Likebook Alita bricked part II

[Diazepam04]

I'm creating a new thread because the original one is already closed. Link: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=369072

At the time the previous thread got its last updates, the situation was the following:
- My Alita wouldn't boot up (red LED would turn on and remain on forever)
- Nothing that I could do by myself would change the behavior
- The local repair shops couldn't help because it was a board problem in an uncommon device

This made me give up on trying to fix it and I left the Alita literally accumulating dust on my desk. It was around August 10th.

However, I still tried messing with it again on November 30th. I opened it again, removed the heatsink that covers the processor and memory to check the chips under it*, put it on the freezer for a while, but nothing worked. After all this, I decided to "massage" the Alita - press the screen and back cover across all the surface - and it surprisingly did boot up.

It remained functional until March 18th, with not many freezes. When it did freeze, all I had to do was reapply the "massage". Now it froze again and even this is not working anymore; however if I press it at the processor/memory area while it is frozen (trying to boot up - red LED on forever), it will stop trying to boot, though not always.

All of this makes me think that my Alita has poor contact on some component, any ideas about that?



*Note: I'm annexing a photo of the Alita components that are under the heatsink. I've found a Korean blog with a lot of information about the boards of Boyue devices, but not the Alita.

The processor is a Rockchip RK3368, the memory is a Leahkinn LTFP0066FS3-ZJy2 2011-LH PK200304.

One of the things I noted on the previous thread was that my Alita displayed it had 2GB of memory. Searching this memory on the Internet, I could find that similar models (the LTFP0066FS3-ZJy1 and the LTFP0066FS3-ZJy2 1919-LH) really are 2GB (16 Gb) models. I couldn't find any information about the exact model I have, though.

[ottischwenk]

How did you open the device? The battery in my Alita is defective, and I'd like to replace it - it works perfectly when plugged in.

[Diazepam04]

It was fairly simple.

You'll need a small Phillips screwdriver to remove the two screws at the bottom, then you just have to pull the plastic back cover. It can get tricky around the microSD card tray and there is nothing to hold the power button in its place, so it will fall.

I would say that you shouldn't be afraid of messing with the board. Mine wasn't working for nothing, so I treated it very badly while trying to make it boot. Some things I did:
- Pressing the chips against the board (sometimes I even forgot to disconnect the battery while doing this)
- Disconnecting and reconnecting most flat cables around the board
- Using my house key to perform the contact that the power button uses to do internally and pass it over some of the power ralis on the board.

And only after all this I got it working again with the "massage"...

On the other hand, I don't know if you can find the exact same battery to replace the old one or how a slightly different battery will behave there.

[ottischwenk]

The screws weren't a problem, but I couldn't get the back panel off - it's secured so tightly on my unit that I just couldn't manage it.
But something must have changed when I tried - it's suddenly working perfectly fine now.
Update: It's not the battery; it's something else.
The device freezes when the battery is at about 85%.

[Diazepam04]

Now I remember that opening it for the first time was actually quite hard. You've likely done all this, but just in case you didn't:
- Remove the microSD tray before pulling off the back cover
- Try using something (a thin card or a flathead screwdriver) to lever up the screen

After removing the cover for the first time, it will become a lot easier to do it again.

Can you explain how are these freezes you experience? Do they match what I describe in this thread and the previous (red LED on when it freezes during boot, battery draining quicker than at normal use, the board components emit a continuous low sound and it may or may not be possible to reboot while it is frozen)?

Also, the freezes that happen to me have already occurred at 97% battery, for example. When I got to check the Alita after ~8 hours of not using it, it was frozen. I managed to boot it, and the battery was at 24%. After reading through some 2 pages, it froze again, and I couldn't recover it this time. This was at March 18th.

One of the repair shops I contacted on August told me my battery was fine - he tested it with an universal charger. Also, the freezes did occur when I turned it on by plugging the charger while the battery was disconnected.

Anyway, I'd find puzzling if you are experiencing the same freezes and it's really because of the battery.

[ottischwenk]

I can't quite replicate your experience - my Alita shows 4 GB of RAM.
It looks like it might be the battery after all (or the controller) - after an hour, I plugged it back in and the device booted up, but the battery was down to about 40%.
Is there a 2-cell battery installed, and is one cell no longer working?
As described at the beginning, the device works perfectly when plugged in.

I continued testing – my device crashes (when not plugged in) when the power consumption changes (to a higher level).

Simply turning on Wi-Fi causes a crash, and the battery indicator drops from high to low.

But I have a Pocketbook Inkpad X Pro (Android 8.1, 10.3-inch Mobius, Wacom, 350g) - so I’m in no rush to look into it any further