Sim Card Pinout

magical · 11-22-2015, 11:34 PM

It seems that there is an unused pinout for sim cards on the PW3. Looking further into the sim card standard it seems that they have begun to implement a purpose for the 7th (Serial I/O) and 8th (USB-ICC) pins. Rather than the standard 6 pins I have seen.

According to ISO/IEC 7816-12:2005, USB-ICC is another area in sim cards that can be utilized for additional data.

Would this be a viable place to implement extra storage capacity? Seems far-fetched, but interesting.

knc1 · 11-23-2015, 07:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by magical

It seems that there is an unused pinout for sim cards on the PW3. Looking further into the sim card standard it seems that they have begun to implement a purpose for the 7th (Serial I/O) and 8th (USB-ICC) pins. Rather than the standard 6 pins I have seen.

According to ISO/IEC 7816-12:2005, USB-ICC is another area in sim cards that can be utilized for additional data.

Would this be a viable place to implement extra storage capacity? Seems far-fetched, but interesting.

Pictures please.
A general (and possibly a detail), that includes the board revision and id silk screen.
At least one detail of the portion you are writing about.

magical · 11-24-2015, 01:08 AM

A better picture of the board with a revision number will be possible later when I take apart my own to solder a serial interface. I have borrowed a picture from a disassembly for the time being.

It seems that companies are looking into implementing this extra sim storage for carrier data management as well as updates and or preferences. SanDisk has a document detailing some of their solutions.

As for the pinout, I am unaware of the pin assignment and if the extra two pins are the new standard being used or an extra ground. I would like to get a sim of that generation and a shield to test if its storage can be accessed as is, then pursue further methods of bypassing it to a more traditional storage chip.

knc1 · 11-24-2015, 02:33 AM

I don't have my PW-3 open, but I do have my KT-2 open.
I'll take a look for that on the KT-2.

Someone with their Voyage open also please take a look for that part outline (don't count on the silk screen to label it).

= = = =

Note:
That USB buss to the SIM card may only be accessible from the 3G modem/radio (also a complete ARM SoC system, like the Kindle itself).

Translation:
Those will only go to the pads for the PCI-e card connector in the upper left of your photo.
And since you don't have a 3G, PW-3 (neither do I), then we can't use AT commands to see if we can access it from the Kindle (through the modem/radio).

Hmm...
But jumping the USB buss **to** the 3G modem/radio to the USB buss leads **from** the 3G modem/radio to those of the SIM card on the non-3G Kindles might make that storage available.

For the people complaining that the serial port pads are too small to solder to, just wait until they try soldering jumpers to those PCI-e pads.

magical · 11-24-2015, 10:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by knc1

Note:
That USB buss to the SIM card may only be accessible from the 3G modem/radio (also a complete ARM SoC system, like the Kindle itself).

Translation:
Those will only go to the pads for the PCI-e card connector in the upper left of your photo.
And since you don't have a 3G, PW-3 (neither do I), then we can't use AT commands to see if we can access it from the Kindle (through the modem/radio).

Is it a hardware or software limitation? Does the firmware package have a flag within to determine modem usage or would it just be missing altogether?

Quote:

Originally Posted by knc1

For the people complaining that the serial port pads are too small to solder to, just wait until they try soldering jumpers to those PCI-e pads.

Now that is quite interesting. Solid State PCI-e storage would be nice. Are those two lines individual PCI-e connections?

As for the 8 pins on the sim pinout I have found the identical layout on my revision.

knc1 · 11-25-2015, 12:43 AM

If you check the Amazon update site, you will notice that they stopped building Wifi and Wifi+3G updates before the K5 (5.x.y) firmware.

One build does both (or either), the kernel enumerates the networking hardware at each boot.

- - - -

I am not sure what you are asking about, being a hardware or firmware limitation.

- - - -

The connector is mini-PCI-e :
http://www.interfacebus.com/Mini_PCI_Express_Bus.html#e
The Kindles only use the USB interface to the radio/modem not the PCI-e interface.

Also notice that manufacturers often re-purpose the otherwise un-used pins in their card design. (shame on you Asus)

But "by the book" the only thing you can count on is connecting the USB host connection on the connector to a USB flash drive (up to 128G byte storage add-in).

- - - - -

I think the correct name for the 8 pin critter is: UIM card (Universal Identity Module) rather than the 6 pin critter: SIM card (Subscriber Identity Module).

stupidhaiku · 11-27-2015, 09:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by knc1

Someone with their Voyage open also please take a look for that part outline (don't count on the silk screen to label it).

Is this what you wanted?

Click image for larger version

Name: voyage sim.jpg
Views: 588
Size: 145.2 KB
ID: 144107

Click image for larger version

Name: voyage simzoom.jpg
Views: 468
Size: 54.9 KB
ID: 144108

Note Wifi-only KV.

knc1 · 11-27-2015, 09:47 AM

Sure looks like the same thing to me.

<<--- means: blind guy.

I'll try to get some pictures of my KT-2.

But this may be a general change in the Kindle's design.

I am not sure if we can make use of this, but if its on all of the 2015 models, it may well be worth a bit of effort.

peterson · 11-27-2015, 11:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by knc1

The connector is mini-PCI-e :
http://www.interfacebus.com/Mini_PCI_Express_Bus.html#e
The Kindles only use the USB interface to the radio/modem not the PCI-e interface.

But mini pci-e has 52 pins. The Kindle (looking at this picture and my open PW2) only has 50 pins. What is the mapping between mini pci-e and the Kindle connector?

knc1 · 11-27-2015, 12:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by peterson

But mini pci-e has 52 pins. The Kindle (looking at this picture and my open PW2) only has 50 pins. What is the mapping between mini pci-e and the Kindle connector?

one-for-one, count again.

(I don't own a PW-2, but of the 3G models that I do have, they have always been the standard 52 pin (width) boards.)

peterson · 11-27-2015, 12:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by knc1

one-for-one, count again.

(I don't own a PW-2, but of the 3G models that I do have, they have always been the standard 52 pin (width) boards.)

The PW2 (and the PW3) only have 50 pins. See the image above (8pads.jpg) where you see one row of the (unpopulated) connector. That's 25 pads on one side (25 on the other, not in the image) and they are even labelled - the top ones (left in the image) 1 and 2, the bottom ones (right in the image) 49 and 50. Plus an additional pad on each corner (I assume these are for soldering on the connection edges).

peterson · 11-29-2015, 07:53 AM

Also want to mention that this area in the PW2 looks exactly the same as in the PW3 picture (post #3). So this is not a new 2015 design.

11-22-2015, 11:34 PM	#1
magical Junior Member Posts: 4 Karma: 10 Join Date: Nov 2015 Device: PW3	Sim Card Pinout It seems that there is an unused pinout for sim cards on the PW3. Looking further into the sim card standard it seems that they have begun to implement a purpose for the 7th (Serial I/O) and 8th (USB-ICC) pins. Rather than the standard 6 pins I have seen. According to ISO/IEC 7816-12:2005, USB-ICC is another area in sim cards that can be utilized for additional data. Would this be a viable place to implement extra storage capacity? Seems far-fetched, but interesting.

11-24-2015, 02:33 AM	#4
knc1 Going Viral Posts: 17,212 Karma: 18210809 Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Central Texas Device: No K1, PW2, KV, KOA	I don't have my PW-3 open, but I do have my KT-2 open. I'll take a look for that on the KT-2. Someone with their Voyage open also please take a look for that part outline (don't count on the silk screen to label it). = = = = Note: That USB buss to the SIM card may only be accessible from the 3G modem/radio (also a complete ARM SoC system, like the Kindle itself). Translation: Those will only go to the pads for the PCI-e card connector in the upper left of your photo. And since you don't have a 3G, PW-3 (neither do I), then we can't use AT commands to see if we can access it from the Kindle (through the modem/radio). Hmm... But jumping the USB buss to the 3G modem/radio to the USB buss leads from the 3G modem/radio to those of the SIM card on the non-3G Kindles might make that storage available. For the people complaining that the serial port pads are too small to solder to, just wait until they try soldering jumpers to those PCI-e pads. Last edited by knc1; 11-24-2015 at 02:52 AM.

11-25-2015, 12:43 AM	#6
knc1 Going Viral Posts: 17,212 Karma: 18210809 Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Central Texas Device: No K1, PW2, KV, KOA	If you check the Amazon update site, you will notice that they stopped building Wifi and Wifi+3G updates before the K5 (5.x.y) firmware. One build does both (or either), the kernel enumerates the networking hardware at each boot. - - - - I am not sure what you are asking about, being a hardware or firmware limitation. - - - - The connector is mini-PCI-e : http://www.interfacebus.com/Mini_PCI_Express_Bus.html#e The Kindles only use the USB interface to the radio/modem not the PCI-e interface. Also notice that manufacturers often re-purpose the otherwise un-used pins in their card design. (shame on you Asus) But "by the book" the only thing you can count on is connecting the USB host connection on the connector to a USB flash drive (up to 128G byte storage add-in). - - - - - I think the correct name for the 8 pin critter is: UIM card (Universal Identity Module) rather than the 6 pin critter: SIM card (Subscriber Identity Module). Last edited by knc1; 11-25-2015 at 01:07 AM.

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11-24-2015, 01:08 AM	#3
magical Junior Member Posts: 4 Karma: 10 Join Date: Nov 2015 Device: PW3	A better picture of the board with a revision number will be possible later when I take apart my own to solder a serial interface. I have borrowed a picture from a disassembly for the time being. It seems that companies are looking into implementing this extra sim storage for carrier data management as well as updates and or preferences. SanDisk has a document detailing some of their solutions. As for the pinout, I am unaware of the pin assignment and if the extra two pins are the new standard being used or an extra ground. I would like to get a sim of that generation and a shield to test if its storage can be accessed as is, then pursue further methods of bypassing it to a more traditional storage chip. Attached Thumbnails

11-27-2015, 09:47 AM	#8
knc1 Going Viral Posts: 17,212 Karma: 18210809 Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Central Texas Device: No K1, PW2, KV, KOA	Sure looks like the same thing to me. <<--- means: blind guy. I'll try to get some pictures of my KT-2. But this may be a general change in the Kindle's design. I am not sure if we can make use of this, but if its on all of the 2015 models, it may well be worth a bit of effort.

11-29-2015, 07:53 AM	#12
peterson Connoisseur Posts: 74 Karma: 889004 Join Date: Mar 2014 Device: Kindle PW2	Also want to mention that this area in the PW2 looks exactly the same as in the PW3 picture (post #3). So this is not a new 2015 design.

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