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Posts: 145 | Thanked: 170 times | Joined on Mar 2010 @ Finland
#11
Originally Posted by James_Littler View Post
Nice one, though I'm slightly disappointed no gaffa tape was used, no botch job is complete without a healthy portion of duck tape!
Thanks for the idea. Now its all better

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#12
Originally Posted by AtteK0 View Post
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.
You`re the hero of the day, my friend! Thanks for this, I began to worry that mine week-old n900 might just go the way of the dodo, if such usb port problem happen to me...

Question - won`t it be more, say, practical just to harden the existing/repaired port with some thin metal axis that goes through outer part of the port right to the motherboard? Of course not touching some circuits on the board...

That could make the port be rock-solid..
 
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Posts: 145 | Thanked: 170 times | Joined on Mar 2010 @ Finland
#13
I actually did solder the port all the way to the board on the right side. It made it rock solid without the need for any wires/structures.

[IMG][/IMG]

For additional support I soldered the sides of the port to the metal tabs on the sides of the circuit. I applied some soldering tin before putting the port in position and then kept it steady while it was attached. Some soldering tin was on the port too to ensure it attached both sides.
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#14
Originally Posted by masloff View Post
You`re the hero of the day, my friend! Thanks for this, I began to worry that mine week-old n900 might just go the way of the dodo, if such usb port problem happen to me...

Question - won`t it be more, say, practical just to harden the existing/repaired port with some thin metal axis that goes through outer part of the port right to the motherboard? Of course not touching some circuits on the board...

That could make the port be rock-solid..
There are several problems with this.

Firstly, it is quite possible to screw your n900 by taking it apart - at least one actual electronic engineer by profession has had it fail due to the LCD cable not working afterwards.

Secondly - the PCB has between six and eight layers - you absolutely cannot see where circuits are. Drilling through it is a really bad idea.

Thirdly - you can get exactly matching USB connectors from digikey.com or mouser.com or ... for a couple of dollars.

Fourthly - if you're not sure it's covered by warranty, ask first before soldering!
 
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#15
Kudos to you fixing your own problem. It's not the prettiest of fixes, but it's downright beautiful what you've done.

Awesome and thanks for sharing.
 
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#16
Originally Posted by AtteK0 View Post
Thanks for the idea. Now its all better

That's more like it..a true botch job
 
Posts: 1,729 | Thanked: 388 times | Joined on Jan 2010 @ Canada
#17
i got my n900 last january. i was using it as normal for about 2 weeks.

after reading the big micro usb issue thread (that was not so big back then), i followed a simple way of preventing the micro usb issue.

to prevent the micro usb port issue, file the cables and charger!

if you have a broken micro usb, call nokia and ask for repair/replacement.

if nokia wont, read this thread!

hahaha! it seems like solutions are being provided by the community not only on software but also on hardware.

thank you!
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N900: 1000/1150mhz; sampling_rate 15; up_threshold 150000;
 

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#18
Originally Posted by gabby131 View Post

file dat connector
i did this on day one to all my usb's
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#19
no more need for special cable
You are aware that by now the new cable you use with this 'fix' is the 'special' cable? Mini USB is deprecated since some 2 years, and no new devices will be sold that care about USB sticker on box and have mini USB receptacles. So your 'non-special' mini USB cable is actually an obsolete species, and the 'special' micro-USB is pretty much standard.

If I'd been you I would have ordered a micro-AB receptacle at http://www.digikey.com/ or http://de.mouser.com/Home.aspx or your favourite local store and used that one for replacement and maybe used decent amount of 2 component resin glue to harden it. Your fix, though courageous, doesn't really look like it will last for long. Due to the pads not matching the component you got an even more weak solution now. Also I expect problems with the extension board holding the uSD and flashlight LEDs.

Anyway, nice hack - butt ugly like hacks have to be and quite inspired :-D
/jOERG
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AtteK0's Avatar
Posts: 145 | Thanked: 170 times | Joined on Mar 2010 @ Finland
#20
Originally Posted by joerg_rw View Post
You are aware that by now the new cable you use with this 'fix' is the 'special' cable? Mini USB is deprecated since some 2 years, and no new devices will be sold that care about USB sticker on box and have mini USB receptacles. So your 'non-special' mini USB cable is actually an obsolete species, and the 'special' micro-USB is pretty much standard.

If I'd been you I would have ordered a micro-AB receptacle at http://www.digikey.com/ or http://de.mouser.com/Home.aspx or your favourite local store and used that one for replacement and maybe used decent amount of 2 component resin glue to harden it. Your fix, though courageous, doesn't really look like it will last for long. Due to the pads not matching the component you got an even more weak solution now. Also I expect problems with the extension board holding the uSD and flashlight LEDs.

Anyway, nice hack - butt ugly like hacks have to be and quite inspired :-D
/jOERG
Oh, you meant this one?



Surely the "micro" cables are going to become a lot more common in the future. However I do own only 1 of those and about 5 of the mini-b. Keeping this in mind I considered the risk worth taking.

The repair itself went very well and the attached port is doing it's job like it should. AND I only have to carry one cable from now on if I ever go on a trip.

If I ever consider changing back into the new standard I have probably got rid of the device by then.
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Last edited by AtteK0; 2010-08-09 at 14:11.
 

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