When dealing with a “dead” phone, there is no "silver-bullet" solution. You have to probe the board to get a better understanding of what is working properly and what is not. It may be a simple solution or a complex one. Sometimes we see a visibly blown cap, replace and all is well. Other times, everything looks perfect yet the phone won't boot. In other words, use your brain :>).
You have to start at the beginning and check PP_BATT_VCC, PP_VCC_MAIN and PP5V0_USB. I would start by checking to see if those rails are shorted to ground. If one of these rails is shorted to ground, then you will need to identify what is causing the short. It could be a bad decoupling capacitor, conductive debris or defective IC that is directly supplied by those rails.
If they are not shorted, then you can connect, preferably, a known-good battery (or a current limited DC power supply with the appropriate connector adapter) to see what voltage you measure. If the voltage is low or lower than the battery voltage (which you measured before plugging it in ;>), then there could be a short circuit on secondary subsystem that is causing the battery or DCPS to be current-limited.
If you are measuring the proper voltage, then you move onto the PMIC and check the voltage rails it generates. The PMIC generates ~15 voltage rails. They are all important (for obvious reasons) but the ones to check first are as follows:
- PP_CPU & PP_GPU – These rails supply the CPU & GPU. They are low resistance rails so they may “beep” when you test them on your multimeter in continuity mode. It’s important to look at the reading and not focus just on the beep. You will typically measure something around 20-100 Ohms on these lines.
- PP1V8_SDRAM & PP1V2_SDRAM – These rails supply the SDRAM (which is sandwiched with the SoC/CPU).
- PP_VAR_SOC & PP0V95_FIXED_SOC – These rails supply the rest of the System on a Chip. What we commonly refer to as the CPU is actually a SoC.
- PP3V0_Tristar & PP3V0_NAND – These rails supply Tristar & the NAND chip.
- PP1V8_ALWAYS – This is an “always-on” voltage rail that is used for the bootstrapping of the device
- PP1V0 – Supplies the High Speed Digital Communications via the SoC
The PMIC also generates, what I would consider secondary, yet still important voltage rails for the following sub-systems:
- PP3V0_MESA – Supplies the Home Button TouchID subsystem.
- PP1V8_VA_L19_L67 – Supplies the Audio Codec and Speaker Amp
- PP3V0_PROX_ALS – Supplies the Proximity and Ambient Light Sensor
- PP3V0_PROX_IRLED – Supplies the Infrared LED of the Proximity sensor
- PP3V0_IMU – Supplies the Compass
- PP3V3_USB – Supplies the USB functionality of the SoC
- PP3V3_ACC – Supplies power to any accessory connected to the Lightning Port via the Tristar IC. (This line is only "on" for a very short period of time so you only need to worry about shorts, not voltage)
Once again, you should start with measuring the resistance while unpowered to limit any potential damage of excessive current going through the logic board. If there are shorts, do as above to identify any faulty components. If there is no apparent short or you can’t find the source of a short, you can connect the battery and look for hotspots (you can use the freeze-spray or IPA method). Do this with caution to avoid additional damage to the logic board.
Update!
PP_BATT_VCC - No short (checked on TP2545 - 3,8 V)
PP_VCC_MAIN - No short (Checked on C5202_RF - 3,8 V)
PP5V0_USB - No short (checked on J1817 - But not showing volts without dock connector?)
Power rails :
PP_CPU - Not stable 0,8V then 0,4 and up again.
PP_GPU - 0V (Checked capacitor's C1226:C1210 both end's grounded - So this line is shorted right?)
Same jumping was on these lines PP1V8_SDRAM & PP1V2_SDRAM.
1 Opmerking
UPDATE!
So i have checked the power rails and you were correct Minho. The mentioned line is not shorted. The weird thing is phone tries to boot draw like 0,1 A and then back 0 and repeat's. 1 time it actually went up to 0,25 Amps.
I write up the result of measuring.
PP_VCC_MAIN - 3,8V
PP_BAT_VCC - 3,8 V
PP1V5_USB - OK
Power rails : First result is in diode mode and then in volts. All the voltages drops and rise up then.
PP_CPU - No short (170) ; 0,85V
PP_GPU - No short (097) ;
PP_1V8_SDRAM - No short (937) ; 1,8V then 1,19V and then 0 and repeats.
PP1V2_SDRAM - No short (438); 1,2 V
PP_VAR_SOC- No short (315) ; 0,91 V
PP_0v95_FIXED_SOC - No short (193) ; 0,95V
PP_3V0_Tristar - No short (402) ; 3V
PP3V0_NAND - No short (420) ; 3V
PP1V8_Always - No short
PP1V0 - No short (1305) ; 1V
PP3v0_Mesa - 3V
PP1v8_VA_L19_L67 - 1,8V
PP3v0_PROX_ALS - 3V
PP3v0_PROX_IRLED - 2,99V
What to check more to determine what's causing the resetting ?
Also weird thing the power button is attached but still does not turn it on. Only by shorting the 2 pin's works.
And also weird thing. With power supply on 3,8V - it draws 0,1 A but like with 3V - it draws 0,15 A.Why so?
door Kaspar