Any good place to get a N96 repaired?

[Herath]

Hi,

I have a Nokia N96 with a problem in GSM signal recieving. It works fine with 3G. Since I do not have 3G signals at home, it is really crazy. I can't get more than 2 signal bars inside the house although the tower is not more than a 1km from home. My other sony ericsson and Nokia works fine at the same spot.

I have been finding the fault for few days and now I am sure that it is somewhere in the GSM circuitry. I went to a local shop and asked them to re-hot the RF block. But they seemed to have no idea what I meant and began to apply hot air all over the main board. Then I asked to stop since I was worried that it would damage the BGA chips around.

So, now the problem is there is no good place to get repairs done. I was thinking about going to a Nokia Care point, but am worried about how much it would cost on the same way. Troubleshooting needs access to Nokia's Pheonix software. I debranded the phone from Vodafone to Euro2 using pheonix, but it cannot perform RF tests without additional tools.

Will it be possible to get a quote from Nokia Care?. Have anyone tried them before?. Is it really Nokia Care, the service points we have here in Sri Lanka?.

Thanks.

PS:
I bought this second hand from a student at ICBT. He did not have a clue about what the device was capable of. So after careless use, it is a bit off.And antenna is on the bottom of the phone. And a bit like the iPhone4 antenna. . Before sending it for repairs, I am thinking of replacing the antenna. It could be the antenna since the device had some shock damages while with the guy who owned it. I am not worried much since I bought it for cheap. I bought this since I do want to have Skype and web where I go but don't want to take the laptop. I hate laptops!.

[Nipuna]

I don't Know about places to repair Phones. and i am searching for a Good one too.

But How about Softlogic

I think they are the Nokia Dealers and Repairers.

[Herath]

There is a Nokia Care Center at Colombo-4. I am looking for a "cheap" solution before going there. Anyway, seems like I am having to go there. I do not like to handle it over to local phone repairers. They do not have enough technology other than the Hot air gun. That's their ultimate tool. All they do is experimenting on your device.

[Nipuna]

There is a Nokia Care Center at Colombo-4. I am looking for a "cheap" solution before going there. Anyway, seems like I am having to go there. I do not like to handle it over to local phone repairers. They do not have enough technology other than the Hot air gun. That's their ultimate tool. All they do is experimenting on your device.

ya

It is i have to find a good place to repair my Sony Ericsson P1i.

And Seven Zero told me if i find a Main board then i can replace it by my self and phone repairers do the same except replacing parts.

Do you Know a Place to buy SE P1i Main Board. I know a Place but didn't ask from them. it is Good to know more places.

[Herath]

Manufacturers only provide them to authorized service centers as I know. They program the OTP with the details of the defective board and give it to you. In sony ericsson, Blue colour ROMs are those boards as I know.

There are not much components on N96. Just few ICs connecting though I2C bus. I have the schematics, the Level 3 and Level 4 service manual, but never attempted anything. I don't want to damage it since I do not have necessary tools to perform anything.

[Saman]

This is one of most common questions that I was asked during last so many years. But as you all agree with me there is no such good place that I know in Colombo that repair damaged mobile phone circuits. They normally replace board to board. As Herath clearly stated some use the hot air gun without proper knowledge. The main point here is qualified engineer in Sri Lanka are not involved in the service sector. The big guys who charge big money like Softlogic, Abans, Singer, etc... are also employing technicians to the positions of engineers. If you can find at least one qualified engineer in one of these places, don't forget to mention here . I'm not trying to discriminate anybody here. You can't expect an engineers job from a technician. It is the simplest truth that there are no good guys in the electronic repair & service sector in Sri Lanka.

Whenever you buy a product, consider the quality by analysing user reviews, etc... Because if something goes wrong it is almost likely that you have to throw it away.

[Nipuna]

Now I realize the Only option is Replacing the Main Board.

One Guy Told me it would be Corrected if I Hot the Phone's CCPU with the Hot Gun, Is It True?

Can any one tell me How much will be a Sony Ericsson P1i Main Board? i don't mind the exact price, It is OK How much do you Think it would be.

[Herath]

The best option is to find an authorized service point. You need to X-Ray the main board and look for bad joints first. Most the local repair shops just guess the problem when it comes to component level repairing. And their re-working techniques are not good. So I am going to go to Nokia Care Center anyway. And try to get a quotation before handing it over.

[SevenZero]

Can any one tell me How much will be a Sony Ericsson P1i Main Board?

Yo lazy guy, go to Pettah 1st Cross Street & Malwatta Road and try it yourself. No one use a P1 here so no one is interested go on shopping for you . But I'm sure it would be a difficult job as P1 is a bit out of market.

You need to X-Ray the main board and look for bad joints first.

This only works if there are high-resistance spots in the soldering. Most of the chips are now BGAs so it is not going to work in the case. For the recent past I can't remember I have seen any phone circuit with non-BGA chips. So I'm wondering how hot-air gun is going to help in the case.

[Nipuna]

As You Said.

I really have to go Pettah