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Porting apps to Leste (40)
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The N900 is now 15 years old! (9)
to Nokia N900 by Arno_11 - 6 days, 15 hrs ago - more...
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2012-07-14
, 13:42
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Posts: 1,310 |
Thanked: 820 times |
Joined on Mar 2006
@ Irving, TX
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#2532
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Finally after more than 2.5 years my USB port stopped recognizing charger and computer. 
Not that I totally unexpected that but of course it is always unpleasant surprise.
I just bought a new car USB charger that was pretty stiff to plug in (I did bend the lock pins before first use.) After very first attempt it did not start charging. I confirmed with my "known good" charger the same behavior. So USB port is the issue.
I opened up the phone and did not see any damage on USB port by looking with magnifying glass. The USB port frame solder joints were solid. It must have some/all of the 5 small signal contact pins detached from PCB.
I took it to my workplace where I have a hot air gun, solder and flux. I tried first to remove the whole port but it just didn't want to come off easily. I was scared I'd destroy the PCB by trying harder, so I did just apply extra flux to the existing solder contacts and reflowed the existing solder. When I got home I reassembled the phone and to my relief my USB port is working again.
As a summary I'd say that it is possible to fix a USB port as long as the tracks on PCB are not torn off.
The tricky part with hot air is to protect the other areas on the PCB from excessive heat, especially the little hanging satellite PCB piece that holds the SD card holder and camera flash LEDs. Also I did remove the camera module from the motherboard before the repair. (I figured the camera can not tolerate much heat.) To remove the camera module I used three strips of a thick paper I cut from a business card... (Nokia disassembly instructions advice to use a special camera removal tool, which of course not many people has.) Still the plastic spacer with double side tape attaching the SD card reader to the top of the main PCB did melt in some locations. If I was to do this again I'd remove the plastic spacer from the satellite PCB.
In case you have a USB port that is intermittent or not working but still attached to the motherboard you might want to consider this method. No guarantee it will work for you but at least it did for me.
Not that I totally unexpected that but of course it is always unpleasant surprise.I just bought a new car USB charger that was pretty stiff to plug in (I did bend the lock pins before first use.) After very first attempt it did not start charging. I confirmed with my "known good" charger the same behavior. So USB port is the issue.
I opened up the phone and did not see any damage on USB port by looking with magnifying glass. The USB port frame solder joints were solid. It must have some/all of the 5 small signal contact pins detached from PCB.
I took it to my workplace where I have a hot air gun, solder and flux. I tried first to remove the whole port but it just didn't want to come off easily. I was scared I'd destroy the PCB by trying harder, so I did just apply extra flux to the existing solder contacts and reflowed the existing solder. When I got home I reassembled the phone and to my relief my USB port is working again.
As a summary I'd say that it is possible to fix a USB port as long as the tracks on PCB are not torn off.
The tricky part with hot air is to protect the other areas on the PCB from excessive heat, especially the little hanging satellite PCB piece that holds the SD card holder and camera flash LEDs. Also I did remove the camera module from the motherboard before the repair. (I figured the camera can not tolerate much heat.) To remove the camera module I used three strips of a thick paper I cut from a business card... (Nokia disassembly instructions advice to use a special camera removal tool, which of course not many people has.) Still the plastic spacer with double side tape attaching the SD card reader to the top of the main PCB did melt in some locations. If I was to do this again I'd remove the plastic spacer from the satellite PCB.
In case you have a USB port that is intermittent or not working but still attached to the motherboard you might want to consider this method. No guarantee it will work for you but at least it did for me.
| The Following 5 Users Say Thank You to Mara For This Useful Post: | ||
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2012-07-14
, 14:33
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Posts: 87 |
Thanked: 46 times |
Joined on Nov 2010
@ lisbon, portugal
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#2533
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Just sent mine to nokia care last week.
My usb was intermitent i coud charge but sometimes i did not have pc-conectivity (no mass storage/pcsuite ) .
I'm confident that they will fix-it has it is still under 2year waranty.
Hoping for the best...
For the moment I'm using a spare sony ericson x10mini pro...what a xi... Phone
Last edited by trlopes1974; 2012-07-14 at 14:35.
My usb was intermitent i coud charge but sometimes i did not have pc-conectivity (no mass storage/pcsuite ) .
I'm confident that they will fix-it has it is still under 2year waranty.
Hoping for the best...
For the moment I'm using a spare sony ericson x10mini pro...what a xi... Phone
__________________
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trlopes
Active N900 User.
"when I feel the need to work ... I sit waiting for it to go away!!!"
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trlopes
Active N900 User."when I feel the need to work ... I sit waiting for it to go away!!!"
Last edited by trlopes1974; 2012-07-14 at 14:35.
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2012-07-30
, 09:24
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Posts: 87 |
Thanked: 46 times |
Joined on Nov 2010
@ lisbon, portugal
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#2534
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guess what... they have fixed-it.
__________________
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trlopes Active N900 User.
"when I feel the need to work ... I sit waiting for it to go away!!!"
-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-#-
trlopes
Active N900 User."when I feel the need to work ... I sit waiting for it to go away!!!"
| The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to trlopes1974 For This Useful Post: | ||
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2012-09-30
, 13:20
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Posts: 1 |
Thanked: 0 times |
Joined on May 2012
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#2537
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I managed to get the port out with the charger plug. lol
I got it repaired for ~ $12. The plug got stuck and the port came out AGAIN the very next day
So frustrated, I didn't go back to repair guy and break his jaw. But I use a direct universal battery charger to charge the phone and use SSH/WinScp for file transfers etc.
I got it repaired for ~ $12. The plug got stuck and the port came out AGAIN the very next day
So frustrated, I didn't go back to repair guy and break his jaw. But I use a direct universal battery charger to charge the phone and use SSH/WinScp for file transfers etc.
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2012-10-31
, 12:47
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Posts: 21 |
Thanked: 7 times |
Joined on Oct 2012
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#2538
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Hello please could I have some help.
I recently managed to brick my phone using backupmenu incorrectly.
I have a broken usb port, (someone has tried to fix it previously and failed).
The latest diagnostic was that one of the 'rails' is broken, please see pictures.
Please could someone advise what steps I could take next, I have seen that people have had some success wiring the port to different points on the phone, I am happy to do a temporary repair just so I can flash it and then remove if necessary.
Kind regards.
Nig451964
https://plus.google.com/photos/10165...841?banner=pwa
I recently managed to brick my phone using backupmenu incorrectly.
I have a broken usb port, (someone has tried to fix it previously and failed).
The latest diagnostic was that one of the 'rails' is broken, please see pictures.
Please could someone advise what steps I could take next, I have seen that people have had some success wiring the port to different points on the phone, I am happy to do a temporary repair just so I can flash it and then remove if necessary.
Kind regards.
Nig451964
https://plus.google.com/photos/10165...841?banner=pwa
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2012-10-31
, 12:48
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Posts: 21 |
Thanked: 7 times |
Joined on Oct 2012
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#2539
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Originally Posted by nig451964
Please see above link for photos of the damaged port on google picasa
Hello please could I have some help.
I recently managed to brick my phone using backupmenu incorrectly.
I have a broken usb port, (someone has tried to fix it previously and failed).
The latest diagnostic was that one of the 'rails' is broken, please see pictures.
Please could someone advise what steps I could take next, I have seen that people have had some success wiring the port to different points on the phone, I am happy to do a temporary repair just so I can flash it and then remove if necessary.
Kind regards.
Nig451964
https://plus.google.com/photos/10165...841?banner=pwa
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2012-11-05
, 13:21
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Posts: 127 |
Thanked: 40 times |
Joined on Sep 2010
@ Jamaica
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#2540
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After 2 years of hard labour my n900 usb port is now done. The sad part of it is that I live in a country where black berry is the dominant phone so all cell phone repair shop that I went to so far would not even try to fix it. I think that I might have to buy the tools to fix it myself
. The sad part of it is that I live in a country where black berry is the dominant phone so all cell phone repair shop that I went to so far would not even try to fix it. I think that I might have to buy the tools to fix it myself
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| Tags |
| bad design, broken, charging, failure, hardware, loose, microusb, microusb port, n900, nokia, part, port, repair, return, surface mount, usb, usb port, warranty |
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