HTC Universal memory upgrade – 128MB

July 13th, 2008 Posted in Mods

With the help of Mamaich and some others (please add all i have forgotten), the Universal can now have 128 MB of Ram instead of 64 MB. This procedure involves hardware modification! Do it at your own risk! These are the steps that are needed to accomplish the ultimative goal of having 128 MB Ram:

This is an update to the previous information that was here but a little out of date. This procedure is how to upgrade your Universal from 64Mb to 128Mb by removing the two 32Mb M-RAM chips and replacing them with two 64Mb M-RAM chips. This is a complex procedure and requires some specialist equipment to do the job. You will need the following equipment to do the job properly.

  • Hot air re-work station with vacuum pick-up
  • Soldering iron
  • Solder wick
  • BGA re-work station
  • X-Ray equipment
  • Magnified inspection equipment
  • Flux

First thing is to get hold of two of the 64Mb M-RAM chips.
What you need are Infineon HYB25L512160AC -7.5 (2 pcs – 512MBit each)
Chips harvested from the BlueAngel are confirmed to work.
These chips are 54-ball BGA’s (Ball Grid Array) devices, which means that they have little solder balls (0.4 mm) on the bottom and cannot be soldered using a conventional soldering iron. It is also worth mentioning that these chips are moisture sensitive and must be stored in dry conditions preferable in dry-pack sealed packaging. If they get damp there is a chance that they will “Pop-corn” during the soldering process. i.e. the moisture will turn to steam and split open the chips.

These can be ordered from one of the places listed in the ‘Shops that offer 128Mb upgrade‘ page http HTC Universal memory upgrade   128MBhttp://wiki.xda-developers.com/index.php?pagename=Universal_128_Shop or removing them from another device like a Blue Angel.

Warning: Removing these chips from another device will mean that the solder balls will need to be replaced with new ones to ensure a reliable connection with the PCB.

Ok you have the chips and access to the equipment needed well here is what you will need to do

  1. Open up the Uni and remove the Motherboard (MBD) as described in the HTC “Service Manual for Universalhttp HTC Universal memory upgrade   128MBhttp://wiki.xda-developers.com/index.php?pagename=HTC%20Universal%20Service%20Manual
  2. Remove the old 32Mb chips from the MBD using the hot air re-work station with the vacuum pick up tool, the pickup tool makes the job so much easier as it will lift the chip off the board when the solder has melted and means that there is less chance of damaging the MBD. If you do damage the MBD it is almost imposable to repair.
  3. Solder a 0 Ohm 0402 resistor or a fine piece of wire across the pads as shown, to short out the pins and allow the MBD to read the second bank of memory in the new chipshttp://wiki.xda-developers.com/images/128MB_pins_v1.jpg
  4. Clean off all the solder left behind on the MBD. Use the soldering iron and solder wick to do this, the pads must be really clean and level or the new chips will not sit on the pads right when it comes to soldering them down again.
  5. Once you have removed all the solder off the pads the MBD must be cleaned with a solvent based cleaner, cotton swabs and lint free cloth again any dirt or flux left on the board may cause problems when it comes to soldering the new chips down.
  6. Now to place the new chips on the MBD this can be done using the BGA re-work station. The BGA re-work station has a special split lens camera that can look at the pads on the MBD and the solder balls on the chip at the same time so that the chip can be aligned with pads on the MBD.
  7. Once the chip is lined up the MBD pads must be fluxed and then the chips can be lower into place.
  8. Now that the chips are in place the MBD is moved across to the reflow (soldering) section of the BGA re-work station and with the use of the correct Time Temperature Profile (TTP) the chips are soldered into place. The TTP can vary from equipment to equipment but here is the TTP that I use with the equipment that I have.
  • T1: 140°C Time 1: 90 Sec
  • T2: 160°C Time 2: 90 Sec
  • T3: 210°C Time 3: 3 Sec
  • TL: 183°C Energy Level: 7

http://wiki.xda-developers.com/images/BGA Full.jpg

  1. During the reflow process you should be able to see the chips drop settle into place as the solder balls melt and collapse a little.

http://wiki.xda-developers.com/images/BGA MBD.jpg

  1. Allow the MBD to cool down. Then inspect the solder balls with an X-Ray machine to make sure that all the solder balls have melted properly and that there are not shorts between pins. If all looks correct then.
  2. Put the Uni back together again using the HTC “Service Manual for Universal.
  3. Re-flash with a ROM with 128Mb features found here http HTC Universal memory upgrade   128MBhttp://wiki.xda-developers.com/index.php?pagename=Universal_Cooked_ROMs and if all is working correctly the Uni will read 128Mb in “Device Information” under the Hardware tab.

mobile phones freeware

You will find that many of the important skills such as network plus are the universal but there are some further expertise needed to support the needs of business. Microsoft mcdba certification and 70-640 fexam required microsoft training. Cisco gives you ability to get cisco training and security training and enhance your career in the selected area.

If you liked this post, Buy Me a Beer

3 Responses to “HTC Universal memory upgrade – 128MB”

  1. ralf Says:

    Hi,
    if You can install 2 chips with 64 Mb why dont You can instal 2 chips with 128 Mb?

    ralf



  2. Pit Says:

    I will suggest this procedure for my next hardware lab.



  3. Miriam Says:

    Great Article!

    If I could write like this I would be well chuffed ;-)

    The more I read articles of such quality as this (which is rare), the more I think there might be a future for the Web. Keep it up, as it were.



Leave a Reply

Windows Mobile 6.5, WM6.5, Windows Phone 7 Series, Windows Phone 7, Pocket PC, HTC HD Mini, HD2 apps, Smartphone, htc hd2 tweaks, htc hacks, htc reviews,htc software, htc tatoo, htc touch hd, touch pro 2, omnia 2, omnia pro, htc hero, google nexus
Technology Add to Technorati Favorites Technology Blogs blog directory Directory of Computers/Tech Blogs blog search directory
Locations of visitors to this page
Sitemap - Windows Mobile Phones - Beauty Woman - Twitter Free Tools - Worlds Most Beautiful Places - Free Music Downloads - Mobile Phones - Dubai Trave Guides