[Q] Mighty AtrixHD/MB886 killed by digitizer & battery replacement?

slerros-1.0 · Aug 17, 2014

Hey all,

Before I even start here, please no snide replies about using the search box on here or anywhere... if the answer is out there, I'm at a loss for the keywords to get it. Fair enough? As FYI, bootloader is (was??) unlocked, rooted, and has cwm recovery.

So I dropped my MB886 cracking the screen (round of applause please) and in the process of disassembling the case to install replacement I tore (severed) the battery connection cable. Fast forward to phone now reassembled with new screen and battery installed --> -->

The phone now has a green LED that will respond with blinks to button certain presses i.e. the simulated battery pull, but the device doesn't show up in lsusb output or device manager. I've read of similar problems where the phone has been brought back, and I've read of the exact problem with no solution. Basically the only two things I've really read that supposedly work are battery pull button sequence and using OEM charger/cable to get battery to take a charge.

Unlike, say the Atrix 2 where the lonely white LED is there to serve as a reminder that it is a hard brick and that's all you're ever going to get from it again, I haven't even read that this is in fact the #1 sign device is now a brick. So could someone verify it is or isn't? I've never tried to access a device this way, but Is JTAG an option?

I don't get why this should be, despite battery issue, it's all simple hardware swapping involved here as the software wasn't touched and was 100% working even with cracked screen.

Thanks for anyone with an answer or the direction to one.

Dr. Orange · Aug 17, 2014

2 things it could be then: you over- or under-tightened the new battery cable screws to where there isn't a good connection with the board. The screws have to provide equal pressure on the positive or negative contacts or otherwise there's a fault in the circuit.

OR

Your new LCD/digitizer is defective OR wasn't seated well.

Since it was working before, and since you didn't break anything else (to your knowledge), those are the two things I would check.

slerros-1.0 · Aug 17, 2014

Dr. Orange said:
2 things it could be then: you over- or under-tightened the new battery cable screws to where there isn't a good connection with the board. The screws have to provide equal pressure on the positive or negative contacts or otherwise there's a fault in the circuit.

OR

Your new LCD/digitizer is defective OR wasn't seated well.

Since it was working before, and since you didn't break anything else (to your knowledge), those are the two things I would check.

--

hey, thanks for the input. I remember battery connections being snugged when I originally took it apart, and to be honest, short of having a mini torque wrench I don't know I could put them back any closer to that. the digitizer could certainly be either defective or perhaps have a bad connection, and i am certainly willing to test/check for either, however do you know that this would prevent the phone from booting or cause it to only display the green led as a sign of life? something of the "halt on all errors" in pc bios? seems logical that the led would (or could've) been used like the oc speaker and blink out some code relaying you've got a bad O2 sensor or the gas cap isn't tight.

Dr. Orange · Aug 18, 2014

Over tightening can cause problems. So loosen them a bit if it's just-short-of torque wrench tight. I don't know why it does, but I've read people had problems when they over tightened those screws. That green light could be telling you that the battery is connected poorly.

quasihellfish · Aug 19, 2014

Is there a possibility that the battery is so depleted that it won't charge? For that, you need a factory cable to charge the battery with power off.

slerros-1.0 · Aug 19, 2014

Sorry, to clarify, no I just snugged the battery connections when reassembling, I only meant that i don't think i could get them any closer to the way they were originally without aid of something like a torque wrench.

As for battery charge as a potential issue... to be fair, I only have a OEM Moto wall charger and I think the cable I am using is Samsung. Surely the cable itself isn't the weak link in this chain? A car battery on a multimeter reading 12.0 volts is something like 50% charged and about 12.8 volts is looking pretty good, anyone know what I should get out of the 3.8V Li-Ion on a meter?

PS I double checked the both data cable connections to the motherboard, so I doubt just a bad connection is to blame here.

souljaboy · Aug 19, 2014

slerros-1.0 said:
Sorry, to clarify, no I just snugged the battery connections when reassembling, I only meant that i don't think i could get them any closer to the way they were originally without aid of something like a torque wrench.

As for battery charge as a potential issue... to be fair, I only have a OEM Moto wall charger and I think the cable I am using is Samsung. Surely the cable itself isn't the weak link in this chain? A car battery on a multimeter reading 12.0 volts is something like 50% charged and about 12.8 volts is looking pretty good, anyone know what I should get out of the 3.8V Li-Ion on a meter?

PS I double checked the both data cable connections to the motherboard, so I doubt just a bad connection is to blame here.

You should get from 3.8 to 4.1.

quasihellfish · Aug 19, 2014

slerros-1.0 said:
As for battery charge as a potential issue... to be fair, I only have a OEM Moto wall charger and I think the cable I am using is Samsung. Surely the cable itself isn't the weak link in this chain?

When I say "factory" cable, I'm not talking about the cable that came with the phone. There is a special Motorola cable (that you can even make yourself) that can charge your phone in situations when your phone is normally not willing to accept a charge.
If all else fails, try this: http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1077414

slerros-1.0 · Aug 20, 2014

Yes! This is brilliant and certainly answers a few questions. It'll take me a bit to get this together to try it, but I'll post back when I get a result. Cheers!

quasihellfish · Aug 20, 2014

slerros-1.0 said:
Yes! This is brilliant and certainly answers a few questions. It'll take me a bit to get this together to try it, but I'll post back when I get a result. Cheers!

Scratch my previous answer. Seems I misunderstood what a "factory cable" is for. It can't actually charge your battery, instead it is used to power the phone so that you can flash/diagnose it, even when your battery is dead. Normally, you need a working phone to charge the battery (with the stock "charging cable").
This information may or may not help you. At the very least, using a "factory cable" may allow you to power your phone on, which would tell you whether the problem is your battery or the phone.

slerros-1.0 · Aug 29, 2014

quasihellfish said:
Scratch my previous answer. Seems I misunderstood what a "factory cable" is for. It can't actually charge your battery, instead it is used to power the phone so that you can flash/diagnose it, even when your battery is dead. Normally, you need a working phone to charge the battery (with the stock "charging cable").
This information may or may not help you. At the very least, using a "factory cable" may allow you to power your phone on, which would tell you whether the problem is your battery or the phone.

well, i'll take it regardless... i've acquired one of these mythical factory cables and it gets me into fastboot and recovery, so i'd wager, even though i haven't seen it, that it would boot all the way. so being that i don't have either the original charger (although have one that's motorola) or cable (samsung), my best bet is probably just find a store that has both an OEM motorola charger and cable even if they're not for the MB886? surely one for a moto x would work to charge battery, no?

or is this like a chicken and egg problem i now have? a catch 22? i can't charge the battery without a working phone, and i can't have a working phone without a charged battery? golly gee, anybody out there with an MB886 want to charge my battery for me? can i just hotwire the battery to a couple of leads from a charger and bypass using the phone as the charging device? at least to give the battery say 15%-20% to get something to happen... like get this rain cloud perpetually parked above me to blow over from above my head for a day or two maybe?

so, with phone plugged in with "factory cable" here's what i get and when... the phone bootloops on the "bootloader unlocked" warning screen if i don't press anything. volume down gets me fastboot, volume up gets me recovery. phone shows up in both and takes commands... so is it possible i just need to restore a nandroid backup, or is the battery charge the better bet now? i would just try the nandroid for $h!ts and giggles, but the last one i have isn't as fresh as i'd like, but is certainly usable if i must.

quasihellfish · Aug 29, 2014

slerros-1.0 said:
well, i'll take it regardless... i've acquired one of these mythical factory cables and it gets me into fastboot and recovery, so i'd wager, even though i haven't seen it, that it would boot all the way. so being that i don't have either the original charger (although have one that's motorola) or cable (samsung), my best bet is probably just find a store that has both an OEM motorola charger and cable even if they're not for the MB886? surely one for a moto x would work to charge battery, no?

Any generic USB charging cable SHOULD be good enough to charge and flash your phone, especially a Motorola cable. I'm currently using an old Blackberry cable for everything. They should be all the same. In rare instances, a cheap cable may give you issues (I think I had a cable from an old Samsung phone that I couldn't get to work right).
I guess just keep trying until you find one that works. Hate to tell you to go spend $20+ on an official Motorola charger...

Regarding your battery, yes you may be in a bit of a pickle. I've never had to do it, but I've read of users who had to short some leads in order to directly charge the battery. Trying searching through the forums, I'm sure the info is here.

---------- Post added at 02:59 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:55 PM ----------

slerros-1.0 said:
or is this like a chicken and egg problem i now have? a catch 22? i can't charge the battery without a working phone, and i can't have a working phone without a charged battery? golly gee, anybody out there with an MB886 want to charge my battery for me? can i just hotwire the battery to a couple of leads from a charger and bypass using the phone as the charging device? at least to give the battery say 15%-20% to get something to happen... like get this rain cloud perpetually parked above me to blow over from above my head for a day or two maybe?

Try this: http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=892026

slerros · Sep 11, 2014

All hope is lost, I am now looking for a replacement.

Ok, so here's where I am at with this now... As we're basically talking about any regulated power supply that can put out an excess of (around) 3.8V and 800mA I've opted to use an old ATX computer power supply and wired the mini B USB end of a cable known to have in fact to have charged this very phone... nothing. I have also, for sake of hope, even tried using the wall wort from an iPad (which puts out a cool 5.1V and up to 2.1A). The green LED will shut off after a while of being plugged into said charger, but still no booty action.
As stated before, the phone still works with the factory cable.

So, I gather from this that...

A. some hardware component (i.e. resistor, etc...) on my phones board that is involved in the charging process has gone kaput.

or

B. There is some software flag flipped somewhere that could be unflipped with or without some trickery to what actually is VS what I want the phone to think it's seeing.

Anyone have any thoughts on this or something similar pertaining to B as a course of action?

*update to my update* ... umm, which should now be up to date??

I did a complete wipe of the phone (/system, /data, /data/media, /cache, and /dalvik-cache) and reinstalled the rom... and still nothing.

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[Q] Mighty AtrixHD/MB886 killed by digitizer & battery replacement?

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