27 replies to this topic

[jsjar]

has any one tried to do an xd card mod on the vega, and would it be worth doing is there any limitations in the rom that would prevent a larger flash storage being installed?
you can get  up to 2Gb XD cards which is a big improvement on the 512mb internal flash  we currently have,

for those of you that don't know what an xd card mod is here's a pic of my xbox360 with the nand chip removed and an xd card port wired in its place,
the nand doesn't need to be removed a switch can be fitted to flip between the 2 flash sources it was just easier for me to remove it


My link

Edited by jsjar, 06 April 2012 - 02:45 PM.

[richardmlea]

The pins of the nand on the vegas motherboard are too close together to be hand soldered. Even if it where possible to configure the vega to use the xd card ( it probably is.) hand soldering the vega motherboard would be nearly impossible. Heres some picture of the job you are looking at.





Uploaded with ImageShack.us
There are 48 pins, on 2 sides, 24 pins in 1.2cm, 2 pins per mm. The clearance between the pins is about 0.2mm.
Not physically possible unless you can do magic with a micro scope and a very small soldering iron.
A better option would be to use the camera usb or the pcie output that exists on the board (used for the sim card/GSM on some P10an01's. Someone (I think it was on xda) was looking to do this mod. He had the sim adapter part so was using the mini pcie socket on the sim card reader to use a mini pcie ssd hard drive. I think he was using it to boot linux but I may be wrong on that.
Even if you dont have the sim card part you could do a similar mod using the output that would be used for the sim card part (on the motherboard). Unfortunately the connector is proprietary so the pin output is unknown and would require testing. If your serious about doing this then you will be better getting the sim card part as testing the pinout would be dificult, this part is prooving elusive though.

Edited by richardmlea, 06 April 2012 - 05:07 AM.

[jsjar]

richardmlea, on 06 April 2012 - 04:51 AM, said:

There are 48 pins, on 2 sides, 24 pins in 1.2cm, 2 pins per mm. The clearance between the pins is about 0.2mm.
Not physically possible unless you can do magic with a micro scope and a very small soldering iron.

the nand on the vega is a regular 48 pin tsop it's the same on the xbox and the ps3 and soldering to the pins is very possible i'v done it
another option if we could find a larger capacity nand chip would be a nandwitch, physicality soldering another flash on top of the origional  and adding a  switch

http://www.consoleop...yinx/bend_9.jpg

another option would be to use a nand clip  you wouldn't need to solder the nand to the vega but you would need to cut a trace and fit a switch to pin 9


http://c3.yousaytoo....9-16txuy7-0.jpg

Edited by jsjar, 06 April 2012 - 02:06 PM.

[richardmlea]

jsjar, on 06 April 2012 - 11:38 AM, said:

the nand on the vega is a regular 48 pin tsop it's the same on the xbox and the ps3 and soldering to the pins is very possible i'v done it

I did say unless you can do magic with a soldering iron. It's been said before but I will say it again "soldering high pin-count ic's is a Mug's game unless you are highly skilled with a soldering iron".
You obiously are and I salute your skill and vision.

[jsjar]

i don't have the sim card daughter board but if anyone has hires pics of it top & bottom i think i should be able to trace back to the motherboard to find  another usb port

[richardmlea]

jsjar, on 06 April 2012 - 12:52 PM, said:

i don't have the sim card daughter board but if anyone has hires pics of it top & bottom i think i should be able to trace back to the motherboard to find  another usb port

Pictures of this part are few and far between. I remember seeing it somewhere I will have a look.

[jsjar]

richardmlea, on 06 April 2012 - 01:02 PM, said:

Pictures of this part are few and far between. I remember seeing it somewhere I will have a look.

i'v found a pic of the top here's what i have so far
there should be pins for usb & sata on that port on the motherboard i'm assuming the 2 pins i'v not marked at the top are usb data and the 3 bellow are sata
 simcardreader.jpg   745.32K   30 downloads

if someone could test for continuity between the  points i'v marked on the mini pci port green (usb data + - ) against the ones i'v not marked on the plug we will have the usb pinout

Edited by jsjar, 06 April 2012 - 02:11 PM.

[richardmlea]

I got side tracked but just found that same photo.
Finding someone willing to do the testing will be difficult. I am happy to get one and do the testing but cant get them from anywhere.
I have emailed everyone logical I can think of and find an email address for (many people at viewsonic, shuttle and POV) but have not got anywhere. I have phoned viewsonic UK customer service and talked to the part guy, he asked me to email him the details and he would get back to me. I have since phoned him on his personal number twice and both times he asked me to email him but he has not replied. I have now given up on viewsonic UK. I even tried phoning Viewsonic China and Hong Kong but the number are dead.
I have just sent another batch of emails so I will see what that brings.

[jsjar]

there is not 1 pic of the bottom of that board on the entire internet

[richardmlea]

jsjar, on 06 April 2012 - 09:35 PM, said:

there is not 1 pic of the bottom of that board on the entire internet

I couldn't find one either. Someone mentions the bottom of the sim reader somewhere. They said its covered with an unmarked label and nothing can be seen without removing it.

[jsjar]

i just found the mini pcie pinout for the sata connection, there's another mod if we can just find someone with this board

 eeesata.jpg   85.28K   14 downloads

[richardmlea]

Other than the CN7 connector there is also the connector labelled CN8  this is another output. The exact standard or pinout is unknown but it  is labelled as GPS in the service manual (CN7 is labelled 3G). I suspect  that at some point during the design and manufacturer of the P10AN01  Huawei updated the EM770 modem to include GPS (EM770m to EM770w). This  made the CN8 output redundant, therefore they didn’t bother putting the  socket on the board.
I only know a little about the connector that I have summated from  various sources. The connection is some sort of uart2 serial connection  to the Tegra SOC. Taking another guess TTL is the best candidate,  something like this GPS Module with Antenna (TTL SERIAL) : rhydoLABZ India , Your Source for Robotics & Embedded System.
The most interesting connector is CN14, labelled PCIe to SATA  unfortunately there are no details other than this in the documentation  I have, no pinouts or explanation of exactly what it is. Its directly  under CN7 which we know is some sort of PCIe for the 3G. So its got to  be some sort of SATA. It has 13 pins.
Any thoughts? ideas?

[jsjar]

richardmlea, on 10 April 2012 - 10:51 AM, said:

Other than the CN7 connector there is also the connector labelled CN8  this is another output. The exact standard or pinout is unknown but it  is labelled as GPS in the service manual (CN7 is labelled 3G). I suspect  that at some point during the design and manufacturer of the P10AN01  Huawei updated the EM770 modem to include GPS (EM770m to EM770w). This  made the CN8 output redundant, therefore they didn’t bother putting the  socket on the board.
I only know a little about the connector that I have summated from  various sources. The connection is some sort of uart2 serial connection  to the Tegra SOC. Taking another guess TTL is the best candidate,  something like this GPS Module with Antenna (TTL SERIAL) : rhydoLABZ India , Your Source for Robotics & Embedded System.
The most interesting connector is CN14, labelled PCIe to SATA  unfortunately there are no details other than this in the documentation  I have, no pinouts or explanation of exactly what it is. Its directly  under CN7 which we know is some sort of PCIe for the 3G. So its got to  be some sort of SATA. It has 13 pins.
Any thoughts? ideas?

interesting can i get a link to that service manual  
Oh you sent it already thanks

Edited by jsjar, 10 April 2012 - 11:58 AM.

[jsjar]

that manual has helped a lot i think i can now trace the sata points so the remaining ones must be usb

[richardmlea]

jsjar, on 10 April 2012 - 12:22 PM, said:

that manual has helped a lot i think i can now trace the sata points so the remaining ones must be usb

Nice, If you need a dead motherboard for distuctive testing I have one you can have if its any use.

[jsjar]

richardmlea, on 10 April 2012 - 01:12 PM, said:

Nice, If you need a dead motherboard for distuctive testing I have one you can have if its any use.

yea that would be awesome but a hi-res scan of both sides would be just as good for now if that would be possible

actually i think i you would need to remove cn7 for a pic to be any good, i think the vias between the top & bottom connectors  may be offset under the cn7 connector.

Edited by jsjar, 10 April 2012 - 02:08 PM.

[richardmlea]

on it.

jsjar, on 10 April 2012 - 01:19 PM, said:

yea that would be awesome but a hi-res scan of both sides would be just as good for now if that would be possible

[jsjar]

i removed cn7 but i'm still none the wiser regarding the pinout, and i lifted a pad and got a bad block in my nand "wifi no longer works in ics beta1 but luckily does on other roms" from dropping the stupid thing while i had a usb stick soldered to it.
if someone can test for continuity  "i don't have a working mulltimeter"  from the points marked in the pic the manual says 4 but i think it may be one of the other outputs.

 DSCN0257.jpg   278.03K   15 downloads


also there is a place on the bottom of the board for wired networking cn14 but i don't see a practical way of fitting a port to the case so i wont be trying that.

the only way of mapping the uart gps is with the pin out of the tegra 2 chip as uart it is done on board the processor and has no external chips you can trace from

Edited by jsjar, 12 April 2012 - 05:07 PM.

[Oldbarzo]

jsjar, on 12 April 2012 - 04:45 PM, said:

i removed cn7 but i'm still none the wiser regarding the pinout, and i lifted a pad and got a bad block in my nand "wifi no longer works in ics beta1 but luckily does on other roms" from dropping the stupid thing while i had a usb stick soldered to it.
if someone can test for continuity  "i don't have a working mulltimeter"  from the points marked in the pic the manual says 4 but i think it may be one of the other outputs.

DSCN0257.jpg


also there is a place on the bottom of the board for wired networking cn14 but i don't see a practical way of fitting a port to the case so i wont be trying that.

the only way of mapping the uart gps is with the pin out of the tegra 2 chip as uart it is done on board the processor and has no external chips you can trace from

Hi richard and jsjar

If you look at the thread posted by you richard about the Internal USB Hub & 3G Mod, Lukelyons92 has bought
a Mini-PCIE replacement module for £23 from Viewsonic parts dept. it comes with the cables et al but sans
the Ericsson 3G module.

Oldbarzo

[jsjar]

yea i did see that but when you add in the  price of the module it could be as much as £60 to £70 and i'm to tight fisted to pay that
i got 3g working using the camera method and when i get my sim socket i will have a stock looking 3g mod for about £16
i'm more interested in looking into options for internal bootable storage