Repair

USB sound card repair

I ordered this cheap (around $10-15) 5.1 channel USB sound card from China few years ago. The device does not have markings on the box so hard to day which exact model it it was. It seems that there are several similar looking cards available at dx.com and banggood.com even today. CM6206-LX based USB Sound

Why Sleep Apnea Patients Rely on a CPAP Machine Hacker

https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/xwjd4w/im-possibly-alive-because-it-exists-why-sleep-apnea-patients-rely-on-a-cpap-machine-hacker?utm_campaign=sharebutton An Australian hacker has spent thousands of hours hacking the DRM that medical device manufacturers put on CPAP machines to create a free tool that lets patients modify their treatment.

Samsung J5 smart phone teardown

Here is teardown of a broken Samsung J5 smart phone (SM-J510FN from 2016). Let’s open it: A Closeups of circuit board Not too much to see. Many parts were covered with metal cases soldered to circuit board. I did not see here any easy to fix problems (like loose connector) that would have allowed to

Switched-mode power supply tutorials

A switching-mode power supply (SMPS) is an electronic power supply that incorporates a switching regulator to convert electrical power efficiently. Switching regulators are used as replacements for linear regulators when higher efficiency, smaller size or lighter weight are required. The main advantage of the switching power supply is greater efficiency than linear regulators. The downside of

Performing A Chip Transplant

Hackaday posting article Performing A Chip Transplant To Resurrect A Dead Board describes a situation where  the only option was to try to fix a device, which in the end involved a delicate chip transplant. The board was the Pixl.js, an LCD board with the nRF52832 SoC with its ARM Cortex M4, RAM, flash, and Bluetooth

Huawei tablet repair

I had a Huawei MediaPad T3 10″ (AGS-L09) tablet with broken glass. The repair at the official repair center costs more than buying a new tablet (both around 150 Euros), so repairing does not make much sense. How about a DIY repair for broken screen? It seems to be doable according to several repair videos.

USB endoscope repair

I have had this cheap USB endoscope for few years. Then it suddenly stopped working. So I opened it up to see what is inside and hopefully fix to work again. The problems seems to be loose green wire. A bit of soldering and it works again. Not much electronics. Just wiring from USB connector

Cheap eBay LED tester fixed

Found this from eBay for about 2 dollars: New Mini Handy 2~150mA LED Tester Test Box for Light-emitting Diode Bulb Lamp Description: 100% brand new and high quality Material: Plastic Color: White Handy device for testing LED’s. Simply plug your LED into the correct holes (all of which are marked) and push the button to

Failed car USB charger teardown

Here is teardown of one cheap car USB charger. It failed after few years of use. Outside Inside Electronics As you can see the fail was in soldering that connected two circuit boards. The fail had ripped of solder pads from circuit board. The soldering quality on some other places also questionable. There is simple

Top Linux distros for computer repair | Opensource.com

https://opensource.com/life/15/2/five-specialized-linux-distributions-computer-repair?sc_cid=7016000000127ECAAY There are specialized tools that can aid you in fixing problems with a computer or help you be prepared for when something bad does happen. Many of these tools are actually highly-specialized Linux distributions.  This article takes look at five different Linux distributions designed to make your life easier when computers start giving you