- Let's talk about a little mobile device disassembly.
Before I get into the theory behind it,
just wanted to show some of the hand tools that I use,
gotta have hand tools when you're working with laptops,
and smartphones and tablets.
And so I got a bunch here.
Here's some of my go-to tools that I use the most often
and probably the number one tool is this metal spudger,
you've probably seen me use it.
It's thin, strong metal, not really very flexible
but I use this a whole lot.
And so that's a go-to tool, the spudger.
And if I need something a little bit more flexible,
I'll use something like this,
this plastic, you could call this a spudger or a shim,
flexible, thin, kind of strong though, so I use that.
And then a wide shim that is somewhat flexible
for removing a lot of the plastic, bezels,
things like that.
Good pair of sharp, pointy tweezers, very needle-nose.
So those are some of my real go-to tools
for opening up devices.
Then of course you need all kinds of screwdrivers.
So, you know, your standard screwdrivers,
like your number one Phillips head,
but then you gotta get smaller.
And so we got a number zero Phillips head here,
got a T-10 Torx,
but that quite often won't even be small enough.
So we go with much smaller Torx screwdrivers.
I think this is a 1.2 and a 0.8,
and some mini Phillips head and Flathead.
Now, over time, you don't really want
to have a bazillion screwdriver.
So it's better to just have a Bit Driver
this is a Bit Driver I've had, it's older than me,
and just take your bits, whatever bits you have,
Phillips head, Flathead, Torx,
This is a Hex Bit.
And I got a whole set of Hex Bits here,
cause some of the devices I deal with
deal with Metric Hex, hexagonal,
and so you got from big to small,
and you could buy any bits that you need,
whatever it is, and put them right in your Bit Driver
and you can even store some of them in here, right?
So just don't go with any magnetic bits.
And whenever you're working on devices,
make sure you have your ESD prevention method set up,
anti-static strap and mat.
And make sure everything's properly grounded.
I talk about that and show a setup that I use
in another video.
And so you see other stuff that I have here,
tweezers, more prying tools and shims and spudgers.
Here's a backup spudger.
Here's a whole group of spudgers, different types.
And here's a more flexible, but metal,
very thin other type, kind of can multi-tool.
And so you wanna have all this stuff.
Another good tool to have is a magnifying glass
with a flashlight, very handy.
And some wipes, some cloth.
Lint free, clean cloth for screens and so on.
So a bunch of tools here that I use for working
with mobile devices,
and definitely you can buy kits, also,
I usually just kind of collect tools one by one,
but they make kits as well.
There's a couple companies that do that,
but over time you find that you need other types of tools
and you need to kind of add on with different stuff.
So definitely check it out.
Of course you wanna have a multimeter
and a couple other electronic testing tools
but this subjective is more about
the hand tools that you'll use.
So let's get into a little of the theory of it as well.
Hey, real quick, we're gonna round out
the troubleshooting mobile devices lesson
by just talking about a little bit
of mobile device disasembling processes.
And when disasembling your laptop or other mobile device,
you wanna implement the following procedures.
And these are very basic
and we've talked about them already.
This is just a quick review.
But first you wanna document everything.
I don't care if you're taking apart a desktop computer,
or a laptop, or your tablet, or your smartphone.
Document everything you do.
What are the parts? Write it down.
What screws went where, what cables went where.
You wanna label the cables, label the parts,
not on top of a circuit board or chip mind you,
but label as much as you can, label the screw locations
write it down in your notebook, do a drawing,
create a drawing of what you see
and where everything connected.
This is what my students benefit from the most.
When they do really good documentation in their notebook,
they really learn the parts and how the device works.
And organize your parts.
Make sure you organize everything, you know,
keep the screws in one of those tubes
or in one of those pill cases,
and keep all the other parts lined up in the order
that you took them out.
Because usually when you put the device back together,
you're gonna do it in reverse order.
So you'll have all those parts in a row,
and you'll know which is next.
That'll help you.
And use the appropriate hand tools.
And we mentioned if you're gonna open up a device
like this or like this you're wanna have a good shim,
and a plastic or a wood shim, that's very thin
is the best way to go so you don't damage the bezel
or the plastic of the devices.
Then you're gonna want to have that number one screwdriver,
And you're gonna wanna have some smaller screwdrivers
maybe a jewelers screwdriver,
or smaller ones that you can find at the home center.
And you wanna have some small Torx screwdrivers as well.
Which by the way, sometimes you might see that written
as a Torx wrench, but they're really Torx screwdrivers.
And the main thing here is you're using hand tools.
You're not using power tools,
you're not using a motorized drill.
You don't want to use a vacuum
on the inside of these devices.
You don't wanna have anything that has
anything to do with power
or anything that has anything to do with too much torque.
You gotta be real careful with these devices.
They're extremely delicate.
And of course always implement anti-static protection.
You wanna have that anti-static strap connected
to some type of earth bonding point.
You can also place these on an anti-static mat
and have that connected to an earth bonding point.
And finally refer to manufacturer resources,
go to the websites for the operating systems,
you know, go to the iOS support and the Android support,
and the Windows, you know, support.microsoft.com
and the TechNet.
Use the manufacturer resources to help you
figure out what possible problems there might be
when you're troubleshooting your devices.
You can also go to third party forums,
but it's the manufacturer's websites
that are most recommended.
And also use manufacturer's resources as far as parts.
We're talking batteries.
If you're gonna change out the battery on, say,
a Samsung Note device, you want to use a Samsung battery,
same thing with this.
This is a Toshiba laptop.
You wanna make sure you use a Toshiba laptop.
And it's not recommended that you use third party hardware
for batteries or for other devices,
go with the manufacturer stuff,
go with what comes from Apple, or from Toshiba,
or from HP, or from Samsung, or what have you.
So to wrap it up,
make sure you refer to the manufacturer for your information
and other resources.
Use appropriate hand tools.
Organize your parts.
Label the cables, the parts, the screw locations,
draw it out and document everything in your notebook.
That's the number one best way to learn how this stuff works
and also to troubleshoot any problems that might occur.
Your documentation is really gonna help you
think out your problems and get good solutions to them.
So that rounds out this sub lesson and it closes out
the lesson for troubleshooting mobile devices.