[8525, TyTN, MDA Vario II, JasJam General] sad0felix:
BGA soldering failure only!

[I AM NOT A NEW USER, BUT THIS IS JUST MY SECOND POST IN 2 YEARS]

[THAT'S BECAUSE I READ A LOT, THEREFORE I USUALLY DO NOT NEED TO ASK ANYTHING]

[THE RULE SAYS THAT, AS NEW USER, I SHOULD NOT POST OUTSIDE LINKS]

[HOWEVER, THE LINKS I POST ARE TO JPGs OR TO THE WELL-KNOWN PDADB]

[AND THEY ARE QUITE IMPORTANT TO MAKE WHAT I SAY MORE CLEAR]

[AFTER CHECKING THEIR TRUSTABILITY (i.e. with google)]

[COPY AND PASTE THEM IN A NEW WINDOW, PUTTING DOTS INSTEAD OF SPACES]

[I COLORED THEM IN BLUE TO MAKE IT EASIER TO SPOT THEM]

------------------

I have an italian HTC P4500 Tytn (HERM200), very very used one.

It has a lot of dents, scratches and some little cracks around the plastic housing, so I guess it falled many times (I guess because I am the second owner).

The friend who gave me (woah, for free! lol ...) warned me that front buttons didn't work.

I immediately took apart the whole thing, just to find that ribbon cable seemed to be very healthy.

I found this thread, read all the various experiences and started with the little connector, tighten by the 2 microscopic screws.

I have never had white or black screen issues, so, after the connector, I tried pushing the little BGA chip (that's located on the side opposing the connector) and ... miracle: I could see keys working.

However, I can't walk around with a thumb sticked in the phone to have the keypad working, so I started hunting spares.

So I found out that there are 2 different flavours of these PCBs (as there are at least 2 different flavours of flat cables, depending on touch screen make).

At first sight they can so be distinguished (looking them from the button side):

1) HERM100/300 has the square BGA chip just on the right edge:

www cellphone-repair-shop com/prodimages/HTC8525Keyboard-2 jpg

And goes with this keypad:

www eoem cc/images/200909/goods_img/1871_P_1254311894444 jpg

2) HERM200 has the square BGA chip always on the right side, but there's red call-ending button between it and the edge:

www eoem cc/images/200909/goods_img/1872_P_1254311894429 jpg

And goes with this keypad:

www eoem cc/images/200909/goods_img/1630_P_1254311872175 jpg

I want everything I report to be extremely clear so I will add:

- in HERM100 the red/green buttons appear to be exactly between respective soft-buttons and win/ok buttons:

pdadb net/index php?m=pdacomparer&id1=588&id2=558&id3=491&id4=578&id5=539&id6=490&id7=559

and HERM300 version:

pdadb net/index php?m=specs&id=462&c=t-mobile_mda_vario_ii_htc_hermes_300

- in HERM200 the red/green buttons are outside the said couples:

pdadb net/index php?m=pdacomparer&id1=651&id2=514&id3=781&id4=510&id5=506

Spare parts suppliers seem to make a great mess about which version of PCB board is for what model.

Or at least they confuse pictures and use them regardless the model.

The HTC Hermes service manual, linked by the very good Mike Channon in this very thread (I report it again, maybe it's useful: www mikechannon net) shows the HERM100 version.

Taking apart is pretty the same, but there is showed only the HERM100 pcb and therefore no part number for the HERM200.

Numbers of ebay auctions selling what seems to be the HERM100 version:

austrian: 170393936620

hong kong: 350318271795

Numbers of ebay auctions selling what seems to be the HERM200 version:

german: 130303561644

italian: 230454527072

Except for the hong kong guy, they all seem quite cheap and affordable.

Websites specialized in spare parts (where I found only the HERM100 version to be in stock) ask at least 3 or 4 times as much.

DO NOT RELY JUST ON THE PICTURES!!! Ask the sellers confirmation of the model!

-------------------

I hope that posting ebay auction numbers here is not against some other rule.

If it is, please consider the old age of the Hermes, and that nowadays it's becoming more and more difficult to find cheap spares.

Hoping to have been helpful to somebody ...

Ciao