I am pretty sure, I spent about 16 hours combined working on this Samsung S21 Plus.
It came to me for Data Recovery.
It started bootlooping out of nowhere & customer needed all their pics & vids.
I went through my normal BDS workflow to solve the common bootlooping problem, but this one was different. Nothing I did changed the behavior.
UFS reballed, no change
UFS health was checked and was good, so we proceed to work on it
Then did RAM reball, but no change.
Then CPU & RAM Reball (they're stacked on top of each other) and same results.
At this point, customer approved a CPU Swap and oh boy, was that fun.
First step was to do the full CPU/RAM/UFS swap onto my working donor to see if it boots and it was no power. After some troubleshooting & replacing RAM, it finally booted...
Turns out, this phone had no pin code, but because Samsung started pairing a small IC to the phone (staring on S21 series), so it needed the "pin code IC" to be swapped as well.
The problem is that the pin code IC is inside the sandwich, so I figured i'd to the swap to see if i can get it boot first, then deal with the sandwich issues/pin code IC.
So even though this phone has no pin code, it will still not let me access the user data. It was forever in the "The phone is starting...." screen & nothing would load.
I can browse the settings, but couldn't really do much. None of the menu options were opening.
So this tells me, the pin code IC is needed, even if the phone has no pin code.
That's when I proceeded to split the sandwich on both boards, so I could transplant the small pin code IC
But that's when I ran into a problem...
After much troubleshooting, I got it booting and user data finally loaded! But it was restarting & overheating. I tried different methods to cool it but it would not change anything.
I reballed the sandwich again & it stopped over heating, but still restarting.
Tried reballing CPU, RAM, UFS, pin code IC and sandwich, but same results.
Finally, I decided to try another donor board..
And that did it! It finally booted up and stayed on fine. It didn't overheat either.
Looking back to all the steps I took, I definitely learned a lot. I also feel that maybe i could have resolved this in the beginning with just a new RAM chip.
I recently had another S21 that was no power & detected in "QDLoader mode" that ended up just being a bad RAM chip.
So although I spent a ton of time on this one, I have learned from this whole experience & I'm confident I'll be able to quickly solve future Android data jobs, thanks to the time I invested in this one.
So if you need your data recovered, send me a PM for a quote. B2B discounted pricing is available 🔥
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 👇👇
One of the perks of being an active member is access to our private Facebook Messenger group chat.
We’ve got a solid group of techs in there discussing panic logs, 3 minute restarts, board level repairs, troubleshooting, tools, weird cases, and sharing fixes.
It’s not a training course, just a chill place for techs to help each other out and talk shop.
If you want in, comment your Facebook profile link below or DM me on Facebook and I’ll add you.
This 15 Pro came in for data recovery. It came in smashed badly.
I split the sandwich & tested in the jig with a known good bottom board & all known good parts
But yet, it still restarted.
That means it had a board level issue causing it.
I found the panic log said the sensor array code was 0x80000
This was not a previously documented error code, so I had nothing to go by
Based on the backstory, I started checking everything on the board. Diode mode all the common connectors. But nothing.
Then I remembers the 14 Pros require the Gyro to work. Sure enough, rotation was not working
I found the Gyro IC & noticed it was loose
I pulled & it had some ripped pads.
Rebuilt the pads, placed the IC back & it worked! I backed up the data.
Since the Repair Wiki is not longer updateable, I will be posting the new panic logs I find on my Panic Log Cheat Sheet, only available to active members
You can access my Panic Log Cheat Sheet here:
https://www.vccboardrepairs.com/cheat-sheet
...
Crazy recovery job I wrapped up this week on an iPhone 14 Pro Max that was mailed in all the way from Nebraska.
Customer told me the phone had been run over multiple times, and honestly, after opening it up, I thought this was going to end up being a no-fix. The phone was absolutely destroyed. The housing was twisted, the board was severely bent, and the damage near the NAND had me expecting the worst.
First thing I did was remove the board and inspect everything under the microscope. The bend near the NAND and CPU area was pretty extreme, which is usually a very bad sign on these newer iPhones. In many cases, once the board bends this badly, the CPU or NAND can crack internally and the data is gone for good.
Because the board was bent so severely, I couldn’t safely use my normal board heater setup to separate the sandwich board. I had to carefully use hot air instead and take my time through the entire process. Definitely one of those jobs where one wrong move could destroy the last chance at ...
