[Galaxy Note GT-N7000 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] tb_tom89:
Hello everybody,

First of all, I've been following the XDA Forums for many years now, having owned and played around with quite a few different phones. I've always found the answers and solutions I need from the community so I just wanted to share my recent experiences with my GT-N7000.

Now while I'm certainly no expert in electronics, I do have a good understanding and hope this information could really help somebody else out.

The Problem

A few months ago, I managed to trip over the trailing USB cable, pulling the phone off the table with some considerable force. After this, it started with intermittent connection problems, combined with poor / slow charging. I would often find that it would report charging absolutely fine, whilst still draining the battery. Maybe worth mentioning, as far as I can recall, the phone never reported being charged / plugged in when it wasn't.

After some time, the problem worsened until I was unable to charge the phone at all. Also note that the USB connection to the computer also didn't work. I came across a very useful youtube video, to which I would like to thank the author.

OK, so I can't post links, but head over to youtube and enter "watch?v=pD9R-YUT69Q" at the end of the URL​

I found the part that needed replacing for £12.95 on amazon, which arrived within a few days. I've put some helpful hints at the bottom with regards to actually dismantling the phone to avoid too much text up here :)

again, no links so go to UK Amazon and enter "/Samsung-GT-i9220-Charger-Connector-Replacement/dp/B009X6BGDM" at the end of the URL.​

I found that this seemed to largely fix the problem, however, issues still remained with maintaining a consistent connection. These issues got worse over the following few weeks, until again, I could barley charge the phone. The steps to make it charge consisted of using a specific few chargers (any HTC or Samsung branded cable would work, *perhaps because of the extra 'clips' on the metal shield*), firmly push the connector into the phone, then apply a reasonable amount of pressure downwards when holding the phone flat and level. This would usually charge the phone, however, on occasion charging would randomly stop, or after unplugging at 100%, the battery level would instantly drop to around 70%.

Other odd anomalies such as entering recovery mode when plugging in with the phone switched off, or entering driving / docking mode while connecting the charger with the phone switched on occurred too.

* Complete speculation :)

The Solution

After much frustration, it wasn't until I considered the 'orange' plastic unit which covers the charging board (secured by three screws). It was orange on my phone, however, could be different on yours.

On the underside of this removable unit, are two copper plates approx 1mm by 1mm. These lined up with two spring loaded 'arms' on the replaced charging board underneath. In my case, these two cooper plates were slightly dented meaning that a poor connection occurred between the board and the unit.

The solution was to a) Pry the metal arms further apart using a very thin piece of plastic, raising them slightly and b) raise the entire circuit board underneath very slightly. This was done using a very thin piece of plastic (I used a small cut-off from a pill packet, and removed the foil coating, then folded it over on itself to increase the thickness), and placing it directly underneath the two metal arms under the charging board.

And since then, I can report that my phone will now consistently charge again. I am once again, able to both use and charge my phone at the same time.

It maybe worth noting that if you're suffering from similar problems that this board may not need replacing, although in my case, I also suffered damage to the micro usb port so had no other option. This is still by far cheaper than sending the phone off for repair as this is something that most people can do if, like me, you are no longer covered under warranty.

Taking the phone apart

This was actually remarkably strait forward and easy to do with some basic tools. The tools I used are:

A very small Philips screwdriver (preferably magnetic)

A small spring loaded hair clip (for separating the front and back)

Plastic tweezers

A small plastic container (for the screws you remove)

And finally, some common sense

The hair clip I found to be the best tool for removing the front and back because of its thin width and plastic coating which prevented scrape marks, although anything extremely thin and plastic should just about do.

Hopefully from the pictures I'm going to attempt to attach, you'll see my N7000 is white (what a bad choice that was ;) ) and the gap was between the very delicate white plastic lip and silver plastic body, I imagine the black version is constructed in an identical manner although I cannot confirm this.

I found the best place to start (assuming the screen is towards you) when prying the front and back apart was just below the volume buttons on the left side. I then worked my way down that side, attacking directly to the left and right of usb port next. Then just below the power button and continue down the lower right hand side. The top I found to be slightly trickier, but start just to the left of the headphone port, then pry the corners.

Now, I can at times be a little clumsy, so my phone naturally has some ware and tare. All in all, I added two very small scuff marks on both the top and bottom, and have taken the phone apart several times. I would video it, however the similarities between the video above and the N7000 are minimal in terms of de-constructing.

Also worth noting, on one occasion, I didn't have the plastic tweezers available, and I found that if you're incredibly careful, you can detach the mini flex cables using a small plastic disposable spoon, the like you find in service stations :). Additionally, the screws used in the casing are a different size to the three on the removable plastic unit, so don't mix them up.

Conclusion

I think that is everything useful, however, feel free to ask questions if I didn't cover anything. I've seen a lot of charger related problems in this thread, and haven't found anything like this, so sorry if this information is not beneficial or of use.

I would also like to comment that before I replaced this board, I experienced many of the described problems in relation to the cable used. I have found that as long as I use a reasonable quality cable and any USB wall adapter rated at 1A, I get a consistently good charge every time. I have experimented with a few cheap cables, including a few from the 99p store which seem to charge slightly slower, although since replacing the board and adjusting the metal arms I rarely have issues when charging now.

Regards

Tom