Cell Phone Surgery

 

The Patient is Prepped

Cell phones are the bane of human existence. A parasite, if you will. Everyone is dependent on them, addicted to them, annoyed by them, and spends far too much money on them.

I inherit mine from my children. Hand-me-ups.

This model (Motorola G6) was obtained from my daughter some time ago (I don't recall exactly when) as she was upgrading to something far better. It has served me well for a long time, allowing me to communicate across vast distances from the convenience of whatever location I happen to be in, including in the middle of nowhere, U.S.A, on a trip to Someplace Else.  It also enables me to confirm a the contents of the shopping list -- including the alternative selections for items for which the desired brand or size is unavailable -- while wandering through the grocery store without the company of my beloved wife. (This is known as "saving my bacon".)

It also allows me to conduct business while away from home, acting as a internet hotspot so that I can attend meetings, connect to servers and lab stations, and accomplish all manner of work-related activities.

It also links me to a world of social media wherein I can spend countless hours connecting to people across the globe conversing about topics of interest and opinion.

It also allows me to browse through the libraries of knowledge across the world, full of treasure and trash, to fill up my mind with more clutter than can be imagined.

And, if I'm not careful, it can so fill up my brain (and my time) that there is nothing left for the here and now, and all the things that need to be done around the house, in the neighborhood, the community, the over-arching network of reality that we all The Real World.

Sometimes they break.

Sometimes they become obsoleted by the unstoppable march of progress.

Sometimes they become just another pile of electronic detritus collecting dust on the desk (or shelf) of an geek who doesn't have enough sense to get rid of useless things.

Dead Phones

This latest model -- the one pictured at the top -- started having issues several months ago. The battery wasn't holding a charge very well, so I replaced it.

And then it worked for a while, intermittently. But it still wasn't consistent. It would charge up to 50% and then stop. Or it would take all day long to charge up. Or it would only charge with one cable and not another.

Using my professional troubleshooting skills -- gleaned from years of DIY fixit sessions -- I wiggled the connectors and noticed that it seemed to have a direct effect on the ability to charge. Unfortunately, that meant that the trouble was not in the cables themselves, but in the little connector at the bottom of the phone.

So it could either be one of two things: (1) The connector contacts are oxidized and need to be cleaned; or (2) the connect itself, which is soldered directly to the 'motherboard' of the phone, has become dislodged or cracked. I was hoping for the former, since fixing a broken connect on the little motherboard is a bit above my pay grade.

But I still had to take the silly thing apart in order to have access to the connector. And remove the battery. Because spraying de-oxidizer directly on the connector while the phone is 'live' -- even if it isn't turned on -- can turn into some lovely sparks and short-circuits and fireworks. Which is generally frowned upon in DIY (unless you want to make a viral video).

So I got to this point:

Close-up of the connector

Prior to performing the de-oxidation, I disconnected both the charging plug (on the right) and the battery (via the little connector at the top of the picture with the red and black wires going to it). Note that there is a little black rubber cover over the contacts of the connector; that had to be pulled back to provide access. Once I had that pulled back, I sprayed the de-oxidizer, then went over it with a brush to try to wipe some of the oxidant off. Then put it all back together. And tried charging it.

Success! It went up to 100% fairly quickly. I didn't check to see if it was doing a Fast Charge, but it was fast enough.

So now I can get back to my social media addiction.