iPhone XS not charging

[Nash99]

Hi everyone

I have an iPhone XS (A2097) that is not charging and is not being recognised by the computer when I plug it in. The phone still comes on and work as normal, it just will not charge. I used a new charging port and it still did not charge so it is not the port. I plugged the iPhone to charge and tested the battery connecter, however, it is only reading about 0,5V.

The board it also not heating up so it is hard to find a short. Plus, since the motherboard is a sandwich board, once I desolder them apart, it will be even harder to find the short.

Any advise on what could be the problem or what chip could be shorted or what I should look for?

Thanks a lot everyone!

[mon2]

Re: iPhone XS not charging

Check the diode readings on the usb charging cable.

Believe this phone is with the Lightning connector?

You can quickly check the diode values with a low cost breakout board for the lighting connector. Google for videos and websites on this topic.

Often the tristar chip needs to be replaced. Youtube it and post your findings and resolution here. The tristar chip is a mux ic that steers the usb lines to the logic board and often fails. It is not a simple chore to replace the ic so check around for local shops with the experience and proper smd tools for this repair.

https://youtu.be/g-bISaXWuz8


https://youtu.be/f_wxM2zmWBU

[Nash99]

Re: iPhone XS not charging

Hi Mon2

Thank you for your response.

What will the diode values show me?

Yes, it has a lightning connector.

I also thought it may be the tristar chip. Does this chip not heat up when it is faulty?

Is the Tristar chip in the iPhone XS the same is all iPhones or are they different? (ie: can I use an iPhone 6 tristar chip in my iPhone XS?)

Thank you

[mon2]

Re: iPhone XS not charging

Here is what I recommend:

1) watch and review the diode readings troubleshooting method:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QY8Ajk5JJUk

2) the diode readings should offer a confirmation that the tristar chip is defective. Getting hot is not always the case for the tristar IC.

You do not really need to do this diode reading but helps and the PCB is about $3-$5 USD. Just a tool if you care to service such phones in the future.

3) Also, do try another 1-2 lightning cables to confirm that the cable is not a factor. Run iTunes on your system and dock the USB cable - does iTunes find the phone or any USB widget ? If not, then the tristar chip is a definitely a key suspect.

As noted, this is a very common fault as the connector is mated to a flex pcb that connects to the logic board and the first logic is this NXP MUX chip which allows for the USB connections to be sent one way or another. Much like a SPDT toggle switch (except it is solid state and steers both the D+ and D- lines of the USB connector).

The tristar chips are very common but need to search on which version is inside your phone. Best to purchase the latest revision like "C" as compared to the rev "A".

Let me locate a compatibility chart I linked on ifix website a while ago that summarizes it well.

Q: When you attach the USB cable - do you get the CHARGING ICON ?

Attached is a repair case where the tech found that a capacitor nearby the tristar chip was shorting and causing a similar issue. So in this case, the capacitor only was replaced. This tech had the phone with the CHARGING ICON so maybe not the same issue as yours.

If you see no USB activity during attachment to iTUNES then I suspect the tristar chip as the fault.

So this is the 'hydra' chip. This is the charging chip according to the websites.

See here:
https://logi.wiki/index.php/iPhone/i..._Compatibility


The p/n is 1612A1 on the XS model and is fairly easy to source from Aliexpress or similar.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/283404841528

If you are comfortable with such repairs, consider to replace with a hot air tool but first confirm the cable is not the fault. You can also check your local phone repair shops to ask how much to replace this same IC. Any good tech can do this in under 30 mins (1 hour MAX). The trick is to do the repair without disturbing nearby parts using kapton tape to protect / shield them from the air and heat. Then gently apply the fresh IC and melt all the balls using some sticky flux (Amtech).


https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32890174908.html

Many vendors on Aliexpress that will sell you this IC.

[Nash99]

Re: iPhone XS not charging

Hi Mon2

Thank you so much for all your help, it is really assisting me in fixing my phone.

One of my friends does micro-soldering (mainly computers) and said that he will help me repair it.

I have tried many different cables and it still does not charge and iTunes does not pick up the iPhone.

Here is some more information: The problem occurred just after I updated it to iOS 14.6. The phone got extremely hot during the update. After the update, the charging icon displayed, however, the battery percentage kept dropping.

Just before replying to you, I plugged my phone in to charge and it turned on (without me pressing any buttons) but now the battery is dead so it shuts off and the screen flashes every 10-20 seconds.

Do you having any idea what could be causing it given the additional information? Or do you still think it is the tristar chip?

I do not want to buy a tristar chip and it is not the chip. I live in South Africa, so finding a phone shop that does this kind of repairs is near to impossible

Thank you

[mon2]

Re: iPhone XS not charging

https://www.iphoneincanada.ca/news/i...ues-on-iphone/

Wow - I think you are facing quite an issue here. Suggest for you to phone up Apple and demand a resolution for this crazy firmware update. Technically, they should be the ones to fix this fault. I am assuming that you did not purchase a defective phone. Apple broke it and many are complaining about this heating up issue. Please continue to post your updates after chatting with Apple.

[Nash99]

Re: iPhone XS not charging

I will never updated my iPhone again

The day that it occurred I called Apple and they said that I will need to take it to the iStore (3rd Party Authorised Seller in my country). The only problem is that it is out of warranty and I know the outcome will be that I need to pay a massive inspection fee and they will tell me to buy a new phone (happened before).

I however don't think that the update would have caused it because when I opened the phone and tested the battery connector (whilst charging) with my multimeter it only read 0,5V and that is not enough to charge the battery.

[mon2]

Re: iPhone XS not charging

Got it. Ok. If you are ok with trying to fix this yourself then proceed. In such cases it is good to have access to schematics and a boardview file. The boardview file will assist to locate the parts on the logic board. Not sure they exist but will check for this model.

The tristar chip on this model is nicknamed hydra. Tons of them on AliExpress but no idea on the delivery time to you in Durban. BTW, my brother in law visited there years ago and loved it.

Logically I believe that is faulty. Let me check around on the repair for such phones to see what is the resolution.

[mon2]

Re: iPhone XS not charging

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/252810204

[mon2]

Re: iPhone XS not charging

Do review the many articles on this topic that relate to the same heating up and not charging issue after the latest Apple update.

The fact that a known good lightning cable is not working with your phone does have me leaning towards a hardware fault. A complication is that this phone appears to be a stacked logic board where 2 separate logic boards are soldered together. You will need a special jig (available on Aliexpress) to desolder this stacked up combo. The jig is around $100-$200 USD. Do not recommend this approach till you exhaust a possible s/w resolution.

There is a dedicated charging IC @ U3300 on the XS model that is usually replaced for similar cases. The IC is about $2 USD in China but again, you need a special heating plate to desolder the many joints in this stacked up design.

Best to attempt the reset / restore to the older firmware fix before considering any hardware soldering. It is quite possible that you must do this before the logic board will work properly. The only small catch-22 that I can see is that you have a dead battery now. Since the present state of the logic board is not allowing for the phone to charge up, you may need to remove the depleted battery and swap with a charged one or charge the same battery outside the circuit.

There are low cost battery charging boards that are available on the market. We have one at the office and believe it was about $20 USD and charges assorted batteries for the iphone series using a normal USB cable.


https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005...00720010032128

Your XS model is listed in the above model.

These are only suggestions as from what I understand, your phone worked fine till this Apple IOS update and then this resulted in heat and not able to charge.

Badly coded software from Apple can cause the CPU to heat up (ie. the thermal sensors no longer do their job) and possibly cause the charging circuit to fail. It may not be a bad idea to source another known good battery or even better to source a charging board like the above so you can try the s/w fixes on your phone. If after the restore procedure you still have issues, then consider the hardware troubleshooting of the logic board.

Also wish to stress that it is always best to use the Apple charger as the primary solution. Only consider the alternate brands if they are truly MFI certified. With the MFI certification, you can check the model / brand on the Apple website to see if they are truly authentic. Apple will only grant their blessings after they inspect many stages of the adapter design.

The same advice goes for the lightning cable. Apple has authentication chips and apparently special connectors for the lightning connector. However, if the cable worked before then in theory it should continue to work.

In addition to the above babble,

a) USB not detecting is related to U6300 = Hydra (aka tristar) MUX IC
b) not charging is U3300

These are only suggestions from assorted readings so please proceed with caution.


In the meantime, try the following:

1) remove the battery from your phone

2) place your meter in resistance mode (ohms)

3) then black lead to ground (see my last diagram below). red meter lead to the pin # 1 of the battery connector J3200 (PP_BATT_VCC).

What is the resistance reading in ohms ? Checking for a low resistance reading on this rail for a possible short to ground of a local capacitor.

[Nash99]

Re: iPhone XS not charging

Hi Mon2

I cannot thank you enough for taking your time to help me.

I am using an iPhone X to charge a spare iPhone XS battery. However, even if I can power on my iPhone, my MacBook does not recognise it so I cannot restore it.

What should I do?

[Nash99]

Re: iPhone XS not charging

I tried testing the resistance, however, no value is appearing on my multimeter. The ground on the battery connector is fine but pin 1 is not giving me a value

[mon2]

Re: iPhone XS not charging

On the resistance checking, use the lowest setting on your meter. Let us assume it is 200 ohms as an example. Then check the resistance.

Does your meter report any reading that is under this setting of 200 ohms ?

If yes, what is the value ?

If it is higher than this max setting then you are likely ok on the capacitance checking for shorts. This test is to confirm if you are facing a short circuit to ground due to a faulty capacitor on the logic board and on this voltage rail.

This does happen a lot on the macbooks and other designs where polarized caps are common. Sometimes even with other styles of caps.

The small concern with your case is that we may start messing with hardware and Apple may fix it with s/w. If the conclusion here is that the hardware is messed up then I would start with the Hydra chip replacement.

That is where the charging cable mates with the logic board. As noted, this chip is not very expensive but unfortunately is often sourced out of China via Aliexpress. Many vendors sell it. For you, you could try a relatively local phone shop and ask if they will sell you a few of these parts at fair pricing. Best to buy a few, just in case as the parts are very small.

Mention you need the Hydra chip for the XS logic board since the board will not recognize any USB activity. This alone may fix the faults. Otherwise, you will also need the charger IC for the same XS logic board.

You will need tweezers to handle the part and a hot air gun. Recommend some kapton tape as well to protect all the tiny parts that will be exposed to the heat and hot air from the tools. You do not want them to desolder and have them fly away.

The next very serious issue is that you have a dual stacked board - the jig is not cheap to separate the 2 logic boards. Aliexpress has these as well and they are hot plates made in the exact shape of the XS logic board. You apply power and the boards will heat up at the designed locations to allow you to separate the 2 logic boards. After this separation, you can access the tristar (HYDRA) chip for replacement. Then reverse the procedure to test again.

I think the pricing for the jig is coming down so you can shop around.

Review this video which offers the process that you may be facing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0U1sKoVmUE&t=2346s

Perhaps even consider to send to Ben - I believe he is in Germany. Not sure of pricing. This way, he can diagnose and return to you with a fully working phone. It will be worthwhile to consult with others but logically believe that you have at least an issue with the Hydra chip and perhaps also with the charger IC. Both are about $2-$5 USD each but the tools and labor are the real expenses. It really sucks that the IOS update caused this sequence of failures. Again, concerned about the complexity and how deep you wish to explore this repair. There are risks involved but also rewarding if you get this working.

Here is a vendor that is selling the motherboard jig to desolder & solder back the stacked logic boards (similar to what Ben is using in his video) @ about $50 USD with shipping

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4001...23d60f578f4-21

or this one (looks 100% like the one used by Ben):

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000...%2315618%23986

PS: Just for fun, changed the shipping to South Africa and Aliexpress store shows only DHL as the shipping option. That can get expensive. Try your local resellers of phone service stores for these parts. Perhaps even the Qianli tools. They are very popular worldwide.

[Nash99]

Re: iPhone XS not charging

Okay so I tried the resistance again with my multimeter (attached a picture below) and set the value to 200 ohms.

The reading is: 126 Ohms

Regarding the tools, my friends has everything that I need to fix the phone. The only problem is trying to find the fault.

I tried going onto Ben's website but it is all in german so I have no idea what it all means. I watched most of his videos and he is really good so I would have sent my phone to him.

Question: If the chips were corrupted/damaged with the update, does that mean they can never be repair and have to be replaced? Or can a downgrade in software fix it?

[mon2]

Re: iPhone XS not charging

Can you confirm that you used the ohms settings as per attached pic ?

126 ohms is ok. It is not a short to ground.

Best to watch his youtube video linked above as it is in English.

Since there is little info that I know of on this relatively new update from Apple - be stern with their technical support and as many others, mention that the phone worked fine before this update. I smell a law suit coming, just like in the past on assorted other issues with their products.

If they will not repair for free then you may as well consider to review this yourself. To separate the logic boards, you will need the heat mold system like from Qianli or Sunshine. Then replace the Hydra chip. There is no firmware on this IC. Then the charger IC if the battery does not charge. No firmware there either. From assorted readings, the symptoms are similar but many report that the battery drains faster. In your case, the USB is not detected. This is a common fault also on other iphones and ipads - for each, the tristar / Hydra chips are replaced if the lightning connector / USB cable are ok.

[Nash99]

Re: iPhone XS not charging

Yes, I used the same ohms setting in the picture. If it is not a short to ground, does that mean it is the hydra chip or a software issue?

I have watched most of his videos relating to the iPhone XS and he most of the time replaces the hydra chip on the phone.

I will try my best with Apple and see if they will fix it but I highly doubt they will. The iStore are very stubborn.

I will watch Ben's videos and repair the Hydra Chip and hopefully that works. They sell the chips locally for about $30, however, it beats waiting for it from Aliexpress.

I will keep you updated on the outcome

[Nash99]

Re: iPhone XS not charging

I plugged two fully charged batteries that I charged with the iPhone X. However, now the iPhone XS is saying that the batteries on have 1% in them and then shuts off.

I tested the battery and they are holding steady at 3,38V.

Why would it do that?

[Stevedb]

Re: iPhone XS not charging

3,38v is low battery

[Nash99]

Re: iPhone XS not charging

Hi Stevedb

The battery is rated at 3.81V.

I just did another test on the battery and it is 3.52. Is this still low?

[Nash99]

Re: iPhone XS not charging

The iPhone X is charging the battery at 4.32V