mnementh
Member
- May 27, 2012
- 4
- 3
Hello everybelly!
After much pestering, my wife got me a Ployer momo8 IPS for Christmas. Like most momo8 users posting here, I have been amazed at the quality and speed of this little tablet. Mine, direct from the factory, came with Android 4.1.1 and a number of apps in Chinese; these were easily disabled and/or replaced with American English speaking counterparts as Ployer is ALSO a registered manufacturer with Google Play, which ALSO came pre-installed. I LOVED IT from day one; all except for... THE WIFI ISSUE.
Yes, mine too had the much maligned WiFi fault; signal would drop to 3 bars at the far end of the same room as my WiFi router, and in the next room would dip to 2 bars or even 1. The backyard was out of the question. And like others, it was constantly dropping and re-establishing the connection.
Well... I read and read, and figured I just had to wait for them to release the firmware patch to resolve my problems. And then, it happened. I dropped my little pink baby; I was heartbroken, but when I picked it up... it was all okay. except, I could hear (and see) the speaker rattling around loose. And there were dents in the aluminum back.
So... I set about taking my beastie apart; it was easy with a #000 Philips screwdriver and a guitar pick to rlease the snap-together tabs that hold it together once you remove the 3 screws from the "all the ports" end of the tablet. I was greatly disappointed to find that the antenna had been placed and secured properly; I was hoping for an easy fix.
I had an idea to try a better WiFi antenna; maybe install a second flag antenna from my drawer of bits robbed from old laptops. It was then I looked at the solder pads where the antenna wire was connected to the mainboard. I found that the shield/ground of the tiny coaxial cable was not properly soldered to the ground pad on the mainboard.
I resoldered it, but at first I thought it wouldn't work; the ground pad there is a large bit of copper, and my rechargeable soldering iron didn't want to put out enough heat to do the job. I had to use my good, 58W temp-controlled soldering station, and even then it wasn't easy to make a good solder joint; the ground tab sucked the heat away very quickly. This was enough of a PITA to solder properly that I wouldn't be surprised to find that it is a recurring problem with these tablets due to assembly line time pressure.
Eventually I got the solder joint fixed, and ironed out the dents in the back lid. And glued the speaker down with silicone sealant. Before I started messing around with it, though, I plopped it on my flatbed scanner and made a 600DPI scan of it so y'all can see with painful detail what's inside; I've added an arrow pointing to the solder joint in question.
Now, I get 4 bars anywhere in the same room, and it's always solid blue; next room I get 3 bars and 2 in the back yard; although I CAN go far enough away to lose all signal at the farthest corner of the backyard. At all times the WiFi signal stays blue until it drops out completely; even when it drops to 2 bars websurfing is STILL blazing fast and I can still watch Youtube and Netflix video.
And now for the required disclaimer: If you take your tablet apart and kill it, don't blame me. I'm an electronics engineer with 25 years experience in repairs like this one; if you're not comfortable doing repairs like this one, take your momo to someone who is.
Good hunting,
mnem
momo my momo!
After much pestering, my wife got me a Ployer momo8 IPS for Christmas. Like most momo8 users posting here, I have been amazed at the quality and speed of this little tablet. Mine, direct from the factory, came with Android 4.1.1 and a number of apps in Chinese; these were easily disabled and/or replaced with American English speaking counterparts as Ployer is ALSO a registered manufacturer with Google Play, which ALSO came pre-installed. I LOVED IT from day one; all except for... THE WIFI ISSUE.
Yes, mine too had the much maligned WiFi fault; signal would drop to 3 bars at the far end of the same room as my WiFi router, and in the next room would dip to 2 bars or even 1. The backyard was out of the question. And like others, it was constantly dropping and re-establishing the connection.
Well... I read and read, and figured I just had to wait for them to release the firmware patch to resolve my problems. And then, it happened. I dropped my little pink baby; I was heartbroken, but when I picked it up... it was all okay. except, I could hear (and see) the speaker rattling around loose. And there were dents in the aluminum back.
So... I set about taking my beastie apart; it was easy with a #000 Philips screwdriver and a guitar pick to rlease the snap-together tabs that hold it together once you remove the 3 screws from the "all the ports" end of the tablet. I was greatly disappointed to find that the antenna had been placed and secured properly; I was hoping for an easy fix.
I had an idea to try a better WiFi antenna; maybe install a second flag antenna from my drawer of bits robbed from old laptops. It was then I looked at the solder pads where the antenna wire was connected to the mainboard. I found that the shield/ground of the tiny coaxial cable was not properly soldered to the ground pad on the mainboard.
I resoldered it, but at first I thought it wouldn't work; the ground pad there is a large bit of copper, and my rechargeable soldering iron didn't want to put out enough heat to do the job. I had to use my good, 58W temp-controlled soldering station, and even then it wasn't easy to make a good solder joint; the ground tab sucked the heat away very quickly. This was enough of a PITA to solder properly that I wouldn't be surprised to find that it is a recurring problem with these tablets due to assembly line time pressure.
Eventually I got the solder joint fixed, and ironed out the dents in the back lid. And glued the speaker down with silicone sealant. Before I started messing around with it, though, I plopped it on my flatbed scanner and made a 600DPI scan of it so y'all can see with painful detail what's inside; I've added an arrow pointing to the solder joint in question.
Now, I get 4 bars anywhere in the same room, and it's always solid blue; next room I get 3 bars and 2 in the back yard; although I CAN go far enough away to lose all signal at the farthest corner of the backyard. At all times the WiFi signal stays blue until it drops out completely; even when it drops to 2 bars websurfing is STILL blazing fast and I can still watch Youtube and Netflix video.
And now for the required disclaimer: If you take your tablet apart and kill it, don't blame me. I'm an electronics engineer with 25 years experience in repairs like this one; if you're not comfortable doing repairs like this one, take your momo to someone who is.
Good hunting,
mnem
momo my momo!
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