LCD frame does not snap properly to back

[rhialto]

Hi,

today I was assembling my DIY laptop. Getting the wires routed along the screen is indeed the most frustrating part of the assembly.

In fact, I am certain that the frame/back connection is broken in the parts that I received. The last 2 snaps that I tried to snap together, the ones at the side where the antenna cable goes, simply didn't stay closed, even though the wire definitely was not in the way.

So I carefully (as carefully as possible) unsnapped a few snaps so that I could try to re-do the wire. And now all the snaps that I opened are broken too. In other words, what I have now is useless.

I would like to receive properly working replacement parts please. That would be (at least) TERES-008-LCD-Back and 007 the plastic frame, since it is unclear which of the two is broken (or both).

[LubOlimex]

Hello,

The plastic parts are inspected before being packed. The chances of faulty plastic are very slim.

> he ones at the side where the antenna cable goes, simply didn't stay closed, even though the wire definitely was not in the way.

There are small narrow pathways that might seem like where the cable should go but these are actually points where both plastics snap together. The antenna cable should go around those places. Like here:



Probably the wire was not properly placed and the cable was between the snap points of the two plastic parts. Then you applied too much pressure and one or more of the snaps broke. The thing is that the whole antenna fitting process requires patience and time and some sense when trying to snap it together (or separate it). This is not something that can be perfectly pictured or described - when you feel it will break you need to re-adjust the cable between because something is preventing the expected outcome.

Such things happen during assembly - plastics are fragile and can break when forced. We also broke a few parts during our research tests. We were aware that such misfortune events would occur, so we sell the replacement parts.

Best regards,
Lub/OLIMEX

[Brian]

https://youtu.be/8xKahMclHnM

[LubOlimex]

Nice video, Brian. Also I made this sample wiring with my poor photoshop skills. The most important part is to avoid putting the cable in the places marked with red!! Those are the points where the top plastic snaps into the back panel. Check it below:

[rhialto]

Well that was an expensive debacle. 

I ordered a new lcd back and frame (with the same expensive shipping as the original whole laptop).

I put stuff together. It boots to the Ubuntu login screen.

No input works. Not keyboard. Not touchpad.

USB keyboard or mouse don't work either. Looks like there is no power to the USB ports (I tried both). I also tried it with the power plugged in. I also removed and reinserted various flatcables connected to the pcb5-keyboard. The one between pcb5-keyboard and pcb1-a64-main is way too long and got squished in bad looking corners (I can't call that curves any more).

In other words: an expensive piece of trash which I now have to bring to the garbage disposal as electronic waste.

And it is so frustrating! So close to a nice working laptop. The size is nice, The keyboard feels nice. The weight is nice. But if it doesn't actually work, it is useless. Soooo disappointing!

[vtsvetkov]

Sorry to hear you had troubles.

Did you wait almost 2 months for the replacement LCD frame to arrive and THEN to test the laptop?

You could have easily found out if the inputs, USB etc. work even if the LCD frame is not snapped properly, and order the necessary parts along with the LCD frame.

When I assembled the laptop I closed and re-opened the snaps maybe 7-8 times, each time cringing from the sound they made, but never broke. Sounds like bad luck if yours arrived in bad condition.

If you have not yet given up, try this:
-assemble the LCD frame without the antenna cable and make sure it snaps well, maybe yours did not snap well because of the cable
-test the board outside the case (try not to cause a short or bend it too much)
-the TERES debug cable can help to see what happens during the boot process, you can see if the USB inputs are detected

I assembled 2 laptops and I had the same frustration with the antenna wire, so much that for the second one I pre-heated it with a hair dryer to make it easier to bend and carefully placed it in place.

Good luck.

[rhialto]

Well, after my first post I was quite frustrated and didn't want immediately to throw more money at it. And then when the new frame arrived it took a while before I had put the frustration aside enough to continue assembling. And I did get the antenna wire in, I was very proud of that for some reason. I did not have any reason to believe that the there would be other problems...

[lambda]

@rhialto: First of all: Please don't give your broken laptop to the garbage. Some people here on the forum would even pay a bit money to get an "almost working" laptop in their hands. If nothing else then at least for spare parts.

About your problem: This is a bit strange - looks like the regulator powering USB is not going up. Which is odd, because AFAIK olimex test all the boards before shipping. But anyway when the USB port directly on the main board (ie next the the power socket) doesn't work (has no power) then clearly the entire USB subsystem is disabled and checking any other connections/cables is useless.

I can think about four ways how this could happen:
1) Faulty main board
2) some software glitch - if you are using the prebuilt image which works for many people, then this would point to some data corruption on the eMMC
3) Some USB device is shorting the bus - might be any of the other boards causing this or some external HW you have attached
4) some really strange powermanagement issue where your laptop doesn't have enough power to supply the USB bus - did you use the AC adapter while running your tests? Is the AC adapter verified to provide clean 5V?

AFAIK Olimex replaces faulty boards, but unfortunately in your case it is hard to pin point which board is actually the culprit without doing some tests. If you don't feel like digging into this, I'd suggest you sell it as broken or maybe donate it to one of the people working on free software support for the TERES.

I'm sorry I can't be more helpful.
Harald

[rhialto]

I repeated some testing, to make sure. I disconnected the keyboard PCB cable from the main board (so whatever problem exists isn't in that part). I connected the external power with the standardly delivered power adapter. (Can I do that safely without the battery? It's annoying to plug it in and out all the time or to hold it carefully while not taped into place).

ETA: I also tried it with the I/O board disconnected. No difference.

Neither USB connector had power; I tried with a USB mouse that worked in another computer (the red light is easy to spot).

I used whatever was the default image on the built-in storage. I haven't had a chance to change *anything*.

Is the builtin keyboard also connected via USB?

<grumpy>
I cannot help but observe that a boot sequence that is invisible and uncontrollable until the kernel is running for 42 seconds cannot possibly in my opinion a clever design. What to do in case of a faulty kernel upgrade? You're stuck. If at least there were a proper (proper!) RS-232 connector, I could attach one of my terminals. A DEC console connector would work too. Although it is rather weird that a laptop of today would need a front-end processor, like the big iron in the 1970's. And if you need such a thing, it should have been included in the standard package.
</grumpy>

[LubOlimex]

> Can I do that safely without the battery? It's annoying to plug it in and out all the time or to hold it carefully while not taped into place.

The laptop would not boot without battery connected (only on external power supply). It needs the battery to be connected.

Inspect the connections around the main board and the power supply, make sure that these are according to the assembly instructions.

You can connect a serial console to the main board for debugging purposes but if no LEDs turn on then it is probably a major powering problem and console wouldn't show anything anyway.