Soldering advice needed for re-attaching N900 USB to mainboard.
 

So once again this silly "Limited warranty" from Nokia reared its ugly head. Due to the fact I was stuck in a country that Nokia decided wasn't worthy of the N900 until now, in my impatience I went and bought one online.

So with my phone at the Nokia Care Centre probably not going to be approved for a free repair, and my future plans not involving a trip to the US, I wanted to know a few things about the USB charging port snapping off after the cable was pulled out 3 degrees too far to the left.

From what I can see, the snap is clean, and has not damaged any surrounding areas where its been sealed on.

I have some general soldering experience. My question is- Given the fact my N900 is turning on and working, is it possible for me to DIY solder the USB port back on to the mainboard, or will incorrect repair eventually result in a blown up n900?

I know that a 5 year old Foxconn worker can fix something like this in about 5 minutes, and probably costs about $5 to nokia, but knowing them they'll be charging me $100s for an out of warranty repair, and given my warranty is pretty much void anyway, can i really do any mroe harm other than perhaps shorting the charging circuit and just not having USB capability?

any help would be great, and if any sydney people know anywhere in chinatown or something that may help me, that would be more awesome.

Regards.

Re: Soldering advice needed for re-attaching N900 USB to mainboard.
 

If you want to repair yourself then open it up and take a pic of the mainboard close up macro shot of the part of the board where the usb (removed) is and put it on here and i will tell you exactly the best way to repair ok.

Re: Soldering advice needed for re-attaching N900 USB to mainboard.
 

i need to see what is left of the pads and the 5 data tracks.

Re: Soldering advice needed for re-attaching N900 USB to mainboard.
 

Read some guide on soldering surface-mount components, practice on some other device first and it will be easy to fix it yourself (if there has been no damage to the solder pads).

Yes it's possible to make things worse if you screw up, but that's the risk every DIY person must be willing to take :rolleyes:

Re: Soldering advice needed for re-attaching N900 USB to mainboard.
 

Your going to need a fine pointed soldering station preferably weller some flux and some araldite glue and a fine brass cleaning brush you use to clean brass copper with etc.

Re: Soldering advice needed for re-attaching N900 USB to mainboard.
 

Here is the actual usb port soldered onto the m/b of the N900.

Re: Soldering advice needed for re-attaching N900 USB to mainboard.
 

Oh well no answer so i guess he got scared by the pic lol.
It is actually a lot easier than it looks if you take the right steps.
incidentally the data pads normally rip clean off lol.

Re: Soldering advice needed for re-attaching N900 USB to mainboard.
 

Thank you all for the quick responses.

Nokia Chatswood has my phone at the moment. They took it from me, didn't ask for Proof of purchase or anything(this is after i call to confirm that was what i should do from the CareLine), did not give me a job number and then when i called to find out if it was approved, 4 team leaders and 10 call centre workers and 4 days of 50 minute phone calls and I still don't know whether I'm footing the bill, even though Nokia has basically forced me to import a working phone after their debacle with my N97(5 phone replacements. yes, 5, and 2 in the first fortnight), and are now saying im most likely liable for any repairs.

all i know is, making them look horrible online is making me happier.

Either way, before I submitted it, the Port came out at a Diagonal point, and was a clean snap, with it looking similair to this, only slightly "cleaner"(like the seals were still fully on the port)
http://talk.maemo.org/attachment.php...1&d=1263314046

I hope they satisfy me, as this phone like totally restored my faith in my ability to not buy an iphone(and jailbreak it of course), and to have this happen as I'd just finished updating to PR1.2 it was such a shattering experience and I'm now being f$%Ked on for doing the right thing.

If they don't repair it, I'll post pics when I can go and pick it up. but if abill_uk's requirements are what I need, I just don't have the glue, thats all.

Will bump this back up when I am sure its my only option.

once again, thanks guys- never ceases to amaze me how helpful this forum is.

Re: Soldering advice needed for re-attaching N900 USB to mainboard.
 

hope i dont have this problem (again) last month my usb broke but nokia care centre could not repair it and so gave me new n900. every time i charge the phone i am now extra careful. This is surely a design fault and nokia should just replacce your phone under the limited warranty. Is the phone not covered for replacement. The warranty is covered for 2 years?

Re: Soldering advice needed for re-attaching N900 USB to mainboard.
 

Looking at that pic at least 2 of the 5 pads at the rear have ripped off so try to persist with the care centre as i can tell you the usb port is indeed recognised as a design fault as texrat one of the mods on here will tell you.
There should be NOTHING to pay under these circumstances so do persist ok.

Re: Soldering advice needed for re-attaching N900 USB to mainboard.
 

the issue stems from the fact that the phone has a US IMEI number, meaning that the warranty is void here, however that is why I rang Nokia to confirm if they could help me, which they said they could do, they just could not replace the device, but could do a repair for me.


Now i have someone higher up doing the old apology song and saying that is incorrect information.

I've sought some legal advice, and sent nokia a list of 12 things they have done wrong with me in this situation- ranging from having one of the call centre girls put me on loudspeaker and me hearing them laughing at my anger, to nokia not releasing the n900 here until last week, to my 60 days of going to chatswood to find out about my n97s, to the fact that i keep getting promised call backs that don't happen, to the fact that 2 different pieces of information have being given to me, to the fact that if this is such a basic bit of hardware engineering that should have taken 10 minutes of a technician's day, all because I did the right thing.

I've forwarded all this to the government ombudsmen(and DFT) and told them I was calling today tonight and a current affair- and lo and behold I was delegated a case manager.

turns out all you have to do is threaten their public image. but no, I'll pop in to the topic to a)let you know what happened, and b)if i get screwed take pics and DIM....

cheers guys


Ps, I should have made it clearer, that wasnt MY usb port, mine stil has all the "grip" bits intact, and the red pasty bits are not uneven like that.

Re: Soldering advice needed for re-attaching N900 USB to mainboard.
 

Hello

I have N900 with broken USB and fix it by my self.

If you have electric soldering iron you can do it :)

http://icroon.eu/N900USB/pic1.jpg
http://icroon.eu/N900USB/pic2.jpg

Costs recovery:
- $2 new USB
- 2h (disassembly, find the connecting, fix, assemblage :)

I'm from Poland (Wroclaw) if someone want i can help.

EDIT: FATAL! See http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php...41#post1018141 as well

Re: Soldering advice needed for re-attaching N900 USB to mainboard.
 

Ok, so having evaluated the phone and having the repair completed with the result of "pcb damaged- too expensive to repair", Nokia is deeming whether im worthy of special treatment and have my device replaced.


I was wondering how nokia's definition of "damaged" compares to the real world's definition. ie would a man in a tech repair store consider a phone "damaged beyond repair" by nokia to be a cakewalk 10 minute job which his 3 year old baby could do blindfolded?

Re: Soldering advice needed for re-attaching N900 USB to mainboard.
 

It's not worth nokia spending the time and money fixing it.

30 minutes for a nokia tech would be maybe $50?

The N900 would cost them around $20 (+/-) to produce.

Re: Soldering advice needed for re-attaching N900 USB to mainboard.
 

Your informative posts are somewhat disturbing about the way your being treated by Nokia care staff OMG.
Don't they realise the usb port is in fact known now worldwide to be a DESIGN FAULT? and deemed to be replaced ?.
It is so sad to read how they are treating their own customers.

Re: Soldering advice needed for re-attaching N900 USB to mainboard.
 

WOW i got to congratulate you on having the guts to do your own repair well done.
Ok it might well be a little bit ugly but hey if it works so what !.
Your giving inspiration to everyone who is worried about this when Nokia will not repair but i seriously think a precident needs to be created against Nokia regarding this usb replacement problem that can be used by every N900 owner who will eventually get this problem.

Re: Soldering advice needed for re-attaching N900 USB to mainboard.
 

For those interested that want to to a PREVENTATIVE repair before it comes off is to look at the pics and either side of the usb port, scrape away the paint and solder the case a lot more to the m/b and on the left side looking at the port from the front there is a casing that you can stretch a piece of solder braid wider, fill it with solder and use that to attach the case of the usb port to the nearby metal shield making a rear solid fix to the port itself making it near on impossible to leave the m/b by pushing the usb lead into the port itself.
Ok its a botch situation for a botched design but it will keep your N900 working as far as usb goes.

Re: Soldering advice needed for re-attaching N900 USB to mainboard.
 

My case manager was unaware of the acknowledged design fault, I actually had to email him links(including the ones in this forum) so that he could use that information as a mitigating factor in deciding whether nokia would help me. I am positive the fact I have the transcript of the call operator putting me on loudspeaker to her teammates will mean I should get a shiny new n900- golden rule of the call centre is you never ridicule a customer, especially one who is as verbally damning as me.(eg, if i get no help, I'm sending my story to all the gadget websites, any blogs about nokia, any facebook pages about nokia, anything)

Yes, and the 5 N97s that would not have GPS functionality, even as I walked out of the store, showing the manager of nokia centre each phone failing to do what it was supposed to, in perfect weather with agps turned on.if that was HP or Asus, I would have been immediately given an upgraded product as a matter of Customer Satisfaction and my balls would have been sucked dry in that they would not want to lose me as a customer.

I have spent $2k on this and the n97, and another $1k in time spent talking to nokia. shocking.


the main problem for me was simple- Because nokia's best product in my country was the dreaded n97, I was forced to continue my relationship with their company by purchasing the phone from another country. at the time, my choices in this country were - N97 Mini, Iphone 3gs, HTC Magic, Blackberry Storm or wait until last week to buy an n900 here, at an absurdly higher price.


What pisses me off more than anything is if i rang up, said I was an american working in the country for 2 years, and my phone broke, I would have had no problem getting the phone replaced.

how is it smartphones these days do not have a global warranty? the products are designed to run in every country, the Ads from nokia show me people who own nokias like to have holidays, so where is the massive disconnect occuring? and if they are so worried about knock-offs, why not release their products F*&KING GLOBALLY.... ahem.


But yes, essentially nokia have wiped their hands of the phone's repair, it is now up to the 15 things nokia did wrong by me- 2 more promised call backs which did not happen, and when I rang at 7:30pm(call centre hours 8-8) no supervisors were still there added to the 12 from yesterday.

All because I didn't want to void a warranty which apparently never existed.

Re: Soldering advice needed for re-attaching N900 USB to mainboard.
 

Ok keep at them in every way you can and also give them evidence of the costs involved on phone calls and please let us all know on here what is the end result and GET NAMES ok of everyone and the times etc.
If need be the very forum that Nokia created will be their downfall as far as trying to mislead and con people out of a design fault replacement.
Good luck and keep up the good work for everyone on this community.

PLEASE TAKE NOTE EVERYONE READING THIS THAT THIS IS A PROBLEM ABOUT GETTING REPLACEMENTS FOR THE DESIGN FAULT AND NOT A SNUB AGAINST THE DEVICE ITSELF SO PLEASE DON'T START ANY AGGRESSIVE TALK.

Re: Soldering advice needed for re-attaching N900 USB to mainboard.
 

What do you mean by "But yes, essentially nokia have wiped their hands of the phone's repair" ?.

Nokia Saves me the trouble of DIY USB fixing by honouring my loyalty...
 

meaning my intial repair request was approved, the device evaluated, deemed irrepairable, and job completed with no repair performed.

according to the warranty terms, they have done everything they can, and because it turns out replacing the phone according to them is cheaper than a repair(this is why i am wondering about DIY viability), and because the phone originates from another country(the US, i'm in Australia) the warranty can only be invoked for repair of my device, not replacement.

so now its being evaluated by a case manager liasing with higher powers to see if I can have dispensation for a special circumstance.

my argument is based on 4 things.

1. the way the care line and care centres have not kept accurate records of our communications, and the phone manner of the lower downs at the call centre, and general "customer experience"

2. the time spent dealing with them in the past 6 months. including my n97 experience.

3. the fact nokia created a situation where they had a phone that was miles ahead in terms of performance than the n97 in the n900, and that I shouldn't be punished by nokia for supporting them enough that I bought a phone that was only just officially released last week in Australia from somewhere else given that I value their products(this includes my loyalty to the phones, i have never owned a different branded phone in 10 years as a user).

4. as a general assumption, people who use smartphones obviously know they are designed to work on virtually all mobile frequencies, so how is it that they only supply warranties to the countries they are bought in when the phones can be used everywhere? my argument earlier about how if i(or a friend) rang saying i was from america on holiday in australia and my phone broke, there would have been a higher likelihood of this issue being resolved by way of a couriered out phone from the states- by my thinking they would get the call, tell me to go to the care centre, and then the care centre would send it to america after evaluating it, who would then send out another replacement. correct? so why is it not that simple in my circumstance when it could theoretically occur through me being deceptive?

the simple fact is, I have not been treated correctly for a long enough period of time that perhaps it is nokia who should be suprising me with a letter to tell me i will be receiving the new N8 when it arrives as a token of their apologies for their "customer experience" and thanks for me not wiping the floor with them.

Re: Soldering advice needed for re-attaching N900 USB to mainboard.
 

As a final Update, Nokia has granted me special privileges, and have decided to give me a replacement phone after all.


Thanks to all who were planning on helping me through the DIY process.

It took my 10 days, but I finally convinced nokia to keep me as a customer, and they have forwarded my job onto the head office as a matter to cause an effect on how their warranties work- ie, if it is withing warranty and you're in different country(that isn't EU) they will help you out.

Re: Soldering advice needed for re-attaching N900 USB to mainboard.
 

I'm too using an imported (or also called export) N900, so if I am in need of a warranty usage I'd be sure to use this thread as reference. ;)

Re: Soldering advice needed for re-attaching N900 USB to mainboard.
 

well, it's going to suck for you more, because the Care Centres are being made useless by the new courier service nokia uses, meaning EVERYTHING will be done over the phone.

suffice to say, back and forthing is just one horrible experience..


oh, and you need to be a dick... I don't know why, but being a dick is the only way they do stuff.. if the person who takes your call is being useless, refuse to get off the phone, if they hang up, email nokia and tell them they hung up on you..

this was a struggle from start to finish until I got someone who wasn't sitting in a call centre to help me. the fundamental thing is that you get the call about 4 levels above who you spoke to first...

Re: Soldering advice needed for re-attaching N900 USB to mainboard.
 

Hello mipo, how did you found where to make the jumps?

Thanks

Re: Soldering advice needed for re-attaching N900 USB to mainboard.
 

hey i cant find any sites that sell the same exact size charge port as the n900. Ive tried ordering 2 that "looked" similar but are off on the alignment or is a mid-mounted charge port. does anyone know where i can order one or at least a charge port that is almost 100% identical in dimensions to the OEM one?

Re:THANK YOU: Soldering advice needed for re-attaching N900 USB to mainboard.
 

Thank you for posting these instructions. I was able to repair my N900 USB using pictures you provide. Cost was, USB B connector 3 RMB and some 3 hours delicate work and soldering under microscope.
I remove only part of shield metal behind USB connector to have access to right components. Please look attached picture. Soldering looks terrible but it works.
Best Reg: OH2BTG

Re: Soldering advice needed for re-attaching N900 USB to mainboard.
 

Yay count me into your USB problem pool! Mine just came off 5mins ago "FFFFUUCCCCKK" one pin is broken off :( only got 4 pins. The ground pin (leftest pin) is snapped. Am I screw?

Re: Soldering advice needed for re-attaching N900 USB to mainboard.
 

maxximuscool: You might be able to just run a jumper-wire from the metal USB-port casing to ground somewhere else on the board(I assume the little pin's hard to solder to); Not sure if it'll work, but it might.

You could test it by:
1. Plug a usb cable into the port.
2. With a multi-meter, test between the shield/ground of the microUSB port and the ground pin(or perhaps casing) of the USB-A side of the cable for continuity.
If the resistance is low, you're good.

Re: Soldering advice needed for re-attaching N900 USB to mainboard.
 

Unluckily, the other pin came off just now when I was soldering the other one. T_T i'm screwed.... "FCCCK" where can I get them new one?

Re: Soldering advice needed for re-attaching N900 USB to mainboard.
 

could someone buy me one and send it over from wherever you are? Please.. there is nothing in NZ :( searched everything but only found 500minimum each order.

Re: Soldering advice needed for re-attaching N900 USB to mainboard.
 

you guys do know about filing down the teeth on the male plug to reduce stress right?

Re: Soldering advice needed for re-attaching N900 USB to mainboard.
 

surely you should be able to find a generic phone repair shop that would fix this. Saying that a lot of components just unplug.

Re: Soldering advice needed for re-attaching N900 USB to mainboard.
 

Yes I'm taking it to Vodafone repair centre tomorrow. Going to cost a fortune :( Let's hope they weld a new one on. And When I get back I'll epoxy glue it so it won't ever break again.

Luckily I got 2 batteries and an external charger. For now I'm doing photos and stuff backup onto microSD and then erase my photos on my N900 so it will be private and confidential.

Re: Soldering advice needed for re-attaching N900 USB to mainboard.
 

I'm from Wroclaw too and I would be verty grateful for help.

I did not find any way to send private massage or e-mail to mipo so I would like to ask for contact to wandb at o2 .pl

Re: Soldering advice needed for re-attaching N900 USB to mainboard.
 

@wandb

I sent mail to you. Maybe I can help :)

Best Regards

Re: Soldering advice needed for re-attaching N900 USB to mainboard.
 

Hi all,

Big thanks to mipo Abil_uk and Texrat for all the helpful advice on this matter. My usb port broke yesterday and i felt like crying, one night without my n900 was enough so after much reading i have decided to the cable-way repair as my pads are gone. I have a friend who is going to do the soldering for me but i need a new micro usb i have found two differnt types for the job but was wondering which is best, ordered a few of each anyway.

http://uk.farnell.com/molex/47589-00...tom/dp/1568023 or http://uk.farnell.com/molex/47346-0001/receptacle-micro-usb-b-bottom-mount/dp/1568026[/QUOTE]

thanks for any replies and keep up the good work.

Re: Soldering advice needed for re-attaching N900 USB to mainboard.
 

This

That ^

Re: Soldering advice needed for re-attaching N900 USB to mainboard.
 

Or just send it back to Nokia to repair, the N900 is covered by a 2 year warrantee and this is a known issue by Nokia. Use the Nokia support page to check the validity of the warantee.

Re: Soldering advice needed for re-attaching N900 USB to mainboard.
 

thanks for any replies and keep up the good work.[/QUOTE]

The post above me gives you the best advice so please take it to Nokia care because i tell you it is NOT easy to do if your not a very good solderer, the tracks are tiny and you will have to link wire the pins to the nearest point on the motherboard.

When i repair one like this i never even try to pin to the tracks because they just lift as you try to tin them.

Send it off old boy because Nokia WILL replace your N900 i promise you ok.

PS DO NOT ATTEMPT TO DO A REPAIR BECAUSE THEY WILL KNOW THIS AND NOT REPLACE.