Mobile Phone Functions

There are three major sections inside a mobile phone

Power Section
Radio Section
Computer Section

Power Section:
A power section deals with power related tasks such as power distribution or charging the
battery so this section can be divided into two sub sections like.

Power Distribution

A power distribution section is built around an "power IC" it takes 3.6V power from
battery and regulates its power and then distributes to the other components used in
mobile phone circuit. in some mobile phones tech "RF Power amplifier" uses more
Power than provided bye mobile phone's battery .i.e. 4.7 V or 5.6 V in some phones. the
power Ic with a power boaster coil is used to increase voltages. so we can say that power
IC is used to provide power to other components how much they needed. either less than
battery voltage or more than it.

Charging Section

A charging section works for battery charging purposes.it is often consists a fuse, a coil, a
protecting diode, a filter capacitor and charging IC and some other discreet. the charging
section helps battery to be charged when it needs and when battery is charged, charging
IC reads its state of charge and feels it full charged and then disconnects charging from it.
Radio Section:
A radio section has basically a set of four main functions.wich are.

Band Switching
RF Power Amplification
Transmitter
Receiver

Band Switching:
In the modern mobile phone communication techniques. the frequency of mobile phone
communication is divided into three bands

GSM (operates on 900 MHz)

DCS (operates on 1800 MHz)
PCS (operates on 1900 MHz)

the third band is used only in USA whereas the first two bands are used in the rest of the
world. band switching is done bye a "ceramic antenna switch" it reads from the radiation
dispersed in the air and then switches to the appropriate band.
in the very first phase of mobile phones there were single band handsets which operated
on single frequency band but now a days all the handsets are dual band or tri band in
operation.
RF Power Amplifier
RF power amplifier is often called as ".PA" or"Transmitter" its functions is to amplify or
boast the power which is being transmitted to air, so may it would be able to
communicate with long distances. a typical .PA can amplify rf power up to 0.6W or
600mW. This amount of rf power is sufficient to communicate nearly 20 to 25 kilometers
in open area, but all the PA's are controlled by there rf signal processor, so if we are near
our cell base tower the PA of our phone will transmit low power but if we are far away it
will produce its maximum power.
Transmitting
A mobile phone's rf section is basically built around an rf IC which is often called rf
signal processor whereas in nokia it is called hagar IC in some hand sets and in some
hand sets it is called Mjoelner. irrespectively of the brands and verity of names we call it
rf signal processor. this IC works as transmitter and receiver as well. working as
transmitter it takes instructions from phone's computer and also takes audio data from
audio section and creates radio waves then mixes audio data to its radio waves according
to the instructions given by computer section. this mixer of audio and radio is sent to PA
to amplify its strength
Reciever
A reciver section for rf waves is built in rf IC, as it is said that this IC works for dual
purposes first transmitting and section recieving. in the recieving section of mobile
phones a radio signal is gather from ceramic antenna switch and then it is filtered and
sent to rf IC to further process. in rf IC signal is detected and then rectified for audio and
data which is sent to audio IC or computer section.
Computer Section:
A computer section in mobile phone consists of two main functions

CPU(central processing unit)

Memory (RAM, FLASH, COMBO CHIP)

CPU:
A CPU is used in mobile phones as a central processing arithematic or controler. the cpu
controls various functions in mobile phones like signal, display, sound converting(DSP),
charging, power on, rf channel controler, rf tx power conroller, LEDs, vibrator, data
processing, data storing etc. so we can say that if a cpu is damaged in any mobile phone it
cannot be repaired unless the CPU is not replaced but this type of fault is not even seen to
me ever either memory chips can be damaged. in brand Nokia CPU is named with two
different words (MAD or UPP)
Memory:
there are two main types of memories used in mobile phones

RAM (Random Access Memory)

The RAM is used in mobile phones to store user data in mobile phones. So these a
days we can store pictures, messages, ringtones, applications, themes and other these type
of things in mobile phones so CPU stores these types of data in the RAM of our mobile
phones.

Flash (eeprom, ROM etc)

The flash chip is used in mobile phones to hold mobile phone's operating system in it.
so if the flash chip is damaged in mobile phones the phone cannot power on properly
because all the instructions to start a mobile phones and its various tasks like call
making , display etc are stored in the flash chip of mobile phones.

Combo Chip

In smoe mobile phones there is a combined type of memory used which is called
combo memory chips these types of memories work for both like RAM and Flash.The
clear example of this type of memory is used in Nokia 1100.
Note: Multy Media Cards are not a part of mobile phones becaues they are used
externally.

What is frequency ? and what are mobile frequencies ?

Mobile phone uses radio waves to communicate with other mobile phones and when you
are face to face with radio waves youve to learn about frequencies.

The word frequency is derived from the word frequently which is used with the
meaning of circulation of any task repeated with same time period. so if any task is
repeated with a same time period you can call its ratio as frequency. In radio waves a the
speed of waves going up and down is called frequency and it is measred in Hz(Hertz). if a
wave finishes its ten cycles in a second its frequency will be 10 Hz. look at the cahrt
below to learn more about the frequencies.
1 cycle/second = 1Hz
1000 Hz

=1Kilo Hertz (1Khz)

1000Khz

=1 Mega Hertz (1Mhz)

1000Mhz

=1 Giga Hertz (1Ghz)

1000Ghz

= 1 Tera hertz (1Thz)

Frecuencies used in Mobile phones

there are three types of frequency bands used in mobile phones

GSM 900 Mhz

DCS 1800 Mhz
PCS 1900 Mhz

some mobile phones are used to operate on single band but most of the new comming
handsets are dual bands which can operate on both GSM or DCS. But some of the very
new types of mobile phones can operat on tri band GSM, DCS or PCS

Common Faults In Mobile Phones

A typical mobile phone has various types of faults which can be distributed in two main
kinds of faults

Hardware faults
Software faults
Setting Faults

Hardware Faults:
Hardware faults in mobile phones are related to mother boards of mobile phone,
batteries and any physical fault will be amount to hardware faults.

dead set condition

no charging
battery empty
auto charging
low signal
No signal
voice problem
vibrator problem
ringer problem
backlight problem
auto turn off
hanging problem
insert sim (no sim card inserted shows on the screen)
keypad problem
display problem

Software problems:

no signal
dead set
display
contact service (contact retailer, contact service provider)
Test mode
not charging

Setting problem:

call divert
sim lock

security code
country lock
configuration of SMS
configuration of GPRS
configuration of call

Dead Set Repairing

We are going to discuss here some techniques and steps to repair dead condition in
mobile phones irrespectively of brands
First of all let us now about the main functions to power on a mobile phone you can
consult our previous lesson

Key Componentsand funtions:

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
.

Battery
Power Switch
battery terminal
Power IC
Oscilator
Frequency divider
CPU
Flash (ROM / EEPROM)

Battery:
A battery is used to provide power supply to our mother board unit so if this battery or on
of its functions fails the whole mobile phone fails to power on. So battery must be in
good condition to make a mobile phone power on. Some times the third Pin used in
battery which is called "BSI" is not working correctly but voltage can be found in " + "
and " - " terminals, in this situation mobile phone cannot turn on.
Power Switch:
A power switch is used in a mobile phone to turn on and off mobile phones if it is faulty
the whole unit cannot power on so keep checking its terminals wether they are connected
with the power IC of not if not then you can make a jumpwer and connect it.
Battery terminal:
battery terminals connect battery to mobile phone component unit if its points are dry
soldered of unsoldered or bended then you can change and fix this problem which is
alwways in the result of no power on. so if battery terminals are working correctly you
need to proceed further.
Power IC:
A power IC distributes current among all the components actually a power IC works as "
voltage regulator" and " power on funtion" so if a power on funtion is faulty the whole
unit will not power on. but there are some problems with ICs that we cannot check them
wether they are working right or not rather we can only assume that they are faulty if the
other functions are correct.
Oscilator:
An oscilator makes low frequency which is called clock frequency. this frequency is used
to run digital components if this frequency is not available digital components fail to
work and the result is power on failure. the out put frequency is used in mobile phone's
CPU and Memory chips and UEM Ic if used.
Frequency divider:
Frequency dividing is a funtion which is used in mobile phones to divide clock frequency
to get accurate frequency to run digital components so if divider is failed power on fault
mat occur. this frequency dividing funtion is built in radio ICs commonly like hagar IC or
Mojoelner in Nokia mobile phones.
CPU

A CPU (central processing unit) is like a brain in mobile phones which controls the major
parts of mobile phones so its funtionality is very necessory in mobile phones while
testing in boot process but its functionality is assosiated with Memory chips used in
mobile phone specially Flash chip.
Flash Chip ( EEPROM)
A flash chip holds booting information in it self it has instructions stored in itself for the
CPU to control other components so if flash chip or its software is damaged it mean the
set do not power on. in case of damaged software the phone should be treated in flashing
process
* The word flashing denotes in mobile phones that some software installation.

Steps to Repair Dead Set

Note Some steps which cannot be take in an average mobile phone lab are avoided to be
explained becaues oscilator and divider's functionality can be cehecked by Osciloscope
which is not available in an common mobile phone lab.

How a mobile phone power on?

First of all look at the picture below carefuly. this picture describe booting detail about
nokia mobile phones but same structure can be applied to the other brands with a little
modification.

In the picture above all of you can see a little block diagram illustrating mobile phone
booting sequence. first of all I am starting explanation from power switch.
When apwer switch is pressed it turns on a ciruit inside the power IC and this IC starts
distributing power suplly to other parts of mobile phones. On the first place
VCO( voltage controlled ocsilator) or an other type of clock ocsilator starts producing a
clock frequencey of 26MHz in some mobile phones this clock frequency is directly used
to run CPU but most of the sets in nokia brands it is distributed bye hagar IC or RF
Signal processor and it becomes 13MHz in the end of the division process. this low
frequency cloack signal is used to start CPU functions now CPU which is like the brain
of the mobile phone comes to the senses and first of all contacts its memory to know
what are the instructions written it for this event and its memory tells CPU that if you feel
that you are finding 13 MHz from hagar IC you have to run a booting test. in this test
CPU tests most of the mobile phones function if they are correct CPU will order power
IC to continue providing power to other parts and CPU also starts its display section. so
this is the total process in which a mobile phone comes to the power on state.

Responsible parts for mobile phone power failure

there are eight elements which can affect mobile phone power on function

Power Swicth
Battery
Battery terminal
power supply tracks
power IC
Oscillator (VCO)
Hagar IC
flash (programming)

So we can say that when ever a mobile phone fails to power on there may be a fault in
such type of parts which are used in mobile phone booting process

Charging Faults
Charging faults are mainly of three types
1. No charging
2. Not charging
3. Auto charging
No charging:
in this fault a mobile phone does not charge at all when charging pin is inserted nothing
happens it is always due to damaged fuse. or broken charging supply track if we repair
fuse or jumper broken tracks we can set this fault off.
but on the first step I am telling you how to check no charging fault.

Check Your battery if it is not connected properly no charging fault occurs.

check continuity between charging pins it should be nor full nor high resistance.
if it is showing full continuity then there may be some problem in your charging
IC may it is totally short you can re hot /replace this IC.
if there is no continuity in charging pins 90% fuse is damaged. you can replace
fuse or jumper it. if a fuse shows full continuity in multi meter then it is working
correctly if it is not so it is damaged.
if fuse is not damaged you can check tracks if broken.
if fuse, battery and tracks are ok then charging IC would be damaged.

Not charging:
in this fault a mobile phone shows a message "Not charging" on the screen when ever it is
connected with charging pins. this type of fault is not a mere hardware fault it is 90%
software fault. this fault is present only in nokia and I personally experienced a problem
with a nokia 3100 it was showing "Not charging" i tried hardware solutions but totally in
vain so I upgraded my software now every thing was ok. . and this is the same case in
many types of nokia brands you can check this up.
Only nokia 1100 when "Not charging" fault comes it is very hard to remove this fault in
nokia 1100 I only repaired a little number of nokia 1100 displaying this message there
was a problem in charge connector diode next to charging fuse. but often it can be solved
by repairing software or upgrading it.
Auto Charging:
In auto charging a phone continues showing charging despite of removing charging pin
from phone.

in this type of fault the "BSI" pin of mobile phone is very important because it is
used to tell the phone what is the state of mobile phone charging now so if this pin
is not ok this fault occurs.
there are some cases in wich a mobile phone battery is ok but auto charging is
present you can check transistors if used in charging section and if faulty replace
it because this transistor is used in some mobilephones to cut off charging from
phone automatically. in

In some cases a resistance in charging section is responsible for that which is

marked as "R22" in charging section so you can check "+" supply connection with
this

Battery Problem

there are manay types of batteries used in mobile phones but now a days the most
popular battery is "Lithium neon battery". as i have discussed in the first lesson
about the pins of mobile phone batteries there are two two types of battereis.
Note: in Sony ericson there are five pins used for battery terminal but dont be
confused first 2pins works togather third works alone and the last 2 pins also work
togather so you can take ir as three pin battery.

three pin battery

four pin battery

Positive pin:
positive pin of mobile phone gives " + " type current which has normally 3.6V
potentional difference with " _ " pin. a normal mobile phone battery now a days holds
3.6V when it is full charged it is normally 3.8V and when it is discharged it is normally at
3.2V.

Negative pin:
A negative pin in mobile phone is simple as working in other types of batteries so there is
no need to discuss it more.
BSI pin:
BSI pin stands for "battery state indicator" this is a pin which tells the mobile phone's
CPU that what is the current state of battery is right now. in some mobile phones where
three pin battery is used, this pin also works to tell the mobile phone that what is battery
temprature right now.
B Temp:
B temp pin is specially designed to tell the mobile phone about battery temprature so
some mobile phone shuts down if their battery is heating up much while using. but this
pin is now a days emerged in BSI pin so now a days most of the mobile phones use three
pin battery instead of four pin battery.
Common faults caused by battery:
there are many types of faults created by batter and you will be amazed by looking that
what type of faults are our batteries creating.

Insert sim card fault

power on fault
signal fault
auto shut off while calling
battery empty fault
test mode fault

Insert sim card fault:

It came to my experience that in nokia models where three pin battery and for power
purposes UEM IC is used we can test that if BSI pin is not connected there will be a
Insert sim card problem. for ex: if you disconnect only BSI pin in nokia 1100 or 2300 or
3100 there will be a message for you on the screen "insert sim card"
Power on fault:
if you battery is not working it will not be able to supply proper voltage to your mobile
phone and it will not turn on so it creates power on faults.
Signal problem:

soem times in some mobile phones the battery is so low but phone is running but there
will be no signal in this situation but this problem was found only in old mobile phones
sets and it is very rare.
Auto shut off while calling:
some time we call some one while holding full signal in our mobile phone battery
indicator bars but as we call someone all battery signal drops and our phone shuts off it
self.
Test mode fault:
there is a fault in some nokia mobile phones that they show " Test mode " while turning
on. some time it is the fault of battery and some time it is a software problem
example: 3 days before typing this lesson i have experienced a fault and I amazed to find
the reason behind this I had a nokia 3100 which was full working and I got another nokia
3100 from a customer to repair in my mobile lab, the battery of my own mobile phone
became discharged so I replaced the batter with the battery of customers phone it got a
message in my mopbile phone " test mode " I used to charge my battery in the customers
mobile phone but when i inserted my own batery now it was also showing " Test mode "
so i tried a new battery and got the problem fixed so and experiment showed me that
when ever i inserted infected battery it got test mode and when i got new battery it was
alright.

Basic Electricity
Electricity is motion of electrons in certain materials. When electrons (containing
charge)starta moving towards protons (containing + charge) this motion causes flow
of numerous electrons. This flow is called electricity.

Basically the force that forces eletrons to flow is measured in Volts

whereas the quantity of electrons flown in certain time is measured in
Amperes

Formation Of Electricity
There are two types of electricity according to its form

1. AC (Alternating Current)
2. DC (Direct Current)
1. AC (Alternating Current)
Alternating current is the type of current in which both current flow lines bear both type
of charge + and

In AC both lines contain + charge for a certain time and afterwards

so it forms a wave in which the supper level from 0 level is + and lower
level from 0 level is . See figure 1.0
Sources of AC:

Commonly AC is supplied in Mains supply used in commen home electrical appliances.

It is produced by Dynmos , Turbines and Generators and also in UPS normally
proveded AC in homes is measured 220 Volts and its Frequence(cycling speed of + and
charge) would be 60 Hz(hertz frequency measurment units). And in some countries
it would be 110 Volts and 50 Hz.

2. DC (Direct Current)
Direct Current is derrived from its shape. The charactristic of DC are

1. DC is not in wave form rather it is straight

2. DC contains + charge on one line and charge on another line( See
Figure 2.0

Sources:
Normally sources of Direct Current are batteries, Cells, Solar Cells and DC
Adapters and Chargers.

AC To DC Conversion
AC can be changed into DC as well as DC into AC. While converting AC into
DC we need a few components calles detectors commonly known as Rectifire Diods. The
complete function of Diods is discussed in Parts Detail and Function Lesson, but here I
want show the simple process in which AC is converted into DC. First of all we
should know the main differences between AC and DC.

1. AC contains + and cahrge in wave form whereas DC

contains + and charge in straight shape.
2. AC contains both + and charge on both lines whereas DC
contains + charge on one line and charge on another line.

So it is easy to convert AC into DC by straightening charge shape and by

making it seperate.

Note: this circit with some modifications is used in mobile phone chargers.

Introduction To Different Parts Used In Mobile Phone

Resistance:
resistance mean a component which perform resistive effect while passing current
through them. It is used to limit the current.The resistance also performs high resistance
for high frequence signals and low resistance for low frequency signals. Resistance is
measured in Ohms"

Symbol Used For Resistance In Schematics

or
Original Shape in general electronics

Shape used In Mobile Phones

To read the valus of resistance in general electronics there are fixed color codes to read
we read color codes from the left side. We assume first two color lines from the left as a
number and the third one is replaced with number 0 according to third line number

Example:
so the total value will be 10000 Ohms

Capacitor:

Capasitors or condensors are such components that charges the current in

their self and also filters the current for ripples in converted AC to DC
Current. There are two main types of capacitors used in mobile phones the
first one is Non Polar and the second one is Bipolar. Non-polar
capacitors are normally for low capacitance whereas Bi-polar capacitors are
normally high capacitance. Capacitance is measred in Feradsand
represented in schematics with the symbol of f (micro ferad)

Symbole Used in Schematics Non-Polar

Shape Used in general Electronics (Non-Polar)

Shape Used in Mobile Phones

Symbole Used in Schematics Bi-Polar

Shape Used in general Electronics (Bi-Polar)

Shape Used in Mobile Phones (Bi-Polar)

Coil:
A coil is a piece of metel wire( normally it is of copper) this is used to filter low
frequency signals because it performs low resistance for low frequency signals but very
high resistance for high frequency signals. A coil resambles to resistance by its
characteristics but there is a little difference between coil and resistance that coil resists
only AC type of current DC is passed Directly whereas resistance resists DC as well as
AC.

Shape used in Schematics

Shape used in General Electronics

Shape used in mobile phones

Comparision among Capacitors,

Resistances and Coils
Resistance

Coil

Capacitor

Resists in the path of Resists in the path of Charges the current

current where it is
current where it is
in itself.
coupled
coupled
Dont let to pass DC
Resists for both AC Resists for only AC only AC can passed from
and DC.
Resists high for high Performs high
Resists high for high frequency and low for resistance for low
frequency and low for low low frequency
frequency and low
frequency
resistance for high
frequenct

Cellphone systems
Radio section
A radio section is based on two main Circuits.

Transmitter
Reciever

A simple mobile phone uses these two circuits to correspond to an other mobile
phone. A Transmitter is a circuit or device which is used to transmit radio signals in the
air.and a reciever is simply like radios which are used to recieve transmissions(Radiation)
which is spread in the air by any transmitter on a specific frequency.
The two way communication is made possible by setting two transmitters and two
recievers sycronized in this form that a trasmitter in a cell phone is syncronised with the
frequency of other cell phone's recieving frequency same like the transmitter of second
cell phone is syncronised with the recieving frequency of first cell phone. So first cell
phone transmits its radiation in the air while the other phone listens it and same process is
present in the opposit side. so these hand held two cell phones correspond to one another.
the technology used in these days is a little bit different but it is based on the basic theory
prescribed before. the today's technology will be discussed in later on.Power Section. A
power section in mobile phones is designed to handle energy matters that is cosumed in
mobile phones.There are two main sub sections in a single power section.

Power Distribution and switching section

Charging Section

A power distribution section is designed to distribute electricity to the other

sections of a phone. this section takes power from a battery (which is figured
commonly 3.6 Volts)and in some places it is steped down to various volts like 2.8 V
1.8V 1.6V etc.while on other place it also steps up the voltage like 4.8 V. this section
is commonly designed around a power IC(and integrated circuit) which is used to
distribut and regulate the voltage used in other components.
The Charging section is based on a charging IC which takes power from an external
source and gives it to battery to make it again power up when it is exausted.this
section uses conventiolly 6.4 V from an external battery charger and regulates it to
5.8V wile giving it to battery. The battery is made charged by this process and it is
ready to use for the next session(a battery session is a time which is provided by the
maufactrur of a cell phone for standy by condition of a mobile phone or talk
condition.)Computer Section
a computer section is used in mobile phones to handle decision making applications
like making decision the phone should be power on when its power switch is pressed
down one time and on the other time the phone should be powered off. this section is
commonly based on around three main components

RAM( Random Access Memory) ROM,Flash(Read Only Memory

CPU( Centeral Processing Unit)

The very first part is a memory component which commonly saves in it self user defined
setting of a phone and contacts Numbers. the informations in this memory chip is editable
by user easilyThe second Component contains mobile phone's operating system which is
not editable bye user but it is only in special conditionsThe Third Compnent is as like a
simple brain used to understand differnet situations ad to make decisions and to hold
control on other components as well as sections
A typical mother board is constructed using two main things
1. Fiber Plate
2. Copper Plate
These two plates are joined in three forms.
1. Single layer board
2. Double layer board
3. Three or tripple layer board

A single layer board is constructed yusing one copper plate and the other fiber plate. Its
one side is copper faced and other is fiber faced.
while a Double layer board is made with two copper sheets ad fiber sheet.Its one side is
copper faced and the other is also copper faced and the fiber is stcked between two
copper sheets.this kind of board holds electronic components on both of its side because
both copper sided prints anre inter connected with one another on proper places
A three layer board is made with three copper sheets and two fiber sheet.as it is shown
below.

Basics about Mother Boards

Different mother boards have different views but many things are common in
different brand mother boards.first common thing is ,every mother board has
radio Section(Discussed in Lesson 1) on top of the mother board

On a conventional cell phone mother board there diffeent kinds of mother

boards, some are thick and some are thin enough to see easily.The thick and
thin tracks transfer current and data to from one part of the mother board to
another.the thick track passes hugfe amount of current in it so it is a very low
risk that these tracks will burn up.
A sepecial track which is very thick and makes portions on a single board is
called portion track.it is located on the above picture. This track is making
different sections apart.