Hacking M3 Spring Broken

[hyperz69]

I have had it for about 2 weeks now bought from bamboogaming and it seems the spring has died. Now it just shoots out with violant force. I tried the push real hard trick and it did not solve the issue. Now am using tape to hold it in. I emailed them and they said I need to ship it back. This is going to cost me almost what I paid for it out of pocket and I will be without it for a month. Is there anything else I can do? In the Imortal words of EBA: HEEEAAAALLLPPPPPP!!!!

 

[faceless]

keep using tape.

it saves you $40 right?

 

[bladerx]

I have a similar issue, if it is a problem with the microSD sticking in, I found out it works if you press it lightly where the slot is in the M3.

 

[poloman]

mine broke this morning - pressing lightly helped but ultimately it wouldnt stay in.

opened it up and the little runner that clicks in and out of a holding piece of plastic was knackered - no matter how much delicate pressure or bending was applied, it wouldnt go back to normal.

so i unclipped around the bottom of the card holder and lifted it gently as the top section is soldered on, then took the spring out.

card works again now, but i have to pull the card out instead of the goold ole way - teach me to play around with the skinning part so much!

 

[poloman]

ah - didnt work as well as i thought - the card goes all the way into the m3, then stays all the way in, past the contacts for the card and the m3 says theres no card in place - so i have now bent the two bits of metal that push the card against the contacts into L shapes so they do their job, as well as stopping the micro going to far down.

now it works a treat!!

can post pics if anyones reading this!

 

[suske1245]

Hey hyperz69, i got my M3Lite from Bamboogaming about 3 months ago and i havent had any microsd slot problems so far, it must only be yours that has that problem.

 

[amrod]

ah - didnt work as well as i thought - the card goes all the way into the m3, then stays all the way in, past the contacts for the card and the m3 says theres no card in place - so i have now bent the two bits of metal that push the card against the contacts into L shapes so they do their job, as well as stopping the micro going to far down.

now it works a treat!!

can post pics if anyones reading this!

pics plz

 

[4saken]

Or you can remove the spring which sits near the bottom of the microSD slot. That way it will kind of become like the EZV slot, slide in slide out

 

[poloman]

will post pics later (its the m3 simply btw)

4saken - removing the spring works, but theres nothing stopping the card from staying in the far down position (on a working card, when you push the card in, it goes all the way in, clicks then pops up slightly) - and when its that far in, the m3 card reports it cant find the micro card - its also impossible to get out when the case is back on. bending the guides to block the travel of the card works tho, and it holds the card in place too

 

[4saken]

Okay I have learnt not to do that with the R4 once the spring breaks

Thanks.

 

[poloman]

here we go - sorry for the delay....

alll the bits taken out (before i bent the runners):

bent runners (the two strips of metal running from the middle to the bottom of the sd slot) all done :

 

[4saken]

Isn't that a bit unsafe? I mean if the microSD suddenly slides out, it'll still disconnect? Or am I seeing something wrong?

 

[poloman]

the sd card is held firmly in place - no chance of it moving at all!

(been playing PoR and DOTT for a while and no issues so far)

 

[squall3031]

Im about to receive mine. i'm afraid that the spring may break eventually. If you have any tips in regard to this issue, please tell me >

 

[poloman]

just put the card in gently - dont whack it in and slam it down in the m3 - should be fine - i think i just wore mine out with all the skinning and rom trimming, plus putting new tv shows on it each day for my commute.

its holding up well still without the spring loaded bit so im happy enough

still, the new cheat features of the r4 are tempting me to get a new card for the heck of it!

 

[hyperz69]

I totally forgot about this post. Here is the funny thing, I removed the spring myself about April 2nd. What are the Odds of that? ;P It works better now and holds very well with no Spring. Problem is I need to use tweasers to removed the SD card as I dont have ANY fingernails!

 

[spas]

Looks like this is a common problem it has also happened to my card as well I think I will take the spring out now that it has stopped locking for the time being I am using tape to hold it in. Personally I think it was a little dodgy from the start but thats what you get for Chinese made hardware I guess at the end of the day it still serves its primary purpose.

But I think NEXT time round its going to be a internal memory card!

 

[-sonny-]

My spring broke a couple days ago. The MicroSD card pops out when I try to put it in the slot, but if I continuously push it back in over and over again it will usually stick in after about seven tries or so. I just hope it doesn't get any worse

 

[poloman]

yeah - mine wouldnt stay in - and i didnt like the idea of tape, so my solution works well. if you're able to take the spring out (got the right tools - screwdriver and sharp knife) then i'd say go for it!

hyperz69 - did you bend the runners? they mean the card is the same height as the top edge of the m3 card so its fairly easy to get out.

 

[celentt]

what if it breaks while i'm moving and the sdcard springs out to freedom!???