USB Flash drive repair

I have a Sandisk 32G USB flash drive that someone has given me in the 
hope that I might be able to salvage some data off it.  Looks like it 
was in a laptop and jammed against a wall, resulting in broken solder 
joints.  My PC wasn't detecting it when it was plugged in at all.

I cut the drive open and attempted to re-seat the pins and then reflow 
the solder using a heat gun on a low setting moving rapidly over the 
joints.  It seemed to work but it's very difficult to tell if all the 
pins are making good connections with the pads.

Windows now recognizes that a USB device of some type is plugged in, but 
is giving me a "Device Not Recognized" error.  Is it possible that this 
is due to a poor electrical connection, or is it likely that the 
controller electronics is somehow damaged as well?  At this point I'm 
thinking of removing the USB connector completely and using jumper wires 
to ensure that all the pads are connected properly to the respective 
pins and have continuity  Suggestions?

On 10/1/2015 1:39 PM, bitrex wrote:
> I have a Sandisk 32G USB flash drive that someone has given me in the
> hope that I might be able to salvage some data off it.  Looks like it
> was in a laptop and jammed against a wall, resulting in broken solder
> joints.  My PC wasn't detecting it when it was plugged in at all.
>
> I cut the drive open and attempted to re-seat the pins and then reflow
> the solder using a heat gun on a low setting moving rapidly over the
> joints.  It seemed to work but it's very difficult to tell if all the
> pins are making good connections with the pads.
>
> Windows now recognizes that a USB device of some type is plugged in, but
> is giving me a "Device Not Recognized" error.  Is it possible that this
> is due to a poor electrical connection, or is it likely that the
> controller electronics is somehow damaged as well?  At this point I'm
> thinking of removing the USB connector completely and using jumper wires
> to ensure that all the pads are connected properly to the respective
> pins and have continuity  Suggestions?

My guess is your connections are not all there.  if anything else were 
damaged I think you'd be able to see it.  What are you going to connect 
the jumper wires to?  Do you have a spare connector?  I think I would 
solder the end of a cable to the board so you have a USB connector on 
the end of the cable.  I'd like to have that on flash drives anyway. 
They stick out too much from the laptop and are prone to damaging the 
machine when bumped.  My previous laptop lost two of its four USB 
connectors that way.

-- 

Rick

On Thu, 1 Oct 2015 13:39:50 -0400, bitrex <bitrex@de.lete.earthlink.net>
Gave us:

>I have a Sandisk 32G USB flash drive that someone has given me in the 
>hope that I might be able to salvage some data off it.  Looks like it 
>was in a laptop and jammed against a wall, resulting in broken solder 
>joints.  My PC wasn't detecting it when it was plugged in at all.
>
>I cut the drive open and attempted to re-seat the pins and then reflow 
>the solder using a heat gun on a low setting moving rapidly over the 
>joints.  It seemed to work but it's very difficult to tell if all the 
>pins are making good connections with the pads.
>
>Windows now recognizes that a USB device of some type is plugged in, but 
>is giving me a "Device Not Recognized" error.  Is it possible that this 
>is due to a poor electrical connection, or is it likely that the 
>controller electronics is somehow damaged as well?  At this point I'm 
>thinking of removing the USB connector completely and using jumper wires 
>to ensure that all the pads are connected properly to the respective 
>pins and have continuity  Suggestions?

  You can also try booting a Linux Live CD or DVD.

  But it still sounds like one of the connections is not yet
re-established.

  The heat gun method is bad..  You don't have a soldering iron?
You can also remove the connector and solder on the wires of a cut off
USB cable to it, permitting better access to said connections after the
typically shrouded connector has been removed.  Wires are usually easier
as then they can be attached individually.

On 10/1/2015 1:48 PM, DecadentLinuxUserNumeroUno wrote:
> On Thu, 1 Oct 2015 13:39:50 -0400, bitrex <bitrex@de.lete.earthlink.net>
> Gave us:
>
>> I have a Sandisk 32G USB flash drive that someone has given me in the
>> hope that I might be able to salvage some data off it.  Looks like it
>> was in a laptop and jammed against a wall, resulting in broken solder
>> joints.  My PC wasn't detecting it when it was plugged in at all.
>>
>> I cut the drive open and attempted to re-seat the pins and then reflow
>> the solder using a heat gun on a low setting moving rapidly over the
>> joints.  It seemed to work but it's very difficult to tell if all the
>> pins are making good connections with the pads.
>>
>> Windows now recognizes that a USB device of some type is plugged in, but
>> is giving me a "Device Not Recognized" error.  Is it possible that this
>> is due to a poor electrical connection, or is it likely that the
>> controller electronics is somehow damaged as well?  At this point I'm
>> thinking of removing the USB connector completely and using jumper wires
>> to ensure that all the pads are connected properly to the respective
>> pins and have continuity  Suggestions?
>
>    You can also try booting a Linux Live CD or DVD.
>
>    But it still sounds like one of the connections is not yet
> re-established.
>
>    The heat gun method is bad..  You don't have a soldering iron?
> You can also remove the connector and solder on the wires of a cut off
> USB cable to it, permitting better access to said connections after the
> typically shrouded connector has been removed.  Wires are usually easier
> as then they can be attached individually.
>

I do have a soldering iron...;)  But the only thing is that there is so 
little space that it's nearly impossible to get in there and resolder 
the pads, even with the finest tip, and ensure I'm not creating bridges 
while the plug is still in place.  I think I'm going to follow your 
suggestion (and what I was thinking) and just remove the connector 
completely and use a spare USB cable as the header.

Den torsdag den 1. oktober 2015 kl. 19.39.57 UTC+2 skrev bitrex:
> I have a Sandisk 32G USB flash drive that someone has given me in the 
> hope that I might be able to salvage some data off it.  Looks like it 
> was in a laptop and jammed against a wall, resulting in broken solder 
> joints.  My PC wasn't detecting it when it was plugged in at all.
> 
> I cut the drive open and attempted to re-seat the pins and then reflow 
> the solder using a heat gun on a low setting moving rapidly over the 
> joints.  It seemed to work but it's very difficult to tell if all the 
> pins are making good connections with the pads.
> 
> Windows now recognizes that a USB device of some type is plugged in, but 
> is giving me a "Device Not Recognized" error.  Is it possible that this 
> is due to a poor electrical connection, or is it likely that the 
> controller electronics is somehow damaged as well?  At this point I'm 
> thinking of removing the USB connector completely and using jumper wires 
> to ensure that all the pads are connected properly to the respective 
> pins and have continuity  Suggestions?

all that is needed for the computer see something is plugged in is the 
pullup from V_usb to D+

so you got some connection, but it doesn't mean much more

-Lasse

On Thu, 1 Oct 2015 13:45:20 -0400, rickman <gnuarm@gmail.com> Gave us:

>  My previous laptop lost two of its four USB 
>connectors that way.

  Another indicator that you ain't too bright.

  Nice copycat job too.

rickman <gnuarm@gmail.com> Wrote in message:
> On 10/1/2015 1:39 PM, bitrex wrote:
>> I have a Sandisk 32G USB flash drive that someone has given me in the
>> hope that I might be able to salvage some data off it.  Looks like it
>> was in a laptop and jammed against a wall, resulting in broken solder
>> joints.  My PC wasn't detecting it when it was plugged in at all.
>>
>> I cut the drive open and attempted to re-seat the pins and then reflow
>> the solder using a heat gun on a low setting moving rapidly over the
>> joints.  It seemed to work but it's very difficult to tell if all the
>> pins are making good connections with the pads.
>>
>> Windows now recognizes that a USB device of some type is plugged in, but
>> is giving me a "Device Not Recognized" error.  Is it possible that this
>> is due to a poor electrical connection, or is it likely that the
>> controller electronics is somehow damaged as well?  At this point I'm
>> thinking of removing the USB connector completely and using jumper wires
>> to ensure that all the pads are connected properly to the respective
>> pins and have continuity  Suggestions?
> 
> My guess is your connections are not all there.  if anything else were 
> damaged I think you'd be able to see it.  What are you going to connect 
> the jumper wires to?  Do you have a spare connector?  I think I would 
> solder the end of a cable to the board so you have a USB connector on 
> the end of the cable.  I'd like to have that on flash drives anyway. 
> They stick out too much from the laptop and are prone to damaging the 
> machine when bumped.  My previous laptop lost two of its four USB 
> connectors that way.
> 
> -- 
> 
> Rick
> 

I've detached the USB header completely and the pads on the data
 lines appear to be completely lifted.  Do the data lines on flash
 drives usually have resistor pull ups or resistors inline? There
 are what looks like two 0402 resistors on the underside that I
 think might be connected to the data lines that I might be able
 to attach wires to.


-- 


----Android NewsGroup Reader----
http://usenet.sinaapp.com/

Den torsdag den 1. oktober 2015 kl. 21.00.31 UTC+2 skrev bitrex:
> rickman <gnuarm@gmail.com> Wrote in message:
> > On 10/1/2015 1:39 PM, bitrex wrote:
> >> I have a Sandisk 32G USB flash drive that someone has given me in the
> >> hope that I might be able to salvage some data off it.  Looks like it
> >> was in a laptop and jammed against a wall, resulting in broken solder
> >> joints.  My PC wasn't detecting it when it was plugged in at all.
> >>
> >> I cut the drive open and attempted to re-seat the pins and then reflow
> >> the solder using a heat gun on a low setting moving rapidly over the
> >> joints.  It seemed to work but it's very difficult to tell if all the
> >> pins are making good connections with the pads.
> >>
> >> Windows now recognizes that a USB device of some type is plugged in, but
> >> is giving me a "Device Not Recognized" error.  Is it possible that this
> >> is due to a poor electrical connection, or is it likely that the
> >> controller electronics is somehow damaged as well?  At this point I'm
> >> thinking of removing the USB connector completely and using jumper wires
> >> to ensure that all the pads are connected properly to the respective
> >> pins and have continuity  Suggestions?
> > 
> > My guess is your connections are not all there.  if anything else were 
> > damaged I think you'd be able to see it.  What are you going to connect 
> > the jumper wires to?  Do you have a spare connector?  I think I would 
> > solder the end of a cable to the board so you have a USB connector on 
> > the end of the cable.  I'd like to have that on flash drives anyway. 
> > They stick out too much from the laptop and are prone to damaging the 
> > machine when bumped.  My previous laptop lost two of its four USB 
> > connectors that way.
> > 
> > -- 
> > 
> > Rick
> > 
> 
> I've detached the USB header completely and the pads on the data
>  lines appear to be completely lifted.  Do the data lines on flash
>  drives usually have resistor pull ups or resistors inline? There
>  are what looks like two 0402 resistors on the underside that I
>  think might be connected to the data lines that I might be able
>  to attach wires to.
> 

USB devices have a 1.5K pull up on D+ to signal that it is there

There is sometimes ~25R resistors in series with the data lines

but I could also be ESD protection

-Lasse

On Thursday, October 1, 2015 at 1:54:52 PM UTC-5, DecadentLinuxUserNumeroUno wrote:

> 
>   Another indicator that you ain't too bright.
> 
>   Nice copycat job too.

Wow, look who's talking oh bright one.  

bitrex wrote:


> I do have a soldering iron...;)  But the only thing is that there is so
> little space that it's nearly impossible to get in there and resolder
> the pads, even with the finest tip, and ensure I'm not creating bridges
> while the plug is still in place.  I think I'm going to follow your
> suggestion (and what I was thinking) and just remove the connector
> completely and use a spare USB cable as the header.
When the board is all chewed up, this is the most likely way to fix it.  
Absolutely not worth it to just make it useable, but you may be able to get 
the data off it this way, with careful handling.  it is likely to be real 
fragile with the cable soldered on to it.

Jon