Jason

Hey everyone. So what I’ve got here is something a friend of mine handed to me to fix since it stopped working when she...

The device in question is a Sony sound system for my vehicle. Model: CDX-CA900. I’m having trouble turning it on anymore....

So I do some word-of-mouth at-home phone repairs, and my latest repair has been the iPhone 7. I ordered the replacement...

Sounds like something you'd have to look and understand the board schematics of. Sadly I’m not enough of an expert in that area, but think people like Louis Rossmann would be. That way you can use a voltmeter to figure out what is receiving power, how much power, and how much it should be receiving. But this would be more difficult considering no power is going in at all, by which point I would suggest doing some continuity testing to make sure things like the battery and charging port are even connecting properly.

Have you tried doing a force restart? Should be 10 seconds of either holding Home button + Power, or Power + Volume buttons. You may also want to try a replacement screen. If you have a device repair place in your area that has them in stock, they can probably test it out on your device. But in appreciation you may end up buying the replacement part if that is the solution.

For now, I think the best solution is to ask around to see if anyone would be willing to lend you theirs (lecturers/teachers/students), or buy another one. The first step would be to remove the batteries, and let the device discharge by leaving it alone and/or pressing the power button a few times. Then replace with brand new batteries. As for an actual repair, you’ll have to pry the device open (carefully) to have a look at the electronics inside and determine if there is any actual water damage.

Depending on if your mobile device supports it, you could use an OTG attachment and let your mobile device do all the file transfers. Use a USB card reader to put the files onto your phone, unplug, and then put in a flash drive to transfer the files back onto. But yes, you will have to buy an OTG cable/adapter, USB card reader, and flash drive.

Turns out the issue was a faulty screen. Both of them just aren’t working for some reason. I got another one (OEM grade this time, but more expensive) that worked fine. But that does lead me to another question: Could something have happened to damage the replacement screen, and then the old working (but fractured) one? I’m wondering if I have a strong enough case for the screen being faulty, or if somehow I may have caused the problem.

Perhaps this website can help you track down exactly what you are after: http://www.samsungparts.com/PartsList.as...

Both guides currently on ifixit seem to be very simple. Pop some screws off the bottom, and replace the cover or go further and replace the battery. There is an opportunity here for you to take pictures of your progress and create a step by step guide so that someone else can do it. There is a good video on how to do it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzD0A-Y4suo. It will take some work though, because you’ll be dealing with many attached components such as the wifi antenna and display cables, before finally accessing the hinges to separate the screen. Then you will have to remove the cover and get deeper into the screen half of your laptop. So be sure to get a couple of picks to get the job done, and be patient so that you don’t rush something and cause damage. Be sure to also pay attention to where things clip on, and don’t force anything open with excessive force as it might actually have a screw holding it in place.

Is the hinge alright? I don’t have the knowledge to know if anything would have pushed it out, but in my experience with laptops that plastic part that has popped out is clipped onto the frame. You may have to use a repair guide to take it off, and order a replacement if needed. You could glue it if you wanted to, but this would make future repairs difficult. Repairs such as replacing the screen, or other surrounding components.

This link will give you a comprehensive answer: 如何卸下滑丝的螺丝。 I hope something works for you though. Good luck.

Are the files being written to a MicroSD card? If so, you might be a victim of flash fraud; something where the capacity of the storage is actually a lot lower than it is advertised to be. You can use a program like h2test to write files up until the full capacity of the card, and then have it read all the data back to verify its true capacity. There are other alternatives out there, but it is the most reliable (and slowest) method. Plus you would want to make sure to keep a backup of all the files on it.

This is just a temporary fix, and shouldn't be treated as permanent. The next step up would be to have the chip removed, use a stencil to reapply solder on all the contacts, and then when the chip is perfectly in place it gets melted from the other side (through the chip) to melt it down before letting it cool.

Due to the difficultly involved in doing all this, I wouldn't take doing this lightly.

A complete alternative to this guide is to just identify the chip that needs reflowing, and using a heat gun to heat it up. If you have or can get something like kapton tape, do so. It can be used to shield everything around the chip you are heating up from being exposed to the same amount of heat and causing their own problem. Otherwise, use aluminium foil, along with some clips (I find the tiny ones you use for crafting work best, but be creative). Then finally heat away, making sure you have some understanding of what is too hot or not hot enough.

In regards to: What is meant by kilobyte, megabyte or gigabyte?

The answer to that question is the market value of how the conversion between them is measured, as you would expect if you purchased a hard drive. But in reality as they reach multiple terabytes, you loose a couple of gigabytes when you format it and look at it on your computer. Computers calculate on base 2 and to them, 1 MB is actually 1024 kilobytes, 1GB is 1024MB and 1 TB is 1024GB. By the time you add 2TB to your computer, you have lost 185.36GB. But in terms of RAM, probably not as noticeable.

In regards to Cleaning or Replacing Fans. Using a household vacuum cleaner to clean out the inside of a computer or other electronic could potentially be a ESD hazard, and hence isn't recommend.