Anthony Kouttron

I don't fix phones very often, but when I do, I usually use some thin clear double sided tape to adhere or fix some...

Dell usually uses philips PH0 or PH00 screws. Make sure you double check that the screws around your CPU and or GPU heatsink are torqued down. It is not uncommon to forget to tighten one down. Also, try just using a compressed air can or compressed air to blow the dust from the fans / heatsinks. If you don’t have access to that, very lightly dab water on a q-tip and try to remove all the dust that you are able to reach. Do this only to fan and heatsink components and not circuit board components. Good luck!

Hi James. That is an interesting question. Do you mind elaborating a bit on the issue you have? What style of refrigerator do you have? A top/bottom style or a french door style? Do you hear the compressor running? Do you hear a fan running at all, even intermittently? Is the back of the freezer Ice-d up badly? In traditional top/bottom fridge design, the cold air is usually assisted with the help of a fan which is usually located in the freezer compartment. If there is a blockage in the vent holes between the freezer and refrigerator compartment, cold air will not migrate down from the freezer to the refrigerator compartment. A blockage could occur from the condenser radiator in the freezer icing up, and the ice plugging the vent holes. It is also possible that the fan has failed or the control circuitry that engages the fan has stopped working, or the defrost cycle that defrosts the ice on the freezer condenser radiator has not engaged, leading to the excessive ice build up. To reduce the number of...

It is possible that dust, lint, or food worked it’s way into your joystick on your xbox controller. Try using compressed air to blow around the knob and rotate the knob while applying the compressed air. If you dont have compressed air, try the opposite and use a vacuum. You can try using a combination of a vacuum and a toothpick to try and get out any debris or particles that may be trapped between the joystick knob and the plastic controller housing. Good luck!

Hi Steven! Can you elaborate a bit more about the issue? What exactly is the camera saying in the viewfinder? There are a number of things which may cause a camera to not take a photo. You may be trying to focus on an item that is closer than the close focusing distance of the lens you are using. The camera may be set on timer mode and it it trying to take a delayed photo. There are several other possibilities. Worst case scenario, try setting your camera to defaults and try again. Just realize this will clear any custom settings. Good luck!

Hi. What you are experiencing is a form of coil whine. Try messing with the monitor settings in the included monitor on screen controls. You mentioned adjusting brightness on a previous monitor. Did you have any luck adjusting the brightness on this monitor? Here is a decent guide about coil whine: http://www.silentpcreview.com/stop_lcd_w... It seems that some folks have tried varnishes or silicone to dampen the vibrations inductors make. I have not tried this myself, so I don’t know how well it works. From what it seems, you may not be able to completely get rid of the coil vibrations by using a varnish or silicone, they will just be reduced. I would try fiddling with the monitor for a bit. Some folks reported the noise going away when they switched to a different input cable / input source. It looks like your monitor has multiple inputs and an external power brick. I would try switching to a different hdmi port and moving the power brick as far away as possible. It may be your power brick that is...

Is there any error message displayed on the camera LCD? When you take a photo, does it say "please turn the camera on and then off again" Or does it immediately shut off? Try inserting the battery into the camera and hold it in while turning it on. See if it stays on. Maybe the battery housing got slightly damaged from a fall and the battery is not seating in properly. Good luck!

Make sure the LCD cable is installed the correct side up. Also, double check that you lined up the ribbon cable into the connector and pressed down the retention tab. If that still doesn't work, your cable which connects the LCD to the board may be damaged. It may have been severed at the hinge location. Good Luck!

Isopropyl alcohol or GooGone works well for removing adhesive. I have never used GooGone in a phone though. When trying to remove the adhesive, I would suggest using a q-tip. Pouring alcohol or Googone inside a phone is a super-bad idea. You obviously don’t want to short out anything. Put alcohol or GooGone on a q-tip and go from there. One thing to note, GooGone has a citrus smell, so if you do decide to use it, make sure you use a q-tip with alcohol afterwards to remove that citrus smell from your device. Good Luck!

According to the included image of this bike, it looks like the bike has a quick release seat clamp. Seat clamps can become loose over time from general use, so make sure to un-do the clamp and rotate the level clockwise to increase the tension the clamp applies to the seat post and then try clamping down the lever again. This will be a trial and error process, so rotate the lever, tighten the clamp, sit on the seat and see if it holds you. If not, rotate the clamp another turn or so and repeat the test again. Good luck!

Hi Jake. If you are having trouble melting the solder, you may want to read up on soldering techniques or watch a few soldering guides. Here are a few good soldering guides on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxMV6wGS... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5Sb21qb... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYz5nIHH... The HDMI connector on your PS4 is a surface mount connector. Here's an example of the connector from a electronics part supplier. It is attached to the main circuit board through surface mount pads. As long as the surface mount pads are not turn off or damaged, you should be able to replace the connector. Flux is a liquid that aids in the flow of solder, the medium that connects the leg of the connector to the pad of the circuit board. You will need some flux, a decent soldering iron, a fine pitch tip and a steady hand to replace the connector. You may want to research about reflow soldering as the pin pitch of the HDMI connector is rather small. Good luck!

Excellent! I’m glad you were able to get your camera back to like-new condition again :D

Hi merlecole , The GH5 is a similarly disassembly, but the control knob is a relatively straight forward repair. All you need to do is remove the back shell of the camera. You would need to remove the two back ribbon connectors from the front half of the camera which are attached to the main PCB, but that’s the only mildly challenging part. Once the back half is safely removed, its smooth sailing from there. Good luck!

Hi Stephen!

I have ironically disassembled the modern keyboard version as well. Disassembly went a lot smoother with different methods. I will probably upload a guide in a few weeks, but is boils down to this: Wrap keyboard completely in heated pad/blanket for 45min, torque/twist keyboard longitudinally, use plastic and stainless steel pry tools and then it opens right up with very minimal hassle. It even goes back together seamlessly. You wouldn’t even know it’s been disassembled. The key takeaway is use a heated pad/blanket. You cannot use hot air gun because it will melt keys or warp the keyboard. Heated blanket does not damage the keyboard whatsoever. Good luck!

Hi John. While I used a heatgun to open up this keyboard in this teardown, it’s very easy to deform the plastic permanently if you use too much heat. I had a lot better success in later teardowns with using a 115v medical blanket heater. You can find them at your local drug store like riteaid and walgreens. The heaters are designed to wrap around a body part, like an arm. In this case, you literally just wrap the keyboard and it softens up the glue. After an hour or so, take the keyboard out of the blanket heater and torque it a bit either way. You should hear popping sounds, the sounds of the edges yielding. At this point, take a plastic spudger, insert it near the edge and pry a bit. The keyboard should give in and you should be able to disassemble the keyboard in a very clean manner. I did this with the microsoft modern keyboard and it worked great. It even fit right back together. I will be making a guide soon on the process.

Hi Bas! Unfortunately, I did not attempt to repair the broken aluminum key tabs that hold the key in place. However, I can point you in the right direction if you want to get creative and try a DIY fix. Carefully pop another key off your keyboard with something wood or plastic (like a plastic spudger) and analyze the metal locking tab design Microsoft implemented. Find another piece of aluminum of the same thickness and carefully cut out that tab shape. Try adhering your designed tab to the location where the broken aluminum key tab is situated. Epoxy or titanium putty should bond aluminum to aluminum. I would use a toothpick or sewing pin as an adhesive applicator. I think you will have success if you take your time and be patient. Good luck!

Thanks for your kind words Amarjit! This camera was tricky, but once you get around the surprises it’s not too bad :D

Do you think the Surface go 128gb uses a different motherboard? This 64gb model has the eMMC ssd chip, but I don’t know if there are any pin compatible nvme ssd single-chips packages that feature the same pcb footprint and signaling as an eMMC part. I’m pretty sure an NVME ssd has to have a separate controller and nand at this point in time. I have not seen any one-chip packages yet. Even the new MacBook Pro 15" Touch Bar 2018 teardown revealed a multi-package configuration (controller + 2 nand packages) for the integrated nvme ssd. It doesn’t look like there’s room for a m.2 nvme drive in the surface go either, so I think the 128gb/256gb model uses a different motherboard. Let me know what you think! :D

That “foam rubber” you are referring to is most likely silicone rubber. Silicone rubber is a type of potting compound that forms a gel-like substance once set. This substance serves as a non-conductive material that helps fix electronic components on a circuit board in place and has the added benefit of impact resistance and moisture resistance. Silicone rubber compounds can also be rated to various levels of fire retardant properties as well. This compound is commonly found in power supplies and can be referred to as “silastic” compound, which is a trademark held by Dow Corning.

more info here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potting_%2...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xpcHgDP...

I no longer have the Fuji x100T, but it may be possible to disassemble the lens from the front. Many modern cameras have a glued-on beauty ring / lens nameplate ring on the front of the lens. The ring I am specifically referring to is the “Fujinon Aspherical Lens Super EBC f23mm 1:2.” Nameplate rings are traditionally used to hide screws or a circular threaded ring which holds the lens together. Here is an example, specifically at 9:46min mark http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRPwEsAYz...

I would suggest watching more of mikeno62’s lens repair videos to get familiar with lens disassembly. I don’t have a service manual for this camera, but there may be screws hidden behind the nameplate ring.

Make sure to take your time with the lens disassembly. Be careful of the hardness of the tool you use. Plastic (mohs hardness of 2) wont scratch glass (mohs hardness of 5.5) and neither will rubber. Make sure to document the disassembly so you don’t reassemble the lens wrong. Work on a large empty table, you’ll need it! Good luck!

Excellent teardown. Thanks!