Well, this post is about my shiny black Nokia Lumia 630 which was launched in May 2014, and I got it in August 2014 with 8 GB internal memory, 512 MB RAM with Microsoft Windows 8.1 OS which I lost in a series of unfortunate events. I accidentally dropped it in a bucket full of hot water which I was going to use for a hot water massage for my legs. Knowing that hot water causes potential damage to the motherboard, I washed it with running water hoping the motherboard would be okay but unknowingly caused much more damage than I could imagine. And because I have a strange emotional attachment to my phone, I did whatever I could do at home and followed the steps which are given on the community page of Microsoft but without any avail. The phone wouldn't just start!
3. Now remove the seven torx 4 (T4) size screws from the upper body which are seven in number.
4. Turn the phone on its side and you'll see two more screws. Remove these screws as well.
5. Now lift the battery compartment over from right to left. You can now access the ribbon cable, connected to the motherboard. This cable has a plug and socket type connection, so lever it up, away from the circuit board so your screen is now free from the rest of the phone.
6. You can now remove the camera. Again, this has a plug and socket type connection, so lever it up, away from the circuit board.
8. The motherboard replacement is now done! Reverse the process to assemble the phone and use it!
Happy? Happy!
I then visited the only support centre of Microsoft Phones in South Delhi and got my phone inspected and to my utter shock, the repair required another motherboard and that was not available in Delhi. The shipping charges would cost me around 5k and well, like any other engineer, I don't have that much money just for the repair (I could've bought another Lumia 630 in 5k). I then sought the help of my friends and wrote this post wishing someone would help me. Luckily, a few of my friends (John and Chirag) turned out to be brilliant and one gave me the assurance that he would get it fixed in Hyderabad office of Microsoft and another gave me the emotional support that I was not the only one facing these crises. It was then that my mentor, my best friend and my senior, Saksham, arranged for an unused Lumia 630 from some friend Yogesh and Chanpreet, a mutual friend helped to hand it over to me.
Now the good news is, it is fixed and working smoothly!
Just like it did when I bought it. I had to do the motherboard replacement because Nehru Place vendors thought I had stolen the phone and were giving me awkward looks, but it turned out to be the simplest task that I had done in my entire life. So I would not take up much time now and would dive straight to how I replaced the motherboards.
Here is a step by step procedure!
1. Remove the back cover with your fingernails.
2. With the back cover removed, your phone will look like below. Now remove your battery and the black sticker by simply levering it up.
3. Now remove the seven torx 4 (T4) size screws from the upper body which are seven in number.
4. Turn the phone on its side and you'll see two more screws. Remove these screws as well.
5. Now lift the battery compartment over from right to left. You can now access the ribbon cable, connected to the motherboard. This cable has a plug and socket type connection, so lever it up, away from the circuit board so your screen is now free from the rest of the phone.
6. You can now remove the camera. Again, this has a plug and socket type connection, so lever it up, away from the circuit board.
7. Your motherboard is now free of all the connections and to replace it with a new one, simply lift it away from the housing.
8. The motherboard replacement is now done! Reverse the process to assemble the phone and use it!
