The packaging fell apart. It's like the plastic case was made very poorly. This means the read only switch fell out and it doesn't want to go back in. My question is
1. Is there any way I can solder something onto the SD card chip, like jump a few pins and force it to be read/write all the time?
2. If not, is there any SD card that DOES NOT have a switch to lock the card in case the packaging fails and it falls out?
It sounds like a really lousy card. Usualy the chip will fail long before the plastic becomes damaged.
If I were you I would get a new card, and not risk loosing my data.
MMC cards come without the switch as a standard and so do miniSD cards which are usually sold whith an SD adapter.
Sorry, can't help you on the soldering part.
The card still works, although it is read only, and a bit tricky to insert/remove because the plastic is falling apart. The quality of the plastic is really bad, it's quite brittle. I believe that the adhesive that held together the 2 halves of the outside shell caused the failure.
Thanks for the reccomendation on the miniSD and MMC cards, I'll look into some of those.
Just as a FYI only, what brand of card did you have that fell apart?? I'd like to know so I can avoid it if/when I buy another one.
I'll start with that fact that I know I did this to myself.
With that out of the way, I need some help. I'm coming from a Moto X (that I was planning on keeping as well), so I bought a nano to micro sim adapter from Amazon.
With my new N5 unboxed and ready to go, I went ahead and tried just the adapter in the micro SIM tray to make sure it fit well. Turns out it goes in, but does not come out, or at least not without the nano SIM installed.
Now I have a shiny new N5 with the SIM tray stuck in the device, but my nano SIM isn't in it. When I insert the SIM ejection tool the tray pops out about 1/8", and I can get my finger nails on it and pull, but it will not come out any further.
I've tried slipping a piece of paper in while it is partially ejected to see if I can get it past a particular stuck point, but I don't really know what part is stuck.
I really don't want to tear open my brand new phone, any other ideas?
sjroberts98 said:
I'll start with that fact that I know I did this to myself.
With that out of the way, I need some help. I'm coming from a Moto X (that I was planning on keeping as well), so I bought a nano to micro sim adapter from Amazon.
With my new N5 unboxed and ready to go, I went ahead and tried just the adapter in the micro SIM tray to make sure it fit well. Turns out it goes in, but does not come out, or at least not without the nano SIM installed.
Now I have a shiny new N5 with the SIM tray stuck in the device, but my nano SIM isn't in it. When I insert the SIM ejection tool the tray pops out about 1/8", and I can get my finger nails on it and pull, but it will not come out any further.
I've tried slipping a piece of paper in while it is partially ejected to see if I can get it past a particular stuck point, but I don't really know what part is stuck.
I really don't want to tear open my brand new phone, any other ideas?
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Try this it's a video for a iphone, but it may work in your case.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCMcMkEJAIU
worst come to worst you can pop off the back... http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Nexus+5+Teardown/19016
I'm guessing the adapter just isn't sitting flush, maybe try using a business car of paper that's sturdier?
Also try jiggling it up and down light, that how i got the sim tray out of an iPhone that was also stuck because of these damn adapters.
eneka said:
worst come to worst you can pop off the back... http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Nexus+5+Teardown/19016
I'm guessing the adapter just isn't sitting flush, maybe try using a business car of paper that's sturdier?
Also try jiggling it up and down light, that how i got the sim tray out of an iPhone that was also stuck because of these damn adapters.
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Thanks, I'll try it with a little less force. I tried the first reply as well, with a piece of clear thin plastic, but no luck. I can get the plastic pretty far into the tray area, but can't get it to slide out at all. I guess this is one part of the phone they manufactured with really tight tolerances.
I already ordered the ifixit tool kit from Amazon..not sure if two Amazon's make a right, but it is probably the only answer.
So I was in this same position. I was going from Apple iPhone 5 to Google Nexus 5 back and forth. I didn't want to lose my nano to micro SIM adapter, so I put it in the Nexus 5's SIM tray and then into the Nexus 5. Lesson learned: Do not ever stick in an empty SIM adapter (micro-SIM for Nexus 5) into the tray. It will get stuck by the recess portion of the SIM adapter due to the spring terminals inside the phone that makes electrical contact with the metallic portions of the SIM. If you don't know what I mean, take a look at your SIM card and you'll see about three lines that travel across the metallic portions of the SIM. I did not need to open up the Nexus 5 to remove my stuck tray.
It turns out that if you still have the Nexus 5 screen protection film that comes with the new phone that you pull off of the LCD screen side, it is stiff enough to create a ramp for the metallic spring terminals to remove the stuck tray with the adapter in it. Cut across the width of the Nexus 5 screen protection film. Measure such that the width of the film to be about the width of the SIM's metallic width.
Here's a photo of what I'm talking about:
Note the Nexus 5 screen protection film, the Nexus 5 SIM tray in its normal position with the micro SIM adapter card recess portion pointing downwards, the nano SIM, and a piece of folded V shape plastic film cut out.
Pop out the SIM tray from the Nexus 5. It'll probably go out just enough that you can slip in a plastic film. What you do is you bend the cut plastic film in half to create a V shape and you jam in the bent V portion into the bottom side of the SIM tray opening if the Nexus 5 LCD screen is facing you. This is because that's where the SIM card's metallic parts face. You want to use the plastic film at the bent portion, not the two ends of the plastic film to be inserted into the SIM tray so that you can create a ramp to allow the spring terminals inside the phone to slide up and out of the recess of the micro SIM adapter (empty portion of where the SIM would normally go). You are trying to insert the plastic film where the SIM card normally goes into the recess portion of the micro SIM adapter. Make sure that the plastic film goes about more than the length of the SIM card or about the length of tray going into the phone. At that point, while pushing the plastic film into the tray, you will need to wiggle and pull the SIM tray out. I hope you have some finger nails, as that would help.
Watch this YouTube and it's basically what you're suppose to be doing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCMcMkEJAIU
Good luck. I know I wasted a lot of time removing mine and finally got mine out. Hope this helps someone else out.
hoang51 said:
Pop out the SIM tray from the Nexus 5. It'll probably go out just enough that you can slip in a plastic film. What you do is you bend the cut plastic film in half to create a V shape and you jam in the bent V portion into the bottom side of the SIM tray opening if the Nexus 5 LCD screen is facing you. This is because that's where the SIM card's metallic parts face. You want to use the plastic film at the bent portion, not the two ends of the plastic film to be inserted into the SIM tray so that you can create a ramp to allow the spring terminals inside the phone to slide up and out of the recess of the micro SIM adapter (empty portion of where the SIM would normally go). You are trying to insert the plastic film where the SIM card normally goes into the recess portion of the micro SIM adapter. Make sure that the plastic film goes about more than the length of the SIM card or about the length of tray going into the phone. At that point, while pushing the plastic film into the tray, you will need to wiggle and pull the SIM tray out. I hope you have some finger nails, as that would help.
Watch this YouTube and it's basically what you're suppose to be doing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCMcMkEJAIU
Good luck. I know I wasted a lot of time removing mine and finally got mine out. Hope this helps someone else out.
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I was in the EXACT same scenario tonight and just wanted to say thanks. It took about 10 minutes, but I got the tray and the adapter out without breaking anything. Thanks again!
Thank you hoang51 :good::good::good:
It worked and helped me get my nexus 5 tray out.
Remember guys, if you have your tray stuck, try this method (mentioned by hoang51) and be patient. It works!
You saved My N5 too, worked like a sharm
aaronkalb said:
I was in the EXACT same scenario tonight and just wanted to say thanks. It took about 10 minutes, but I got the tray and the adapter out without breaking anything. Thanks again!
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I'm curious if the pins come up from the bottom of the phone or down from the top. To put it another way, do I slot in the plastic on the top of the sim card tray or the bottom? I assume the bottom but I'm having a bit of trouble getting this to work.
On the positive side, I had some difficulty finding plastic that would fit in there. Paper was, of course, too flimsy. It appears that cutting a rectangle out of an aluminum soda can seems to fit quite well and retain its shape as I fumble around with this.
Thanks for the ideas!
Thank you for the idea, it worked for me too.
One piece of advice for those who are struggling > try to use the piece of plastic unfolded. I found the V shaped folded plastic too thick to properly go inside, as soon as I unfolded it it worked like a charm.
matt68000 said:
I'm curious if the pins come up from the bottom of the phone or down from the top. To put it another way, do I slot in the plastic on the top of the sim card tray or the bottom? I assume the bottom but I'm having a bit of trouble getting this to work.
On the positive side, I had some difficulty finding plastic that would fit in there. Paper was, of course, too flimsy. It appears that cutting a rectangle out of an aluminum soda can seems to fit quite well and retain its shape as I fumble around with this.
Thanks for the ideas!
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For the record, You need to slide the shim between the bottom of the tray and the phone. Like where the Pins would contact the sim card.
Wasted about 90 min sliding the shim in the topside.
When it's fixed put some duct tape on the underside of the converter. Trim to size. It stopped my pins. You can put a blank cut piece of plastic in the cutout, the duct tape holding it. Just swap the blank for the sim.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Many many thanks to everyone who posted help and advice in this thread especially http://forum.xda-developers.com/member.php?u=3827427
Got my sim tray out after about 20 mins of wiggling. Thought i was doing it wrong but got there in the end. Phew! Was very worried id broken a £350 phone!
Just for the record..... DO NOT PUT EMPTY SIM ADAPTORS IN THE NEXUS 5! :good:
After about an hour of jiggling and wiggling, i finally got it out using my galaxy note 3's screen film. Many thanks i thought my N5 is over.
Hurra!!
Love it when a story has a happy ending. Great example of a helping hand saving many in trouble.
What a freaking nightmare. Tore the whole phone apart and couldn't figure how to get the tray out until I came across this thread. Thanks @hoang51, you saved my arse.
I joined this forum just so I could say thank you for this. I thought I was well and truly humped until I read the trick about folding the plastic film and inserting it into the bottom side of the tray. Popped out after about a minute of fiddling. Big ups sir!
Thank you. This worked for me too.
Corbu said:
Thank you for the idea, it worked for me too.
One piece of advice for those who are struggling > try to use the piece of plastic unfolded. I found the V shaped folded plastic too thick to properly go inside, as soon as I unfolded it it worked like a charm.
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Thanks a bunch saved my Red Nexus 5
A 0.15 mm feeler gauge, such as this one from AutoZone or Pep Boys is PERFECT for this task. I slid it in on the non-screen-side of the sim tray, pulled on the tray and out it came, instantly, first attempt, no wiggling or playing with it required. The feeler gauges I have are exactly the same width as a mini SIM.
Sadly, I didn't think of this trick a few years ago when I did the same stupid thing with my CR-48 Chromebook's SIM and destroyed the pins forcing the sim adapter out.