Charging Cradle No Longer Charging - Ornate TrueSmart

Before I begin, if there is already a thread outlining this particular problem, I apologize in advance.
Yesterday my Truesmart was in the charging cradle sitting on my desk, not realizing it, I accidentally opened a draw which pulled on the USB cable, dragging my Truesmart off of the desk and onto the floor. My truesmart fell about 2 feet and is fine, but the charging cradle will no longer charge it. I would assume that something broke in the cradle when it fell, which justifies the pathetic quality of it, although there is no visual damage on the cradle and when shaken nothing rattles around inside of the cradle.
My question is what should I do now? I am almost certain that it is the cradle that is the problem and not the Truesmart or the USB as the watch will still turn on and the USB will charge other devices. I have tried different power sources and different USBs and I only have one cradle. Is there anything I should troubleshoot in order to try and get the cradle working? Or is is possible that the problem is with the watch?
Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

The spring contacts in the cradle may have gotten smushed in a bit by the impact. Try prying them up gently with like a needle.
Otherwise, the solders connecting the microUSB connector inside the cradle might have failed. They have been reported to be of poor quality on another owner's cradle with cold solders. Try resoldering them if probing them shows them not good connections anymore.
Thirdly, maybe your USB cable itself was damaged in the drop. Test it too.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

I tried what you suggested with the needle and it didn't make any difference, they seem to be at the right position anyway.
I have a feeling it might be the solders, as it is possible that the sudden shock of the microUSB inside of the port caused something to break. Unfortunately I do not have any knowledge of soldering nor the equipment to do it. I wouldn't know how to open up the cradle without breaking it anyway.
I already tested the USB cable, it charges anything else, and I have tried other USBs with the Truesmart to make sure that it is infact the cradle.
I have sent Magan (may or may not have spelt her name right) two emails and have received no response.

Asking omate for another cradle is useless. Omate is focusing on shipping units not cradles. I know this because my cradle stopped working also. The solder on the female USB plug had failed. I took it into a local electronic repair shop and they resoldered a new plug on. They also asked me what doll or store I pitched the charger at.

I've been thinking of replacing the spring contacts with actual pogo pins. It's silly that the charger doesn't utilize them to begin with.
Sent from my GT-N5110 using Tapatalk

rhineymac said:
Asking omate for another cradle is useless. Omate is focusing on shipping units not cradles. I know this because my cradle stopped working also. The solder on the female USB plug had failed. I took it into a local electronic repair shop and they resoldered a new plug on. They also asked me what doll or store I pitched the charger at.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am aware but I figured it was worth a shot since my order was missing a keychain that I was told would ship "soon".
I might look into taking it into a shop, how much did it cost you to do that? And I didn't understand your last sentence.

He mistyped "dollar store".
Apparently they have such cheap budget shops up in Canada too. I get my colored USB cables from them, they say, " Made in China" on them and generally last a couple of weeks.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

Have you had the back of the watch off? If so loosen all 4 screws then tighten the 2 where the charge pins are first - then tighten the other end, where the buttons and camera is, last. I had an issue where the watch would not charge after reinstalling the back. I think the internal contact pins barley contact the flexible plastic copper pads. I originally crisscrossed tightened the screws and it wouldn't charge. If I have to install the back cover again I will most likely add a thin layer of something underneath the cable pad to help close the gap and provide a more solid contact for the internal pins. I could visibly see where there was maybe 2 out of the 4 pins making adequate contact.

Oops yes I ment dollar store. It didn't cost me much. $10 but the guy told me that it wouldn't last long, which it didn't, it stopped charging my ts today. He told me that its cheap, pure and simple. I was suppose to receive a spare that I paid for. When I asked about it I was told they won't ship it until after all KS and preorders were shipped. Omates way of telling me that I'm SOL

rhineymac said:
Oops yes I ment dollar store. It didn't cost me much. $10 but the guy told me that it wouldn't last long, which it didn't, it stopped charging my ts today. He told me that its cheap, pure and simple. I was suppose to receive a spare that I paid for. When I asked about it I was told they won't ship it until after all KS and preorders were shipped. Omates way of telling me that I'm SOL
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I realized you meant dollar store shortly after posting lol, unfortunately I have even seen nicer chargers at the dollar store. $10 isn't bad but I guess at that price it makes sense to get a new charger if possible. I love how I am fortunate to have a semi-working watch but can't even use it because I don't have a working charger. Thanks for all of your help Omate -.-
SkyHawkTech said:
Have you had the back of the watch off? If so loosen all 4 screws then tighten the 2 where the charge pins are first - then tighten the other end, where the buttons and camera is, last. I had an issue where the watch would not charge after reinstalling the back. I think the internal contact pins barley contact the flexible plastic copper pads. I originally crisscrossed tightened the screws and it wouldn't charge. If I have to install the back cover again I will most likely add a thin layer of something underneath the cable pad to help close the gap and provide a more solid contact for the internal pins. I could visibly see where there was maybe 2 out of the 4 pins making adequate contact.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had the back off of the watch once, after putting it back on it worked fine up until I dropped it. The watch will turn on, it just won't charge. I will try your suggestion anyway when I have my watch around though. The assembly of the watch is disgustingly poor, there is what looks like dried glue seeping out of the SIM slot of my watch. Very lucky to have no issues with buttons or pin contact and etc.

Agent. said:
I realized you meant dollar store shortly after posting lol, unfortunately I have even seen nicer chargers at the dollar store. $10 isn't bad but I guess at that price it makes sense to get a new charger if possible. I love how I am fortunate to have a semi-working watch but can't even use it because I don't have a working charger. Thanks for all of your help Omate -.-
I had the back off of the watch once, after putting it back on it worked fine up until I dropped it. The watch will turn on, it just won't charge. I will try your suggestion anyway when I have my watch around though. The assembly of the watch is disgustingly poor, there is what looks like dried glue seeping out of the SIM slot of my watch. Very lucky to have no issues with buttons or pin contact and etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the problem ive had with the charger is the female usb port. its very loose. i wonder if we will ever see the xtra things we paid for, xtra chargers, tshirts sd cards. its bad enough that the watch is a mess, but to have a propriatiery charger is just icing on the cake. theres not way of fixing it. well there is,but it only lasted a week. the guy who fixed mine laughed at me and told me you get what u pay for. This is only partly true, the charger was $5 but isnt worth $1

You could make a charger with a dollar store USB charging cable you cut up to expose the +5 and gnd wires, then tape them to the right pins on the back of the watch, carefully.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

rhineymac said:
the problem ive had with the charger is the female usb port. its very loose. i wonder if we will ever see the xtra things we paid for, xtra chargers, tshirts sd cards. its bad enough that the watch is a mess, but to have a propriatiery charger is just icing on the cake. theres not way of fixing it. well there is,but it only lasted a week. the guy who fixed mine laughed at me and told me you get what u pay for. This is only partly true, the charger was $5 but isnt worth $1
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm pretty sure mine is the female USB port too, as my watch was plugged in when it fell so I assume the shock of the male USB caused it to break. Your guess is as good as mine as to if they ever plan on actually fulfilling their promises, they have done a pretty crummy job thus far. The charger is absolute junk, at least if we had the charging cable they initially promised we might be able to work with it a bit more.
trent999 said:
You could make a charger with a dollar store USB charging cable you cut up to expose the +5 and gnd wires, then tape them to the right pins on the back of the watch, carefully.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That isn't a bad idea for a temporary fix but the fact that it even comes down to doing something like that is absurd in my opinion, the charger should have been done and ready while they were dealing with all of the other BS issues.

Well, remember that for most owners the charging cradle they received works fine. It is not that poorly designed - mostly failures reported have been due to shoddy assembly. Similarly careless assembly has been reported on the watch itself in various areas.
I got my extra charger I ordered via Kickstarter, included in the package, but have never tested it nor needed to. I also figured out a way to charge the spare battery with an Anker universal charger, just in case. That charger came free with a couple of VGNexus batteries I bought from Amazon.
You might have better luck with the USB port repair staying fixed if you support its attachment to the board, such as it is, with an application of SuperGlue prior to resoldering the connections.
Holding a cable connector in place via only the contact solders would always be a bad design though.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

Related

Just How Long Did your Charger/USB Data Cable Last???

I am not quite sure as to the variation of included accessories from carrier to carrier but this is a question to at least the Tilt 2 owners and anyone else who's Touch Pro 2 came with that handy charger which has on one end a small block housinga flip up wall plug and on the other a female USB connection, this came with an USB to mini USB cable. The reason I ask is that after purchasing mine in February the mini end to the cable has completely come apart. It actually started within weeks of getting the phone. When I saw what was happening I wrapped it with some splice tape thinking it would be fine, but nope. The end fell out the other day and I was shocked to find that the small metal end was seated into the decidedly softer plastic plug in no more than maybe 1/32". How is something that is the junction for a lot of force anytime one moves the phone supposed to last with this kind of construction. AT&T says they warranty everything in the box? Nope. They will give you a wall charger that they retail for $29 as opposed to sending you the cable which retails for $10 less. My suspicion is that they are well aware of the fragile nature of this cable and so would rather you have something less likely to need replacement, at least while one is still under warranty. So I was curious if others have experienced this and if so, what did you do? Is there something to replace it with that is built better? OEM or not, I would love to know. I won't even go into what HTC said, but lets just say they are of a split mind on what to do.
I don't understand when you say that part is under a lot of force. I just don't see this with normal use.
Cords in general are not known for being durable, and prone to failure. But I agree that failure after 3 months is ridiculous. I've had mine since October, and it works fine. I also have the original cable for the old Tilt, which is 2-1/2 years old now, and well as the old charger (cord is not detachable). Admittedly, I probably don't use the newer USB cable as much as others, since I have these old accessories, which are still used with my Tilt2.
It sounds like ATT is willing to give you a new charger (with non-detachable cable), but not a new cable? That does seem odd. If you need a new cord, get one from Amazon or similar, it cost about $3.50 shipped.
http://www.amazon.com/HTC-Cable-Shadow-Diamond-myTouch/dp/B002CZQ2IK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=wireless&qid=1274720016&sr=8-1
im in the same boat as OP. Althought his seems to have lasted longer, LOL. Mine started to pull away from the usb b type end after the second week of having the device. Lucky for me i had some electrical tape and as soon as i noticed it i wraped it up good. I also have pleanty of usb to usb b cords laying arround seeing as i own a ps3 also. If you have any you can just use them they fit quite well and work fine.
redpoint73 said:
I don't understand when you say that part is under a lot of force. I just don't see this with normal use.
Cords in general are not known for being durable, and prone to failure. But I agree that failure after 3 months is ridiculous. I've had mine since October, and it works fine. I also have the original cable for the old Tilt, which is 2-1/2 years old now, and well as the old charger (cord is not detachable). Admittedly, I probably don't use the newer USB cable as much as others, since I have these old accessories, which are still used with my Tilt2.
It sounds like ATT is willing to give you a new charger (with non-detachable cable), but not a new cable? That does seem odd. If you need a new cord, get one from Amazon or similar, it cost about $3.50 shipped.
http://www.amazon.com/HTC-Cable-Shadow-Diamond-myTouch/dp/B002CZQ2IK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=wireless&qid=1274720016&sr=8-1
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What I mean by force is imagine that point where the mini usb meets the phone as a lever point. So when the phone moves at all, you go to pick it up you bump it,what have you, that is where all of the stress forces will be at play. Considering that point is just a tiny piece of metal and plastic that is only inset about 1/32" what can you expect. The new versions have been redesigned, si I am sure they know. I am also pretty sure this is why neither HTC nor AT&T will carry them in their warranty department. In fact, AT& T doesn't deal with Tilt 2's at all at their service centers. Funny that HTC passed Apple in sales this quarter but might have forgotten Apples hard learned lesson that they received when it was realized that the iPod's battery could not be replaced. The Phones are great, the accessories they by from someone else ordinarily so they are hit and miss
And yeah 1 L0v3 my HtC, I just learned that any mini USB will do. I thought that the ends were proprietary and so the would be hard to find but the different shape fits afterall which is what I am using now.
I have never used mine. I've used my old Motorola charger from day one.
nerv666999 said:
What I mean by force is imagine that point where the mini usb meets the phone as a lever point. So when the phone moves at all, you go to pick it up you bump it,what have you, that is where all of the stress forces will be at play.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, that's what I figured you meant. Just doesn't seem like much force to me at all. Sure, cables have a stress point right at the plug, and that is where almost all cables go bad eventually. But if your device is just sitting there, plugged in, I don't see how much stress is being applied to it, even if you bump it.
redpoint73 said:
Yep, that's what I figured you meant. Just doesn't seem like much force to me at all. Sure, cables have a stress point right at the plug, and that is where almost all cables go bad eventually. But if your device is just sitting there, plugged in, I don't see how much stress is being applied to it, even if you bump it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I empathize with the OP. I have thrown away a number of older cables due to short circuits at that junction. It no so bad, unless it shorts out during a flash... :eek At any rate, I now wiggle them before initiating a flash. I also bought new cables with the HTC connector and no longer use mini usb.
I have a number of 'antique' cables and chargers from my 6800 days and a number of newer ones. All are working just fine.

[Q] 40-pin Connector

Unfortunately, my cat chewed off my 40-pin usb charging cable and I'm going nuts atm... so has anyone found anywhere that might sell a cable like this? I looked pretty much all the online places and they're none existence, perhaps if i take it to local phone shops, will they be able to solder it up?
jc.extreme said:
Unfortunately, my cat chewed off my 40-pin usb charging cable and I'm going nuts atm... so has anyone found anywhere that might sell a cable like this? I looked pretty much all the online places and they're none existence, perhaps if i take it to local phone shops, will they be able to solder it up?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To be honest i do not think they sell those separately yet
My first guess is to call Asus directly, and tell them what happened and they might send you a new one or let you buy one over the phone if you feel comfortable doing that
Or even contact them on Facebook they actually monitor that very well
As for the cable splice, i am not sure of any phone shops that would do that, at least in my area, maybe a electronics repair shop would be better, probably charge you an arm and a leg though
If i had bought a dock with my transformer, i would send you my extra cable
SlimDan22 said:
If i had bought a dock with my transformer, i would send you my extra cable
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No extra cable with the dock...unless I got shorted one.
So I spent over an hour talking on the phone with them this morning, apparently, they don't even have a part number for the cable, I even had to convince them that this doesn't sell in the local shops first. Now they're saying there'll be a "special" team which will contact me within 24 hours to solve the problem. Sigh...I knew asus support sucks and was hoping the product to last long without needing support but...
jc.extreme said:
So I spent over an hour talking on the phone with them this morning, apparently, they don't even have a part number for the cable, I even had to convince them that this doesn't sell in the local shops first. Now they're saying there'll be a "special" team which will contact me within 24 hours to solve the problem. Sigh...I knew asus support sucks and was hoping the product to last long without needing support but...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Asus were brilliant for us when my Mum had a problem with her Eee PC a couple of years back - screen failed, got a brand new one within a week. Couldn't argue at all!
It does seem vary by product, hopefully they'll contact me soon.
jc.extreme said:
So I spent over an hour talking on the phone with them this morning, apparently, they don't even have a part number for the cable, I even had to convince them that this doesn't sell in the local shops first. Now they're saying there'll be a "special" team which will contact me within 24 hours to solve the problem. Sigh...I knew asus support sucks and was hoping the product to last long without needing support but...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't tell them your cat chewed it. You're better off saying it's defective and the store won't take it back and demand a replacement. When they get yours back they'll charge you for the cat-chewed cable and everyones happy.
Telling them it was your fault will not get anything done quickly, because they don't have to give you a new one. Try it the other way around and at least you can get a working cable and they'll charge the money it would have cost to sell it to you.
Hope it all works out.
ddrstreak said:
No extra cable with the dock...unless I got shorted one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My bad, i thought the dock came with a cable because that would be the most obvious thing to include , guess i was wrong lol
I called again later and on the third time was able to get a RMA for it, sent it to the service center right afterwards so hopefully I can get a phone call sometimes next week about the payment. But from what they said, it seems like they don't have these things on stock for replacement, kinda sucks since I'll be out of country in a week and half.
I've never repaired a cable before, so I haven't a clue what I'm talking about, but if the wires inside of the cable are color coded, I bet with a pair of wire strippers and a little solder and electrical tape, you might be able to do the job yourself.
hotelmode said:
I've never repaired a cable before, so I haven't a clue what I'm talking about, but if the wires inside of the cable are color coded, I bet with a pair of wire strippers and a little solder and electrical tape, you might be able to do the job yourself.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I peaked through the opening of the cable, the wires were extremely small where I could not see the inner metal wires within the cables and they seem like un-strippable (so thin that I'm afraid to break it with typical wire stripper), also there're metal wires on the outside wrapping the inner cables which are also damaged. Just gonna give up and let them send me a new one.
ASUS suggested website
BTW, one of the reps were telling me to go to this website and check if they have the cables in stock http://www.asusparts.eu/index.php
I think this will be the first place to have them if any charging/replacement kits would be available. However, currently there're nothing related to the TF.
jc.extreme said:
Unfortunately, my cat chewed off my 40-pin usb charging cable and I'm going nuts atm... so has anyone found anywhere that might sell a cable like this? I looked pretty much all the online places and they're none existence, perhaps if i take it to local phone shops, will they be able to solder it up?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Now bad is it? If the 40 pin end is intact I could fix it.
~DC
hotelmode said:
I've never repaired a cable before, so I haven't a clue what I'm talking about, but if the wires inside of the cable are color coded, I bet with a pair of wire strippers and a little solder and electrical tape, you might be able to do the job yourself.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm planning to pinout the 40 pin at some point. If I send you postage would you send it to me?
~DC
I wish you replied earlier, I sent it through RMA back to ASUS last friday :S
Unfortunately they are not available yet. But here is a link for the power cord.
http://www.excaliberpc.com/606705/asus-transformer-tf101-ac-adapter.html
Gary_S said:
Unfortunately they are not available yet. But here is a link for the power cord.
http://www.excaliberpc.com/606705/asus-transformer-tf101-ac-adapter.html
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I found out that they listed them over last weekend, also sent them an email asking when the cables will be available.
They replied:
transformer is now delayed to mid-June.
Sorry to have to give you the bad news...
But im not sure if they're talking about the tablet or cables, gonna ask them again and see what they reply.
Sorry you are having to cope with the problem. It's got to be very frustrating. I'm waiting for my TF to arrive from Amazon. It will be at least a month from order to delivery, but that's got to be less frustrating than having it in your hands, and not being able to use it.
I'm sure the USB connection for charging uses only 3 or 4 wires, so it might be relatively easy to temporarily wire it, but at best, it would be highly vulnerable to breakage. I think you made the right choice to RMA it back and get a new one.
I have a quick question for anyone that already has a charging cable. Approximately how long is it? I looked at the picture in the link, with it wrapped up, but it doesn't look very long. Anything less than 6' will be less than perfect for me, although I could use a USB extension cable if necessary.
My power adapter died on me today!! I can charge with usb from my PC and now im using an old iphoneac adapter to charge with. It is really slow though, gained 1% in about 10 minutes....
rcm_rx7 said:
My power adapter died on me today!! I can charge with usb from my PC and now im using an old iphoneac adapter to charge with. It is really slow though, gained 1% in about 10 minutes....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Find a universal USB charger for an iPad. It should charge the TF while powered off, or at least with the screen off. It will take longer to charge, of course, but it should do the job.

usb cable falls apart

Anyone else have this issue. The usb cable comes apart on the asus end(see pic)
P.s. this has never been abused and was treated with the the greatest of care
http://imgur.com/AOPWP
Nope, maybe try a tiny dab of superglue?
Well I know it is an easy fix I just thought it was kinda weird and wanted to know if I was the only one who had this problem
Yup happened to me. But on the other side. The USB side. Cant sseem to attach the pic from my tfp
i had this happen to me right out of the box! plugged the device in to charge then unplug after full charge then this happened.
susko said:
Anyone else have this issue. The usb cable comes apart on the asus end(see pic)
P.s. this has never been abused and was treated with the the greatest of care
http://imgur.com/AOPWP
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes! It's a piece of crap! And I tried to RMA to Asus but they want the bad one back and then they'll send out a new or fixed one. So how is a person supposed to charge the tablet with no power cord? Very disappointing, Asus! They've sent me several follow up surveys to the phone calls and emails and I've told them how I feel about this. They don't seem to respond after that... Haha! Oh, well. The superglue route is probably the best way to go, anyhow.
My cable came apart like that the first time I used it. I carefully removed it from the connector on my tablet so as not to damage any wires, and then pushed the cap back on until it clicked and it hasn't come off since.
I think the problem is that the black cap isn't properly seated over the connector on some charging cables so the little clips on the inside never engaged. I have a half dozen chargers for the TF Prime and 3 were like this.
This is definitely something that might scare you the first time you try to unplug your connector, but it isn't a huge problem unless you rip out the wires or something.
My wife's did this the first time we unplugged it. I used a few drops of super glue on it and it has never come apart again. Mine on the other hand never had the issue. I think there was a batch of the plugs that they never put the glue on them so they weren't sealed when they got shipped. Put a few drops of glue on it and seal it up and enjoy the full use of the USB plug
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using xda premium

[Q] Gtablet repair or salvage

OK so I have a Viewsonic Gtablet. It broke this weekend. Well the charging port broke, the little pin in the middle of the port where the AC adapter blogs is loose, it is still in there but even careful cord placement will not charge it. I have just enough battery left to wipe it clean. But I was going to try to repair it.
So one, where to find decent instructions to open it up. I figure a charging port is an easy fix and I am no stranger to a soldering iron. Secondly I was going to sell it as I just ordered a new tablet. So would anyone be interested in this for parts or repair themselves. I was going to sell it before it broke for like $120 OBO. Can't do that now.
It is right now I wish they added USB charging to the device. At least I would have a backup plan...
Ken
Get a dock - 50 bucks, problem solved.
Sent from my Droid using xda app-developers app
devilock76 said:
OK so I have a Viewsonic Gtablet. It broke this weekend. Well the charging port broke, the little pin in the middle of the port where the AC adapter blogs is loose, it is still in there but even careful cord placement will not charge it. I have just enough battery left to wipe it clean. But I was going to try to repair it.
So one, where to find decent instructions to open it up. I figure a charging port is an easy fix and I am no stranger to a soldering iron. Secondly I was going to sell it as I just ordered a new tablet. So would anyone be interested in this for parts or repair themselves. I was going to sell it before it broke for like $120 OBO. Can't do that now.
It is right now I wish they added USB charging to the device. At least I would have a backup plan...
Ken
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is easy to pop the cover off the back of the Gtab. Here is a link to a video on how to do it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9M7lxllGOyc
A google search will also direct you to another site where the topic has been discussed.
Same thing happened to me: knocked it off a table while charging
Anyway, after looking into fixing the barrel connector jack I decided that it was going to be hard enough finding the part - much less getting it properly soldered onto the board, so I went a different route:
After finding the pinouts for the docking connector on the web at [*** see Note #1 ***] I went to [*** see Note #2 ***] and bought 2 connectors (in case I messed one up - the pins ARE pretty small).
I then soldered 2 wires to pins 26 (g) and 27 (+12) of a connector and cut the barrel plug off my charger and soldered the wires to the cable.
Works great.
Hope this isn't too late, but I figure in any case it might be helpful to someone in the future.
-jim
NOTES: Forum rules prhibit me from posting links, so here's how a human can find the places I would have listed
Note#1: pinouts
Google "rootzwiki Viewsonic Gtablet Dock Pins Discovered And Listed"
Note #2: The Kineteka eStore
Google "kineteka viewsonic gtab connectors"
I bought SKU# GTAB-DOCK-M-1 but the breakout board looked like an option as well

USB C Port Not Charging, Recommendation for Replacement?

Hi All,
I have a Nokia 7.1 that stopped charging. I cleaned out the charge port and tried different cables and adapters but nothing worked. I've since come to find out that it's a common enough problem that lots of people post about it on Nokia's support forum with no other option other than taking it to a service center. I'm in the USA and there's not a single service center in my state so I decided to try and replace the daughter board myself. I've done this kind of thing before on other phones, my Nexus 4 was a frankenstein's monster by the time I was done with it.
My problem is I can't find a reliable source for a quality part. There's tons of replacements on amazon, ebay, aliexpress and other random sites but all the ones I've read had issues for connectivity of cell service or wifi. Does anyone know where I can source a new daughter board for this phone?
Any help is greatly appreciated.
Thanks!!
I went through the same issue.
Bought another type c charging port on Amazon, it still works.
Awesome! Thanks for the reply. Did you go with one of the ~$10 ones or one of the ~$20 ones?
My 7.1 developed the same problem. What is the root cause? Is it mechanical problem of the connector pins worn out/oxidized? It does seem to be a mechanical problem since I can still wiggle the cable to make it charge for a while. What puzzles me is that the USB-C has inherent redundancy with 4 power and 4 ground pins that it should not easily fail. I have a phone with the old micro-USB and the charging still works flawlessly.
lejaune said:
My 7.1 developed the same problem. What is the root cause? Is it mechanical problem of the connector pins worn out/oxidized? It does seem to be a mechanical problem since I can still wiggle the cable to make it charge for a while. What puzzles me is that the USB-C has inherent redundancy with 4 power and 4 ground pins that it should not easily fail. I have a phone with the old micro-USB and the charging still works flawlessly.
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I'm not sure. It does seem to be a mechanical problem, but I've seen some repair videos where they open it up and just run a soldering iron over the connector pins on the board and it starts working again. I've ordered a daughter board and a replacement back glass panel in case I break it trying to get it off. I'll update after I get the parts and open it up to see if it works.
The board I ordered was this one from Amazon Smile:
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B08166DLDC/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
It seems like the ~$10 boards are missing some chips that the ~$20 ones have, at least according to the pictures that were uploaded with the listing.
@bpowdhar, Thanks for the quick reply. I did order a connector board on Ebay, and it looks to be of the ~$10 variety. I'll see how it works when it gets here. I will also try the "melting the solder" trick without removing the connector first. If that works, I'll leave the old board in place just to minimize the risk.
So I received the USB-C charging board and replaced the bad one. Now, it seems to be charging normally. It took some work to open the back cover by heating to soften the glue/tape around the edge. I then used an a xacto knife to pry the corner open followed by dragging an old credit card to slowly separate the cover. Once it's open, everything went smoothly. Just watch one of several Youtube video clips to know what to expect. You do need a small Philips screwdriver and a #5 Torx driver. You need to lift a ribbon cable and a micro coax cable from the board. Just don't forget to put them back on to the new board. I didn't bother to fix the old board by re-solder the connector pins because they are way too small for my solder iron.
I rely on the existing glue/tape to glue the cover back, but I'm sure it's not as water/dust proof as before, so I may redo that part to clean the old tape out and use the new tape or glue when I have more time.
I do noticed a couple of parts missing on my $9 board. I don't know if they have anything to do with regulating the high voltage fast charging. I usually charge the phone with a 5V adapter, and I will stick to 5V, at least for now.
Thanks for the update! I'm still waiting for my board to arrive from Amazon. It was delayed with the new shipping date anywhere from Nov 5 - Nov 10 and it still hasn't arrived. It sucks because tracking info shows that it arrived at my area's sorting facility on Oct 29 and left it on Nov 4. So it should have only taken a day or two to get to my local post office and to my house. I'll update when it finally gets here.
I know it's been a couple of months, but I finally got the part and swapped it out yesterday. The battery was completely dead so I plugged it in to charge and left for the day. I came back to it this morning and it's at 100% battery! I'm so happy now! I've attached a couple of pictures showing the old board (with the red dot) and the new one. So far no connectivity issues, but I'll give it a couple of weeks to see if anything changes.
A couple other notes:
It was surprisingly easy to get the back glass off. I used a heat gun on low and ran it around the perimeter for a couple of minutes and a utility knife to cut the adhesive. This part was what I was most apprehensive about tackling.
The fingerprint sensor comes off the same way, apply heat and press / pry away from the glass to reuse.
If I had to do it again, I'd buy the tube of sealant. The replacement glass came with a set of narrow adhesive strips and those were a pain to deal with.
Thanks to everyone who contributed to the thread. Hopefully this helps someone else.

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