Htc Universal Memory Upgrade.

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Hi
I Need Information About Upgrading The Ram Memory Of My Xda Exec.i'll Realy Appreciate A Do It Yourself Info.along With The Actual Tipe Of Memory And How Much Would Be The Maximum I Can Upgrade It To.any Info Will Be Well Appreciated!
Thanks!
 
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BlackICE

Senior Member
Jan 14, 2006
133
1
Vienna
www.nets.at
the only thing I can think of is, that the Universal has some empty places for memory on the pcb.

if you are good in soldering SMD mounted memory you can check, if this is possible and where you must solder them in the universal by looking in the service manual (which also explains how to take apart the device).

the service manual you can find in the ftp of xda-developers.com.

if you do not know what is SMD etc. then just forget it as you will for sure screw up your device.

for what do you need more memory?
 

simon_darley

Senior Member
Jan 1, 2005
674
1
QLD Australia
it has been tried, and you can find a forum post on this site about 8 - 10 months old.

there is a spare slot on the main board. it was done and added, but the OS didnt recognise the extra addition.

i find it odd. it was proposed that M$ OS limited its use, however, my wife has an IPAQ running WM5, and she has about 130mb of program memory (cant check she isnt here). Sure its not a phone, doesnt have 3G or GPRS etc, but as PDA, its fast, never runs out of memory, and has more than what mine does. So it isnt M$, it must be HTC manufacturer.

In summary, no matter how good you solder, it aint gonna work.
 

niketkumar

Senior Member
Jul 24, 2006
358
5
New Delhi
Bro u shld really forget this thght coz as it is mentioned above dat even v know dat there is an empty slot provided by the hardware manuf. but there is no support recognized by our M$ OS .
 

Develo

Member
Mar 11, 2007
17
0
So let's get this straight once and for all:

I've read through a lot of threads regarding this, and some ppl say that the limitation lies with WM, some say that it does NOT lie with WM, some say that you have to get the hardware correctly hooked up, some say that the soldering has to be correct.........

It seems nobody has been able to settle the issue conclusively one way or the other.

so, does a pocketpc device exist that:
a) is based on the same CPU as the uni
b) has more than 64MB of RAM (128/256)
c) has WM5/6 and it sees all of the RAM??

If such a device exists, then in theory no ROM change should be necessary, and the answer should lie with hooking up the additional/replacement chips correcctly.

Thoughts along this road?

D.
 

fallenczar

Senior Member
Jul 22, 2006
557
2
40
Singapore
So let's get this straight once and for all:

I've read through a lot of threads regarding this, and some ppl say that the limitation lies with WM, some say that it does NOT lie with WM, some say that you have to get the hardware correctly hooked up, some say that the soldering has to be correct.........

It seems nobody has been able to settle the issue conclusively one way or the other.

so, does a pocketpc device exist that:
a) is based on the same CPU as the uni
b) has more than 64MB of RAM (128/256)
c) has WM5/6 and it sees all of the RAM??

If such a device exists, then in theory no ROM change should be necessary, and the answer should lie with hooking up the additional/replacement chips correcctly.

Thoughts along this road?

D.

it cant be a limitation of the "os" as atena has 128 mb ram
 

SpyderTracks

Senior Member
Jan 13, 2007
2,890
558
London
Think most if not all the WM6 models are now 128mb at least aren't they? Would seem to point towards HTC issue...
 

Midget_1990

Retired Moderator
Mar 4, 2006
1,733
13
34
Worthing
the universal was originally a wm2003se device with 128mb ram, they made it down to 64mb with the release of wm5, this is why the slots remain. If you can solder bga (needs an x-ray machine to verify the connections) and also find out how to get the memory noticed by the motherboard then it's a simple hex edit to make wm5/6 use it.
 

Develo

Member
Mar 11, 2007
17
0
Interesting. Suppose I get the bga chips soldered on correctly.

1) What has to be done to wm5/6 so that the added ram gets seen?
2) I read someqhere that soldering just the bga chips is not enough. It seems that some additional parts are required. How about we get a detailed explanation going here?

Or is there a thread somewhere else about this already? I've searched around but haven't seen an explanation...

D.

Edit: while using an xray really insures that the connections are correct, I've soldered bgas before using more traditional methods (i.e.: hot plate + hot air gun). Doing this can damage the bga chips you;re trying to solder, but it is not that hard to do. Plus, I think the risk of damaging a few of the new chips you just bought is worth getting the final reward of doubling the RAM of the Uni...
 
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N1TeSH1FT

Senior Member
Feb 27, 2005
200
38
for what do you need more memory?

That's the only reason I want to sell mine, because it has too little memory. I cannot start Navigon Mobile Navigator 6. Well I can start it but as soon as I want to search for a route to my Destination it lacks memory.

I found out that with PDAViet's ROM (one of the older Crossbow ones) where it has about 30 MB free it works, but I normaly have only about 22-24 MB left after syncing with no Program running. That's too little. This is why I wait for the Ultimate 7150 from IMATE.
 
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N1TeSH1FT

Senior Member
Feb 27, 2005
200
38
i find it odd. it was proposed that M$ OS limited its use, however, my wife has an IPAQ running WM5, and she has about 130mb of program memory (cant check she isnt here). Sure its not a phone, doesnt have 3G or GPRS etc, but as PDA, its fast, never runs out of memory, and has more than what mine does. So it isnt M$, it must be HTC manufacturer.

That's why I'm awaiting the new ones from IMate. Perhaps they are fast as they are supposed to be. My MDA III (That's the BlueAngel) was much faster than the MDA Pro (Universal)
 

mamaich

Retired Recognized Developer
Apr 29, 2004
1,150
228
mamaich-eng.blogspot.ru
1) What has to be done to wm5/6 so that the added ram gets seen?
Nothing should be done. Device would detect 128Mb automatically if RAM is correctly soldered. The RAM detection code is identical to the code used in BlueAngel ROM, so it should be working.
I even made a patched ROM on which device always think that 128Mb RAM is installed. So the problem is in soldering :(
2) I read someqhere that soldering just the bga chips is not enough. It seems that some additional parts are required. How about we get a detailed explanation going here?
There are 2 resistors that need to be shifted. Search forum, we've published the fotos.
But that is not enough, the whole RAM is not accessible, so something else should be soldered.
 

Develo

Member
Mar 11, 2007
17
0
the universal was originally a wm2003se device with 128mb ram, they made it down to 64mb with the release of wm5, this is why the slots remain. If you can solder bga (needs an x-ray machine to verify the connections) and also find out how to get the memory noticed by the motherboard then it's a simple hex edit to make wm5/6 use it.

Does anyone have one of these 2003SE Uni's, to compare hardware? Has anyone seen one of these?
 

puerrican85

Senior Member
May 18, 2006
66
0
It was never released as a WM2003 device though before it was changed to run WM5. Finding one is pretty much impossible if anything.. I do recall a year or two ago a chinese user of the device soldered the ram on the device and got it to detect the full 128mb. His work was never posted here though, I came across it on google a long time ago. If I find the page I'll post it here.
 

Develo

Member
Mar 11, 2007
17
0
:eek: good god please do that!!!!!!!! I've been racking my brains out reading datasheets and googling and reading stuff about this, and I've been wondering for the longest time how come nobody has done it yet!!

Hope you find that page again!!!! I sure haven't!

D.
 

Midget_1990

Retired Moderator
Mar 4, 2006
1,733
13
34
Worthing
Has anyone tried looking for FCC or Patent Diagrams?

I've been trying emailing reviewers who had pre-production ones, especially the ones who's articles said 128mb of ram ;)
 
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Lt.Cmdr.Ivan

Retired Recognized Developer
Feb 6, 2006
455
2
Sounds very good all this,

Hopefully someone finds out how this is to be done.

Oh and i am willing to try it out too (hmm man too bad i cannot solder bga chips)