air solder station to do the repair. Here's a pic of the one I just removed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
timekiller_9 said:
Hi bmccrary,
Thanks for your reply. I was going to attempt to file the motor housing down enough to use side cutters to clip away at it to make the bottom and solder pads a little more accessible, but your picture is very encouraging, makes me think that the cutting will be unnecessary!
They have what looks to be a good fit motor and it's about 15 minutes drive away from me in Santa Clara California, but by the time I found it online it looks like they closed up shop for the US holiday weekend already, so now I have to wait 'til Tuesday.
Vibration - Micro Motor 1.5-3V
Many similar ones are available on eBay but I want it NOW! Well, Tuesday anyway.
Do you mind if I ask you a few more questions in the meantime?
- Is the motor glued down in that rectangular section or soldered?
- What did you do first, break the glue or desolder the contacts?
- Did you clip the contacts somehow before desoldering them?
- How did you break the glue without breaking the board?
All very encouraging so far... Looking forward to hearing back from you! Thanks again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey at least you have a place nearby! :good: I'm in TN with a bunch of cows haha, no motors around here. Ok, this is going to sound over simplified, but all I did was just took a small flat blade screwdriver and pried against the board and the weight attached to the motor shaft. It broke loose without too much force. The rectangular section is just adhesive, there is no solder. The solder joints held on until the motor was lifted 90 degrees off the board, then they just broke off the motor's contacts. However, the pads on the board are still very much intact and they did not lift at all from the board. There is only 2 small solder joints on the whole motor/board combo.
Granted, I'm sure you may want to take a little more care with yours. I didn't care what happened to mine so I just attacked it! However, I think just a little forceful but gentle prying is all that you will need. I hope yours turns out as easy as mine did!
Thanks again bmccrary. I don't think it sounds over simplified, you had to find out it if was glued or soldered somehow. I figured it would be soldered like the sim card chip is underneath, hence my thought that it would need to be clipped to avoid hot air.
Given that it's glued, I don't think there's going to be a better way than the way you went at it. The glue has to be broken through and that's it.
That place in Santa Clara ships, either directly from their site at the link above - $1.95 each + shipping, or you can buy from their eBay listing, lot of 2 for $7.95 shipped.
Vibration Micro Motor 1.5-3V - Lot of 2
I'm really excited by this particular motor design because the way the little legs protrude out a bit, I'm envisioning actually being able to solder this thing in without needing the solder to be completely "underneath" the motor.
Yourself or anyone else following this thread might want to hold off until next week when I can report back on whether or not it worked out. I'll take some photos as I go and, if it's successful, try to post some pics of each step.
bmccrary said:
Hey at least you have a place nearby! :good: I'm in TN with a bunch of cows haha, no motors around here. Ok, this is going to sound over simplified, but all I did was just took a small flat blade screwdriver and pried against the board and the weight attached to the motor shaft. It broke loose without too much force. The rectangular section is just adhesive, there is no solder. The solder joints held on until the motor was lifted 90 degrees off the board, then they just broke off the motor's contacts. However, the pads on the board are still very much intact and they did not lift at all from the board. There is only 2 small solder joints on the whole motor/board combo.
Granted, I'm sure you may want to take a little more care with yours. I didn't care what happened to mine so I just attacked it! However, I think just a little forceful but gentle prying is all that you will need. I hope yours turns out as easy as mine did!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Considering how cheap these handsets are now, why not just buy an entire new phone?
That way you'll have a ton of spare parts and a fresh chassis to continue using
gtmaster303,
Only one reason, but it's a big one. The Simcard mod.
Modifying that board to convert it from being locked on Sprint/CDMA to unlocked Simcard is, at least for me, a very difficult job. I got it done after about 3 trial boards and lots nerve racking fiddling. I'd sooner try to repair the vibrator motor on my existing board if it's at all reasonably possible.
gtmaster303 said:
Considering how cheap these handsets are now, why not just buy an entire new phone?
That way you'll have a ton of spare parts and a fresh chassis to continue using
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All I can say is that I'm looking for a way to replace the half dead vibrator motor on one of my two SIM modified Qs as well...
Hey kabaldan,
Come back here mid next week and I should have an update on my progress by then. I'm eager to give it a go!
The shop I've got my eye on here locally in the US would charge you a fortune to ship to Europe, but there is at least one Asian seller on eBay that's selling these same "protruding leg motors" pretty cheap w/ free shipping:
5pcs ultra-micromotor 4*5MM mini motor vibration motor rotor of motor DC 1.5- 3V
Hold off 'til next week though, I want to confirm it's a fit before anyone else takes this as a recommendation.
BTW. I'm waiting anxiously for an update from you w.r.t. Marshmallow in the "CyanogenMod 12.1 for Photon Q (Android 5.1)" thread!!
kabaldan said:
All I can say is that I'm looking for a way to replace the half dead vibrator motor on one of my two SIM modified Qs as well...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You could also use Vibrating motor from old Nokia phones as replacement. Cornholio wrote about it. Somewhere in SIM card mod thread. I did this replacement 2 years ago and motor is working properly since than. I have used motor from Nokia 2610.
Thanks for the hint ---UFO---! No amount of searching I was doing was coming up with anything, but include the word Nokia in the search and the thread page comes up top in the search results!
Good News !!! SIM CARD MOD IS HERE !!! (Page 117 - discussing vibrator motor)
And he's got photos even, about half way down this page are the vibrator motor related pictures:
Photon Q Vibrator motor replacement with Nokia motor
The Nokia motor looks very close but clearly different than the Motorola Photon Q original. I have a feeling the Photon Q ones were very poor quality with a low MTBF.
I'm still going to have a look at the motor that has those protruding legs first. If it's going to be a fit, I'm going to try the prying method first. I want to avoid any further use of hot air on my Simcard modded board. Especially seeing as szegi2 says it took 400C of hot air to get it out, yikes!
More soon from me...
---UFO--- said:
You could also use Vibrating motor from old Nokia phones as replacement. Cornholio wrote about it. Somewhere in SIM card mod thread. I did this replacement 2 years ago and motor is working properly since than. I have used motor from Nokia 2610.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay folks, I replaced the vibrator motor in my Photon Q today. Not my finest hour for sure, but it's done and I think it should last me a good while anyway. I'll walk you through my experience here with some photos.
First, here's the replacement motor I bought from the links I provided in my previous posts in the thread. It's considerably longer, but there's room for it with some cutting of the inner case:
I decided based on a second look at bmccrary's photo to not go with the raw prying approach. I attempted to snip away at the rear end of the motor to gut it first. Unfortunately, instead of chopping the pins out while they were still straight and attached the the board, I bent the black plastic piece securing the pins and I broke one of the two pads. If you're going to use this approach, I now know that what you need to do is carefully chop the black plastic on the motor away from the pins without having those pins bend around very much, then you'll want to heat the pins and desolder them. Otherwise you run the risk of losing a pad like I did.
My heart sunk as I figured I'd never get the darn thing working in that condition. But I forged on anyway just incase it could possibly work somehow.
By using side cutters to snip away all the sides of the old motor, I was able to apply a soldering iron to the base of the old motor. I couldn't entirely desolder it this way, but the solder weakened as a result and the same side cutters lifted it up with very little effort after some heat was applied.
Well, I figured, in theory, I have a 50% chance of having the power pad and I'm missing the ground. So I soldered up the one pin I could, powered up the phone, and grounded the pin without a pad with a test wire. Sure enough, the motor ran when prompted to do so! And so I soldered in a ground wire to that pin on the motor. Some small mercy I lost the pad that was possible to replace without soldering a wire to the tiniest component imaginable!
The padding under the vibrator wheel needed to be chopped away a bit to allow it to spin freely. Then I used some "E6000" glue to secure the motor a bit to the circuit board along the bottom edges.
The inner case needed some trimming in order to accommodate the larger motor.
There it is in its new home.
And finally, I little video of the new vibrator motor in action:
Replacement Vibrator Motor in Motorola Photon Q
Okay, so in the end, had I not broken the one pad, the job would have been a lot quicker and enjoyable. So I have to recommend against raw prying because you're really taking your chances with that, and if you're going with the chopping technique, you must find a way to destroy the black plastic piece holding the pins without stressing the pins to the point where the pad breaks.
Maybe someone who understands electronics better than I do wouldn't mind to explain the risk I'm running bypassing the SMD component that leads to ground on that pad I lost. I'm not sure if it's a diode, resistor, or capacitor, but a continuity check did show that pad running to something of that sort.
Thanks to everyone that provided hints!
timekiller_9 said:
Okay folks, I replaced the vibrator motor in my Photon Q today. Not my finest hour for sure, but it's done and I think it should last me a good while anyway. I'll walk you through my experience here with some photos.
First, here's the replacement motor I bought from the links I provided in my previous posts in the thread. It's considerably longer, but there's room for it with some cutting of the inner case:
I decided based on a second look at bmccrary's photo to not go with the raw prying approach. I attempted to snip away at the rear end of the motor to gut it first. Unfortunately, instead of chopping the pins out while they were still straight and attached the the board, I bent the black plastic piece securing the pins and I broke one of the two pads. If you're going to use this approach, I now know that what you need to do is carefully chop the black plastic on the motor away from the pins without having those pins bend around very much, then you'll want to heat the pins and desolder them. Otherwise you run the risk of losing a pad like I did.
My heart sunk as I figured I'd never get the darn thing working in that condition. But I forged on anyway just incase it could possibly work somehow.
By using side cutters to snip away all the sides of the old motor, I was able to apply a soldering iron to the base of the old motor. I couldn't entirely desolder it this way, but the solder weakened as a result and the same side cutters lifted it up with very little effort after some heat was applied.
Well, I figured, in theory, I have a 50% chance of having the power pad and I'm missing the ground. So I soldered up the one pin I could, powered up the phone, and grounded the pin without a pad with a test wire. Sure enough, the motor ran when prompted to do so! And so I soldered in a ground wire to that pin on the motor. Some small mercy I lost the pad that was possible to replace without soldering a wire to the tiniest component imaginable!
The padding under the vibrator wheel needed to be chopped away a bit to allow it to spin freely. Then I used some "E6000" glue to secure the motor a bit to the circuit board along the bottom edges.
The inner case needed some trimming in order to accommodate the larger motor.
There it is in its new home.
And finally, I little video of the new vibrator motor in action:
Replacement Vibrator Motor in Motorola Photon Q
Okay, so in the end, had I not broken the one pad, the job would have been a lot quicker and enjoyable. So I have to recommend against raw prying because you're really taking your chances with that, and if you're going with the chopping technique, you must find a way to destroy the black plastic piece holding the pins without stressing the pins to the point where the pad breaks.
Maybe someone who understands electronics better than I do wouldn't mind to explain the risk I'm running bypassing the SMD component that leads to ground on that pad I lost. I'm not sure if it's a diode, resistor, or capacitor, but a continuity check did show that pad running to something of that sort.
Thanks to everyone that provided hints!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I feel like the Photo Q is one of the very few devices that gets hardware modded by its owners. The only other phone I know is the Xt910/912 changing from razr to razr maxx
BlueEditionE6,
It's all about the physical keyboard combined with the ability to run a very resent OS release. If one of the device manufacturers would put out a half way decent new device with a physical keyboard, you'd likely see most of us stop this insanity of hardware hacking this device.
I'm glad you got the new motor installed! I'm going to go ahead and order a couple and give it a go myself. I pried from the shaft end of the motor, and it simply bent up the contacts on the motor without pulling off the pads, but maybe I was lucky. I will have to be more careful with the board I actually use!
Thanks for all of the detailed pictures and efforts! I'm glad putting in a new motor isn't such a scary thing to do anymore! I'll let everyone know how mine turns out. I'm also making a back cover with some bondo to cover the mugen power droid 4 battery that I installed.
bmccrary,
I think you did in fact get lucky with that board. You're as likely to pull off both pads as you are to succeed a second time with only brute force prying. My advise is to file/cut a bit until you can use side cutters to cut the black plastic piece clean through without bending it. Once you've freed up the pins you can pry the rest out if you like, though I think your new motor won't sit in place quite as nice if you have an uneven surface from breaking the top layer off.
One other thing you should know that I didn't mention - if you're using the same motor that I did - those legs on the back of the motor that create the protruding pins are just soldered on to the motor. I had one fall off on me while I was trying to solder it to the board because all that's holding the leg on there is solder! Luckily I was able to get it back on, but what a PITA on top of an already difficult problem. You might be wise to glue the new motor down first and then use tweezers to make sure that leg stays on the motor as you solder it down.
Good luck with it, let us know how you make out.
Vibration motor replacement
FWIW, I replaced the dead vibration motor in my Photon Q. Could not find the exact part but used the following part from cellphonerepairshop.com:
Original Motorola Vibrator Motor Part # 59002313001 for Sprint Photon 4G MB855
This is identical to the Photon Q motor except for a slightly longer rotor, so I had to take care to mount it slightly back on the pads so that the rotor did not hit the PCB... and cut away the plastic slightly (but not as drastically as the OP did).
Carefully wrapped motherboard in tinfoil (AFTER removing SD card and SIM [I have a SIM modded Photon Q]) and used hot air to remove and replace. Worked perfectly first time, no damage or issues. If you don't have the tools to do this yourself, your local cell phone repair shop can do it in a few minutes (assuming you already disassembled the phone). I was a little worried the hot air would damage the plastic keyboard membrane, but it was fine.
Hope this helps anyone needing to replace the vibration motor in their Photon Q.
After disassembling my phone to change the usb port, camera is not able to focus on nearby objects. I have installed another program to handle the focus manually but not luck, the focus is moving when i slide the bar, but with nearby objects is blurry. Any idea???
Did you replace the port pcb with the same part number?
Check any connectors you took off for damage to the pins or misalignment. Check ribbon cables for damage. Reassemble exactly as it was disassembled... watch some tear down vids, maybe you missed something.
Loose components and pcbs are more susceptible to ESD damage... ESD protocols should be observed. At least keep room humidity above 45%! Wear cotton clothes.
Did you replace the port pcb with the same part number?
It's identical but with different part number.
I cheked the connectors, good solder and alignment. May be i have to use a magnifien lens to check SMD connectors, sometimes when you remove a connector welding can break .......
FalloSistema said:
Did you replace the port pcb with the same part number?
It's identical but with different part number.
I cheked the connectors, good solder and alignment. May be i have to use a magnifien lens to check SMD connectors, sometimes when you remove a connector welding can break .......
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Click to collapse
Not identical, wrong part. This could be the cause. To verify this put the old pcb back in to see if it resolves the issue.
If so you need that exact OEM part.
Also the BGA chipsets are impossible to inspect with their dozens of solder joints under the chipset... but I don't think that's the issue.
Finally resolve, the problem is the lens protector, when i removed it, camera focus its very fast even macro scenes.
There are two issues with the lens protector, is lightly gladed, but the most important, the distance between the camera and the lens, as show this video: