Pro1 is dead, causes/next steps?

[Noob 158]

I woke up this morning and found that my Pro1 was off.  I figured that this was because the battery ran out overnight, but unusually there was no response when I plugged it into a charger.  I've tried different chargers for different periods of time, no change.  So far here's what I've got:

- I thought maybe it's my cracked screen rapidly deteriorated overnight and I no longer get a picture.  But the last time I had this issue, the phone was otherwise active.  This time calls go straight to voicemail and there's no connection when I plug it into a PC.

- I've also been reading the other threads on depleted batteries, does the Pro1 also have the "battery protection bug" or is that just the Pro1X?  I've previously enabled the "off-mode charge" setting, and in the past when the battery died I plugged in a charger and waited for it to charge a bit before turning it back on.  

- I'm not sure if it's the screen since I don't have any more working spares to swap over (unless I can try my Pro1x screen assembly).  Otherwise I'm going to open it up later tonight to run a multimeter across the battery to check its charge.  Though if it's depleted I'm not sure how to charge it (I read @david's excellent thread but it'll take me a while to get a charging board off AliExpress).

Any other suggestions?  Anyone seen this behaviour?

[MonCon 121]

Could it be a charging problem?  Charging circuitry fault, USB port fault, faulty cable?  

[Noob 158]

So I've taken my phone apart, and it's been pretty disastrous.  The only good news is that my battery still holds a lot of charge, the multimeter reported a voltage of 4.13v.  The problems started when I tried to reassemble it.  

The connector for the fingerprint sensor is rage-inducing to snap back on, and after 40 mins I though I finally succeeded when I realised I broke off the ribbon cable.  So no more fingerprint sensor.  😠  While doing so, some small piece of rubber seems to have fallen off, and I can't figure out where it goes after scouring the inside of the phone, the case, and Fxtec's video for replacing the battery.  I've attached pictures, does anyone know what it's for?

Finally, I tried putting it all together minus a working fingerprint sensor (which I never use anyway), and decided to hook up the display assembly from my Pro1x.  Still no sign of life.  At this point I realised that the volume controls no longer work; the rocker buttons don't seem to extrude any more.  I don't know if it's the cause, but there's a thin black coating of something (paint? membrane) that's sheared off possibly when I took the back cover off.  Maybe that's just to insulate it from the metal contacts of the switch, I don't know.   Either way I've tried pulling apart and reattaching the back case, but no go.

So I think I've ruled out charging, but no closer to understanding why.  If it's a serious issue with the motherboard I'm really worried because my data is likely lost.  Plus my Pro1 can't be fully reassembled any more.

Edited July 28, 2023 by Noob

[david 921]

@Noob - did you try booting it with the phone apart and the battery plugged in?  If  not, you can try holding in the power button for 30+ seconds and see if it will boot.

My pro1 is still apart, and the only thing I can see that sort of resembles that piece is the rubber insert by the mic port.  But it doesn't look exactly like your mystery piece of rubber.

Edited July 29, 2023 by david

[foxfreejack 60]

I am no longer sure for which one, but there are two microphones, one at the bottom and one on the back, near the camera. This rubber is for one of the two.

[Noob 158]

Thanks @davidand @foxfreejack for your replies.  I sent an email to fxtec support, and they said the same thing (mic cover).  I think the cover is still inside the reae case for the bottom mic, so I'm guessing it's the top one.  Asked them for a photo to confirm.

I tried booting the phone while disassembled and the battery reconnected, no luck.  Support suggested trying to recharge the battery somehow in case it's dead, otherwise it'll be much harder to recover data.  I don't want to wait a couple of weeks for AliExpress, and the local sellers with battery charging boards don't have the Mi6 connector, but a Mi6 battery is locally available so I'll give that a try.  I don't have much hope due to the 4.13v reading, but I guess it's possible the battery has a high internal resistance and the voltage drops when a load is drawn.  I don't have an easy way to test this (maybe if I hook it up to my LED light strip, but I think that needs 12v and I don't think it'll be easy to connect anyway).

[EskeRahn 5,421]

4.1V does not sound like a dead battery. I would expect some reaction on the LED when plugged in, but as you see neither this nor anything on the display, my suspicion would go to the ribbon cable between the two halves...

As we are talking Pro1 and not Pro1X, you might try a hdmi-adapter, and see if you get an image on a monitor.

If you plug it into a PC, does it react in any way, can you from the device manager see that there is something? Even if it is Off, the pc should react somehow...

At the least in principle you should be able to operate the device, even without the screen, though you obviously would be doing so blindfolded, so you MIGHT be able to pull out the data, though it obviously will be hard without a display.

 

[Noob 158]

On 7/30/2023 at 11:46 PM, EskeRahn said:

If you plug it into a PC, does it react in any way, can you from the device manager see that there is something? Even if it is Off, the pc should react somehow...

At the least in principle you should be able to operate the device, even without the screen, though you obviously would be doing so blindfolded, so you MIGHT be able to pull out the data, though it obviously will be hard without a display.

 

No, no sign of life from the PC or the phone when I plug it in.  I don't have a HDMI/USB adaptor but I do have a USB-C dock, nothing from that either.

Yeah 4.1v doesn't indicate a battery problem but I was holding out hope that maybe it was. My Xiaomi Mi 6 battery arrived today and connecting it made no difference.

Hard to know what to try next.  I'll contact fxtec to see if they have any more ideas, otherwise I might have to look around for nearby specialist recovery places that can do microsoldering.  I reckon some component on the motherboard died, if I'm lucky maybe it's a fuse somewhere but I have no way of knowing.  It doesn't look good right now.

I wish I had maintained my backups, but I never set it back up after swapping the new screen a year ago. 

Also, credit to fxtec support for replying pretty promptly to my support emails and trying to help.

Edited August 3, 2023 by Noob