[aurgathor]

It didn't take long, but I was curious what's inside my tablet.

Much-much less than I expected, but the PCB is probably double sided, and there are probably come circuitry under the metal cover marked with'x'. I was thinking about removing the PCB, but that's no longer a risk free operation, and I didn't want to do anything unnatural to my 3 days old tablet.

Attached File(s)

•  T301-inside.png (12.93MB)
  Number of downloads: 220

[allanonmage]

My first thought was to take the back cover off too! I didn't take a pic though. Thanks!!

[bittwiddler]

I got mine down that far also without wanting to take it apart much more.

Does anyone recognize what the wireless antenna is on there? I have a Cruz that refuses to connect to any access points - mine, the neighbor's open one, various businesses. It can sometimes see them but always fails. Power offs, pulling the battery, numerous resets don't produce anything different. I was wondering if it had a bad antenna connection but I can't really identify what the antenna is

[aurgathor]

I'd guess the antenna is connected through that black wire near the bottom right corner.

As for connection issues, take a look at signal strength: with my own, I get "Excellent" while with my neighbors' Wi-Fi, it's "Poor" or "Fair".

If everything is poor/fair, it can be an antenna issue, otherwise, I'd look elsewhere.

[bittwiddler]

Yeah, I was thinking it was that black wire but it didn't look like a standard connector I could fix.

I don't get a connection at all 99% of the time. I can sometimes pick up the surrounding access points and rarely connect. I've never gotten a wireless connection on this device that worked - they connect occasionally but are non-functional. That's why I'm taking it apart and fiddling with it as it's a leftover that we can't use. Too bad I can't hook up a wired connector to it - it would at least be useful that way

[honeybearbear]

Where is the internal storage located?

Sorry for extra post but my posts aren't showing up yet so I can't edit the first one...

I've taken apart my T301, and can't find internal SD if there is removable internal storage like the R series. I've seen a video where a guy takes his apart and pulls out an internal sd from an internal card reader, but can't seem to find on the T301. The only place I haven't looked is where the screen is attached to front cover.

And thanks a bunch for posting Cruz board!!!!

[aurgathor]

As I've mentioned in some other thread, the internal storage can be on the other side, or covered up. Though I think the most likely scenario is that the flash chip is soldered directly to the board, and so it's not removable. I find it kinda odd that it is removable on the reader, and I have never personally seen anything like that, although I can see the notion behind it.

[rikof]

Close to the battery, on the left side there is this zif connector, what is its purpose?

[heatherob]

rikof, on 09 December 2012 - 03:17 PM, said:

Close to the battery, on the left side there is this zif connector, what is its purpose?

do you mean the ribbon connector (display connection)?
or the 4-pin (nothing NEAR a "zif") connector that I'm guessing to be a serial header of types?

FYI: "ZIF" = "Zero Insertion Force" connector...re: the processor connection in your desktop/laptop where you can simply drop the proc. in the holes (zero force), then flip a lever to lock the pins into place.

[heatherob]

OK, if anyone (besides myself) is still following this thread; I pulled mine apart to *almost* that point...unfortunately, it appears that during the "refurb" process, they glued together my battery connector, and glued+taped the battery to the metal backer behind it; so removal or the battery in order to release, & photograph the other side of, the PCB would require a dangerous amount of cutting/breaking, and some re-soldering...definitely NOT the safest thing to be trying.

Anywise, as a HAM operator with an infatuation with RF hardware design, I can verify entirely that the black wire IS connecting the antenna to the PCB (if you look closely at either end, see pic at http://www.robherc.c...ystem_Photo.JPG, it is a COAX wire, with center conductor soldered in one place, and jacket ground/shield conductor soldered right next to it). The black plastic piece with the steel, crimped sheet metal strips attached to the other end of that black wire is your physical antenna. Also, the solder lines around the outside of the oscillator (silver rectangle, marked 32.768K), WiFi chip (silver square, "USI" brand), and nearby/associated bits & pieces are for a Faraday box, like the "metal cover marked with an "X" on the other side of the board, to help minimize interference & cross-talk between diff. circuits on the board (for RF reasons, mos of the copper is removed from the side of the board opposite RF-active chips [which includes processor chips, FYI], which makes the Faraday box necessary to "catch" stray signals).
Unfortunately, from what I found today, I can almost guarantee that the jz4760B main SOC that runs the device is on the OTHER side of the PCB, under the "metal cover marked with an 'X'" from the first post in this thread; so if the 4-pin header I marked in this pic: http://www.robherc.c...ctors_Photo.JPG is *not* the factory-load serial header I believe it to be, then it'll be VERY dangerous, at least with my unit, to attempt to gain access to the jz4760B SOC in order to solder on a serial header to access that module directly. BTW, if anyone finds, or translates, English documentation for the t301's main board, the name for the 4-pin header in question (from the board) is "J24."


Hope someone finds this useful