It's easy to assume a device is having a board issue when the device does not power on.
But you'd be surprised how many phones I've recovered data from, by just unplugging everything, except the bare minimum, Screen, Battery & Charging Port.
Ideally, you want to take out the whole board & test with KNOWN GOOD parts. But you don't always have those.
In this case, it was a Galaxy Fold that came in for Data Recovery after it spontaneously died on the customer.
I've never even held one of these, let alone opened one.
I followed along a JerryRigEverything video on opening it and just start unplugging everything.
Just following where the flexes go, I kind of figured out what most of them do. Like one was for the foldable screen, there were 2 that connect the 2 halves together, etc.
Just kept trying different combinations of cables unplugged until I noticed the device started charging on my USB C meter.
I let it sit for a good 10-15 min & saw it was charging at 9V/1.5A, but no image.
Start plugging in the flexes that appeared to be the screen & I got image! The device was showing the charging logo on the screen.
Booted the phone up & got the data.
Afterwards, I fully reassembled & plugged everything in & it kept working. So who knows what exactly caused it to die & not want to power on.
But the key here is, don't just automatically jump to soldering, if you haven't ruled out parts issues
You'll end up adding more variables that can lead you to a more difficult repair.
Let me know down below if you found this helpful!
If you have a Seek Thermal Cam, you're missing out if you don't have a VCC Seek Stand: https://www.vccboardrepairs.com/buy-seek-stand
Injured Gadgets just got these back in stock, so get them while you can!
It can take us a while to build these out sometimes, so they're sometimes out of stock for a while, but we're working towards always having inventory ready to build more as they sell out.
This stand makes using a thermal cam so easy. So much better than any other thermal solution on the market.
It allows you to get real close up (using my Macro Lens), and easily find where the short is coming from.
Plus it's hard free, so you can have your hands free to try to boot the device from DCPS, while having an image that is in focus & not moving around.
You can even record a video through the app, while you inject voltage into the short, so you can go back & see exactly which component was it that was heating up.
Save yourself lots of time by getting a Seek Cam, Stand & Macro Lens! ...
Anyone who is doing game console repairs, knows how many screws you need to remove to access the motherboard.
Especially the PS5, with the 5,000 screws or so.
If you don't already have an electric screwdriver, GET ONE ASAP.
🌟 Cordless Screwdriver with T9 Bit: https://amzn.to/3E5duCj
🌟Extended T9 Bit: https://amzn.to/3c4YJac
It's rechargeable through micro USB and allows you to easily swap the tips out. You can also fold it to be straight or L shape.
Let me know below if you are already using an electric screwdriver 👇👇
I got an iPhone 15 Pro mailed in from New Hampshire for Data Recovery. The front & back were smashed pretty bad.
Took the phone apart & found the bottom board was dented pretty bad
Separated the sandwich to just the top board only and found I had a short before prompt to boot. Tracked it down to a shorted C4222 on PP_VDD_SNS_BPIC
Removed the bad cap & I still had a short. Found the next short on C3499 on VDD MAIN
After that, no shorts before prompt to boot. So I thought that was it...
Well I was wrong. There was a 700mA short after prompt to boot.
Looking at the board under the thermal camera.. heat was coming from the NAND. Although the NAND looked in very good condition with no signs of physical damage. See first pic.
So I decided to remove the NAND to check further.
Without NAND, no short. It would just boot to DFU mode
Closer inspection of the NAND, I found there was a small crack running along the side wall.
When the NAND is cracked, it's GAME OVER. There's no way to ...
I got this Samsung S22 Ultra for Data Recovery. The display connector had some water damage that caused a short on the FPC
After removing the FPC, I found the short was within the layers.
I tried digging it out & it worked, but after placing the FPC back, the short came back.
These are really annoying lol
So I've offered to do a CPU Swap & waiting for the customer to reply 🙏
