Posts tagged Mobile Repairing Institute
Hardware Identification
Apr 14th
- AMD CPU Info: Software from AMD to correctly detect the installed AMD CPU on your PC.
- AMD CPUID: Software from AMD to detect the CPU clock, L1 and L2 memory cache, model, revision and supported instruction sets.
- AMD OverDrive: Program for identifying, monitoring and overclocking AMD CPUs.
- AMI Motherboard ID Utility: Finds out your motherboard manufacturer if its BIOS is from AMI.
- BIOS Agent: Software that identifies everything about your BIOS and the need of a BIOS upgrade.
- Cpuid: Identifies the installed CPU.
- Cpuidw: Identifies the installed CPU.
- CPU-Z: Identifies the installed CPU.
- CD-R Identifier: Identifies the CD-R media brand name. It is necessary to install ForceASPI first, which is also available at this link.
- Codec Check: Small utility that detects which audio codec your motherboard has, allowing you to install the correct audio driver on your system.
- Ctbios: Finds out your motherboard manufacturer.
- Ctbios 1.5: Ctbios more updated version. Besides recognizing your PC motherboard manufacturer, it gives you a lot of information about it. The only problem is that this is software is in german.
- Ctp2info: Checks if your Pentium II or Pentium III processor is counterfeit or not.
- Ctpci: Lists all PCI devices installed on your PCI. Very usefull to find out your motherboard real chipset.
- Dimm_id: Checks if the type of SDRAM memory installed on your PC is PC-66 or PC-100.
- EVEREST Home Edition: Indentifies your PC hardware, including your motherboard manufacturer and model.
- GPU-Z: Program that reports all features from your video card graphics chip (GPU).
- Hwinfo: Excelente indentification software. Very useful to determine your motherboard manufacturer, model and chipset. More updated than Ctbios.
- Intel Turbo Boost Monitor: Small utility to monitor Turbo Boost tecnology.
- MobileMeter: Program for monitoring the temperature, clock rates and battery charge/discharge from your laptop.
- PC-Config: Identifies all components from your PC.
- PC Wizard: Program that identifies all hardware parts installed on your PC.
- Sandra: Identification, test and benchmarking software.
- Unknown Device Identifier: Software for identifying unknown devices installed on your PC, excellent to find out more information about devices Windows isn’t able to correctly detect.
- Wcpuid 3.0: Identifies the installed CPU, giving you detailed info about it.
power delivery system in motherboards
Mar 29th
In this article we will discuss Power Delivery system in Motherboards . For more in depth training , join PCLR Course of chiptroniks or you can also buy our course materials with online support.
Power Delivery
Power delivery—Why & How
Why: Motherboard components need one or multiple stable and clean DC power to work correctly
How: (1) Power Supply directly to motherboard components (2) for the power which Power Supply can not provide directly, DC to DC power converter on the motherboard converts the power and provide to components
Voltages type needed
Postive DC Voltage: generally between 0V to 12V, generated by DC-DC converter 0.75V, 1.5V, 1.1V… or directly from power supply, like 3.3V, 5V, 12V
Negative DC Voltage: typically -12V
Motherboard voltage normally ranges from -12V to 12V
Tips: General speaking
Higher speed component=> lower voltage needed
(especially for IO function)
Current types needed
Simple answer: Power/voltage=current needed
Low power device: <2A, example: Clock chip, LAN…
Medium power device : between 2A to 50A: example: Fan, DIMM, Chipset
High power device: >50A, example: processor, high power DIMM, high end Graphic card etc
The low/medium/high is just general category, no standard
Tips: High current device has higher requirements on the PCB
Space, layers, cost, copper thickness…, all in all, bigger current,
more design challenge for power designer and CAD engineer
Examples: components Voltage & Current
Processor:
1.0V to 1.5V, 50A to 150A, 130W
DIMM:
1.8V/0.9V for DDR2, 1.5V/0.75V for DDR3, 20A to 40A, 50-100W
Chipset: 1.1V, 10-20A, 5W to 30W
Onboard device: 1.5A, 1-2A, 3.3V, 0.5W to 5W
PCI slot: PCI slot: 12V, 0.5A, 3.3V, 3A, 5V, 1A, 15W, 25W, 75W or more
Fan connector: Depends on fan used, ranges from 0.1A to 5A, 5W to 50W
Tips
Normally 1 Components need multiple voltage rails
depends on what function needed, such as ICH need
1.5V, 3.3V, 1.8V…, more function, more voltage rails needed
For example: ICH has more voltage rail than CPU
due to ICH has more functions
Voltage types by components function
Components may need several voltages by functions: below is general category
(CPU), VDD (DIMM), occupy most the power pin of the components
IO Voltage: Core Voltage: Main voltage for core logic, most of the power consumes on the main voltage) for the core function, example VCCP Voltage for BUS, example: CPU Vtt
Reference Voltage: voltage used for signal sampling
Analog voltage: Some components include analog function, so analog voltage needed, such as Video, PLL circuit, analog voltage require to be clean ! Need to be separated from normal voltage
Components may contain 1 or more type of voltages depends on
Function needed, such as ICH need all 3 above voltages
Voltage types by power state
Some voltage are only required for certain power state
Normal Voltage: Voltage existing when the system is at S0 to S2 state, which means system is at ON state, like CPU main power, fan power, which is main power for the system
Battery Voltage: Voltage existing when the system at AC OFF status, it is powered by onboard battery. Example RTC clock
Standby Voltage: voltage always exists at S0 to S5 state (DC OFF), which means system at DC off state, AC power code is plugged, it is used for board power on/off logic and wake up function and some management function and other functions need to be functional at main power off state, remember, when AC power cord inserted, standby voltage exists !!
Aux Voltage: Voltage switch by between Standby voltage and same Normal Voltage, the main reason of Aux voltage is the function is needed through S0 to S5 state, but standby power can not provide enough current at S0-S2 state due to the device consume more power at S0-S2 state then S3-S5 state, so voltage need switch from standby voltage to normal voltage to get enough current , example: DDR voltage 1.8V, when system is at S3, the Aux voltage comes from 1.8V standby power to keep DIMM refresh, after power on to S0 state, Aux voltage switch to 1.8V normal voltage to support DIMM normal read/write (which consume much more current)
Components may contain 1 or more type of voltages depends on
Function needed, such as ICH need all 4 above voltages
Let us take a look at a real sample-Chipset
G41 MCH (north bridge) function/power mapping
(not exactly correct, just for example)
Another example—ICH 10
ICH 10 has require more than 20 voltage rails !! due to lots of functions integrated in ICH 10
Refer to product EDS for pin definition and power requirement
Example 3—PCI-E slot Power requirement
This voltage supply to add in PCI-e card, Card is required to design within this limit
Overall Power Delivery Example–Thurley
Overall Power Delivery Example2—Romley
Motherboard Input Power
Now, we know what kind of power (voltage/Current) needed by components, but where does it come from? Answer: from Power Supply, directly or indirectly
Power Supply Output (motherboard input)
Power Supply output type:
Multiple Output:
Power supply has multiple DC output rail (NOT connector)
Popular 12V, 5V, 3.3V, -12V, 5VSB and other voltage
12V output may have separate rails, like 12V1, 12V2, etc for 240VA protection
Single output: 12V or other voltage only
Power supply has single DC output, 12V is most popular
Battery is single output example
Power Supply output interface:
Connector: board to board or board to cable connector
PCB gold finger: PCB to mating connector
Tips:
Most of single output PSU also has standby output, like 5VSB
Power Supply Output example 1
Desktop ATX PSU : Multiple output, cable + connector
Server EPS12V : Multiple output, cable + connector
Power Supply Output example 2
Notebook Adapter:
19V Single output, connector, connect to motherboard directly
Hotswap module :
12V single output, gold finger and board to board connector
Note:
normally it also has 5VSB output
Motherboard side interface
General Rule: mate with power supply output
Connector
Gold finger mating connector
Board to Board connector
Motherboard power rails & Power supply rails
As we talked before, multiple-output power supply has multiple output, each rail will have current limit, and each rail are separated below is example
Same for motherboard, motherboard will also have multiple rails, like 3.3V, 5V, 12V1, 12V3a…, each rail has current requirement, so we need to mapping the power supply rails to motherboard rails to make sure both power supply & motherboard rails can be met
Next page is example
Rail mapping Example
Power supply connector/rail mapping
Caution:
Power supply rail can be separate to support multiple
motherboard rail, but reverse is NOT allowed!, otherwise it will
Short power supply rails and cause protection
DC to DC converter
So far, we know how power supply provide voltage rail to motherboard, like 12V, 5V 3.3V, etc by connectors or PCB gold finger or other method, but for the other voltage power supply can not provide, like 1.1V, 1.5V, 0.8V, we need DC to DC converter on the motherboard to convert the power supply voltage to the voltage we needed
DC to DC converter also called Voltage regulator (VR)
DC to DC converter (VR) types
(1) Linear voltage regulator
-Low current
-Low efficiency
-Low cost
-Simple
-Clean (little noise)
-High current
-High efficiency
-High cost
-Complex
-High noise
Linear VR
-
Simple & Clean (little noise)
-Low current
-Low voltage drop
-Low efficiency
-Low cost
(1) Why low current and low voltage drop?
vdrop on the VR= Vout-Vin, so the power loss = I x Vdrop, for example: Vin=3.3V, Vout=1.5V, 2A, so the power loss on converter is (3.3-1.5)x2=3.6W, assume 50C/W, so the temp rise will be 150C, which is burn the components, so only low current and low voltage is allowed, Linear VR only support low current requirement
(2) Why low efficiency?
The efficiency= output power/input power, obvious, it is low efficiency due to the power loss on the converter is big, the bigger difference between Vin and Vout, the lower efficiency is.
(3) Why simple & clean & low cost
It is simple & due to just a few components needed
It is clean due to no switch components, it is easier to place & layout the linear VR
Switching VR Types—Single Phase
-High current
-High efficiency
-High cost
-Complex
-High noise
Basic working principal is by control the mosfet PWM value to adjust the output voltage, Vout/Vin=PWM%, for example: 12V to 1.5V, PWM=12.5%
Switching VR efficiency is between 80 to 98% depends on VR design, the main power loss is VR Mosfet switching & conduct loss
It can handle high current due to high efficiency
High cost /complex is obvious: it need chip, mosfet, inductor, capacitor…
High noise: due to switching method and mosfet switching, it has much higher noise than linear regulator
We will NOT discuss how VR works here, refer to VR training slides
if you are interested, Overall speaking, VR is a complex technology
Switching VR Types—Multi Phase
VR example
Switching VR—single phase 12V to DDR 1.5V
Switching VR—multi phase 12V to CPU Vcore
Linear VR–3.3V to IOH 1.8V
Linear VR–3.3V to IOH 1.8V
VR placement & layout
CPU VCCP VR placement
CPU VCCP VR copper planar
Mobile Software Repairing
Nov 2nd
When some fault develop with the mobile phone handset, one can repair it using the following methods
- Hardware Repairing
- Software Repairing
Hardware/Software Repairing
In hardware repairing, various components of the handset is checked for faults. One should first check the battery for proper supply and contact, replace with a known fully charged battery and check the handset.
Next, various points on the circuit board should be checked for proper voltage/signal.
If one finds some problem with the components, then it is called hardware fault.
If the fault could not be diagnosed at the components level then the-fault could be with the software inside the handset.
Program to help the mobile phone carry out its different function are stored inside the mobile phone’s flash memory. This program is commonly known as “mobile software”.
This software could become corrupt due to various reasons and could generate different faults. Some of the faults due to problems with the software are
- Dead mobile phone
- Hanging of mobile phone
- Phone automatically restarts
- Automatic Security Lock
- Network related problems
- Mobile shows wrong functions
- Lose of content etc
Many a times the non-operation of the handset could be due to some fault in the hardware and the software both. If this is the case then one needs to first rectify the hardware fault before trying to clear the software fault.
Various Lock of Mobile Phone
One can also use the software to remove various lock of the mobile handset. Following are some of the locks which can be removed using the software.
- Keypad Lock
- Phone Lock
- Security Lock
- SIM Lock
Keypad Lock
As the name suggests this lock, locks the handset’s keypad, one will not be able to use the keypad for any type of number or text entry.
Even when the keypad lock is active one can answer incoming call by pressing the keypad keys.
Different handsets use different method to enter into keypad lock mode and to remove the lock. When the phone is in keypad lock mode, pressing of any key on the keypad will display a message on the screen, explaining the process to unlock the keypad.
Phone Lock
In this mode the handset cannot be used to make/receive any call, even though the keypad stays active during this lock.
In this mode, when the handset is switched on, it asks for an unlocking code known as PiN or “Personal Identity Number”.
If this PIN is entered correctly then only one can use the handset. This prevents an unauthorized person from using the phone.
Security Lock
Security lock is used to lock all the functions of the mobile handset. When the security lock is on, the phone asks for the PIN code when it is switched on.
Some handsets may ask for the PIN number even when the SIM card of the phone is changed.
This facility is not provided on all handsets.
SIM Lock
When one buys a mobile handset from mobile service provider under some scheme, the provider may lock the handset with the SIM card in the phone.
This prevents the user from using the handset with SIM card from some other service provider.
Note: If wrong PIN code is entered more then a set time in a row, the phone becomes permanently locked and you need to take it to a service center to unlock it.
Most of the handsets use 0000, 1111, 1234, 8888, 9999, 12345 etc as their default security code, which can be changed by entering into proper menu option.
For more detailed training , join our mobile repairing course
Mobile repairing basics
Apr 2nd
In this post we will discuss about Motherboard of mobile Phone. We have been getting lots of requests from technicians worldwide to release some helpful notes . And CHIPTRONIKS has emerged as the friend of all mobile technicians and students . In this post our Head Instructor Mahesh Chabbra will dsicuss the basics of Motherboard of mobiles . Meanwhile Admissions to our Courses are open . Call on our helpline number 011-47592046 for any query.
A typical mother board is constructed using two main things
- Fiber Plate
- Copper Plate
These two plates are joined in three forms.
- Single layer board
- Double layer board
- Three or triple layer board
A single layer board is constructed using one copper plate and the other fibber plate. Its one side is copper faced and other is fiber faced.while a Double layer board is made with two copper sheets ad fibre sheet. It’s one side is copper faced and the other is also copper faced and the fiber is stcked between two copper sheets. This kind of board holds electronic components on both of its side because both copper sided prints anre inter connected with one another on proper placesA three layer board is made with three copper sheets and two fibre sheet. As it is shown below.
Basics about Mother Boards
Different mother boards have different views but many things are common in different brand mother boards.first common thing is ,every mother board has radio Section on top of the mother board
On a conventional cell phone mother board there different kinds of mother boards, some are thick and some are thin enough to see easily.The thick and thin tracks transfer current and data to from one part of the mother board to another.the thick track passes huge amount of current in it so it is a very low risk that these tracks will burn up.
A special track which is very thick and makes portions on a single board is called portion track.it is located on the above picture. This track is making different sections apart.
Mobile repairing notes(part 2)
Jan 25th
Here is another Mobile repairing notes by our students
Mobile Repairing Notes of CHIPTRONIKS 2 –
Mobile repairing Notes
Jan 25th
Here is the mobile repairing notes prepared by student at Chiptroniks . We can make a below average student a mobile engineer
Mobile Repairing Notes of Chiptroniks –
Laptop Notes of Chiptroniks
Jan 12th
Students all over India have demanded Notes of Laptop Repairing . So we cater to the demands of the students . Here is the notes
