Poll: Have you had charging or USB problems with your N900
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Have you had charging or USB problems with your N900

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HumanPenguin's Avatar
Posts: 270 | Thanked: 170 times | Joined on Jul 2007 @ Atlanta, GA + Oxford UK
#1781
There is a huge thread on this subject.

It is covered and a known problem.

I cant believe that Nokia care is still pulling this ****.
 
Posts: 11 | Thanked: 7 times | Joined on May 2010
#1782
Ahhh, I dismantled it myself AFTER taking it into Nokia Care, so I figured after having them tell me there was nothing they would do I'd take a crack at it myself.

However, interestingly enough, and I did forget to mention initially, even after being told this wouldn't be covered by warranty mysteriously enough a brand new N900 arrived on my doorstep no more than a week later. So, I assume someone was looking out for me in regards to this. But kind of worrying though considering I wasn't told before hand that this had been arranged.

Really, just looking to see whether there's still some life I can breath into my old (I use this term lossley as I really only had the device for maybe 6 months if that) device. I am thinking because it still works I can use it as a purely dev-device, however the lack of USB interface will inhibit this a little. Haha!

Thanks for your responses!

Last edited by joshgillies; 2010-10-17 at 13:44.
 
Posts: 701 | Thanked: 585 times | Joined on Sep 2010 @ London, England
#1783
I can't see very clearly, but it looks like the contacts on the old usb port were damaged when it came off, so if you are going to try and repair it it is probably best to buy a new one. It is quite possible to solder a new one on, but quite a delicate operation due to the small size of the circuit board traces and contacts and if you are not careful the heat from the soldering iron can bring the circuit traces off the circuit board, which incidentally is what happened when I tried (and failed) to perform a similar operation of reattaching a mini USB port back to a cheap digital photo keyring. So in short, it is possible, but depends on your soldering skill. Fortunately, I haven't needed to try this on my N900, but should I ever have to, I'd probably invest in a decent soldering iron to do it since I've only got a cheap one at the moment.
 
Posts: 11 | Thanked: 7 times | Joined on May 2010
#1784
Added a larger version of the image to OP.

That's something I'm a little afraid of, it does appear as though the pad (on the left) has completely came off the board, will this cause much of an issue concerning soldering a new micro usb port to the board?

If there's no other option to interface with the device, I may have to bite the bullet and give this a shot! Which both excites and worries me greatly hahaha!

I'll be sure to keep everyone here updated either way!
 
Posts: 5,335 | Thanked: 8,187 times | Joined on Mar 2007 @ Pennsylvania, USA
#1785
The thread "Micro USB woes" (7 posts) has been merged into this thread.
 

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Posts: 701 | Thanked: 585 times | Joined on Sep 2010 @ London, England
#1786
Originally Posted by my-demise View Post
Added a larger version of the image to OP.
On closer inspection, the old port may be okay, but I can't be sure.

That's something I'm a little afraid of, it does appear as though the pad (on the left) has completely came off the board, will this cause much of an issue concerning soldering a new micro usb port to the board?
I shouldn't think so, I don't think that pad does anything, at most it probably provides an additional connection to ground for the edge of the port.

If there's no other option to interface with the device, I may have to bite the bullet and give this a shot! Which both excites and worries me greatly hahaha!

I'll be sure to keep everyone here updated either way!
If you do give it a go, you might want to find some junk electronics you can practise on first, and good luck!
 
PathFinder@9GS's Avatar
Posts: 164 | Thanked: 79 times | Joined on Jul 2010
#1787
I have been reading about n900 losing their microusb ports and it scares me too...
I was thinking if there would be a way we could ask guyss from "Powermat" to create a n900 compatible back cover so that we use the usbport as less as possible..

For those who don't know about this product. /.. its basically wireless charging... you replace your backcover with a new one you get from them and there's a mat and you place your phone over it and it charges your phone...
http://www.powermat.com/us/how-it-works/
 

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Posts: 2 | Thanked: 1 time | Joined on Oct 2010
#1788
My USB port just straight up stopped working. Did not fall out or anything just lost function so I sent it in to repair since it was under warranty.

They received mine for repair on the 13th of September. Could not be repaired but was under warranty so the status repair site said "awaiting replacement device.

So a few weeks later with still no updates, I decide to contact them. They reply Sept. 30th saying they will look into it. Finally after going back and forth with them through email they tell me to call them in a email dating Oct. 12th. This is difficult since the N900 was my only phone, I don't have a land line. I speak to them the 13th and am told something similar. No N900s until the 2nd week of November. Great you could have told me that a month ago. They offer to send me a temporary replacement (N95) I say sure. They tell me 2-5 days it should be there. A week later (today) I call to find out where it is. "Oh it will ship this week."

AWESOME! Nokia you dropped the ball big time. The N900 was great while it lasted (stopped charging). But this is a serious joke right now. Terrible customer support. I wouldn't be surprised when November rolls around and they tell me "sorry N900 no longer in production enjoy your N95". I don't plan to ever purchase anything from this company again. I honestly wish I was offered a refund like you so I could get my money back and actually have in my possession a phone that I want. Instead of going 2 months without anything.

Maemo was great, its just too bad Nokia could care less about their customers or have the decency to tell them what the hell is going on.

Last edited by jml917; 2010-10-19 at 21:33.
 
Posts: 170 | Thanked: 386 times | Joined on Dec 2009
#1789
Update for me: I called in for status since the phone never showed last week and I too was offered a free C6 for the trouble. The better news is that they said the N900 refill had been prioritized and are in stock so he said I should receiving both phones next week.

of course, they told me "next week" several weeks ago, but this time I pressed about this and he said he was confident that this time they are accurate and gave me his direct line if that turns out to be not the case.

hopefully it's true and we'll start seeing replacements shortly.
 
Posts: 88 | Thanked: 28 times | Joined on Jul 2010 @ London
#1790
Do you think we can ask for a refund if Nokia can't or aren't willing to fix the USB under warranty? I'd rather have a refund and just buy a cheaper one rather than wait months for a replacement.

What do you guys think? What have your (londoners) experience been?
 
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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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