Dead Samsung S6 - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / repair

author: PA0PBZ
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 18, 2017, 06:47:06 pm
content: Not exactly something for this forum maybe, but I know that some of you like to tinker with mobile phones so I'd thought to just give it a shot.One of my colleagues at work (yeah they know where to find me) brought me a Samsung S6 today. It was blinking the message led, but the display was dark and none of the button tricks did anything. So at home I opened it up and disconnected the battery for a few seconds. Well, that certainly stopped the led but I still can't get it to do anything, it does not switch on whatever 1, 2 or 3 finger salute I give it, and it doesn't seem to detect the charger. Of course the comment when it was handed over was that it suddenly happened out of nothing and I can't see any drop or moisture damage. Before I take it apart totally in search of any problems, anyone have a suggestion?

author: Twoflower
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 18, 2017, 07:24:19 pm
content: I have only two ideas to further check:Even if you said the charger does not do anything: Does a PC recognise the S6?Also keep it attached to the charger for some minutes. Just in case the battery is drowned very deep. Because I noticed once the LED on my S4 was blinking to tell me of a new E-Mail. But the phone itself was shut off because an empty battery. The E-Mail came in before the Phone shut off. Obviously the LED is controlled by another controller and not the main CPU.

author: Bud
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 18, 2017, 07:58:57 pm
content: As the last resort i'd try heating the board in a same manner as people do graphics boards/GPU , @120C FOR 10 min, followed by a full reflow attempt if did not work, but i guess you are not there yet.

author: PA0PBZ
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 19, 2017, 05:36:18 pm
content: Hi,There's no current flowing when attaching the charger, and the wireless charger lights up but the telephone does not react.PC doesn't care at all when I connect the phone.Reflow - maybe, first I'm going to take it further apart to see if I can find anything suspicious.

author: lepden
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: April 19, 2017, 06:02:33 pm
content: Sounds like a short. Check if there is continuity across the -ve and +ve of the battery connector. If there is continuity there is a short on the logic board. check for a bad cap, resistor or diode especially near the battery terminal.

author: PA0PBZ
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 19, 2017, 06:05:11 pm
content: Quote from: lepden on April 19, 2017, 06:02:33 pmAs I mentioned it was happily blinking the message led for some hours before I disconnected and reconnected the battery, so a short it highly unlikely.

author: frozenfrogz
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 19, 2017, 06:12:17 pm
content: Please measure the current charge of the battery. If it is below 3.6(?) volts it is flat out empty. Sometimes the charging circuit etc. then does not do its job, because residual charge in the mainboard components is equal or higher than what the battery supplies – thinking the battery is fully charged.You then need to revive it by depleting the mainboards components and hope it will charge again.Remove the battery cables, hold the power button for 20-30 seconds, reinsert the battery and plug in the charger.You could also leave the battery disconnected for an hour and then try reviving it.If that does not help, something else has to be examined

author: rob77
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 19, 2017, 06:40:24 pm
content: get the schematic and boardview for the phone... doing "something" blindly is pointless... and DO NOT reflow the board without knowing anything about the fault. there are many sites you can buy for few $ the boardview + schematic files. and use the openboardview software (free).

author: PA0PBZ
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 19, 2017, 07:30:25 pm
content: The owner just now told me that it was bought in May 2016 so it should still be covered by warrantySo I'm going to replace the back cover with an original one and hope for the best. If anything interesting happens I will let you all know.