[GUIDE] USB-port loose? There, fixd' it...
 

About a couple of months ago I my N900 stopped charging and the inner core of the female micro-B port became loose. After that the port gradually stopped charging and became obsolete. The problem was that the connectors in the female-counterpart were broken off from the main circuit.

http://a.imageshack.us/img138/6469/img1350n.jpg
http://a.imageshack.us/img707/7185/img1335pz.jpg

First I tought that the device could be used without the port. But no. Charging the battery through another cellphone with similiar battery proved to be impossible (since the cellphone N95 that I used for the duty was my brothers). But if you have enough courage you can REPLACE the port in the N900 with something else...

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...sb_new.svg.png

I took apart an old digital camera of my brother and examined the mini-B port found inside. It was perfect for the task since the pins are in correct order and 4. is not connected to 5. With some careful soldering I got the port in place. Also I carefully made the hole bigger in the dimension the port was "taller".

http://a.imageshack.us/img22/3295/img1337um.jpg
http://a.imageshack.us/img180/6/img1345q.jpg

Basically the new port is a little bit big (if it begins to annoy I will cut the extra part off) but it works really well. I don´t need a special cable anymore and everything just works. Since the warranty did not apply to the self-caused port-problems and the repairs could have been expensive, this was the best solution I found.

http://a.imageshack.us/img812/7149/img1348f.jpg

It´s alive! Buahahahaa!

Re: [GUIDE] USB-port loose? There, fixd' it...
 

very nice fix however i had the same problem went to a nokia care oint they told me they cant fix it but if i send it direct to nokia they could and it was under warranty so i sent off the phone 4 days later brand new device never had the problem since

Re: [GUIDE] USB-port loose? There, fixd' it...
 

Is it work th mass storage and pc suite mode?

Re: [GUIDE] USB-port loose? There, fixd' it...
 

Yes it does work fully with any of those modes.

Re: [GUIDE] USB-port loose? There, fixd' it...
 

How hard was it to solder and how much experience do you got with delicate soldering jobs like this?

Re: [GUIDE] USB-port loose? There, fixd' it...
 

dude it's ffreakin' awesome =D that's the usb port they should have used from the beginning ;-) nice mod and repair :P

Re: [GUIDE] USB-port loose? There, fixd' it...
 

Most of the soldering I did was simply for attaching the port into the device. The pins under the new port were placed on top of the pins of the N900 and then I heated up the pins from above to make them connect and stay put.

All the surfaces needed to be cleaned and brushed that did not have any soldering tin on top of them. The level of skill needed for this task was average: if anyone has soldered something before, he/she should be able to perform this too.

N900 is an expensive device so I can write a more comprehensive guide to how it is done if someone needs to do this too.

Re: [GUIDE] USB-port loose? There, fixd' it...
 

Mine hasn't broken off yet, but there are probably many people out there that would be interested in a more in depth description of the process :)

Re: [GUIDE] USB-port loose? There, fixd' it...
 

Nice one, though I'm slightly disappointed no gaffa tape was used, no botch job is complete without a healthy portion of duck tape!

Re: [GUIDE] USB-port loose? There, fixd' it...
 

Mine hasn't borked (yet), but if it did I was planning on using an old Nokia charger port from my N800 or where ever and doing the same thing. It would only provide charging but that would be all I need. With all the extra room I bet I could putty epoxy the sucker in real good.

For that matter a mini side by side, male/female, two wire DIN connector would also work if the charger was modded with the connectors mate.

Good job dude and good luck with it. :)