Develop Bugs

[Q] Where to get GNex's motherboard? Or in my case, do I need one? Details inside...

Hello Nexans,
Long story short:
I was applying SGP's flex to my phone yesterday. Too much water maybe, my phone started acting weird after installation, really dimmed display, touch screen not registering touch, and etc.
So I opened up the phone per ifixit's instruction, attempting to see if there's really any water in there so I can dry the components up.
At the time of opening it up, didn't notice any water at all, while the screen still remains not responding. At the end, the phone finally failed to boot (white Google screen looping). So I put everything back on, and finally leave it looping on my desk while I went out trying to have some fun in order to blow away this Saturday night sadness.
Magically, when I returned home after ~5 hrs, the phone is in the system and the touch screen works perfectly again. Also, the screen is showing images normally again. I happily went to bed with my phone.
This [sad] morning, volume button won't work. Opened it up, found that the volume switch (which was soldered onto the mobo) was ripped off (probably by careless me). Refer to this pic here. EDIT: sorry I still can't post outside link.
Here's the image: guide-images.ifixit.net/igi/2k6S4vvKPZh2IsB2.huge
Now I'm left alone: the phone is a imported GSM, seemingly not supported by anyone in the U.S. right now. Moreover, since the volume switch is soldered onto the mobo, and I am very sure I will ruin the phone if I try to re-solder the switch onto the mobo (it's some finest soldering on there), not to mention that the Cable Ribbon of the volume switch seems to be ruined as well, I think my only option is to get a totally new mobo that has volume switch soldered onto it.
To summarize:
1.Do I need a new mobo, if I find no one to help me repair the phone?
2.Where can I get a new mobo? (searched on eBay w/o results)
3.Will changing the mobo affect anything? I assume the data and system would be lost, but how about the identity of my phone?
4.If there's one agent in the U.S. that you think would take care of this uncostly (~$100?), who would you refer? Maybe Verizon, Samsung, or someone else?
5.If all of the above attempts fail at the end, I'll be considering selling it at a deep discount to someone who's got his way of restoring this phone, where would you recommend for me to go find such a talented Nexus lover? Will eBay fulfill this purpose the best?
Finally, thanks for you, the fellow members, for your help in advance. I hate myself for opening up the phone, now, thinking that the phone may have recovered for good w/o being opened up by me. Now that it has recovered with a broken volume switch in its body, making this issue much more complicated
Again, thanks...

shoulda turned off the phone right after it started acting funky and put it in a bag a rice

it sounds like you jumped the gun and opened the phone prematurely. How long did you wait to open up the phone after you installed the screen guard?
As far as your situation, I would probably cut my losses, get what I can out of it on eBay and buy another one.
Sent from my GSM Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

mush03 said:
shoulda turned off the phone right after it started acting funky and put it in a bag a rice
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Should have I also shouldve stayed with a dry apply film. Being a perfectionist, I almost knew I would ruin the phone by over spraying the application solution for a easier and better application
Ulver said:
it sounds like you jumped the gun and opened the phone prematurely. How long did you wait to open up the phone after you installed the screen guard?
As far as your situation, I would probably cut my losses, get what I can out of it on eBay and buy another one.
Sent from my GSM Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually, immediately. I didn't know the gaps around the glass screen is also the entrance for the water to get into the phone. I thought only headset speaker could let some water into it. After disassembled the phone, I realized that the water can easily get into the phone thru the gap, which leads the water right onto the mobo underneath the glass... Again, I didn't notice any water inside the phone, but i could be just moisture that's playing some nasty game here. I also did some intensive swing and tossing of the phone to get water out, until there's no water coming out.
Anyhow, I just went to Verizon store, and they said they wouldn't touch anything GSM, and said the only option for me seems to contact Samsung. Or as you said, I could sell it on eBay. Don't know how much it's worth though

I had to open up my Gnex last week because i dropped it in a puddle of water while getting out of my car...
If i remember correctly, the vol rocker is glued to the internal part that comes out with the screen and most of the electronics, so i cant imagine how you would have torn it off...
Its connectected to the main pcb via a connector though, sure you didn't just unplug the connector??
You could also try to go without the volume rocker, use some kind of widget for volume control, not ideal but cheaper than a new Gnex

Ooo, I'm sorry for both of us...
Yes, the volume switch is double-side taped, but the other end (the cable ribbon itself) is soldered onto the back of the mobo in my phone. I don't know how or what force ripped it off of the mobo. The cable ribbon is torn pretty harshly... I'll upload a pic when I make past the 10 posts and "unlock all capabilities"..

Also, did you notice any "sequela" after the incident? Does your phone function good now? There's time that on my phone the touch screen does not respond/register touch anymore suddenly. I usually just leave it standby with screen off. Usually, after 1+ hr, when I turn the screen back on, the touchscreen works fine...
Driving me crazy, this bad luck.

Guys,
Here's another issue... How do I get into fastboot mode if my volume rockers don't work..?
Tried Toolkit V4.1 and it keeps saying waiting for device..

cswithxda said:
Guys,
Here's another issue... How do I get into fastboot mode if my volume rockers don't work..?
Tried Toolkit V4.1 and it keeps saying waiting for device..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Install the app called quickboot, it lets u go direcrly into recovery or bootloader without holding volume keys.

Thank you sir, I'll give it a try!
OOPS.. I'm not rooted...so it's a no-go

Hey cswithxda, have you found a way to fix it without replacing the mobo?
I live in Brazil, a friend of mine brought one bought at Negri electronics at US for me. It suffered an accident (part of it involves someone pushing down a window over it) and the screen cracked.
I've sent it back to Negri for RMA Repair to fix the screen and they did it, but before shipping back, found that the volume buttons weren't working. They canceled the shipment and found out that the volume cable was broken (the screen crack was near to the volume buttons, so I guess it wasn't them that broke it while fixing the screen).
Well, I've actually paid for the screen repair and ship back, but they claim that their repair facility was unable to fix the volume... any light over this?

cswithxda said:
Guys,
Here's another issue... How do I get into fastboot mode if my volume rockers don't work..?
Tried Toolkit V4.1 and it keeps saying waiting for device..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you have all the drivers type 'fastboot reboot bootloader' in the command prompt
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

tinsukE said:
Hey cswithxda, have you found a way to fix it without replacing the mobo?
I live in Brazil, a friend of mine brought one bought at Negri electronics at US for me. It suffered an accident (part of it involves someone pushing down a window over it) and the screen cracked.
I've sent it back to Negri for RMA Repair to fix the screen and they did it, but before shipping back, found that the volume buttons weren't working. They canceled the shipment and found out that the volume cable was broken (the screen crack was near to the volume buttons, so I guess it wasn't them that broke it while fixing the screen).
Well, I've actually paid for the screen repair and ship back, but they claim that their repair facility was unable to fix the volume... any light over this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry I can't help buddy, at the time I owned the device, it was still pretty new, so I couldn't find a source that actually sells GNex motherboard. I think the only way to fix a ripped rocker button is to replace mobo if you don't find anywhere to solder it for you.
Important part is this, for whoever got the chance, buy it from Amazon! The rep was kind enough to issue me an RMA after knowing my ripped volume rocker is my own fault, and while I was actually trying to ask him about where to send it to fix. They just gave me an RMA and let me send it back and get anything else I want. Amazon customer service another miracle!
nbeebe24 said:
If you have all the drivers type 'fastboot reboot bootloader' in the command prompt
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the help! altho i returned the device

[Q] Volume Down button stuck (but not physically)

Hi everyone,
My phone seems convinced that I'm pressing the volume down key occasionally, but I'm not.
I'll miss calls, the battery will be emptied faster as the screen keeps coming on, and it has prevented me from being able to boot the phone.
It's not physically stuck, and I've even now just replaced the main board flex cable part.
edit2: I think the power key is also being "pressed" since the screen is coming one, but the volume isn't being changed. So I'm now thinking I replaced the wrong part maybe. So confused.
There's a chance of some water damage, through rain and sweat (after using it to record my runs), but it's not been dunked in beer or any of the usual causes.
Is there anything else physical that I might be able to fix (or just wiggle)?
Is it possible this is a software issue somehow?
Any advice will be much appreciated, this is so far beyond any warranty I'll do anything.
(edit: I have seen the other similar questions, but none had an answer)

Are you sure this is a hardware problem? Have you tried factory reset? Install a new ROM may be..

Am certain.
Anyway, it's too late, now sold (as faulty) on ebay.

jezmck said:
Am certain.
Anyway, it's too late, now sold (as faulty) on ebay.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same issue was with me when my desire fell in some water. Optical joy pad was broken..... I got it replaced and phone was normal again.......the faulty joy pad was sending unknown signals which were being interpreted as volume down.......and also, whenever I pressed power button once or twice, phone restarted...... It was all fixed after the repair....
Sent from my HTC Desire using xda app-developers app

Mod or disaster! Please help

Hey guys,
I have a rather big problem! My wife's glide is sick and dieing!
It was dropped a few days ago and has been getting stuck boot looping! It will randomly reboot and sometimes constantly reboot before it completely starts up!..
I started diagnosing it, pulled it apart checking for cracked circuits, lose connections. Finally I have found the problem... it's the power button. The slightest touch when working will send it rebooting again! I know that button is a vital part of the phone, my problem is how can I do without it?
I'm considering de-soldering it from the board. I did some testing, trying to see if it's possible to operate the phone without it.
Powering on... connect usb while holding vol down. Gets recovery (cwmr 6 non touch) the search button works as the power!
Screen unlock... slide open the keyboard.
Power off / reboot... thank you 14 toggle mod!
Screen off... leave alone, or in need of a mod... maybe reprogram the search button long press, vol up + down or something simple!
It's there a mod that can replace the power button for all uses? Including recovery and download mode?
Thanks.
P.s. to the moderator, this is prob not the place for this thread, I placed it here for all the devs to see quickly. For the revival of a deathly ill glide.
Sent from my SGH-I927 using Tapatalk 2

If you have skills to remove the button properly you can replace it as well.
I couldn't find these spare parts for i927 but it's a Samsung stuff so probably you can find replaceable part from ebay.
See, these buttons for the S2:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_t...kw=samsung+s2+power+button&_sacat=0&_from=R40
For Screen Off: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.droidmania.lockscreenwidget
I'm using it since years on different phones without any problem and it's working on i927 with Stock and modded ROMs as well.
dbrannon79 said:
Hey guys,
I have a rather big problem! My wife's glide is sick and dieing!
It was dropped a few days ago and has been getting stuck boot looping! It will randomly reboot and sometimes constantly reboot before it completely starts up!..
I started diagnosing it, pulled it apart checking for cracked circuits, lose connections. Finally I have found the problem... it's the power button. The slightest touch when working will send it rebooting again! I know that button is a vital part of the phone, my problem is how can I do without it?
I'm considering de-soldering it from the board. I did some testing, trying to see if it's possible to operate the phone without it.
Powering on... connect usb while holding vol down. Gets recovery (cwmr 6 non touch) the search button works as the power!
Screen unlock... slide open the keyboard.
Power off / reboot... thank you 14 toggle mod!
Screen off... leave alone, or in need of a mod... maybe reprogram the search button long press, vol up + down or something simple!
It's there a mod that can replace the power button for all uses? Including recovery and download mode?
Thanks.
P.s. to the moderator, this is prob not the place for this thread, I placed it here for all the devs to see quickly. For the revival of a deathly ill glide.
Sent from my SGH-I927 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Thread moved
I'm sorry your Glide is sick, however, questions NEVER belong in Development. Sadly I don't think this phone's General section will ever reach the threshold of posts to warrant a Q&A section. General is where this belongs.

I am on my phone or I would link to the external memory question ranking up on the boards just one above this as of the current writing anyway. I posted ways you can fix a boot loop, hopefully it didn't damage a chip inside but there is an older post from like 2-3 months ago that will give you full details of how to take apart the phone and its pretty tedious but if you know what a blown fuse looks like, you might see hardware damage similar if it fried a diode or transister somewhere. Doubtful that's the issue, but still, check if any of the hardware is loose (needle point tweezers and very gentle wiggles) if one is loose.. try to re-solder it back on, you need a soldering pencil with a pin point sized tip and just heat that one point up, use a magnifying glass to see it well.
If you don't wanna chance it, you can usually go into any radio shack and see if anyone is in the electronic parts section and ask someone there to help. Hardware modders are geeks too, they usually don't mind helping
But try the software methods first as it might have just hit so hard you might have an error in the memory is all currupt data.
If you cannot find the external SD mount topic, pm me and I will be happy to rewrite one and maybe a mod could make the guide a sticky somewhere?

Thanks guys,
After pulling the button from the phone, so far so good. It hasn't given and reboot problems. New just to find some spare parts! It's a physical push button mounted on the main board, not like the vol rocker that is a ribbon cable type. I'll have to keep my eyes out in some electronics shops. I think I might try Mouser electronics, I've ordered from then before and there located close by!
Thanks.
P.s. a guide would be good to have here for the glide! With pics on course!
Sent from my SGH-I927 using Tapatalk 2

[Q] Phone won't turn on, blue led light stays on

Hi everyone,
This is my first post and I hope I won't somehow piss anyone off. I'm just looking for a little advice or guidance.
Device: SPH-D710 Samsung Galaxy S2 on Sprint (CDMA). It was running the latest over the air ICS update. It was not rooted.
Background: Starting about a month ago the phone began to occasionally restart on its own. Also, my clock widget began to disappear randomly, no matter how many times I would put it back on the screen. It would also occasionally crash on resource heavy apps like chrome or facebook. I installed Go Launcher to try to fix the widget problem. This is the only thing out of the ordinary that I've done recently.
Problem: While running an app the phone crashed. I pulled the battery and restarted it. It never booted. The screen remains completely black and the blue LED light stays on. I've tested a different battery, it wasn't the problem. I've plugged it into my computer and it does not see the device. Plugging in the charger turns on the blue light (I can only turn it off by pulling the battery).
Question: I'm pretty sure this phone is bricked but would love confirmation (whether you can confirm or tell me how I can confirm). What I really care about is being able to access the data that was on the phone. Is there any way I can access the data? The sprint store said it would be 50 bucks to look at it and if they can't fix it they would get me a new phone. I really don't care about a new phone. Is there anything that they can do to recover my data that I can't?
Basically, is there anything I can do to access the internal memory files? (Secondary question is can I fix the phone).
Thank you in advance for your input and excuse me if I haven't followed all common etiquette on this forum. (I did search the topic).

Do not send it to sprint. Look up jtag. Send it to a reputable company like mobiletechvideos. They will repair it if it can be brought back. Solid blue light is bricked. Flashing blue light is a bad battery. Goodluck.
Sent from my SPH-L900 using Tapatalk 2

patrao_n said:
Do not send it to sprint. Look up jtag. Send it to a reputable company like mobiletechvideos. They will repair it if it can be brought back. Solid blue light is bricked. Flashing blue light is a bad battery. Goodluck.
Sent from my SPH-L900 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It definitely looks promising - if they can fix it, would it be fixed but wiped? My main concern is recovering internal data.

spoke to kyle at mobiletechvideos and he thinks it's an emmc failure since it wasn't during flashing - in which case my saved data is gone forever. anyone disagree or have any other insight? can i save my data?

wukilaflee said:
spoke to kyle at mobiletechvideos and he thinks it's an emmc failure since it wasn't during flashing - in which case my saved data is gone forever. anyone disagree or have any other insight? can i save my data?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mine started the random reboots, and then reboot loops, then couldn't get the screen to turn on...blah blah blah... lots of issues lots of people have seen. It was all because of the power button. It eventually got to where it just didn't work at all, and i was smacking the power button corner of the phone on a table or something to even get it to power on, and having to use the volume rocker wake option to wake the screen. I'm not sure if your issue is the same, but it only cost me $40 to get my power button replaced at a cell phone repair shop locally and took the guy less than 30mins.
Just a suggestion, may not have anything to do with it, but it could save you some money it happened to work. Alternatively you could try smacking the power button corner of the phone on a hard surface a few times and if it is the problem, it might unstick long enough at least know thats what it is.
I'm no expert, and i make no guarantees or promises, just my experience with mine and my wife's phone over the last 2 years...lot's of issues solved by one of three things, power button, usb port, and battery. Good luck!

momentary said:
Mine started the random reboots, and then reboot loops, then couldn't get the screen to turn on...blah blah blah... lots of issues lots of people have seen. It was all because of the power button. It eventually got to where it just didn't work at all, and i was smacking the power button corner of the phone on a table or something to even get it to power on, and having to use the volume rocker wake option to wake the screen. I'm not sure if your issue is the same, but it only cost me $40 to get my power button replaced at a cell phone repair shop locally and took the guy less than 30mins.
Just a suggestion, may not have anything to do with it, but it could save you some money it happened to work. Alternatively you could try smacking the power button corner of the phone on a hard surface a few times and if it is the problem, it might unstick long enough at least know thats what it is.
I'm no expert, and i make no guarantees or promises, just my experience with mine and my wife's phone over the last 2 years...lot's of issues solved by one of three things, power button, usb port, and battery. Good luck!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is not the issue. This is an emmc failure for sure.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium

Thank you
patrao_n said:
Do not send it to sprint. Look up jtag. Send it to a reputable company like mobiletechvideos. They will repair it if it can be brought back. Solid blue light is bricked. Flashing blue light is a bad battery. Goodluck.
Sent from my SPH-L900 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just replaced the battery and it turned back on.

Infinite bootloop FIXED!!!

Okay, so today I bought a Pixel Xl for 30 bucks off a guy on craigslist. He stated in the post that the phone was continuously rebooting and he couldn't fix the issue. He ended up buying a Pixel 4 XL instead of paying to have a repair done. I fix electronics and all that good stuff so I figured it would be a component on the logic board, most likely some failed solder joints or something along those lines. Well before I went and opened it up a I stated realizing that there were times when the phone would boot into android but only if I was holding the device. I thought it was weird and so I kept reading online and someone mentioned heating the back of the phone up would get it to boot and sure enough they were right but inevitably it would reboot again. Well I eventually realized that if I continuously pressed to power button as follows..... 1 press 1 press, wait 1 press 1 press wait the phone would remain on. Thats when I started seeing the lock screen was not activating at all as I pressed each time which it should've done. So I continued to press the button at that same rate of speed for about 2 minutes and eventually the lock screen began responding as it should've.
Long story short, if your Pixel is stuck in a constant reboot then it looks like a possible cause is the pin on the ribbon cable becoming pushed in and held in place by something. Could be dirt and gunk or something that possibly seeped into the button area and is causing the button to remain in a pressed state regardless of any actual pressure being applied to the button that's meant to activate the pressure point on the power cable. So if you're in the same situation try continuously pushing the button in order to free what's ever loved itself in place being the button and eventually the device will stop rebooting. You should also use a tiny bit of rubbing alcohol on a tip and light apply it around the power button to help free up any dirt that's undoubtedly managed to make its way in there.
HOPE THIS HELPS SOMEONE ELSE!!

Loved your solution. It worked like a charm on my pixel 3XL.
Initially while reading the other articles which clearly stated it's a hardware issue and that you need to go to store, or do some factory reset and stuff, it freaked me out. But with more research I was lucky to have come across your article. I'll be honest here, I didn't think it will work. Sounded like a troubleshoot kind of solution which generally aren't so effective, but, conitinuously pushing the button, worked like a charm and my device switched on.
Thanks for saving my device, my repair cost money, my mental peace.
Greetings from India.

This is a light case scenario, because people who are in this kind of situation don't have a issue with the buttons. You would probably be able to define this behavior if the screen immediately blacks out, or you see a blue line across the display (sign of hard reboot). More common cases are the device sticking through the Google > G animation then crashing, which is often the case of failing UFS, more potential in 128gb models, however I've seen and even owned a 32gb model that had this same exact issue.

Ohhhhhhhh thank you so much!! Thought it was a software failure but it kept rebooting when rebooting into fastboot by holding power down. After hitting it hard on the table multiple times it finally stopped rebooting. Very bad hardware by Google.

djared704 said:
This is a light case scenario, because people who are in this kind of situation don't have a issue with the buttons. You would probably be able to define this behavior if the screen immediately blacks out, or you see a blue line across the display (sign of hard reboot). More common cases are the device sticking through the Google > G animation then crashing, which is often the case of failing UFS, more potential in 128gb models, however I've seen and even owned a 32gb model that had this same exact issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if that were the case, would it not random or bootloop whether in recovery or fastboot?mine does an infinite bootloop but it wont bootloop in stock recovery or fastboot. sometimes it would crash and reboot then spin to a bootloop from twrp. google pixel

I finally figured out a solution for this as well! I sideload the latest Google OTA for an XL and it fixed the stuck bootloop! It was simply a software issue!