Hacking M3 SD: question about PCB

[Lemmy Koopa]

So last year, I made a thread about how my M3 wouldn't read my SD card. I fixed it in a half assed manner, and it seems to good for now, but I have a gut feeling it won't last forever.

last week, I borrowed a solder kit to fix some electronics (guitars, headhones, blah blah blah).
I thought about fixing the SD card reader with soldering, but decided against it for now.

I have questions to ask that I would really appreciate help with.

So basically this is what's wrong with my M3 Perfect SD

I broke the prong off at the top. It used to be half a prong, but I accidentally ripped out the entire prong when fiddling with fixing it.


Right now, it has a prong from another SD card reading device jammed into position.
What's weird is that it didn't read the prong unless I had the contact of the prong pushed back before what looks like to be a solder pad.


My question is, is that solder pad supposed to be leading to the via to the left of it? Right now I think I have the prong sitting on the via, and it works, but I think I disconnected some of the tracing that leads the big solder pad to the via.

So yeah, am I right? Does the solder pad lead to the via? Should I solder that area together if I were to ever fix this properly?

 

[Lemmy Koopa]

Noone can help?

 

[how_do_i_do_that]

If you can solder, you might be able to find parts you need from RadioShack. Otherwise it might be a good time to install and solder a microSD socket into it.

https://www.sparkfun.com/products/127

You can always replace the SD socket, you will have to desolder this one and install it on the M3.
https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11403


Otherwise, it is time to consider that for the electronic graveyard.

 

[Lemmy Koopa]

If you can solder, you might be able to find parts you need from RadioShack. Otherwise it might be a good time to install and solder a microSD socket into it.

https://www.sparkfun.com/products/127

You can always replace the SD socket, you will have to desolder this one and install it on the M3.
https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11403


Otherwise, it is time to consider that for the electronic graveyard.

Are you sure a new socket would be compatible?

There's this weird thing about it where I need to apply pressure on the socket's metal case to get it to recognize the card.
It's either because a joint that holds down the socket in the bottom right corner broke off and the metal case is being used as a trace, or because it's not touching all the prongs right.

It's really frustrating, and I really don't want to lose my M3 in the near future. I know I should take better care of it, but it's definitely in pretty bad shape.

I have thought about your microSD idea, but basically just putting a "permanent" micro to SD adapter in it, therefor not having the possibility of breaking it again, but it's very sketchy when detecting the card.

I have an adapter that reads great, but is hard to take the micro card out, and I have an adapter that needs more pressure to detect the card, but the micro card comes out really nicely.

 

[how_do_i_do_that]

If you want to try and fix the pin, you will need to find the thing like on the right side of this picture at RadioShack if you can.

Once you get one you will need to bend a pin into shape and solder it into place if you can. You will not need to bend it too much since it is fatter than the other pins.

---

If you want to try and do a microSD socket transplant, you will need to know what the pinouts are:

Best way to learn how to solder an adaptor socket would be to take apart one of those microSD to SD adaptors that look like a SD to see how the pinouts need to be adjusted. You will not need to use all the pinouts on the SD for the microSD socket.

If you got spare adaptor, I suggest taking it apart to learn what you would need to adjust for the adaptor.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/12315555/IMG_170133c.jpg





----

If you really feel you can't fix it, it is time to give up on it.

 

[Lemmy Koopa]

snip

Well, like I've said in my first post, it's working, but it's in a fragile state.
A long time ago when the pin originally broke, I still had the pin, and I jammed it back into place, but it got pushed out.

When it was pushed out, I took apart an SD card reader and used the pins from that and bent it in a way to sit in the old pin's place., so I don't need a pin for the moment unless this one breaks.

It looks like this:

It works fine, but I'd like to make sure that pin doesn't fall out again like last time. It is kind of fickle when reading the card though. If the card is too small or isn't sitting right, it won't align with the prongs right and the M3 will give me a "no card" error.

 

[Lemmy Koopa]

If you want to try and fix the pin, you will need to find the thing like on the right side of this picture at RadioShack if you can.

Once you get one you will need to bend a pin into shape and solder it into place if you can. You will not need to bend it too much since it is fatter than the other pins.

---

If you want to try and do a microSD socket transplant, you will need to know what the pinouts are:

Best way to learn how to solder an adaptor socket would be to take apart one of those microSD to SD adaptors that look like a SD to see how the pinouts need to be adjusted. You will not need to use all the pinouts on the SD for the microSD socket.

If you got spare adaptor, I suggest taking it apart to learn what you would need to adjust for the adaptor.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/12315555/IMG_170133c.jpg





----

If you really feel you can't fix it, it is time to give up on it.

Hey bud. So I decided to prolong my M3 though more caveman style modifications.

I turned it into a "permanent" micro SD card slot with one of these:

It was the one it had hard a time reading because it was too thin compared to other cards, and then I taped the adapter into the M3. There's 2 notches of plastic in the slot tp make sure it doesn't squirm around in the original SD slot.

It works great, and I'm sure it will prolong the life of my M3.

What do you think?

 

[how_do_i_do_that]

It should work as long as you don't do anything to dislodge the pin you likely didn't solder.

 

[Cartmanuk]

You could have just.

 

[Lemmy Koopa]

You could have just.

Fun fact: I did.
Does super glue conduct any electricity?

I tried to put a little, but it didn't really bond well and still broke loose.

Edit: I also had multiple occasions where other pins were caught by the SD card. One of them almost broke too, but I caught that the SD card was being difficult to insert in time to not break it.

I bent it back in to place, but sometimes if the SD card is pressed down too hard, one of the pins shorts out with a Via or something else below, and my M3 gives me a "No card" error right when it boots up.

I told you, this thing is really fickle. Everything but the SD card socket is in perfect condition, which is why I'm trying to save it, but damn is it giving me trouble.

I think the micro SD reader is a nice solution to take off all the force of inserting and ejecting cards off the pins, and onto the micro SD adapter instead.

 

[how_do_i_do_that]

Super glue is a type of fast curing acrylic, I don't believe it is a conductor in that manner your trying to use it.

Acrylics act as insulators not conductors. If your getting contact it means the pin is touching the PCB contact when the super glue cured.

 

[Lemmy Koopa]

Super glue is a type of fast curing acrylic, I don't believe it is a conductor in that manner your trying to use it.

Acrylics act as insulators not conductors. If your getting contact it means the pin is touching the PCB contact when the super glue cured.

I tried to put a little on so it wouldn't damage any of the circuitry, but the pin moved anyways off the pad.

I had a solder kit I borrowed and thought about soldering it down, but I thought with my skill level I'd damage it further than fix it, so I decided against it.

 

[Darkipod]

Well if you are interested in selling it, shoot me a PM. I wouldn't mind taking a crack at fixing it.

 

[Lemmy Koopa]

Well if you are interested in selling it, shoot me a PM. I wouldn't mind taking a crack at fixing it.

Lol, I'm never gonna sell it. If anything, I'd probably buy another if I saw one and had the money.

 

[Lemmy Koopa]

Now that I realized that the SD shell didn't actually conduct anything important, besides maybe the SD card lock out thing, if anything does go wrong, replacing the socket sounds feasible.

I messed around with it yesterday and fixed a problem that made the SD reader short circuit if you applied pressure to the card.

I call it, the franken M3.

 

[Darkipod]

Id kill to get one of these. Its god damn sad that I can't find any of them.