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[ashtond33]

I began taking the XO appart to start my internal Bluetooth install. Unfortunatley i was getting tired/frustrated, and when It came time to remove the lcd, my screw driver went directly through the ribbon cable. It looks like the cable itself is directly attached to the lcd, so...... does any1 know if OLPC is providing parts yet? Or does any1 need xo parts, because I may part this out

[Directive0]

Yes, that LCD cable is a real botch to take off!  For anyone doing the take apart themselves:

The ribbon is unique in comparison to many other ribbon cable fasteners as instead of pulling down on the black tab you actually flip it up. In other words: It's not a sliding fastener, it's hinged!  Took me several minutes to realize this myself, and I almost did the same thing ashtond did by trying to push the black tab down with my screwdriver.

Ashtond: I think you may be waiting for a bit before they can supply parts.  But I cant believe they wouldn't produce replacement pieces for XO's in the field.

[brisalta]

Ouch!!!
From http://lists.laptop.org/pipermail/devel/2008-April/012710.html

OLPC News (2008-04-12) - Addendum ...
...
We continue to work on issues holding up our ability to ship out for the
developer's program and for the spares and repairs program. Hopefully the
blocking issues will be resolved early next week.

So you may want to hold on a little longer.

Sounds like the wiki page describing how to disassemble the XO needs to be updated with the info about this connector.

[ashtond33]

ugh, I have alot more free time that the XO isn't functioning.... I may have to buy and eee to keep me busy until I can fix this. Any1 happen to have a bricked machine with a good screen?

[LesleyT]

I will keep my eyes open.  Sorry dude

[arterich]

Do you have any photos of the damage?  I took a look through the Disassembly page on the wiki and it looks like the LCD screen uses the same type of flat cabling that internal laptop 2.5" hard drives and optical drives use.  Perhaps you could find something to "patch" the area of the damage.  I'm not sure how close together the wires in the flat cabling are due to the resolutions of the photos I've seen.

-Omar

[ashtond33]

I don't have any photos right now, but you have a good point about patching. I've been attempting to email a "OLPC Community Repair Center" for any tips. The repair will probably be put off until I get through my FEA project (ugh!) Man, I sure do miss this machine. I'll certainly investigate your patching idea.

[Directive0]

I don't have any photos right now, but you have a good point about patching. I've been attempting to email a "OLPC Community Repair Center" for any tips. The repair will probably be put off until I get through my FEA project (ugh!) Man, I sure do miss this machine. I'll certainly investigate your patching idea.

http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/devel

You might want to add yourself to the Developer Mailing List, I did it when I blew the diode in my XO and they gave me a whole bunch of help with disassembly and even gave me some samples of the schematics to help find the effected part.

[ashtond33]

Thanks for the tip, I'll certainly sign up. Also, has anyone ever attempted to patch one of these ribbon cables? I couldn't find any write-ups/tips online.

[Gleth]

Thanks for the tip, I'll certainly sign up. Also, has anyone ever attempted to patch one of these ribbon cables? I couldn't find any write-ups/tips online.

The biggest problem you'd have is the way these ribbon cables are made. One sheet of plastic has the circuit printed on it like a normal pcb, then a second layer of plastic is bonded on to seal the circuitry inside for protection and to help it flex without breaking. You could possibly use a craft knife to split the plastic from the circuit and then carefully solder a thin wire to bridge the gap for each line that's broke, but I'm not sure how well that would work not having tried it myself.

[ashtond33]

... on further inspection if the ribbon, I don't think i can solder jumpers on it. The traces on the cable are much smaller than anything I could possible solder.


 

[trevynw]

Perhaps I can offer some encouragement. I did a repair similar to this once, although it's possible that the cable I worked on wasn't as fine pitch as this one (I can't tell from the photos I've seen). I used fine sandpaper to get through the coating to the traces, and applied thin flux from a flux pen. Then I was able to tin the traces. You will need a soldering iron with a fairly fine point, and temperature control would be a good idea. A magnifying glass might help too.

After the traces are tinned, it may be possible to use fine wire (32 AWG wire wrap wire, or maybe individual strands from a piece of stranded wire) to bridge the break. If you can get those on (use more flux on the bridging wire even if it's tinned), insulate the bare traces with something (clear tape maybe?).

It may still not work, because the cable might carry high frequencies and might need precise impedances, but I think it's worth a try.

http://www.curiousinventor.com/guides/Surface_Mount_Soldering/QFP has some good techniques for soldering fine-pitch chips (especially the "Flood and Wick Method" at the bottom) that may help.

Good luck.

[bhr]

Here's a tip for you on the soldering part.  To make a very small soldering iron, take a short piece of bare #14 electrical wire, you know like romex house wire, and wrap a few turns around the tip area of your present soldering iron with about 1/4 inch sticking out and it will transfer enough heat to act as a mini iron itself.

[ashtond33]

I'm working on getting another XO, but with inflated ebay prices, I'm going to sell the parts to offset cost.

Battery
Power Cord
Mother Board
Anything else on this little guy....

PM or email me at [email removed; spam reasons] so we don't clutter up the forum.

[Directive0]

Emailed.