Usefull tools - Hardware Hacking General

Hello,
I have an idea:
Posting what are some usefull tools for hardware hacking. Both hand tools and software...
I think it would be a good reference...
What do you think?

1) a screw driver set, probably like those used for mobile phone repair. I got one with 33 interchangeable bits.
2) a digital multimeter, the more checking options the better. Or simply a cro( oscilloscope)
3) a good antistatic soldering iron( prefer goot from japan). Hot air gun with temp and air control ( optional)
4) thin solderwire, good white flux, ipa or tinner, desoldering wick, desoldering pump, soldering - de soldering assist kit( optional)
5) magnifying glass or stand with illumination, a portable filament lamp( in case u have to dry out a circuit board with ipa or thinners) , pcb holding stand( i got one with a magnifying glass too). A small magnet or box to keep unscrewed screws, so that u may not get screwed up by lossing some of them.
6) bunch of wires, pins, jacks, and a plugsocket or extension box with fuse protection and univeral plugs( i made one myself)
7) last but not least.. virtualy every thing u need for a particular work, its bit electrical and electronics. So any thing u can manage will become a tool.
8) a bench powersupply with 0-30 v adjustable option( i modified a comp smps to get it, smps supply gives stedy and stable supply compared to transformer based ones. Though it gives max 12v o/p it is enough for most works, as i got another 0-30v transformer based supply, i never had to use it for any of my mobile based works). A ups if u want.( the comp ups with 700w is a good option)
Rules;-
1) always keep ur workplace neet
2) keep all tools handy, and easily accessible from where u sit.
3) use good lighting( i made a 3w led adjustable handle lamp with lense, so that it focus properly on my work area only, keep the light so that it dont falls directly on ur eyes)
4) do handling of static objects with bare foot on ground, just to avoid static charges from ur body. Or use antistatic matts and wrist bands
5) use of correct tools makes ur work clean and also saves lot of time.
6)never mess up ur work place with wires,chargers,datacables, tools, etc..
7)patience ... hope ...determination ... optimism ...( with out these u will never gona make it)
Thats all.. i got for now.( or what that came into my mind for now) . U all add some more spice if u have`em.
Hit the thanks button if i helped u...
Regards
Shah
Sent from my HD2 using XDA App

Very good reply....
Anyone else want to add anything?

I think that covers it. Other things that I would add is an assortment of clips for probing / attaching. Maybe a scope but I don't think that is required for much. As for software, I don't know, I don't use a lot of software but I find adb and Kies being really useful.

Software's:-
1)XS ++ :- software for flashing/ moding sonyericsson Java phones
2) setool :- same as above, with more options
3)a2tool:- same as above but for newer se Java phones
4)universal box, jaf box, :- Nokia,LG,se,etc flashing.( Java phones)
5)ireb, f0recast,:- iPhone
6)adb,hd2 tool kit,alpharevex,goldcard tool,z4root,gingerbreak,android kitchen, android sdk, Odin multiflasher, :- tools for android devices
7)wp7 toolkit, wp7sdk, zune, wxap assistant, update cab sender, multi xap installer,hspl / spl installer :- windows phone tools.
Dudes these are few tools I had used, but not all, its hard to mention all, as thousands of them are out there..
The main info I can give is to Google searching your need with "tool" at its end. U will get it.
Eg:- xperia arc unlocking tool, sensation XE rooting tool, etc...
from hd2 running hyperdroid 5.7 on dorimanx 3.8

HW dev tools and asociated SW here :
just google for "microchip technology android" they have many others

Core phone analyse/modding stuff? JTAG + OpenOCD/CrossWorks. Allows to debug/resurrect/low level software and hardware analyse any ARM based phone if JTAG pads are exposed.

subasri said:
hi can u also guide me some useful tool for hardware hacking
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have posted it already, read second post of this thread. What more do u want?
Sent from my HTC HD2 using XDA App

Does anyone have experience with gas soldering irons?

Thank you all very much. Very good info

agree
+1 for this thread. very useful

Shadow, u mean oxy-acetline torch used for welding or gas soldering iron like those of hako,?
I got one gas soldering cum heating soldering iron, portable, interchangeable bits, but its too hot for mobile reworking, u can burn ur board.
Sent from my HTC HD2 using XDA App

Did no one mention a signal generator for injecting signals?

Most modern multimeters / oscilloscopes have signal injection features, even cheep chinees multimeters have it. Its ok for normal use
Sent from my HTC HD2 using xda premium

+1 for this thread. very useful

The Rigol DS1052E mentioned above is excellent, although honestly I wouldn't buy it from DX. I live in the USA bought mine from Saelig - it has been replaced by the 100 MHz DS1102E for $400.
The Open Bench Logic Sniffer can be a powerful tool, I honestly have barely used mine so far though.
There's an open hardware JTAG dongle (Bus Blaster) that is very inexpensive, but I do not know if it supports target voltage levels low enough for interfacing with most phones.
Other cool stuff for general hardware/microcontroller learning/experimentation:
Gadget Factory Papilio - FPGA learning/development board
Adafruit Boarduino - Inexpensive breadboard-compatible Arduino hardware. I strongly recommend using AVR-GCC instead of the Arduino IDE though
Adafruit ATMega32U4 breakout board - Make a USB peripheral for only $20!

The cheep solution for replacing expensive digital oscilloscopes,tracers,injectors, and every thing that read signals and show it on a screen.
A laptop/netbook/computer and a data logger card.
A netbook+multichannel( max upto 8 analog+digital i/o channels is enough) will cost u 1000-1500$ and will be a good companion. As far,, all of us have pc or laps. So its what we have to spend few hundreds for data logging card. Thats it. Multipurpose multisolution device. Possibilities are vast.. compared to ossiloscopes etc.
HPD V6-Sandy Scorpion ( beta testing)

Related

Universal Remote

Hi all,
Apologies in advance if this is in the wrong place. I've tried using the IR port as a universal remote and found (just like everyon else oddly enough) that it only works from about a meter away and if it's angled exactly right. When I get my XDA back from the shop (cracked LCD €200 - ouch !) I'm going to try putting in an LED from a cheap IR RC car. I was also thinking of taking off the red plastic cover and putting in some kind of parabolic mirrory thingy. Just wondering if anyone has any tips or has tried something similar and had any success/failures ? Is it likely that the IR port will still work for transmitting to laptops etc ?
I THINK U NEED TO AMPLIFY THE IR'S SIGNAL, JUST REPLACEING THE BULB PROBABLY WONT HAVE ANY AFFECT
Sounds like an awful lot of trouble to turn an expensive pda in to a universal remote. :roll:
i seen on sum sites b4, that u can make, or buy :roll: an external IR booster...it works really well...but i dunno if Id want sum clunky lookin thing sittin on the corner of my PDA :lol:
So there *is* a remote software, that works on XDA (regardless of the range) ... which one is it? Did anyone try it yet on the XDA II? Yesterday I tried 6 of them but wasn't able to get my TV to react. It *is* in the list of delivered device-configs ... I even kneed in front of the TV as near as 10cm ... and learning made the XDA freeze in two cases, with a third prog I got the message, that no IR was detected ...
hm ...
TV remote controls usually drives the LED's at 10-20 times the rated current through a 1/5th duty cycle bursts. The XDA2 was not designed to be able to do this.
LED's from similar bins usually have the same luminous flux rating, but the angle at which it transmits is changed by adjusting the position in the plastic housing. Moral of the story: No free lunch when it gets to LEDs.
Good luck with changing the emitter anyway. Can you recall if the XDA uses a HP IRDA module or a discrete circuit?
about extenders for the ir
http://www.pdawin.com/irtranceiver.html
http://www.homeautomationnet.com/Shopping/remote-control-accessories.asp
http://www.smarthome.com/8220A.html

Replacing Shift Radio board with another one Possible!!!

okay under the instructions of our valused member Cmonex we have now opened this discussion as a food for thought
the begining of the conversation was here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=2480768#post2480768 and now from there we continue
cmonex said:
there is no such thing as "standard WM drivers". drivers are hardware specific.
for god's sake why would you think it is based on the advantage? the processor and everything else is different. the closest is a kaiser but the LCD and some other things are of course n ot the same.
Please open a new thread to discuss this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well i assumed that the board would be advantage because they both have spinning hard drive and maybe because i own an advantage will am willing to donate in the name of sience for such a cause other wise if someone who opened shift can tell us what he thinks of this as we can simpley replace that board with this one, the only 2 things that i assume would be hard is
2. the hardware button that switched between OS's
3. the sdcard slot, in which i assume with some soldering to unify the 2 boards it would work fine (hardware side but software i dunno
Rabia said:
okay under the instructions of our valused member Cmonex we have now opened this discussion as a food for thought
the begining of the conversation was here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=2480768#post2480768 and now from there we continue
well i assumed that the board would be advantage because they both have spinning hard drive and maybe because i own an advantage will am willing to donate in the name of sience for such a cause other wise if someone who opened shift can tell us what he thinks of this as we can simpley replace that board with this one, the only 2 things that i assume would be hard is
2. the hardware button that switched between OS's
3. the sdcard slot, in which i assume with some soldering to unify the 2 boards it would work fine (hardware side but software i dunno
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you explain to me why you would want to place the advantage board in the shift? Whats the use of that?
I dont get the point.
And no, I dont think it is plausible (possible)
not advantage, we are just saying what if, so we can use full mobile strength and not software solutions
Rabia said:
not advantage, we are just saying what if, so we can use full mobile strength and not software solutions
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its kinda funny how big companies always screw up their stuff...
PS3 = only 256MB ram
Xbox360 = No BT and WIFI
Willcom D4 = only PHS
Shift = Crippled...
sad sad, isnt it?
I would be lying if I say I havent thought about swapping the CPU and I spent hours searching for ram...
i gave up....now my machine is sitting there, waiting for the SHIFT PROJECT
yes your 100% right, but swapping CPU and Ram is harder than swapping a whole Radio Board, just think of it, any HTC (kaiser for example) just mount it in a place inside the shift (after freeying the old space takin by radio) and just figure out how to connect the display, even better since shift has vga, get an advantage or one of those htc with VGA out pout and connect it from within, this is defenatly a project am doing 365 days from now or the second HTC will have a product i will buy (in this case a none crippled SHift), the more input we get from those who have looked inside it and looked inside other HTC's, personally i know how does wallaby, himalaya, jamin, jasjar, advantage look like, i have opened all and usually this is what i do in anything get, the second i the warranty ware off i strip it down to learn
You can't do that. Take a look at the FCC pics and notice the board differences.
well i looked and didn't make any sense earlier but should it be housed exactly the same, would't any radio board that fits withen the space in the shift just do the job?
No, it's connected through a proprietary connector, which you don't have in any other PDA Phone. Also you're not taking into account the Embedded Controller which allows sharing the touchscreen, keyboard, etc, between both systems. See the attached pictures.
oh now that i didn't look at, the controller that would share those things together, though after seeing the board its a close reminder of qtek 1010 or qtek 9090, i assumed that display belt is connected through the MB and keyboard is input is through a shipset like advantage with just keys being remappted throught SW, that what would i do if i was HTC coz then this would just save loads of production line equipment, this is stupid though, SDcard is connected though radio board but works with Main MB, it means almost a year from now we actually might have a full usable mobile, what scare me though is the Bluetooth Shipset, where is located to your knowledge?, i know whats going to happen in the first few realeses, phone will be working only while vista is on to be able to use WIFI and BT for audio routing and VOIP from phone board, then slowly they will become independant again (i guess)
Rabia said:
yes your 100% right, but swapping CPU and Ram is harder than swapping a whole Radio Board, just think of it, any HTC (kaiser for example) just mount it in a place inside the shift (after freeying the old space takin by radio) and just figure out how to connect the display, even better since shift has vga, get an advantage or one of those htc with VGA out pout and connect it from within, this is defenatly a project am doing 365 days from now or the second HTC will have a product i will buy (in this case a none crippled SHift), the more input we get from those who have looked inside it and looked inside other HTC's, personally i know how does wallaby, himalaya, jamin, jasjar, advantage look like, i have opened all and usually this is what i do in anything get, the second i the warranty ware off i strip it down to learn
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ram isnt that difficult to swap. You can just get a different module, since its not soldered.
Unfortunately, there are only 512MB and 1GB modules commercially available, but give it time and you can purchase 2GB.
About the CPU, nowadays, CPUs are not soldered onto the board like on the VAIO T1 to T5 series. They are glued.
My mate is soldering prototype PCBs for a living. He showed me how he glues SMDs onto the board.
So, you can change them, but its risky to pop the chip off.
But then again, will the BIOS reckognize it? How about power consumption and heat dissipation....maybe not worth the effort.
after looking at the scheme i think other than the keyboard loss its pretty doable, they are completly seperate, other than the display, which i assume the red circled connector is the one for it, i also assume the black and white are for power, other than the keyboard nothing is connected (which i assume the green circled connector is what shares the keyboard and power on etc

Repair help?

I've searched far and wide to find a video or tutorial for my problem, but didn't find much.
My problem; my middle button (Windows key) has stopped working - it does work at times but you gotta hit her in the right spot. It does feel like there is some physical damage to the underlying components.
My question is, how would I go about solving this problem? My HTC is out of warranty as far as I know and I've found one person selling replacement keypads in the US (I live in the UK), but is the keypad the correct component to replace or should I be looking to replace whatever is underneath?
Thanks, Az.
Sent from my HTC HD2 using XDA App
I would rather pay money to HTC and make them repair it than buying it my self and doing myself anywayz,. it looks like its a physical problem, the button must be replaced.
If you want to, you can change the button, it's most likely it would be it the one's broken.
I deduce that you might not be too "experienced" with electronics as you were looking for a video on how to change this part or even how to open you PDA (even if I could totally wrong as there are many persons who like to have all the available info before proceeding).
Anyway, even if I haven't opened my HD2 (yet), I don't think it would be a problem, just be sure to be very careful when you open it, prepare yourself with all the necessary tools (little screwdrivers, I think you'll need a torxs T5 screwdriver, platic pliers, etc.), clean and illuminate your working area and proceed slowly without forcing anything.
To work with most of today electronics you'll need a very fine pointed soldering iron (or heavy skills in soldering, but it's better to have both) or two would be better, a magnifying lens lamp, pb free solder (even if you can use sn-pb solder with pb free solder); but all this stuff will be necessary only if you want to change the push button itself. I just saw how to take the HD2 appart and it seems like an "average" PDA disassembling, the only detail regards the final chassis disassembling, they ask to use a oven to soften three adhesive stripes, this could also be done with a good hot air rework station.
At the end, you'll have to decide if you want to change the push button or to change the whole front buttons board.
I hope this helps.
good luck
I have taken apart some many Tmous HD's, thank could do it with my eyes closed. But it is tricky. I think I'll make a video, and then post it.
I deduce that you might not be too "experienced" with electronics
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You pretty much hit the nail on the head - well, I am experienced, just not any good, being into building and maintenance by trade, I'm more used to smashing and brute forcing rather than using careful precision lol.
I actually forgot about this post - what would you guys say about the volume +/- buttons? They're sticky, would I need to replace those too? And what sort of estimated parts price would I be looking at for both the buttons and a screen? I want to make sure I'm not overpaying. The screen itself isn't smashed, but the the top layer. I know it sounds like I've abused my HD2 in a bad way, but it did this to itself on a night out - I don't know how lol.
I've seen the screen part going for around £20. I have no clue on the bottom buttons or the volume keys. Would I be better off getting a dead HD2 for parts? And are there different part versions as such or are they universal?

UPDATE: Broken HARDWare XPERIA X1 Repair on YOURSELF : FULL GUIDE

Before Reading,
Don't forget to --> click thanks button if you found my post useful, you won't be killed if you click that button LOL
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Inspired from members' aging x1 and SESC full of crap... I'm gladly introduce you this full guide that isn't supposed to be exposed. But IMHO, it is supposed to be known by X1 owner.
I think every X1 headset is out of warranty now. While Sony Ericsson Service Centre is always full of crap, bringing broken X1 is absolutely not good idea.
They will asking "faithful" price sometimes the price is higher than the phone itself. Shame on Sony Ericsson.
So please read this guide before you bring your phone to SESC or any Service Centre.
NOTICE: However I'm not responsible to anything. SO take on your own risk!
1. What is in your X1?
Download these pdfs to read the components in your X1
a. Component in your motherboard (Advance user)
b. Component in your handset (Moderate user)
2. How to (dis)assembly your X1?
Download there pdfs to (dis)assembly your X1 in proffesional way
a. Videos in PDF (high bandwidth ISP or no FUP ISP)
b. Pictures in PDF (low bandwidth ISP or limited quota ISP)
3. How to diagnose and repair your broken X1?
Download there pdfs to repair on yourself
a. Problem and solution related to mainboard (Advance user), (!) read "Component in your motherboard
b. Problem and solution related to phone component (Moderate use)
Additional Fixing COMMON ISSUE GUIDE
(thanks to Hkt, triondave, mymailx and russell.eclair (aka rx.eclair)
Taken from local forums and some from XDA-Developers, it's weird some of these methods are never been shared to here...
1. Broken Flex Cable
Diagnose:
a. When slide out, the digitizer (touchscreen panel) isn't working (screen might be working).
b. When slide out, the screen goes blank
c. The mic and front camera buzzing
Repair:
a. FIRST Aid, (It's temporary and somehow fail if you are not skilled, in unkown way)
First method "Tape Patching",
- You can also apply this method preventing this problem while you like using the XPERIA X1 keyboard.
- As easy as ABC, just put insulator tape on the scratch side of flex cable -see blue rectangle with red 'X' inside.
- You may put on another side but it will give a hard slide-out.
Second method "Arc Manipulator", (it's working)
- Try this when you are failing from the first method.
- You can make a very thin plastic with a proper size -see black rectangle with red 'X' inside- and the thick of the plastic should not be thicker than half height of left compartment -see gray rectangle. (I use broken Lego, about 2-3 mm thick and 1x2 cm large)
- Glued it as close as possible to the edge of the 'arc' flex cable -see yellow line.
Explanation: So even the flex cable being retracted while the slider out, the position of 'arc' flex cable is manipulated as closed slider flex cable position. You've got to be sure that the thick of the plastic will not make the flex cable out of the housing so for assurance, try to move the slide locker upside down several times -see gree rectangle.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
b. Replace with new flex cable
- search on eBay is the cheapest price. In my country, the price is usually half than local shop but need to wait several weeks.
- After buy the replacement, see the guide to assembling your phone above
How long will it last?
- It's various based on how often you slide it out
Prevention:
- refer to point a.1 (isolate the flex cable) might be useful
- slide it out smoothly (because every time you slide it out roughly, the flex cable being tracked)
- Never / once upon time to slide your X1 out.
2. Unreponsive keyboard
It's very easy to repair it...
[Tutorial] Cleaning X1 Keyboard (Disassemble)
NEVER! follow the threa that is started by hatlo0or, because it is just horrible for beginner and offensive word for some person.
3. Scratching Housing
There's no other way to make it as new, replacing the houding is quite cheap right now. I found that the price varies from 12 to 70 USD.
Which one to buy?
I bought 3 housing for me myself and 1 for my friend.
* I compare those, priced arround 12 USD is better built than priced arround 20 USD.
** the 12 USD is fitted well and the chrome is shinner than 20 USD, the 20 USD Priced is not fitted and quite tricky to assembling it.
*** However the arround 70 USD is the best because it's complete. The housing with 12 and 20 USD have no keyboard but the 70 USD is quite good with keyboard.
Now I am using the keyboard and backplate from the 70 USD priced housing. but for front case and rear case, I used from 12 USD priced housing. As soon as, bought a leather case to prevent it from scratching...
Update!4. Unresponsive Volume Key
Okay, it has been long time that I've been vacuum. After 2-3 years, my X1 has been so terribly damaged. Now, I'm gonna share something else to you all. I dunno know how much people will be helped by this thread since only 20 persons who give comment while 8000 eyes (2x 4000 ppl) read this. But who care? so far there's noone complain.
To be honest, I finally buy another brand new XPERIA X1 from local shop (old stock) with great price because my X1 is what I called "un-help-able"LOL. The problem is unresponsive volume key.
First time, I think it is caused by faulty button but I don't find it wrong after checking up. And after several days' analysis, I found that it is caused by something on motherboard (but I could not determine which one, someone know?). However, the solution is just put something (paper, clip with thickness less than half milimeter) over the USB port (there's a slight gap between the housing and USB port) so it will push down the USB Connector (and Mother board), for unknown reason, your volume key back to normal.
I'm surprised that there are still ones who use X1 since the only person I know using this X1 in my city is me... lol
I just love X1 unfortunately death Sony Ericsson just like White Star Line who make Titanic for becoming so weak.
Thanks for sharing and the credit ;-)
looking good, hope it will be kept up to date
stuck it for the time being
BR, DK
Great GUIDE,THX
Your information is very useful
Your information is very useful and I learnt much from it! Keep working...
Very usefull thread it helped me a lot when I was changing broken display for a new one
OnThomaz said:
It helped me a lot when I was changing broken display for a new one
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi! What instruments have you used to disassemble the phone and to change display? I want to change display touch sensor - mine is totally scratched.
J0hnTR said:
Hi! What instruments have you used to disassemble the phone and to change display? I want to change display touch sensor - mine is totally scratched.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is named aas digitizer not touch sensor.
It's tricky if you want to separate those parts.
You need only:
1. Micro- scissors (No idea how to say it in English) but razor blade is okay (I always used my husband's)
Just very careful to slide between the display and the digitizer or it might break your LCD as well.
Suggest you to search on youtube maybe there's no tutorial about how to replace X1 digitizer but there's a lot tutorial how to separate 'em on other models.
Just watch and learn from those videos. After you have courage, just try it. But I won't take any responsible for you acts. Because everyone's skill is different, I have no idea on yours. One advice from me is be patient and don't execute any acts until you are really sure on what you do.
VSJ said:
It is named aas digitizer not touch sensor.
It's tricky if you want to separate those parts.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow. I knew it will be hard to disassemble Xperia X1..
And then I looked into the Disassembling Guide - it will be impossible to disassemble it at home!)
Thanks, will search for some repair center!
Wow,, thanks! Great one
Thx for the great GUIDE)
+1
Broken link
The link to the 'component of the motherboard' is broken (goes to ad fly and no further). You can still find it under your My 4shared division of the website, from another download..
downloading now, thanks.
the_analyst said:
The link to the 'component of the motherboard' is broken (goes to ad fly and no further). You can still find it under your My 4shared division of the website, from another download..
downloading now, thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry I don't know about that, I just copy paste the link from a local forum.
You may contact rx.eclair (kaskus) or russell.eclair (xda-developers) for questions about the link and so on
Fix Link
http://www.4shared.com/office/JVcaZCN8/component_of_the_motherboard.html
Here is the Component of The Motherboard of X1.
thanks for posting this.
It sucks having to dissasemble the phone to clean the keyboard every now and then. I wonder, is there anyway to prevent it from ever happening again?
Thanks for the extremely useful guide mate!
thanks as the aging X1 will surely need this.
Nice guide, but i still with the volume/keyboard problems...
Like some others, i have traced the proble to the motherboard, but i can't find the real cause... I think, it might be some cold solder or a faulty ground connection (this may explain why if you push the usb connector, the keys start to work again)
Great Job Bro
Great Job Bro!! Solved Problem with my X!
Thanks (;
Hi guys.
I have an old SE X1 lying around. The keyboard was not working properly, so I sent it in under warranty, but they sent it back saying I had physically damaged the screen, so my warranty was void.
When I got it back it wasn't even switching on, so I opened it up and found 2 small components broken off the mainboard. I don't know what they were but I've taken a photo of their locations, so if someone opens their phone, could they tell me what they were? It would also be brilliant if you could measure their values. I want to try soldering some replacements on...
I can't post the link to the image as an image, so I'll link it here:
dl.dropbox.com/u/98849791/DSC_1531.jpg
I'd love to get this thing working again, I miss it.
Thanks, Jodie.

[FIX] Nexus 7 ( 2013 ) grounding issue & improve Touchscreen performance

Warning: These MODs will void your warranty. You will have to open the device and leave traces behind by performing them. Only perform these Mods on your own risk, if your tablet turns into a brick after or tries to conquer the world, it is not my fault !
As many people know, the Nexus 7 ( 2013 ) has some serious issues. Some devices might show next to no problems at all while others are barely usable.
The Mods I´ve come up with help to at least make the tablet usable again since the manufacturer saved too much $$$ for these devices.
Improving the Touchscreen performance and fixing the grounding issue:
The Touchscreen controler is way too sensitive and the connector cable leading to the Touchscreen acts like a antenna. In order to suppress interferences, it requires a shielding.
I know that some people try to flash other Firmware in order to improve the response but this is not how you can get rid of the problem permanently. These extra Touchscreen Firmwares might decrease the sensitivity and make the Touchscreen usable, not more or less.
Material needed:
- Some Aluminum Foil
- Some adhesive Tape
- Some thick piece of paper ( optional )
- a multimeter device ( optional )
- conductive pads ( optional )
Basically you need to disconnect the Touchscreen connector, attach some thick piece of paper between the cable and the battery ( only optional since this method only adds some extra insulation and insures a even tighter fit of the cable ), attach some Aluminum Foil ( make sure to fold it many times since you need many layers to make it stable ), wrap it around the cable and fix it with stripes of adhesive tape.
This is how your new cable could look like. The open copper spots on the Touchscreen cable are connected to ground; by attaching the aluminum foil, it will also have a connection to ground and shield the cable against interferences. You can check the proper connection with a multimeter if you´re not sure if you have a tight connection.
I also attached a extra conductive pad on top of the connector to ensure a even tighter electrical connection.
I salvaged these conductive pads from junk devices
After having performed this Mod, I never ever had any trouble with my Touchscreen controler going ape-sh*t after a while or not reacting when the tablet was laying on my table and only being touched with one hand only ( also known to other people as the "grounding issue" where you need to touch your Tablet with both hands ).
Audio buzzing issue:
My device also had another issue where I could hear a buzzing noise while using the headphone jack without playing any sounds at all. I could only fix this ground connection issue by bypassing it with a extra trace of conductive ink.
Material needed:
- conductive silver ink
- conductive pads
- adhesive tape ( optional )
This is what I did:
You will need a multimeter to check if the connections are ok and also attach some extra conducting pads.
Safety first:
If you´re too scared about risking a short circuit, you can attach some adhesive tape :
My device is working without any flaws now and I can finally enjoy it like I wanted it to behave when I bought it in 2013..
Happy Modding,
I also wanted to mention that the grounding error when using the headphone output, without listening to music for a while, seems to have vanished too.
I used to have a buzzing noise when not playing any sounds at all, after a while. Maybe the parallel ground connection prevents some internal interruptions, messed by a faulty PCB design.
edit: removed
Very cool. I'll give this a try over the weekend; I'll have to get that silver pen first. They cost a pretty penny here in Singapore.
edit: removed this one too
Sweet. I'm doing this asap. I absolutely love my Nexus 7 but the touchscreen just drives me crazy. Terraria is my favorite game and controls are just insane. I get multiple inputs often. Character is running all over the place, turned the wrong way. I tried to play a FPS a few days ago and that was a complete joke. I've done the touchscreen firmware flashes and reseating the cable connections and both help alot but still doesn't stop the frequent spaz fits.
So you did both steps; added silver trace to the backplate and wrapped the cable in foil...?
I'm assuming the silver trace didn't work since you continued working on it. Do you recommend doing the silver trace or just the foil wrap?
A video would be interesting to just show what connects to what. Video is also easier to make out what is what.
edit: removed this one too. It seems that there is not any demand for mods like this.
Just wanted to report that I placed a 2×3 strip of twice folded tinfoil underneath the two cables running down the back inside my nexus. I made sure the left and right edges of the foil were touching the metal bracket before I put the back cover back on. My issues with a dead screen have disappeared. It had been happening more and more over the past 2 months, maybe 10-12 times a day. I was close to getting a new device. Glad I didn't!
Gorgtech said:
Edit: removed due to low demand
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But why? Should sharing something be in a racing with other threads? Helping even one person should be good enough.
Sent from my D6503 using XDA Free mobile app
I´m glad the shielding did the trick for you
I removed the posts because the Mods require you to not only open the device ( which is easy and can be done without leaving any traces if done the proper way ) but also perform changes which will leave marks behind and void your warranty for sure. If you are a older user who owns the device for 1-2 years ( and doesn´t care about voiding the warranty ), you might want to try them.
But I guess that most people here might be afraid in the end to modify the device like I did. XDA is a platform for software enthusiasts and I´m not sure if hardware-mods really fit here.
But if there really is a demand for fix which require you to do more than just eg. playing with ADB around and flashing other Touchscreen Firmware or simply open the device and pushing a connector ( while wearing gloves so you cannot leave any finger prints on the copper foils ), I can reupload a short description
Gorgtech said:
I´m glad the shielding did the trick for you
I removed the posts because the Mods require you to not only open the device ( which is easy and can be done without leaving any traces if done the proper way ) but also perform changes which will leave marks behind and void your warranty for sure. If you are a older user who owns the device for 1-2 years ( and doesn´t care about voiding the warranty ), you might want to try them.
But I guess that most people here might be afraid in the end to modify the device like I did. XDA is a platform for software enthusiasts and I´m not sure if hardware-mods really fit here.
But if there really is a demand for fix which require you to do more than just eg. playing with ADB around and flashing other Touchscreen Firmware or simply open the device and pushing a connector ( while wearing gloves so you cannot leave any finger prints on the copper foils ), I can reupload a short description
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, a mod is a mod. Does not matter if software or hardware. A simple warning for warranty risks should be enough. It's not any more dangerous than installing Cyanogenmod or achieving S-off on HTC devices or bacing up DRM keys of our Sony, yet their inventors think giving you the warning on the OP is enough.
For the same angle, it's l logical that you advise people to use gloves, etc.. to hide any evidence of interacting with the device's inside so the warranty remains..
Besides, same rule as rooting still applies; if one is afraid or not know what to do clearly, then one should not do it.
People, like me, who lives in countries where the warranty is not honored properly because most of the tech companies has no honor at all, most likely would prefer a self-made solution rather than trusting the warranty companies -which is not the device maker company but a local one- and waiting for weeks.
Sent from my D6503 using XDA Free mobile app
Was gonna about to check this out again and try it, but you removed it already Hope you will post the shorter guide.
Please upload the guide again
Skickat från min HTC One_M8
Why would you delete your posts?
please re upload the fix
I'm very interested in seeing the guide
I just found this today, so I haven't had a chance to see it yet, but the context from the later posts makes it sound very interesting
Gorgtech said:
Edit: removed due to low demand
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
but why remove it?
where is fix?
Low demand? What kind reason is that?
can you post a picture? thanks.

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