Bricked WM8650?

[daryldroid]

Hey, hello from the Netherlands

I have a problem with my WM8650 and I think that is possible "bricked up" because I can't do anything with it.

When I turn on my power the green led comes on but the screen stays black. When I connect it to AC the green led turns red but also nothing happens. Trying booting it with other firmware on the microsd does not work because It just does not boot up.

I noticed a little pin hole reset button but when pressing this, (short or long time) the only thing wat happens is that the led goes off.

- WM8650
- Black Jack
- Green LED

Here is a picture of the front.
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-...ABak/WnBzfKk_db0/s512/IMG_20111004_194419.jpg

And the back:
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-...ABao/LfHirppT9yc/s512/IMG_20111004_194427.jpg

Does anyone have any tips or tricks, or is this just become an expensive paperweight?

 

[lerzonar]

hi daryldroid i think your wm8650 still has hope. i encountered the same problem with my tab (wondermedia 8650 tablet with green/red LED, no vibrate, single touch, 7" without brand, black audio jack) and i nearly gave up when it bricked on me (nothing but black screen and just the LED coming on and off when i turn on power). it happened after i left it charging overnight (i fell asleep while playing Wordfeud). I tried booting it with a firmware install on the microSD-- but this didn't work, and later just turned it on until there was no more power (the LED turning off by itself)-- this, too, didn't work. I got tempted to open the tab.. i followed an instruction on how to safely "pry it open" (it was from a forum posted somewhere which i can't remember right now).. what i did was to disconnect the two connectors i found (1 is from the battery pack and the other from what i think is some sort of a storage device-- similar to a small board that you can find in thumbdrives minus the standard USB connector), left the device for a while (because i had to do some things, took me away from the tab for about 30 minutes). when i came back, i hooked it to its external power supply/ charger and pushed the power button. To my surprise it booted with the green android creature but got stuck there. So i turned it off again, inserted the microSD with the firmware update, then powered it up again. The install proceeded smoothly..after that i turned it off then proceeded to put everything back, mainly the tablet's back cover.

Yeah i know what i did was a bit risky especially that i don't know much about electronics except some principles i follow during my younger years when it was my hobby to put together hardware for my desktop PC. Am posting my experience just in case you don't have other options but to do some surgery.

What is very critical by the way when trying to take the back cover off the tablet is by finding the screws which hold the cover from the front parts.. I found mine under the plastic cover for the screen which i lifted from the corners (they are held to the casing by double-sided thin adhesive strips), one screw on each corner. In retrospect I should have taken pictures of the device while i was opening it up and what i found inside. anyway, i hope i have given you the best description for you to be guided just in case you decide to do the same thing i did.

 

[lerzonar]

Sorry daryldroid i failed to look at the pics you provided thru the links in your post. what i found in mine was quite similar to what are in the pics except that the processor chip is on a board and clipped on the main can be detached from it easily. the connectors that i disconnected and referred to my previous post are similar to that in the https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-...ABao/LfHirppT9yc/s512/IMG_20111004_194427.jpg pic.

 

[daryldroid]

Thank you for your reply Lerzonar.
It seem like I can not detach the CPU from the motherboard. Thats a shame otherwise I could just buy a new CPU for $20, like here: http://www.pandawill.com/original-eken-m009s-cpu-via-wm8650.html

I have also detached all the cables and ribbons for a while and let the battery drain completely. Afther recharging and re-attaching everything again, the problem remains.. No screen + green led.

 

[dsonck92]

It sounds like a problem that I have. I'm still trying to fix it.

I have an Bruneau Tablet which is an wm8650 based tablet that was given to my mother for free. Because the firmware was too slow, I reflashed it (succesfully) with Uberdroid. When WiFi stopped working I remembered that there was a specific driver for it. So I tried to reflash it but somehow the SD card got corrupted and the installation didn't start. When I decided to power off the tablet while the 'loading setup... please wait' was displayed, I bricked it because it didn't want to go any further than 'your' black screen on the next boot(s).

If I don't find any software solution, here is an hardware solution:
WM8650 de-brick guide

You do need to do some soldering and I haven't tried it yet, but it sounds promising. If you happen to have the same tablet as me, you should look for V, TX, RX, G (or if the printing of the text is a bit bad: V IX HX G). I guess this is the serial interface the tutorial is talking about. I don't have the board in the tutorial. It is just one board with everything soldered on it and some copper connection pads for debugging.

It was the solution I wanted to find though. Probably the boot loader or the system that starts the upgrade is corrupt, and the only way to correct it is the factory way: Just burn the bootloader the hard way that the manufacturers use when they assemble the board.