Thanks. I check, when I have some spare time.
I have a Librem 5 Evergreen (it says 1.05 under the battery). When looking at the mainboard, it says 1.02 and 2020-09-29.
Is there any chance that GPS will work on this device? Do I have to do a hardware mod to fix GPS? Would pictures of the inside of the phone help?
According to my limited knowledge, your situation in GNSS area is the same as was mine. I have resolved ECO and there was temporal enhancement but I have probably pressed/bent the second GNSS antenna grounding point when I have returned front camera to the place. I have not time to bend it back and correct the contact and there is another additional suggestion so I probably buy referred component the first
@ekuzmenko Eric Kuzmenko
On the v1.0.6 phones we modified the impedance matching network, which might make an improvement for your v1.0.3 device. Previously, it was L3=0-Ohms and C53=NC.
On v1.0.6 we are using the following components:
L3 = MLG0603P9N1HT000, 9.1nH 0201 inductor
C53 = GRM0335C1HR50BA01D, 0.5pF 0201 capacitor
The rest of the matching network is the same.
If you have professional solder equipment and microscope you can try yourself, but Purism official response about warranty is missing and unofficial is that it is lost by disassemble.
I have chosen to order soldering at found phones repair shop. You need to find real companies not there who advertise service but are able to use only some tools to clear/update Flash or replace display.
It would worth to collect list of the companies capable to do repair over the world. If you are in Central Europe then company found in Prague can be usable/reachable for you. I have lot of spare components from the strip of the reel when I ordered them for my phone so I can offer these for free. All bought at 50 to not lose them on a table…
2 Likes
Is there any chance that GPS will work on this device? Do I have to do a hardware mod to fix GPS? Would pictures of the inside of the phone help?
It mostly like would need this fix, unless your device is able to get a fix as-is. If you were to look on the area of the board that I shared earlier, then this would make it apparent for you. Unless it’s an L5 USA phone, then v1.0.3 or earlier does not have the ECO applied to it. So given that, I don’t think it’s even necessarily to check it, simply based on the version you’ve got.
You can check the performance of your phone’s GNSS by running cat /dev/gnss0 and seeing if (and how quickly) it gets a fix. The “GPGSV” NMEA sentence would give the most relevant info, the third number tells you how many satellites are in view and the seventh number tells you the SNR. You can use this to see whether it works indoors or requires you to be outdoors, works in your car, etc.
Also, if you feel comfortable with it, you could enter the “GPRMC” NMEA code you get into this website to see if it got your location correct on a map (neither I nor Purism is affiliated with them in any way, use at your own risk; you can also use the coordinates from this GPRMC sentence to determine if it’s correct through other means but this is relatively simple): https://rl.se/gprmc
You can find details about all of the different NMEA sentences and what they mean here: http://aprs.gids.nl/nmea/
Alternatively, you can install and try out Pure Maps (this is not GNOME Maps which is installed by default) to see if it gets your location (though I have experienced that Pure Maps can be a couple miles or kilometers off of where the GPRMC sentence says I am which is much more accurate). I think it might also attempt to use your network to roughly guess your location so you may have to make sure it’s not doing that and actually using the GPS, which makes this verification method less dependable to indicate how well it actually works.
I imagine that warranty may cover it being RMA’ed, though you’d probably have to go without having the phone for some number of days while it’s being serviced. You would have to talk to customer support about what options are available (sorry, I am not familiar with the policy myself).
3 Likes
While I am not from central Europe, through some other circumstances, I will be able to get my phone to Prague soon.
What is the repair shop if you don’t mind?
The company is PrimeServis https://primeservis.cz/
Phone +420 222 240 075
I can try to pre-negotiate repair for you and provide components to you directly or to the service shop. I have delivered sole mainboard from disassemble device. But they do full repairs even of iPhones etc… so they have technology and skill even for these hard to repair devices so I think that they can do disassemble and reassemble themselves. I have paid about 80 EUR. I have no other relation to them than random find of the shop after longer search over google. But I have positive feeling and sense of interest from the technician.
As @ekuzmenko suggest to enhance impedance matching for antenna with L3 C53, I have postponed experiments with enhancing of the grounding to order suggested components. These are in relatively spare area of the board so may it be we try to solder them with my colleague at my company. May be I try the service shop…
As for my availability, I have been last week at orienteering training camp. I am till Friday morning available at Prague. I will be there next weeks at workdays usually, but I have some events, conferences and RISC-V for education event at Munich in September. So some negotiation in advance is necessary.
3 Likes
My phone will be carried to Prague (by my friend who will be traveling to Europe) from September 9-13. Could we work something out so that I could have it repaired that week?
I have called to PrimeServis https://primeservis.cz/ today and they offer to proceed with fixes. I have asked for price of soldering components only and price including the device disassembly and I should have tomorrow. Do you want to do disassemble Librem 5 yourselves? I will deliver needed components there, I enough for 20 or 50 repairs left…
BE WARNED, THAT I HAVE NO OFFICIAL RELATION WITH PURISM NOR THE PRIME SERVIS. PURISM WARRANTY IS MOST PROBABLY LOST BY REPAIR ATTEMPT.
You can try to contact Purism support to get some authoritative response, but I have never got straight reply. Participating Purism developers stated personal view that warranty is lost. On the other hand PrimeServis provides some kind of warranty to actual repair and I believe that probability of some broader damage is really small. They repair iPhones, GoPro, Xboxes and other repair heavily unfriendly devices with bad documentation.
I should be in Prague 9 September and probably next weeks during workdays. So I can even help to assist with negotiation on place if desired.
2 Likes
Thanks for this link, I had on my todo list to search for it. I will (if I dare to do the disassembly) try to check the antenna connection of my GPS and see if I can improve the reception by that. I will post the results in the forum if I have them.
1 Like
The video is official one provided by Purism.
I would be happy, if we can get more precise information about components assembly combinations for GPS antenna matching circuit, other area suggested for enhancement by @ekuzmenko because according to the actual 1.6.0.1 schematics
R256 0 Ohm
L3 0 Ohm
L12 NC
C53 NC
C85 NC
C86 NC
Suggested
L3 = MLG0603P9N1HT000, 9.1nH 0201 inductor
C53 = GRM0335C1HR50BA01D, 0.5pF 0201 capacitor
But on mine board assembly variant
R256 0 Ohm - probably
L3 assembled
L12 NC
C53 assembled
C85 assembled
C86 NC
So it does not match schematic, there is no mention of given components changes in schematics revisions header and measurement of these components parameters (i.e. 0.5pF) would be rally hard with special equipment even when soldered out.
So the real list from PCB assembly house for each batch would help. In our case, we get such spreadsheet for each batch with direct mapping of each component for each board serial number to the lot/chip component, sripe S/N for each our work.
For my actual board assembly see
The antenna feedline component values were not finalized until after the schematic was published, which is why those are not reflective of their final values.
Here’s what we use on v1.0.6:
R256 = ERJ-1GN0R00C, 0-Ohm 0201 resistor
L3 = MLG0603P9N1HT000, 9.1nH 0201 inductor
L12 = NC
C53 = GRM0335C1HR50BA01D, 0.5pF 0201 capacitor
C85 = NC
C86 = NC
1 Like
Thanks for reply. I understand that tuning takes time and appreciate your work.
I have not soldered C85 (you initially referenced) myself and I do not suspect service that it soldered it either, it is not in ECO list. It seems that there is some batch of devices which has some component soldered at this place. Now the question is `what is soldered at L3 and C53 positions.
If it is unsure and cannot be tracked back to the individual products serial numbers, then it is the best to buy new components and replace them. Because measurement is much bigger problem.
Please, can you or somebody else update ECO to deliver it service company if some other wants to use my offer to negotiate this service available in Prague?
And yet one important question. Is the actual antenna (placement, size, geometry) same between 1.0.3 and 1.0.6 version? Because in other case change to actual components can be even step back.
1 Like
I can tell you that at least the geometry of the antenna feedline did not change. However, the matching circuit we have used on v1.0.3 boards has never needed to been adjusted from our tests. We have not needed to adjust the matching circuit values from what we shipped with already on the board. Therefore, it is safer to just follow the ECO document and only change R106, R144, R163, and R136 as written here: https://source.puri.sm/Librem5/OS-issues/uploads/ffece0815fd2d8a64574a18796e662fc/GNSS_sensitivity_ECO_for_customers.pdf
I can disassemble my own phone. Which pieces do they need? Just the main board?
Yes, only mainboard is required for ECO. Find some firm box with some soft material which does not lose fibers. Ideal is anti-static bubble wrap, usually pink color. We have lot of these as leftover of delivered semiconductor components.
Critical is to take care not to push much to GNSS grounding contacts. Before you assemble Librem 5 again you need to check the contacts and bend them lightly to position which ensures good contact after assembly mainboard back to the frame.
OK, I can retest again with actual values but if there is known some new and hopefully better setup for matching circuit then I want to have such information on hand. So do you know if values of L3 and C53 matches final values? Can be revealed some information available about frame and undocumented antenna realization differences or equality between 1.0.3 and 1.0.6 version? If L3 and C53 matches then C85 could removed.
Our suggestion is to not touch the matching circuit components and only modify the parts described in the ECO document.
The chassis and its embedded antenna design are not publically available, I’m sorry.
OK, I understand and try to respect that you have agreement about keeping Purism secret… But information if the antenna is changed or not between revisions would be fair to people who invested into the Librem 5 adventure… If there are changes then information at which serial number/production date each change has been introduced would be standard for real sold product (i.e. if we buy components/subsystems for our products or if we deliver our systems). Yes, I agree that practice is different when you lease high price iPhones, Androids, TV sets and other consumables.
I will try to get you some more information, but I cannot promise anything. If you don’t hear back in time then please leave the matching circuit as-is and just do the changes described in the ECO document.